Seeing as I've driven the new car only on neighborhood cruises since purchase and never over 50mph I took it out for a test run. She got up to 80mph and seemed like she still had some room to spare though acceleration was minimal. I was happy to confirm 80mph and backed off. Supposedly it would hit 118mph from the factory. Boy is this car smooth! Engine (acceleration), brakes, suspension all in excellent order. I sure like driving this thing! I'm seriously considering making it my daily driver and getting to work.

Here are some questions and observations:

1)Gauge lights don't work. I fiddled with the brightness knob. Is it possible all the lights are dead? If so, how do I change bulbs?

2)Best I can reset the tripometer is to 1 mile. The ones digit is out of synch when I start rolling it. Just live with it?

3)Needle that shows what gear I'm in stays in park. Anyone messed with this?

4)Trans definitely making it into all 4 gears. Only flairs when changing from 3rd to 4th. Is "trans x" the first course of action? What about vacuum lines that typically go? How about the filter? Would flairing happen in this particular spot if it is overfilled?

5)Figured out why the wiper fluid reservoir was empty. Filled it up and pumped the pedal. Got fluid to spray then realized the bellows was leaking on the floor as well. Replace it? I did the test with the car off. What is that electrical connection at the bellows?

6)Driver door stem switch missing but I can see the plug it goes into. Guess I should just buy one and see if if flies. The one in the passenger door makes all the lights turn on and off correctly. Although my front interior light fixture needs to be replaced. The light comes on, but only if I'm holding it in one of the positions. Bad connection. Easy to swap the whole thing out?

7)Rear door on driver's side won't open. Just get in there and pull the door panel off? What might I expect to find?

8)I'm attaching a bad night picture of something called an "atomizer" I found under my hood. Looks after market. It is apparently in the fuel line system. Never seen one. Do I need to poor out the soot from the jar? Just remove it?

9)Haven't tested my heater yet. Mostly because the levers broke off at the controls. Should I just get a screw driver and manually rotate those climate control disc thingys? While looking at the firewall I noticed a metal tube coming through with no hose connected to it. Is my heater not hooked up or is that some kind of drain? I don't know where the evaporator coil is located. Bad night picture attached.

Otherwise most of the bells and whistles in this car seem to work. Even the AC though suffering from a blown hose (hence no freon hence no cold air) seems to be in working order. The compressor kicks in, the fan works, and even the little green light at the AC knob works.

I know this is a very lengthy post and I'll be back with other questions. Most of these things I could figure out blindly, but it would be easier (and more fun) with input from those who have been there done that.

Thanks,
Dave

PS. What type of wood is that in my dash?

http://users3.ev1.net/~eldave/1971MERCEDES280SE/MERCEDES.htm

__________________
Please put "Mercedes" in the subject line if you email me. I don't want to lose you in the spam.

atomizer

http://users3.ev1.net/~eldave/1971MERCEDES280SE/atomizer.jpg

mystery tube

http://users3.ev1.net/~eldave/1971MERCEDES280SE/tube.jpg

__________________
Please put "Mercedes" in the subject line if you email me. I don't want to lose you in the spam.

I don't know about the atomizer but the mystery tube is the ventilation system drain. It's supposed to have a rubber ball at the end that's split at the bottom. Sometimes these things full up with crud, leaf bits and dirt, causing rain water to get inside the car.

__________________
Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

1. You probably have to take the cluster out to change the bulbs. Check all power and ground wires. It's an old car.

2. Don't know.

3. The trasn gear indicator has a small cable attached to a hook on the shift rod. It's either broken or detached.

4. Do a search on these trans.

5. The bellows should have a sheet metal ring over it for intermittant wipers. This is a car from the 70's so don't laugh.

6. Don't know, but take off the door panel and check it out.

7. Probably a broken rod.

8. Seems like snake oil to me.

9. Don't know, do a search. The levers are apparently expensive.

Please take some day pics.

Nice car otherwise.

Regards.

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Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

1) This is almost certainly the rheostat behind the knob. Very common problem. Easy to remove cluster and replace. Suggest you also do all bulbs at same time.

2) Someone has probably had this apart to fix the odometer and did not get it back together quite right. It is complicated to get all the "counters" just right. If you have not messed with one before, I would leave it.


3) Another item to fix with the cluster out. Genereally the wire breaks at a bend. You can supposedly replace the wire with monofilament fishing line, or replace the whole assembly but it is expensive. Most used ones have the same problem.

4. A good shop can do a band adjustment that can fix the flare if there is adjustment left.

5. The switch is to turn the wipers on when you press the pedal.

7. I am not sure you can get the panel off with the door shut.

9. Lots of posts and DIY's on the heater controls.

__________________
Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

My flair is high in third gear when you are expecting fourth to kick in. Been driving like this for 10000miles with no problems so far. Maybe we could get a mastertech to hypothesise a reason for this.
dennyk 70 280se
I operate my heater controls with a screwdriver and I live in MN

Toss the "fuel atomizer" is gimicky junk. You get all the atomization you need from the fuel injectors.

The door switch is about $60 if you can find one, which is probably why it's missing. Dual unit to run lights and key buzzer, you can use the single one for the other door, it's cheaper and the damned key buzzer won't drive you nuts.

If the rubber levers broke off, it's because the heater valves are crudded up and hard to move. You need to remove them and clean them, or at least get them open and do a citric acid flush on the cooling system (recommended anyway by this time!).

The wood is a laminate product, layed up with hide glue (totally NOT waterproof!) with VERY thin French Walnut veneer. Originally a chocolaty brown, probably faded to a light mahogany by now. Original finish is catalyzed nitrocellulose laquer, if left in the sun much now blistered and cracked. Can be refinished by the usualy methods, but please no sandpaper -- you will remove the veneer instantly, it's literally paper thin. You can re-veneer if you want with French or American Walnut -- both are (0r were last time I looked) available in paper backed ultrathin veneers. Use either hide glue or contact cement after removing the original finish with stripper if so badly faded you can't restore it.

Some cars have Macassar ebony or walnut burl instead, but these are usually the 300s, not the 280s.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

I think my wood is decent enough to refinish. It actually looks pretty good. You can see it on my webpage link in the first post of this thread.

Went out again in the car tonight for dinner and drinks with my wife. I'm just totally enamoured with the car.

Yes, I found out the door switch is about $66 from Advance Auto Parts. I just got a catalogue from them and haven't looked elsewhere. Maybe I'm a bad "restorer", but I just feel like $66 is better used elsewhere at this point. But I am a big salvage yard fan. It is always like a stroll through the museum for me. Anyway, I plan on going to one I know has some old mercedes tommorrow. No big plans, but I want to try and find the switch and maybe a celing light. Who knows.... If I find the right car I may bring back a bunch of stuff.

Wow!!! I hadn't seen the lights in the A/C control panel until tonight. They look pretty darn cool. Much more modern looking and very pretty than I would've expected. Looks so much cooler than your typical ac controls. It refracts and is all luminescent through the clear plastic sliver in those discs. Neat. Now I'm really curious what this car must have really been like new. Even though I consider it in good condition, it has got to be fairly beat up compared to what it was like on the dealer lot.

Anybody know what a car like mine cost new in 1971? I'm really tempted to do a little research and find out who bought it new. Maybe I'll call up Mercedes on the off chance they have a maintennance history report somewhere reasonably accessible. Any good VIN websites for placing the car in the production series?

__________________
Please put "Mercedes" in the subject line if you email me. I don't want to lose you in the spam.

New cost in 1971 was around $22000. Not cheap, one of the reasons there are so few.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Well, I fiddled around with the car for the first time today. Just a little looking over things and I got some benefit.

Rear drivers side door opens and closes. The seller said it didn't work. I believed them. I tried pulling on the door lock stem and low and behold it was just a little stuck. So now that door is working.

I pulled the dash gauge panel out to mess with the bulbs. Tested one and it worked. So I fiddled with the rheostat until I got everything on the dash nice and bright.

I also pulled the ceiling light near the rear view mirror. Glued a broken piece together and it is working fine.

I searched all over the car hoping whoever removed the driver door stem swich had left it. Nope. Still need to find one.

I had been wondering why this car didn't have a safety brake and while under the dash I found it. Cool!

Now I just need a bulb for the trunk light fixture. Can't find any light source under the hood. I guess I need to order that trunk bulb from Mercedes since it has that special plastic housing. Can you just put a new bulb in the plastic housing?

Went to the salvage yard today and didn't find anything so ebay it is.

__________________
Please put "Mercedes" in the subject line if you email me. I don't want to lose you in the spam.

I searched all over the car hoping whoever removed the driver door stem swich had left it. Nope. Still need to find one.


They've been using the same style for over 40 years.

__________________
Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

No, the door swithes in the W108 are round, not the rectangular ones in the W115 and later cars.

No underhood light, MB still doesn't have them. Sorry.

Trunk light fixture contains a bulb very similar (if not the same one) to the interior lamps. Plastic cover pops off, I think.

I did my dash bow (the rest of the wood is waiting for me to find the top piece over the passenger front door) with about 15 coats of Spar Urethane after I stripped and stained it. It was bleached almost white. To do it over again, I'd re-veneer instead of stain, the color would last longer.

The trick to getting a perfect semigloss (you don't really want a full gloss) is to sand between coats of urethane varnish to flatten the finish -- have GREAT care not to sand through the first few coats, then use ScotchBrite "between coats" abrasive to take the finish (after about 12 or 15 thin coats) down to full matt. Use FFFF Pumice and then rottenstone (or automotive rubbing compound) to rub the finish up to the amount of gloss you want. This is much more work that spraying, but you need a very thick finish to protect from UV and rubbing it out will eliminate runs, sags, dust specs, etc.

You will need to use laquer thinner after stripper to get all the nitrocellulose laquer off the wood, a huge mess. Do this outdoors, serious fire hazard inside.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Ditto about the driver door stem switch. The one in my car is a four prong switch. The salvage yards didn't have anything old enough. I pulled a couple of those switches and they were different.

Your dash sounds like it must be looking good. That kind of a job will probably be one of the last things I do since the wood looks alright to me. Not as nice as some of the dashes I've seen on the internet, but it is original. I would be tempted to just refinish what I have rather than put new wood in. It wouldn't match my door jambs at that point.

__________________
Please put "Mercedes" in the subject line if you email me. I don't want to lose you in the spam.

Before resorting to eBay, check out some of the parts houses that I've listed before (do a search on my name for the prior post). For example, I found the door electrical switch you need (round, 2-pole) at IPS in Boise for about $15.00. Go to their web site www.ips-parts.com, put in your year, make and model, and check out the huge range of parts that are STILL available brand-new and at not unreasonable prices (half of what a dealer would charge, and as low or lower than what you can usually find on eBay. Either do a search on "door" or "switch" in the IPS catalog for this example (for some reason I couldn't find the switch by browsing the likely categories). One great thing you'll discover about old Benzes is that because MB tended to re-use the very same part for 30 years, replacement parts are both cheaper than you'd expect and also much more available.

The catalog system belongs to "World Pac" which I guess is the major wholesale supply house that most of the web import parts stores use, but the prices vary widely so check out a few of them. Also note that some of them have free shipping for orders over $50.00 so it's worthwhile to aggregate your small orders. I like IPS because they ship real fast, but you might have some luck with other suppliers as well.

If you can't find my earlier posts (I gave the addresses of about 5 suppply houses and a comparison of their prices for a small sample of common parts) let me know and I will e mail them to you (e mail me at catrinus1@netscape.net or you can send me a private e mail through this forum).

Above all, do a search on this forum whenever you have a specific question. It is unbelievable how knowlegeable people on this forum are and how good the advice is, but you'll find that they've answered most of your questions in the past. The search is how you find out what has been said about your topic before.

Catrinus
73 280C

P.S. if you send me a picture or a good description of the door switch, I think I might have a spare of what you need -- I ordered the wrong part once and it was so cheap I just kept it. In my case, I have a coupe and didn't realize my door switch has a vacuum connection for the seat back lock as well as the simple electrical switch for the light. So I might have what you need and can send it for postage.

Ebay can be pricey, even outrageous, but don't discount it for hard to find parts. If you're patient, and don't need to buy the first time your item comes up for sale, you can find bargains. I've found items for my '60 220S Fintail such as a complete set of nice front and rear bumpers, including shipping from California, for $170, the rear pillar chrome 'boomerangs' for $19, a decent pair of sunvisors for $24, an original, working Blaupunkt AM tube radio, with correct faceplate and knobs, for $11.

My book 'Mercedes-Benz Production Models - 1946-1975' by W. Robert Nitske, gives the East coast base price for the 1968 6 cylnder 280SE sedan at $6222. West coast price was about $110 more.
By late 1971, the East coast price for the 6 cylinder 280SE was up to $9546, including automatic transmission.
The highest price 280SE was the 1971 3.5 V8 Convertible at $14509.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW