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  #1  
Old 03-16-2008, 11:33 PM
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Weekend Wrenching

This has been an interesting week. I've been trying to figure out what the deal is with my newly acquired 450SLC 5.0. It would not start without starting fluid. I tested the connection at the fuel pump and it was getting power. So I assumed that the fuel pump has failed and my assumption was correct.

I bought a fuel pump an filter and on Friday, I installed it. Upon starting it, the car developed a massive fuel leak at the fuel rail. This was tightened and the car ran much better. But not great, revving the engine kicked out a bunch of gunk in the exhaust and a huge oil leak at the valve cover gaskets. I will order a set next week.

On Friday, a friend and I took another stab at the timing chain tensioner. Since I had it replaced about this time last year, I have developed a massive oil leak from it. It's so bad that I have to add one or two quarts of oil per week and I don't drive this car every day.

I bought a replacement tensioner from the dealership and installed it. Removing the parts and checking the manual revealed that there is a part missing. This is the screw collar which appears to be no longer available from Mercedes Benz. An M100 enthusiast in Australia believes that it's very similar to the screw collar on an M110 engine. I know of where one is at the junk yard so I may go on a hunt to find it.

Re-installing the tensioner without the part was a huge failure as I got a huge leak. It's gushing out of the side of the tensioner plate with enough pressure to squirt oil onto the engine manifold. No amount of messing around with it cured this problem.

Meanwhile another Mercedesshop member in Europe informed me that the part may still be available at the classic center in Germany.

In the last couple of days, my W108 280SEL has been acting up, it seemed to be driving really badly and has developed a vibration that has been getting progressively worse. I took it down to the shop to take a look in order to determine what the problem is. It was pretty clear as soon as I saw the flex disk.

Fortunately, I parted out a 300SEL recently and I still had a prop shaft lying around somewhere with a good flex disk. Three hours later, the car drives well, but I do need a transmission mount very soon as it seems that the thread got damaged on the mount and hence I only have one bolt attached (out of two).

Here is a picture of the old flex disk.



The rest of the day was spent installing the warm up regulator on my 76 EUro 6.9. This car needs so much work, I am beginning to debate whether I should part it out. It has lots of usable parts but it needs lots more to make it a decent running. As I already have two others, it may be the best option. It is however my favorite color, a euro and has good velour Interior so the Jury is stil out. I still have one SLC parts car that needs to go and i'll start parting it out next weekend.

I tried to get the 80 500SLC running but that also seems to have a frozen fuel pump. For the few seconds that it ran on starting fluid, it seemed to run well.

I also purchased a set of AMG penta's on Ebay for $255. They are not in great shape, but can be cleaned up and will look OK on the 450SLC 5.0.



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weekend Wrenching-flexdisk.jpg  
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Last edited by whunter; 03-09-2010 at 01:21 PM. Reason: attached picture
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  #2  
Old 03-22-2008, 10:38 PM
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Yesterday I installed the new fuel pump into the silver blue 500slc and the car now gets fuel. However it still does not want to start. I wasn't sure why but I suspect that the fuel pump relay could be the problem. I have a 77 parts car and I need to determine whether they are the same.

Odd thing is that the system seems to be getting a lot of gas, looking under , I can see gas coming out of the catalytic converters so the engine is flooding. I spoke to a Mechanic friend of mine who suspects that the piston spring in fuel distributor is stuck in up position which may cause the problem. I'll wait for the fuel to evaporate and then tap on the fuel distributor with a rubber mallet to see if I can get it down.

I also put a new transmission mount on the 280SEL 4.5. When we replaced the flex disk on it last week, we managed to cross thread one of the bolt holes in the old mount.
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Old 04-05-2008, 09:49 PM
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Last week, I finally got the silver blue 500slc started and running. I did not run it for long because the gauge showed zero oil pressure, although it ran and sounded fine. It was also puffing a pile of smoke from the back. I'm not too concerned about that yet because knowing how meticulous the previous owner was about his cars, I suspect that he poured oil down the cylinders so as to prevent the engine from seizing.

Yesterday afternoon, I took time to wire up the original Alpine head unit that came with the 280SEL as I got tired of the under a/c box and bunji cord set up that i had before. I purchased a new wiring harness on ebay (nice to find one for a 10year old plus tape deck) and rewired it. It works well but I also need a cage. It doesn't sit well right now in the slot and needs to be seated better so that it can effectively ground. I also finally sorted out the back window because it was stuck in the 3/4 way position for the last two years (since I replaced those window seals).

The odd thing is that I have had this car listed for sale for months and have hardly gotten any bites on it. In the last three days, the phone has been ringing off the hook. Mostly from people who see me driving it around. One gentleman was offered me a trade on a 72 350SL. The car needed restoration which included new floor pans, trunk floor and rear valance. The dash heating system was also completely apart. On the positive side, it ran really well.

In my opinion, the car was worth $1500 max but I offered to swap it with him in exchange for the car plus cash. He has a lot of money in it as he bought the car of a gentleman who misrepresented it. I'm not sure whether he will go for it. I would prefer to sell the car outright as I already have too many cars but an SL may work as it will give me a reason to sell the MG. After all the money i put in that car, it still keeps mysteriously dying on me and I never feel safe when driving it. MG's are simple, but the odd thing is that I have become pretty confident with Mercs and know what to look for.

I stopped by the local auto store today and bought an oil pressure gauge. I'll continue to investigate the problem with SLC tomorrow. Man I would love to drive it.
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  #4  
Old 04-06-2008, 08:02 AM
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Al, you have enough problem cars, why buy another one now when you're trying to slim down the herd. A neutral swap should be for something snazzy, like a 250SL that needs floor pans. A W107 is nice, but not worth fixing that level of rust. -CTH
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Old 04-06-2008, 08:50 AM
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I thought about selling most of them off (except 1 6.3 and 1 6.9) and then getting an older Porsche 911 turbo. I can never find a 250SL at a good price. The W113 has really skyrocketed in the last few years.
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  #6  
Old 04-06-2008, 10:21 AM
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If I had the cash I'd be all over a W108
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  #7  
Old 04-06-2008, 10:23 PM
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Today was spent working on the SLC’s. As mentioned in an earlier post, I got the 500SLC running. It started without issues but ran a little rough. I pulled it outside and poured some seafoam through the throttle body in an effort to make it run a bit better. It seemed to soak up the seafoam without issues. But after shutting it off and restarting it. It ran like crap. It seemed to have ignition problem. So we pulled the plugs and checked them out. They all seemed to be in good shape with the exception of one which was black which I replaced.

Some of the plug wires did not appear to be in good shape, so I replaced those with the ones from the 77 SLC parts car and we cranked it up …. And it ran like CRAP!

I’m not sure what was going on but it appears that the ballast resistor may have been acting up and the resistor right above it was getting really hot! As these looked to be exactly the same as those on the 6.9 so we swapped them out. But it still doesn’t appear to start well. I’m not sure what the deal is, and whether the issue is fuel or ignition related.

I’m planning to buy some basic ignition items such as plugs, plug wires, new ballast resistor and the silver resistor above it (if I can find it). As the 500SLC was never sold in the US, I’m confused as to how to choose the correct part.

Do I select ignition parts for a 1980 450SLC or something like an 85 500SEL? The coil and the plug wires are different on both cars

Another odd thing is that no item on the left side gauge set of the cluster (fuel temp and oil pressure) works on that car. The fuse (number 10) seems to be fine and I replaced it for good measure but it didn’t help. Is there a relay that I need to look for?

I would be grateful if I could get some help here.

After a disappointing day on the 500SLC, I replaced the valve cover gaskets on the green 450SLC 5.0.

After some vacuuming of all the leaves, nuts and all the other debris from the mouse nest that was once in the car, I was able to install the new valve cover gasket with no issues.

This car ran quite well. There is lots of oil on the manifolds from the old leaky gaskets that needs to be bunt off.

I did give the 500SLC a wash today, here are some pictures:












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Old 04-06-2008, 10:31 PM
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very nice
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  #9  
Old 04-12-2008, 11:21 PM
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This weekend, I finally got the threaded ring for my timing chain tensioner on the 6.9 and was able to re-install it. I have no idea what the deal is but the tensioner leaks like crazy. After three attempts of refitting the tensioner and installing it to speck (torquing the threaded ring to 40nm and the the tensioner cap to 50 nm. the tensioner stopped leaking..... until I took it for a drive and now I am back to having a steady drip. What the hell.

Saturday was spent with a friend at the shop. We spent it replacing the steering coupling (the joint between the steering arm and the power steering pump) and the steering damper. The car now drives like a sports car the oil pressure line got nipped and the line was too brittle to repair so we clamped a small hose in place temporarily. Does anyone know if a new oil pressure gauge hose can be bought?

I'm amazed at how well this car now drives, it really handles like a sports car.

Thr rest of the day was spent on the 500slc. We eventually figured out what why the engine died the way it did last week. It appears that the engine was completely flooded. Checking the oil revealed that the oil was more like 50% gas.

Last week I ordered new plugs, plug wires and the blue resistor, so we changed the oil (which drained in less then a minute it was so thin) and pulled all the plugs, replaced them and the plug wires. I dialed the fuel mixture all the way anti clockwise until it would turn no more and then we turn it 1/4 turn to clockwise until the car started. Once it started, I was able to tune it enough to where it sounded right.

While the car ran, it still had a significant miss. In looking at the plugs, 5 were soaking wet and three were completely dry. I suspected that on these cylinders, the injectors were blocked so we removed the three suspect injectors and they were dirty! nasty dirty!!

I soaked them in parts cleaner for 30 mins and then sprayed them down brake parts cleaner and scrubbed the caked on dirt on the outside with a wire brush. I then sprayed break parts cleaner and then carb cleaner through the injector nozzle until I got a good spray pattern and refitted the injectors. The car still had a slight miss (probably from another injector) but it's a lot smoother then before.

I took the car out for a spin after i got it running. I would like to make the following comments.. Holy cow this car is fast! It's not like a 6.9 in it's low end grunt but it really does scare the crap out of you as it climbs up the rev range. Very nice indeed!

I let my friend drive it around the block and he had a huge grin when he came back. This made all this effort worth it.
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Old 04-13-2008, 08:52 AM
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keep an weather eye on that oil. You might want to change it again on principle. Thinned out oil == cylinder wear. -CTH
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  #11  
Old 04-13-2008, 09:23 AM
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Charles, shouldn't the fuel burn in the oil evaporate fairly quickly once the car is running?
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Old 04-14-2008, 07:36 AM
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thinned out oil doesn't lubricate at all well. -CTH
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Old 04-14-2008, 10:37 AM
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I agree, but as we ran it for 20 minutes prior to shutting it off on new oil. Would it not burn off any excess oil? I checked it again yesterday and it was fine. On Sunday, I pulled 1143 out of the garage and let it run for a about 10 - 15 min. I replaced the valve cover gaskets last week and cleaned out the engine bay because it was covered in leaves nutshells.

There is a lot of smoke coming from the valve on the right side valve cover. I don't know if this is a problem yet as I need to let the car run for a little longer. It may be caused by oil in the cylinder which could have been added as safe preparation for storage, or oil that just found it's way there.

Once warmed up, the engine started to smoothen up and run much better. I cut it off early because the electric fan engaged quickly and I'm concerned that there is not much coolant in the system.

Lastly, I gave the old battle ship a wash. Here are some pictures from my cellphone. It cleans up quite nicely.



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Old 04-20-2008, 04:48 PM
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Another productive weekend this week. I replaced the oil line that runs from the back of the engine to the oil pressure gauge. I thought it would be a lot harder then it was. However I did run into a snag because I didn't tighten the oil line enough at the dash end. It was tightened stiff but I guess I had to keep going. I found out the hard way when I ruined a nice pair of jeans that night.

Britton, (twinockchef) stopped by in his beautiful 6 cylinder 71 280SEL. This car is an example of what W108's should look like and I had another guy who I was talking to about trading his 72 350SL with my 280SEL. He decided to keep the car and fix it up. It needed floor pans, a console and some other bits and bobs which he picked up from my parts car.

Today was spent doing a little bit of tinkering on the 59 Ford Pickup truck. I have a friend doing the bodywork on this truck in an effort to finish it off. Ultimately I will probably sell the truck back to him for the price he is charging me to do it up. He's doing me a favor and he really likes the truck. I'm ready to let it go.

Another Mercedes Benz 450SL owner stopped by to pick up parts from the 450SLC parts car. He crashed his and needed a left fender , hood and radiator. I also sold him the entire front clip for what it would cost in Tim's time and gas in order to cut the rest of the car up during the week.

Scrap metal must be at a premium, we left the box to the pickup truck outside the shop and the end of the day and it was gone quickly enough. I guess I'll be doing that to the rest of this SLC once we're done with it.

Lastly the wheels and tires on the 280SEL are in terrible condition. The paint has been stripped of the bundt alloys and the tires had some pretty horrible dry rot. So I switched them out with the chrome alloys that are on the 76 Euro 6.9. The car feels a fair bit different with the 215/70/14's from the 6.9. Not sure if they ride better or worse though. I must say that although i'm not a fan of chrome, the chrome alloys look quite nice on the W108.

I think i'll list some parts on eBay today from the 450SLC.
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Last edited by alabbasi; 04-20-2008 at 04:55 PM.
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Old 05-04-2008, 02:27 AM
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So my 280SEL has been acting up and running really rough, The last time it did this I adjusted the contact points and it ran great. This time around I thought it couldn't be the same issue. Surely enough, I moved the contact points slightly and the car ran like a train.

Life couldn't be easier. So that as a treat, I stopped by the trim shop and worked out a deal with the guy to re-trim the seats (front and rear) in black leather for $1150 (installed). While I was there, I saw him install a vinyl dash cover with baseball stitching on a dodge magnum and it looked pretty damn sexy. This isn't the hard plastic dash cap but a leather look vinyl cover which is cut and stitched to shape. I may spring for one of those also.

I took the MG to the shop as it needs a thorough going over on the steering, suspension and it nearly killed me when it died on the overpass from George Bush turnpike to I35S. I finally got it over the hump and coasted down the overpass with I35 traffic on the left and an entry ramp on my right.

The rest of the day was spent tinkering with the MG and playing with the 500SLC. The car now runs pretty nicely but the left side cluster (fuel, temp and oil pressure) does not work. I checked the connector with a test light and I was able to get two lives. But nothing from the dash. Does anyone have a spare 380SL / 560SL cluster?

I also changed the oil again on the 500SLC as I put 10w30 last time and it looked way way too thin. I now have 20w50 which is much nicer.

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