72 280sel 4.5 garage queen; not run since 92, What next?

[Mr.Kenny]

This weekend i bought a pristine 71-72 280sel 4.5 that has been garaged and babied it's entire running life.... which ended in 1992 @ 29,000 miles. The original owner died and the older daughter parked the beautiful car in her garage in 1992 and there it sat until i towed it home yesterday.
The reason she stopped driving the car is she said suddenly one day it wouldn't go into drive when shifted into drive. No mechanic has looked at the car and it has just sat where it is.
I first need to get the car running after this amount of time to evaluate the transmission.
What would you do before stating the engine? I was going to remove the plugs and pour a little ATF & marvel mystery oil in the cylinders, let that stuff sit for a day or two.
Empty the fuel tank and fuel lines. Crank motor with plugs out to build up oil pressure. Replace plugs and start! Run and then change oil. (the current oil looks clean)
Do i need to clean the injectors?

Then what do I look for on the transmission? vacuum modulator? (the fluid is clean and bright)
Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

[wbain5280]

The gasoline is shot and the fuel system needs to be cleaned. Change all the fluids. Check the shift linkage for bad bushings too. Grease the front suspension, driveshaft and swing axle pivot point on the rear axle and check the rubber boot for splits or cracks.

If you cannot get grease through the zerk fittings, heat the joint with a powerful heat gun and then grease it. Use Mobil 1 synthetic grease.

Check the rotors and pads and the front wheel bearings.

Aall the usual stuff.

Most of the rubber hoses on the engine will be shot.

[Todd Miller]

Mr. Kenny, I do exactly what you say you are going to do for an initial start up, except I rotate the engine over by hand a few times using a breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley nut. That way I know if it's seized before going further. If it is seized, I'll put it in gear (if a manual trans) and start rocking the car back and forth against the locked up engine. This will sometimes get things moving. If it doesn't, I can get more indepth.

Depending on the engine I'm dealing with, I may also prime the oil pump if that's easily done (sometimes it's not). The goal is, no load on the crankshaft, and oil pressure asap.

After that, and before doing an "real" driving, you of course go through the rest of the laundry list as suggested by Warren.

Sounds like a very sweet 108 and I hope the transmission issue is something easy....wouldn't that be great!

[ctaylor738]

You have a good plan.

The only things I do differently for a gentle awakening are to 1) change the oil and filter before starting (it is 15 years old), and 2) with the plugs out, gently bump the starter a couple of times with the oil in the cylinders before you crank to bring the oil pressure up.

[dspeer]

Before you do any serious driving, carefully check all the rubber fuel line parts. They're exposed to heat from the outside and pressure from the inside. You don't want those to leak. Easy to replace.

[larry perkins]

i am completing a 1969 280 sec that sat for 14 years and the pistons were stuck,after giving up on oil soaking i disassembled the engine and had to knock the pistons out with a 3in oak piece and a 12 lb sledge hammer,oil ring had grown to the cyl wall.
larry perkins.lou ky

[Todd Miller]

The only reason why I don't change the engine oil before the initial start is because I'm looking to get oil pressure as soon as possible, Even if I fill the filter with as much oil as possible, there's still extra time spent cranking without oil pressure. To me, old oil is better than no oil.

[Mr.Kenny]

Originally Posted by Todd Miller

The only reason why I don't change the engine oil before the initial start is because I'm looking to get oil pressure as soon as possible, Even if I fill the filter with as much oil as possible, there's still extra time spent cranking without oil pressure. To me, old oil is better than no oil.

Yes,The reason you indicated above... and also the fact that i am putting ATF, Marvel mystery oil and maybe WD40 in the cylinders which will work past the rings into the oil pan is why I am leaving the old oil in until it is firing on all cylinders. I am not going to drive the car with this old oil so it is not under load.

I just checked the fuel tank and it is full, I siphoned a little out...a little funky but not as bad as i expected, it seems to still be volatile.

[ADP]

Mistah Taylor suggests pulling the plugs to disable spark after oil change so you can get pressure up before running the motor.

You can also pull the coil wire as well. Just as long as you can crank her w/o firing so she can get her pressure up.

Of course thats after you inspect/replace all your rubber fuel lines. Not just under the hood, but near the fuel pump too.

My 72 SEL has a rubber oil hose at the cooler too. When I brought my car into my mechanic fresh from a 400 mile drive up from Florida, he joked that the MB gods must have been smiling on me - considering the condition of that hose. Ack.

Congrats on your find! Please tell us how your resussication goes.

Ann

[cth350]

Anti-freeze. Don't forget the anti-freeze. The green stuff is slow poison for the alloy heads. As it dries out, it also leaves a very nasty residue. Before that engine gets hot, make sure the coolant is replaced. Drop the two drain blocks on the block and make sure that fluid actually drains from those points.

Removing the upper hose and looking at what you're facing is not a bad thing. No, you can't run a mercedes v8 without a thermostat, so make sure it's functional.

-CTH
PS. Sounds like a great car. Hopefully the motor survived the harsh treatment. The rubber brake hoses and tires didn't.

[Tomguy]

I had to get one started that was STORED OUTSIDE for about 4-5 years without running. Here's what I did:

1) drained the tank
2) Put 5 gallons of 93 in the tank with an entire bottle of injector cleaner
3) Changed the oil
4) Verified the coolant level
5) Changed the plugs
6) Cleaned the ignition points and verified their gap
7) Cranked it until it fired (didn't take long at all!)

After getting it running I removed the injectors and manually cleaned them. They will almost assuredly have rust and you should do this. You WILL need to replace ANYTHING rubber. Trust me. Don't mess around. This includes brake lines, the flex disc, subframe mounts, injector gaskets, FUEL HOSES etc. You should do the major stuff before even THINKING of driving it around the block (brakes and injector lines). 30PSI of fuel in your engine bay is NOT a good thing and you will need to do this. One thing you may forget (I did and it burned me - literally!) is the transmission cooler lines. Radiator hoses, belts - if it's rubber, don't skimp. Verify braking before taking it on the road, mine was stored outdoors so I needed brakes on all 4 wheels but fortunately my calipers were not frozen.

[Todd Miller]

Originally Posted by Mr.Kenny

...I just checked the fuel tank and it is full, I siphoned a little out...a little funky but not as bad as i expected, it seems to still be volatile.

I just did one that had been sitting since '81 if I remember right. After doing the stuff we've talked about, it fired right up and ran great on whatever fuel was in the fuel tank.

I say, rather than waste 19 gallons of fuel, at $3.65 per gallon (here in CA)....not to mention, what are you going to do with 19 gallons of fuel if you drain it.....I'd use it. As you start driving the car, you can top off with fresh a few times. You can dump in a can of BG44K fuel injector cleaner and those injectors will be very happy. Then change the fuel filter once you've run a tank of gas through it.

By the way, replace your WD-40 with PB Blaster or Kroil, or Mouse Milk and never look back!

[Adenauer]

One thing to bear in mind, when fuel dries-up, it leaves behind not only the messy residue that everyone has mentioned but a crytsaline mess as well. Here's what I encountered on an M130 280SEL some ten years ago...

Depending on which style of vertical fuel pump you've got (the one on the 108 I had, looked like a small woodworking router - that's sort of how I would describe them, anyhow), there is a closing plate or cover on the very bottom of the pump - held in place with something like six maybe eight machine screws. I wasn't even able to get the pump to spool-up by turning the key over. After removing the cover (don't even try to save the wafer thin gasket - it is extremely fragile), I had found that the turbine vane (which is at the bottom of the pump just above the cover) was jamb-packed and encased in that crytaline/sticky, dried-up fuel. There was even a few gallons remaining in the tank. I was never able to completely decontaminate the pump and thought I would run it anyhow. The performance of the pump was weak at best. After dropping the tank, having it hot-tanked at a machine shop, installing a new strainer, fuel pump and clearing all the lines (including the injector lines), the car still, would only run marginally well. Finally, with a replacement IP, that 130 came to life.

This was around 1994 and I recall that the car had sat dormant since the late seventies. What I am getting at is to at least have a look inside the bottom of the pump before putting the volts to it. A gasket is cheap. If the turbine vane is stuck as is, you'll never get the car to run. Well, I won't say never. But you get the idea.

In fact, I'd sure love to know if you encounter the same situation.

Best of luck.

Tom

[Adenauer]

Oh, one other thing that I would do would be to remove both cam covers and liberally apply oil to all valvetrain components. I think it goes a little overboard but I know a guy who swears by using camshaft assembly lube applied liberally with a brush. I would personally use some Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer because what you are really after is to create as much surface tension as possible on initial start-up (that is, the ability for the lubricant to stay put).

[Todd Miller]

I know what you mean about the vane in the bottom of those big "SE" fuel pumps. I've seen them locked up before too. Usually kerosene will cut the varnish that becomes their glue.

Good tip on the valve train lube. Guess I forgot all about that. I usually take the valve covers off and once I have confirmed oil pressure on the gauge, I continue cranking until there is oil being delivered to the cam.

Especially on the single overhead cam motors that have the oil rail that drips. More than once I've seen these engines eat a cam shaft and towers because those oiling holes get clogged and one or more stop dripping onto the cam. Man is that some ugly damage!