Looking for help with W111? 66' 250SE Coupe 6cyl/4spd

[2001SL500R]

My buddy and I are trying to rehab this car, its in great condition, runs and drives pretty well.

We rebuilt the shift linkage as we were having a hard time finding reverse. When we put the car on a lift and later lowered it, a sizable volume of fluid hydraulic/pentosin pissed out of it.

Does anyone have a diagram of this system? I think its whats called a "swing" axle but the right rear axle assembly comes off the differential with a U joint that I believe allows the axle to be moved up and down by the SLS apparatus.

Lastly, the back of the sunroof is not flush, the motor in the trunk was unplugged, plugged back in and does work, but no movement. Would like to diagnose and fix, but also want to know if we can close manually in the meantime.

We both have a lot of experience w/123 forward but neither of us have had anything this old and we need some cheat codes if possible!!

THANKS!!! -Doug

Any help would be much appreciated.

[rumb]

Leaking trans fluid is odd. Where does it leak from?

The rear axle sounds like you still have the hydraulic compensator on top instead of a spring. These units wear out and can be rebuilt for $$$. Many choose to install the springs instead. SLS is a term for a suspension that has hydraulic cylinders like shocks, your car does not have this.


There should be a small tool that can be used to manual close the sunroof that inserts by the motor. These units can break gears, or your cable needs work or lubricated.

[Todd Miller]

Hello Doug,
Very cool that you found a '66 with sliding metal sunroof and 4 on the floor. Same as my car, and a fairly rare build combo.

Look at the top of the differential area and see if there's a big horizontal metal cylinder or a spring. The metal cylinder is the Hydropneumatic Compensator. It's fluid filled, and pressurized, capable of leveling the car, as the car drives along. I'm guessing that's where your fluid is from. Usually though, when it goes bad, the rear of the car will drop, because the compensator no longer has enough pressure or fluid to pump itself up and support the weight of the car. People buy the spring kits to replace them, because the rebuild costs about a grand. You'll find used ones on ebay all day long for a few hundred bucks, and one of these could be sent away to be rebuilt, should you want to go that route. I still have one in my car, and really enjoy the ride, but that's just me. A guy on the BenzWorld forum for vintage MBZ, "suktinis" knows where to get the Compensators rebuilt, by the company that made them. Contact him if you want one rebuilt. Niemoller in Germany offers a rebuilding exchange service, but they are using the same company, and adding to the price.

Regarding the sunroof: The interior ceiling panel can be pulled down, from along the front edge, and then flexed in a bow, downward, and removed. This will give you access to the underside of the sunroof, and some of the pivoting internals. You can carefully lube them with Kroil and then TriFlow, but be careful not to get spray or dripping onto the headliner. You'll probably want to remove the sunroof motor completely from the car, take the covers off of it, and lube it up inside. They can get all rusted up and even seize. With the motor removed, and the sunroof cable free to spin, you might be able to manually move the roof. Maybe at that point you can get the roof slide rearward enough to clean and lube the track areas at the front, and then begin manually moving the roof back and forth, and upward into the closed position, repeatedly, and free up any of the pivots that might be stuck.

It looks like a nice car, but dear gawd, those fender mounted mirrors have got to go!