my 1986 560SEL
 

This is one sweet ride. Very happy with it.
The one thing I need ti fix right away is the left rear window. I can move it up and down by hand. I hear the motor but it is somehow disconnected. Once I get the panel off I hope it is an easy fix. i hit the switch to check it when I was inspecting it and I heard a "pop" then no action. Also need a left rear view mirror cover and the plastic lower driver seat trim.
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/...frontwhole.jpg
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/...q7T_800600.jpg
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/...79L_800600.jpg
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/...passside-1.jpg
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/...CGN_800600.jpg
http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/...o4P_800600.jpg

Nice car!

Plastic slider or sometimes called a "jaw". Might as well buy 4 of them. The others will fail soon. There are two different styles. Remove a door panel to find which you have.

The first one you do will be a puzzle but after you learn the easy ways the rest are smooth.

I find getting the stinking door panels correctly back in place to be the hardest part of the job.

You have to pull the window regulator out (you'll need to do some finagling to get this out, do NOT pry or use force as you'll tweak the arms creating another problem), grind the back side of the jaw, remove the metal pin, insert the new jaw pin and "peen" the soft rivet to spread it and then re-install the regulator, panel and switches. The plastic slide of the jaw itself can be removed to ease the "peening" process. I find using a chisel to "X" the back side of the rivet works best.

Stock up on band-aids and minor curse words 'cause you're going to scrape your hands up on the first one you do.

Now's a good time to vacuum out the bottom of the door and check for rust. This is a problematic area for rust to begin on the W126's. If you do find rust then look at your window seals. If they are hard and cracked then you know where the water is entering. If there is rust, clean it, treat it and paint it now while you are there. Replace the draft excluder plastic if it tears.

Go over the door cards, clean and tighten the screws and clips.

Gee, ain't owning an older car fun?:rolleyes:

Hopefully they did not sell it to you on the pretense it had 'under 100,000 miles' as that odometer is broken unless you recently reset it........

Thanks for the instructions.
The photos are from the seller when they put it up for sale. It shows more miles now. :-)

Nice car. Replace your timing chain guide rails, and perhaps the chain, NOW, unless you have a receipt for the work done recently.
PeachPartsWiki: M116/117 Timing Chain Replacement

I love this place. Awesome link.

Awesome looking car! I've been both ends of the spectrum on the 560..****ty to well done. Yours looks to be in the well done category! Get that chain and guide checked up though!

The car is now home.
 

The title came in and the transaction is complete. I drove the car home and it drove nice.
I really like this car alot.
It has good power, really pulls nice but there is a very small hesitation off the line for a split second when I tried a Jack-Rabbit start. Once I got home, I spent a few hours looking all over the car. I found some minor issues. (see pics)
Does anyone know of a good indi shop near Katy? I want someone to inspect it including the chain and guides....
1. The temperature sending unit two pin connector was not connected and has a jumper accross it. Is this done to kick the aux fan on sooner?
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/...SEL_jumper.jpg

2. A thermostat housing bolt had some coolant around the head.
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/...oolantbolt.jpg

3. The hood braces. One is loose and one is missing. Need a new insulation pad. At least I have good access to push out some small dents.
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/..._underhood.jpg

4. I pulled the ashtray out to see if I could find an easy fix as to why the Becker radio does not power up. Found two loose wires. But still no radio action. I do like that the ashtray and lighters have never been used. They look perfect.
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/..._ashtrhole.jpg

I ran a CarFax report and found this car has been driven less than 200 miles since 2006. No accidents.

I drove the 560SEL to work today for the first time. it is 45 miles each way. It drove so nice.
I took it to C & B in Katy for a bumper to bumber inspection and was found to have a lot of expensive new parts already. It had new ball joints and rod ends and bushings. The tansmission is new. The chain was new too and all Mercedes parts. The tech. (Craig) said who ever owned it took very good care of it. All he did is change the oil, flush out and clean the brake system, change the differential lube and clean the vent.

I put new michelins on yesterday. All that remains is to install a radio and fix the power antena. And the hard part... Sell the mustang gt.

I have named this car "The Captain".

Well a bunch of that wiring is not OE for the Becker... that blue/brown stuff should be for the factory alarm. Pull it all out and take a photograph for me. I will tell you want to remove and what to keep.

The jumped wire is to make the aux fan run all the time. Means it is probably masking a cooling system issue... rad old, dead fan clutch, etc The single pole on the temp switch is to cut the A/C compressor off at a certain temp. I have a spare red switch that turns all of that stuff on and off at a lower temp, PM me and you can have the thing.

Hesitation you are experiencing is probably due to vacuum leaks. Being that car is an '86, it is now exempt in Texas for emission testing. Just delete those miles of vacuum hose crap for the EGR, AIR injection, evaporative emission stuff, etc. Those just cause issues down the line. Chances are you are due for an intake reseal in your near future.

Any oil leaks? Those are vac leaks.



I am in Katy at times, as is another member here 'Redassag00' he too is due for a top end reseal. :D I am just finishing mine, not hard just quite time consuming to clean everything and delete all the garbage emission crap. Simply waiting for my woodruff keys and my top end is DONE. :)

Thanks for the good info hit man 10. The jumper may be from a long time a go. The radiator and fan are new. It runs in the 90 range or lower. Ac is nice and cold once it beats the summer heat out of the cabin. I filled up the tank and the hesitation is gone. May have had some old gas in there. I dont see or smell any oil.
I will pull the radio out and take some pics this weekend. I hope to install a new head unit this weekend too. It has a Pioneer 12 cd changer in the trunk. That is coming out. No need for it. BUt it will use it's wires to pull speaker wires to the back. From what I have read here, the fader gets by-passed.

much appreciated.

I pulled the jumper out, repaired the two wires and reconnected it. No overheating. It's actually a little cooler. Does that sending unit controll fuel mixture as well as the aux fan? Seems to run better.

A few weeks ago the AC was blowing warm air. It turned out to be the single wire going to the same sending unit. It had become disconnected from the connector. I soldered in a new section of wire to the connector, spliced it into the single wire and that fixed it. Love these cheap and easy fixes.

Now if I could just hire the HitMan to come over to help with installing the guide-rod bushings, and subframe bushings. :D

All the subframe mounts, trailing arm bushings, guide rod mounts and bushings installed. Rides a lot better now. No more thump in the back going over bumps and I no longer feel the front end shift over speed bumps or low speed braking. The old guide rod mount had a lot of play in them. They looked ok from the outside but were shot.

Now I have an oil leak that appears to be coming from the front crankshaft seal.

I have the tool to lock the crank so you can do the front main. Not hard, just a time consuming job.

Lots of disassembly to get to that point.