It actually has Michelins, and they don't seem very worn yet... though I didn't give them a super close inspection. One more paper to finish up, then I can do some farting around with the car....

The owner wants to sell the car soon, so I don't know if he'll opt to fix the suspension. We'll see.

-J

There's an electric switch on the steering column, left hand side, which moves it in and out. No up and down adjustment, but you can bring the wheel closer to you.

This car does not have an adjustable steering column.

I just took a flashlight and peered into the coolant tank.... not good. It looks like green chocolate milk. I'll try doing a flush first, but man what a mess.

I'm thinking this is just a case of poorly mixed coolants, the snot globs that were in the tank didn't seem super oily, and were a bit brown for what I would think is oil in the coolant (but then again I am used to diesels). I flushed the system with lots of water. The overheating seems a bit better, but it is still too hot at idle with the AC on.

Fan clutch is working. Electric fans are working. Air coming off of the radiator is hot (at least out of the top of the radiator). I pulled the radiator back and looked between the condenser and radiator and it wasn't full of junk.

One thing I did notice when flushing was that the water I initially drained out of the radiator drain was cool. I had run the car up to temp, and the water quickly got warm. Looking at the hose arrangement the lower hose comes out of the radiator about 1/2 up the tank. Could a baffle inside have come loose

I used an IR temp gun and got 210*F at the upper hose and 173* at the lower hose with the AC on. Should the temp drop be more than that?

Very puzzling. Temps are fine when underway, it's just when stopped or crawling that things get too hot.

-J

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

1. the worn brake pad indicator light flickering : the cause is your front brake pad sensors have begun to rub against the disc. in my opinion this warning system is a bit too conservative, there was still a considerable amount of "meat" left on the front pads when i went to replace them(my guess: good for another 3,000-4,000miles).

2. on my car the fuel gauge can sometimes drift or bounce around especially when i have less than a half a tank of gas in the tank.
it is supposedly a pretty simple fix, check out the following diy:
http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/W124FuelSender

3. i'm not sure about the mold smell, but i would start by making sure that all of water drains are clear of debris. pop the hood and check the front drains at the bottom corners of the windshield, and the center grill which is the air intake for the HVAC system .

do some research, but i believe that the AC has its own drain underneath the car near the transmission. if you do not spot any water leaking underneath the middle of the car while the AC is on, this particular drain may be clogged.

4. as for the outside temp gauge , mine reads low also, but i've never bothered to fix it

good luck

Interesting...never seen a US 124 without it. Must have gone away as part of the de-contenting of the 124 over its lifespan in the US. Both my '93 and my '87 have it.

After 5 flushes the temps are starting to get better. Each time after driving for a while the water turns dark, so I'll keep it up till things remain clear.

-J

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

How many miles on this car? It probably has some serious corrosion in the radiator.

__________________
1989 300CE

How hot is it getting, running vs. stopped?

Mine runs about 90C on the highway in ambients around 100-105F (hot in Texas this summer, ugh!). Temps spike when exiting the freeway and stopping at a light - at least 100C, maybe a bit more. In stop-and-go around town, it'll run 95C-100C, only cooling down a bit if you get a nice long run between stoplights.

It was probably getting up to 110 or 115*C in stop and go. Way too hot for my liking, and it may have gotten hotter if I wouldn't have turned off the AC and held the RPMs up to spin the fan more.

Another 2 flushes yesterday and it didn't go over 100*C on my way to work

The car only has 110,000 miles on it.

Is there a way I can tell if the engine harness has been replaced? The color on the wire insulation is nice and bright, but I'm afraid to poke at it too much in case it's original.

Where does the oil pressure sender live? The gauge doesn't work (pegs as soon as the key is turned on).

-J

Change the radiator cap if you haven't. The wiring harness may have a part tag near the source plug behind the battery - check for the FD date. The oil pressure sender is at the base of the oil filter housing. Sounds like it could be a lower engine harness problem.

Yah, that is too hot. Up to 100C is OK in stop and go driving with the a/c running.

+1 on what Dean says. Pull the plastic shield behind the battery and look for a part number tag with a manufacturing date on the wiring harness.

I just lost faith in va safety inspections....

The front passenger balljoint just failed. Fender is holining up the wheel. Waiting for a aaa tow....

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Well at least you found your suspension wiggle.

__________________
68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i