The car that never runs for more than 24 hours without a breakdown! I hope I'm just working out the bugs. This thing was very neglected by the previous owner.


this thread will be my journal on how to get this car beautiful happy and reliable, and for me to ask questions that hopefully people can help with.


current issues:

cooling system woes - gauge unreliable, reads 60* while driving around. now it's been overheating. coolant looked like dark tea, very rusty in the sytem. i suspect this is either the root, or part of the problem.

suspension fuckery - right front strut leaking, needs replacement. bushings noisy, SLS is sitting at the bottom of its range and i'm not sure if its busted because teh fluid reservoir is empty.

another crazy thing is i get speed wobbles like how you get tank slappers on a bike. when driving down the road, if i hit a crack or a pothole, the wheels get thrown into massive vibrations back and forth, and i have to fight with it to keep from swerving until it goes away. i checked and everything is attached. not sure wtf is up. going to try replacing steering damper.

climate control is the OLD OLD style, and system was never converted to R134. i'm torn on what to do there - pay out the ass for R12, or convert the system. the blower only turns on for defrost, nothing else. i think the climate control unit is probably beat, but cant find anything about the old style ones online anywhere.

rear window regulators are tired. they work, but they are clunky.

nothing holds the rear hatch up, not sure how to go about fixing that one.

glow plug light is flashing, presumably 1 or more are shot.


list of parts to be bought (when i have the money):

glow plugs
radiator cap
upper rad hose
lower rad hose
hood pad
alternator
heavy duty front struts
front suspension bushings
"cigar" return line
rubber fuel lines


list of tasks to be done as of right now:
-citrus flush the cooling system
-top off the SLS system, hopefully it starts working again
-front suspension rebuild/replace
-replace misc. rubber hoses
-replace glow plugs
-swap out shitty front passenger seat for nice one (have that already)
-replace steering damper
-swap out skinny stock steering wheel for the fat nice one from blue thunder

Sell the car and find a better one. Dry reservoir == dead SLS pump. Replacement is $1k unless you can source one used (I've often wondered if the one from the gassers is the same). SLS shocks are $300 each.

R12 is not that expensive anymore but you have the Dreaded Evil Servo. There is a solid state replacement for the for $500, or alternatively you can just install a manual petcock valve. The servo, if not dead yet, will cetainly die sooner or later. Leave it to the one system designed by americans on that car to be its downfall. it also involves the only microchip in the entire car....

Either way you got lots of money to sink into that thing and still be driving a car that was designed to never drive faster than 55mph (and noisily at that).

Do yourself and your wallet a favor and find a turbo wagon. BTDT

(08-26-2010 09:32 PM)winmutt Wrote:  Sell the car and find a better one. Dry reservoir == dead SLS pump.
Either way you got lots of money to sink into that thing and still be driving a car that was designed to never drive faster than 55mph (and noisily at that).

Do yourself and your wallet a favor and find a turbo wagon. BTDT

buying another car is not an option.

where can i find info on a manual petcock? i really only need a/c, heater will likely never be turned on. and a petcock would be fine if that need arose.


the speed is not an issue, i've driven it many miles already going 65. the noise doesn't bother me. this car's intended uses are: driving 8 miles to school, driving to various places around the suburbs i live in (45-50mph), camping, going surfing, and the occasional trip up to san francisco / vegas. i dont have a long commute, nor do i go on the freeway much at all. a turbo wagon would be cool, but there simply are not any ones available for any price i could afford at this point in my life (student).

the sls res is not DRY, its just very very low. there is fluid in the bottom.


anyhow, sounds like you have some awesome insight on my problems since i will be keeping this car for now :-)

(08-26-2010 09:32 PM)winmutt Wrote:  (I've often wondered if the one from the gassers is the same)

Yes. Just the high/low pressure hoses to the pump are different for W123 models. The pump from W126 560SEL should work too.

theres a guy out in your neck of the woods, somewhere in CA, who sells SLS replacement springs to change it to a regular suspension. Cost was like 200 bucks. propigskin is his name, you can pm him over on peachparts. Also up in the suspension section, a couple guys have pioneered other spring choices and there are part numbers listed in the SLS removal thread.

If the whole system is SNAFU, might be a cheaper option for you. There are lots and lots of review both ways on that though. Most people seem to say that the SLS ride is so superior that getting rid of it is a large mistake, while others seem to be happy having removed it, so I guess its a matter of research for you deciding what route is really feasible. It seems the rule is that if you have gone to the trouble to delete the SLS, you are happy with the results.

You need a couple rear hatch shocks. MB has them hidden up in the roof secretly under some removable panels. You can buy em new or off others. Ive got a set if you are interested, PM me if so.
Flush the cooling system and replace it with new coolant, id change the thermostat as well.

The massive wobble would be the #1 concern for me, are you sure everything suspension wise is attached? Wheel bearings, sway bars, loose ball joints, loose tierods?

The wobble could just be attributed to your bad suspension in the rear throwing off the steering geometry of the car as well, but id do an intensive check on all suspension components if have not already done so.

Oh, and we need some pics! A picture is worth a thousand words

(08-27-2010 02:22 AM)stan Wrote:  anyhow, sounds like you have some awesome insight on my problems since i will be keeping this car for now :-)

LOL I sure do. Start looking for wagons at the junkyards and look for SLS stuff.

(08-27-2010 02:22 AM)stan Wrote:  .


this car's intended uses are: driving 8 miles to school, driving to various places around the suburbs i live in (45-50mph), camping, going surfing, and the occasional trip up to san francisco / vegas.

Awesome dude, im taking Besty up to San Fran for the first time in the begining of october for a bluegrass festival.

I think getting all the problems worked out of the car is half the fun..the other half is driving her.
And as far as a turbo goes, if you ever start itching for the extra oomph, it wouldnt be that hard to convert..i think.

I had an SD that everytime i got near 75 the front end would wobble like a SOB, it was pretty scary..it ended up being an alignment problem.

(08-27-2010 06:38 AM)dropnosky Wrote:  The wobble could just be attributed to your bad suspension in the rear throwing off the steering geometry of the car as well, but id do an intensive check on all suspension components if have not already done so.

i spent some time under the front looking at things. everything appears to be attached and tight. i'm going to get it up on jackstands today/tomorrow to see if i can figure things out. if nothing else, i'm gonna replace the steering damper, and maybe the shocks (front right is leaking anyway).

A couple bad pics here:

http://www.superturbodiesel.com/std/capt...l#pid16670

I did a quick flush with the hose yesterday and the shite that came out was just horrible!

http://www.superturbodiesel.com/std/capt...l#pid16893

so yesterday i flushed the cooling system out real good (just with plain hose water). broke the radiator drain plug when putting it back in, had to extract the piece carefully, and then put a new one in ($14 from the stealership for that stupid plastic piece). the coolant that came out looked like COFFEE. it was nuts. ran the engine with a hose filling the top and drain plug open, got a lot of nasty looking water out. seems to be running cooler now!

also figured out why it seems to be randomly dying / running rough - the vacuum shutoff was partially cutting off fuel supply. unhooked for now, runs mostly fine although still seems a little hesitant on pulling fuel - maybe tank strainer, since i just replaced the fuel filters....

drove to LA and back last night and realized the car is much more pleasant if i stick to 55-60mph. very leisurely!

spoke with propigskin, the guy who does the SLS removal spring kit. he said he can make a set that is 2.5" taller than normal!!!! once i can get hte money together, i really want to put heavy duty bilstein shocks all the way around, and taller / heavier springs on. even if i can get hte SLS working, it's probably going to be $$$$$. i wonder if properly functioning SLS could handle the weight of 3 extra wheels, 30 gals of fuel cans, camping gear, etc on the roof, plus 4 people inside the car?


anyhow, i'm wondering if the little green plastic diaphragm piece between the shutoff valve and the vacuum lines is to blame, or if i need to replace the actual shutoff valve in the ip. symptoms are rough/loping idle, and if you rev the car and then close the throttle, it dies immediately. basically anything that makes a strong vacuum or involves idling will cause the car to die - i.e. something is closing the shutoff valve partially when it should not.

How much is he wanting for the custom springs?

today's fun:

built white LED replacement for the cluster lights. unlike the other user on here (idk who?) who stuck the LEDs pointing bare at teh cluster, i did something a little more stock. i made small circuit boards which attached to the gauge cluster boards in the stock bulb location. so these LEDs should have the same diffusion / pattern as the stock lights - just brighter and pure white. i bypassed the dimmer potentiometer, but will build a PWM circuit later on to properly dim the lights. the problem is for some reason there is no power coming to that circuit. i checked on the main gauge cluster plug and no power is coming that way under any circumstances. will have to troubleshoot more later...

found out the hard way how much oil comes through the oil gauge line - my carpet is soaked with oil now. hopefully that can be cleaned out.

filled the SLS reservoir, but the system did not suck any of the fluid up. i discovered that what i believe is the SLS servo was unplugged. i plugged it back in (with the car off) and the servo just runs, runs, runs. no change in the reservoir level or the suspension height. will check it out with the car on later.

killed the battery again by running headlights for <5 min. turns out that at idle, i'm showing 12.46 volts on the battery. my alternator belt is loose and the alternator is already adjusted all the way out. will need to go buy a new belt and hopefully that should fix my charging problem. checked the voltage regulator and it has plenty of life left.

started running on vegetable oil today - put the first 3 gallons in and so far its loving it.

still haven't dealt with shutoff valve problem, but i did buy a vacuum gauge and discovered that the ignition valve is probably faulty - the shutoff valve line is pulling a slight vacuum at idle while the key is on. for now i have the line unhooked for the sake of not stalling.

spent some time under the car - transmission is kinda oily, going to try and find time to degrease it in hopes of finding the source of the leak.

looked at the front end suspension - lower control arms and their bushings look fine. tie rods look fine as well. i am suspicious of the upper control arms though, as their bushings look a little shifty. the leaking right front shock is making it hard to tell what is going on though. the right front tire has managed to wear almost all the tread down on the outside edge, i am not sure if this is due to a problem with the control arms, or again a result of the bad shock. the camber is bad enough that the tire has worn that much (from being near-new) in just 2 weeks or so.

REALLY need to get on the glow plug replacement. still doing research on what type to get, and how to make sure i dont order the wrong thing. high on the priority list because i keep seeing the blinking glow plug light and it worries me.


garage - to answer your question, his price is $225 for the normal spring set, i'm assumign the extra charge for 2.5" additional height will be minimal or zero. but i dont think he can make springs for other models - he doesnt seem to be doing this as a large thing. you can e-mail - propigskin@aol.com

that's all for now, more to come this week.

Still no pics.....

Are the coils for the wagon and sedan different?

(08-28-2010 02:20 PM)stan Wrote:  i wonder if properly functioning SLS could handle the weight of 3 extra wheels, 30 gals of fuel cans, camping gear, etc on the roof, plus 4 people inside the car?

The answer to this is yes, its hugely powerful when working properly. Guys have put 800lb V8 diesel engines in the back of their wagons and watched it pump right up and commented on how nice the ride was!

---

(08-30-2010 10:06 PM)garage Wrote:  Are the coils for the wagon and sedan different?

Yes, the wagon springs are a larger diameter, but not as strong individually, they need the SLS shock to hold the car up. I discovered that when i got the propigskin springs which were almost the same diameter as the stock springs, and ordered some 300D springs seats which were way too small.

A TOTALLY non functioning system would look like this-
   

On this vehicle, the shocks, valve, and lines are bad, AND the springs are broken in the cups. I saw from some of captains pics that stans car still sits up, so I bet his is not too far gone. There are testing procedures and some great DIY articles on figuring out the SLS. You should check out some of the DIY's floating around on the forums written by Biodiesel300TD.

My cousin told me a story about when he and his buddy took the buddies dad's SE to Berlin and loaded a chunk of the wall into the back of the car with a forklift. He said it weighed close to 1500lb.

yesterday was NUTS. went otu to captain america's house to pull parts off my old blue car. replaced my right front shock on the wagon with one from the blue sedan. one thing led to another, and we ended up fabricating a roof rack. captain america pussed and went home to sleep before work, but me and his buddy banged the whole rack out and it was done at about 5:30am this morning. drove home with the awesome thing, and GUESSS WHAT NO MORE CRAZY SUSPENSION WOBBLE.

super stoked that i was able to pull a used shock


new problem: the brake pad light, battery light, and e-brake light come on as they should when i first turn the key on, but then they never turn off. i'm guessing this is a relay issue? really not sure. the car exhibits no other symptoms but it still makes me uneasy.

Well lets see the rack!!!

(09-01-2010 05:00 PM)garage Wrote:  Well lets see the rack!!!

Stan needs a camera.

Its not allowing pictures to upload right now. I've got one though. I'll try and post it later...

---

Look at this Homo! hahahahahah thats for calling me a puss! Sorry I have a job lol

wow, that rack is no joke! Looks like you guys did a nice job, how are you going to do the finish on it? It it regular steel? It would be nice to be able to powdercoat something that size, probably not though, unless it breaks apart

That's quite the rack! Did it come off a South American bus? You could fit like 50 villagers up there! lol It looks good!

Stan!! That rack is perfect looking (from here).
Just how i imagined it when you were talkin about it, that thing is SWEET!
One step closer to a serious expedition vehicle

Did you guys build the mounts too?

The thing is 8' x 4'! That guys is nuts! Yeah you could have something like that powder coated if you wanted.... That's what I would do.

Flat black.....or satin if you musstt


Seriously...that is fucking kick ass...i cant stop staring at it...
I MUST buy a TD now...hahaha
That thing makes my rack look like...well like a POS ha

How much does it weigh? approximately?

ok to answer questions: the feet are regular yakima rain gutter feet and yakima bars. the rack bolts to them with a bunch of stainless u-bolts. the whole rack is regular steel. my plan is to clean everything up with a wire brush, fix some welds that are a little iffy, and then either powdercoat or paint it. probably paint because im a cheap ass.

the thing will support a 230lb dude standing in the middle with almost zero sagging.

the area in the center near the front is where i plan to tie down 4 fuel cans (scepter MFCs) - wanted to beef it up as that's a good 160 or so lbs concentrated in one area, and i wanted to be able to strap it down real tight.

the rear area is fairly gappy - we didnt put anything in a lot of that area because i'm still figuring out what to do. might do some hardwood slats going left to right on the rear half of the rack - would look pretty slick if pulled off right. i've seen it done on old bugs with roof racks.

the dimensions are roughly 97 inches long, 50 inches wide, and 7 inches tall (not counting the yakima components or anything. it's not that heavy - maybe 60lbs? i can pick it up by myself, and two people can easily pick it up and set it down on the roof. i specifically made this so that it can be bolted/unbolted from the feet/crossbars and thus could be put on whatever car, and can be customized / etc.

without further ado:

haha, that thing is great! Reminds me of something you would stand on during a safari!

Do you think those two yakima bars are enough? It seems to me that you will be able to load that rack with 10 times the weight that the yakima component/gutters can actually hold on just those 4 points. Maybe another set of bars in the middle?

Looking at it on that wagon with the white wall tires, I think you should wire brush and shine it, then clear coat the whole thing, shiny steel would match the older feel of the vehicle.

looks good! You could always make some extra cash by hauling stuff...

   

   

You could put a tent on it....

Question for Rudolf:

If some one who you didn't know came up to you with the bar stock to build this rack, how much would you charge to cut, fit, and weld everything...?

(09-02-2010 03:08 PM)Captain America Wrote:  Question for Rudolf:

If some one who you didn't know came up to you with the bar stock to build this rack, how much would you charge to cut, fit, and weld everything...?

Is that 1" tubing? I have a bender that can do 1"...As seen in the pic? Are the vertical pieces fish mouthed? I have a nothcer to do that too...I am guessing $150-$200...depends on how I felt I guess.

yeah, as in the pic. everything there is fish mouthed. I think its 1"....

(09-02-2010 03:01 PM)winmutt Wrote:  You could put a tent on it....

I belive hes planning on it

all the tubing is 1 1/4". if someone else wants to make one i can make some sort of drawings or something. i would recommend making a jig though, this one is not straight in pretty much any dimension because we built it in a driveway. not a big deal, but something to consider before doing a build

It looks great!

more battery woes. put a fresh battery in today. replaced the ground strap, confirmed good ground (almost zero resistance between battery negative and the body). but the battery is not charging at all - driving around with the headlights on drained the battery down SUPER low. no voltage change when revving the engine. i replaced all the belts today, and tensioned everything real good. went ahead and left the a/c belt off for now since the climate control unit isnt working anyway.

going to try and replace the voltage regulator even though i looked and the graphite contacts are totally fine. if that's not the issue, then idkwtflol.

emailing back and forth with propigskin, going to probably pull the trigger on those springs with 2.5" extra length, and then order some bilstein HDs. right now my rear end is LOWWWWWRYDERRRR status. sucks going over anything at all. even driveways.

got a pair of hella 700ff driving lights, which i'll mount as soon as i can actually power them without killing my battery.

soon as kragen gets my zerex g-05, going to do a citrus flush and fill up with fancy proper coolant. also replacing all the fuses, and doing an oil change, once my package from partsgeek arrives.

tracked down a voltage regulator at the highway robbery price of $44.99. it didn't fix the problem though, still not charging while running. i think i'm going to crawl under with the engine running to see what the voltage is on the alternator contacts

yargh!

That is ridiculius you can get an alt for not much more. Did you measure voltage off the alternator?

looks like the alt is dead. with the new voltage regulator in, the alt is not doing shit. to see if it was a grounding issue, i connected a jumper cable between the body of the alternator, and the negative terminal of the battery. no change. put one probe on the negative battery terminal and then probed the wires at the alternator, still just battery voltage. so it looks like the thing is fucked. i was able to return the voltage regulator, thankfully.

now i'm looking at ordering a bosch al129x alternator so i can get 115 amps instead of shitty shit 55amps. this means i will have enough power for MANY LIGHTS lol. soon as the wiring issues are sorted, i have to figure out where to mount the pair of hellas i already got. i'm thinking in front of the grill but it pains me to drill holes in the bumper.....


still deciding whether to buy sls delete springs (225) and bilstein HDs (140ish) or dick around with the SLS.....

Drill holes in the bumper and mount lights itll be beautiful!

well i may try and fab up a push bumper / beefy thing instead, so i can stash my pretty chrome bumper in the garage for later.

oh jesus christ. i was inspecting the wiring for the alternator. i know it's connected right as i get battery voltage on it, but i needed to make sure i knew where to route the new wires for the upcoming alternator swap/upgrade. now everything i can find says it should be going to a junction on the passenger fender....but mine doesn't. it goes up through the firewall, and i have no fucking idea where it goes from there. here's some photos, see if you can tell me whats up because i'm baffled and have no idea where to go with this....

ok, talked to RZ Alternator & Starter in harbor city, ca. He's rebuilding me a bosch AL129X today and I'll be picking it up tomorrow. BADASS. no core charge, and 1 year warranty. hopefully the swap is relatively painless, and then ill be able to push 115 amps woo woo

SHIT. shifter is acting weird, some kind of alignment issue now making shifts happen in teh wrong spot, and i cant get fully into park....blaahhhhh

went over to the mercedes classic center (in irvine) today, was REALLY cool. they have a whole bunch of different mercedes from the turn of the century forward. if you live within driving distance, GO. they had a 79 300D there, and OMFG it was like-new. craziest thing ever. talked to the parts advisor for a while, got a printout with all the different spring part numbers for the W123 front springs, including the ambulance / heavy duty springs! turns out they have 4 of them in new jersey, and like 75 in germany. retail price is ~234/spring, but the guy said he could probably get them to me for ~190/spring. not an option right now, but definitely something to consider later on. i put in my application for my first high mileage award (155k miles, my odo is at ~184k).


short term current project list:

-swap the new alternator in, run extra heavy wiring from new alt to battery directly
-pull the shifter bezel and clean the lens/letters up.
-figure out wtf is up with the shifter, and fix it
-LED light for the shifter bezel
-finish the LED light for the front dome light
-pick up the rear lift springs next week for SLS delete
-get sedan shocks for SLS delete
-make pump blockoff plate for SLS delete
-mount the hella 700FFs on the bumper
-pull all the fuses, clean contacts, and put all new fuses in (got set ready to go)
-put the new vacuum dashpot in for the shift control line
-install stereo head unit, and speakers if necessary (already have all parts)
-put replacement passenger seat in
-go to the junkyard to find a replacement ignition switch vacuum shutoff valve so i can stop popping the hood to turn car off
-try and find replacement left tail light lens
-pull fuel level sending unit, clean it

probably more shit to do, but that's all i can think of right now

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LOL look waht i found! it's just like my rack!

Oh die. You went to CC? Did you talk to Tom? I <3 that guy! I am envious. I would fix the SLS, find a wagon at the yard. Shifter is probably just worn bushing, $10 or so for all of them.

Nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes.

(09-10-2010 06:21 AM)winmutt Wrote:  Oh die. You went to CC? Did you talk to Tom? I <3 that guy! I am envious. I would fix the SLS, find a wagon at the yard. Shifter is probably just worn bushing, $10 or so for all of them.

Nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes.

i talked to tom over e-mail yesterday morning when getting my data sheet, but jon was the parts advisor i talked to while i was there.

shifter is worn bushing? i thought i remember reading something about there being a way that things are aligned and that your shifter can get out of alignment? how do i even diagnose this one?

i would consider fixing the SLS at a later date, and i have no plan to throw away the components, but right now i just want to swap everything off and not have to worry about it. i've got a bunch of classes starting on oct 18, and then i will have hardly any time to fiddle with teh car.

got the alternator! it's all shiny and coooool!

next order of business is the harness for it. i need to get wiring to connect it direct to the battery, and i am also going to use a junction since my car does not currently have one. with the junction i will connect the stock connectors in (so my battery light works). i will also use the junction box to connect to any new wiring (driving lights, amps, etc) so i can leave the stock fuses alone and not add extra load to the stock harness. this is good because it means no permanent modifications to the car, and it will be very beefy and over-engineered.

is there a good way for me to go about connecting 2 things to the battery's positive terminal? i'm looking at getting a connector so i can just use 2 wires, unless there is a better way....

Get marine battery posts...

   

Or a marine Battery...

   

Or a battery with side posts...

   

I like those battery posts.

Wham-o!