Achtung - Das schweinhund baby benz thread

[Stretch]

Being English I didn't stop long in Wales - I packed up the car and got the heck back over the bridge.



This time I got some pictures - nice construction - owned by the French of course...







Back onto the M25 (give me strength)



I'm now having a well earned rest just south of London before I head back to Holland on Tuesday.

So far the car has been doing really well - I had a heart stopping moment at the customs when it just clicked when I turned the ignition - but it worked the second time. The differential is not a happy bunny and I think the parking brakes are rubbing a little. The exhaust is starting to blow a bit so I can see lots of fun times ahead for me when I get back to Holland.

[atomix8]

Love the updates as always, great photos!

[Simpler=Better]

Glad to see Europeans can't park within the lines either

That click thingy is probably just dirt in the battery connectors. Scares me all the time.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by atomix8

Love the updates as always, great photos!

Cheers

Originally Posted by Simpler=Better

Glad to see Europeans can't park within the lines either

That click thingy is probably just dirt in the battery connectors. Scares me all the time.

Those Europeans are mostly French - just saying!

I'll check my battery connectors again - thanks

Last of the pictures from the trip =>

Heavy traffic on the south side of London(ish)



Caused some alarming temperature gauge action - it didn't go any higher than this though =>



...that's about 112 degrees C to my MK1 eye ball - the fan was slow to kick on but it did - and with a little help from an open sunroof open windows and the heater on full it cleared down quite quickly...

...sea gulls the size of small children at Dover!





Back on a boat to Dunkirk

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Border France:Belgium



Cheap fuel in Belgium (about 20 cents a litre cheaper than Holland)



Belgium:Holland border



Back to the flat

[suginami]

What kind of fuel economy are you seeing with all that highway driving?

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Originally Posted by suginami

What kind of fuel economy are you seeing with all that highway driving?

Funny you should ask - I have just done some back of the envelope calculations and I reckon I was getting about 13.5 km per litre - that's about 31 MPG (US) / 36 MPG (UK)

On the whole considering I was stuck in **** loads of traffic - lots of sudden speeding up gap filling and foot to the floor experiences as well as some "yipee I'm free" moments I don't think that that is too bad. I was a man with a mission - much more of the sod the economy "I want to get home" style of driving was happening than the steady and smooth hyper mile attitude...

[suginami]

31 mpg is really good fuel economy. You should be proud.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by suginami

31 mpg is really good fuel economy. You should be proud.

I'm quite happy with it. I was looking at the tech specs for a W201 5 speed =>



The fuel economy figures are given as litres per 100 km

So the 90 kph expected (6.7 litres / 100km) comes out at 14.9 km / litre => 35 mpg (US)

The 120 kph (8.7) comes out at 11.49 km / litre => 27 mpg (US)

The urban mix (11.31) comes out at 8.84 km / litre => 20.79 mpg (US)

There's a difference between the test figures given above and my real world experience. Firstly the car was empty (a part from me) on one leg of the trip. On the way back is was full - not quite arse scraping on the floor but pretty full up with stuff (I should have taken a picture). Secondly I have a different differential fitted to the one that Mercedes fitted to their W201s - mine is still the four speed 3.46...

...the 3.46 makes the pick up in 5th a bit slow if you are say speeding up past a truck that has just pulled back into the "slow lane" but once you get going the engine is running at lower revs. 130 kph (80.8 mph) as indicated by GPS on flat ground is a tad under 3000 rpm on the tach gauge in the car (I haven't checked that that's actual rpm yet - but it is probably quite close to real rpms)

[Stretch]

...I have found a lot of damage to the new distributor cap contacts and the rotor arm. I think I've had the cap positioned incorrectly for too long to rectify the problem as there's now evidence of arcing on the contacts.

I had a chat with the chief mechanic at the dealership a few weeks back about the hunting idle trouble I've got and asked if they had the special tools for measuring the angle of crank rotation between the trigger signal from the crank and the time at which the spark on number one cylinder fires - apparently they've never used it or had it. Apparently setting the position to be as good as possible in the static situation is good enough - the electronics do the rest. There are meant to be marks on the distributor and the rotor arm for this but I've not found them on my car. So I've guessed again!

New cap and rotor arm is on order.

Another thing I noticed when playing about with the multimeter was that there seems to be a strong alternating current signal at the wires for the air idle control valve. I could only measure this with the DVM so I don't know exactly what the signal is like - I'm going to have to fire up that USB scope of mine again...

...but before I do that I thought I'd have a look at the condition of the alternator again.

I was toying with the idea of replacing the rectifier just for kicks but the state of the commutator part of the alternator is pretty grim (to waste 40 euros)









Note to self =>

Alternator is Car Part MERCEDES 008 154 96 02 (0081549602), Alternator

Rectifier is Car Part BOSCH 1 197 311 213 (1197311213), Regulator, alternator

[Stretch]

...new alternator turned up





It is already fitted to the car - engine runs a little more smoothly but I haven't had a chance to check to see if it actually stops the random dropping of the revs just yet.

A new distributor cap and rotor arm has also arrived. Before I fit it I want to make sure that the rotor arm position is 100% correct because I don't want there to be any arcing / welding going on in there with the new parts...

...the old parts are still kind of operational but are pretty badly damaged after less than 4000 km. I'll post up some pictures of what happens when the cap and rotor arm aren't in the correct position next week (when I've probably had a chance to get the job done). The problem I have is that I have not seen / can not find the marks that help with assembly on the distributor so I'm left guessing - I need to guess on the old parts and not the new!


###########



On another note - made a special tool out of a gate hinge! =>



What fun - tight little buggers...

[Stretch]

Alternator update - drove it for a bit today - much better - I think with the new rotor cap and thingy installed it'll be better still (fingers crossed)

[Stretch]

It is just no good! I need to have the car in bits again.

I've got the original differential to a stage where that's ready to be put together and put on the car - the propshaft centre bearing is going to be replaced - so the exhaust has been removed...

...guess what broke? =>

Sodding bolt for one of the flanges on the exhaust manifold. That's just cost me a set of exhaust gaskets and a set of manifold nuts (as I now need to remove the manifold for easy outs)



Oh well - all good fun this spannering isn't it?

[Simpler=Better]

Don't use EZ outs, weld a nut to the remaining stud and remove while hot.

Guy down the street wants $600 for his 2000 ranger, stickshift, 2.5L gasser. Want me to pick it up for you? 25-28mpg and almost zero maintenance.

[Mike D]

What would Tris want with a car which needs no maintenance?

I feel for you on the studs. I just went through a similar scenario with my M117 only it was the intake manifold bolts.