W116.org

A bad "restoration day" today as I continue "AMGising" my silver 6.9!  Firstly, tried installing my second replacement Cruise Control computer and it doesnt work either (and according to one of Perth's best known M100 experts everything else (switch, actator etc etc) works fine. Another dud resolder? sigh......

Worse today. Much worse. Delivered car to autotrimmers for brand new carpets to be fitted; received "that" call a few hours later to confirm worst fears - heaps of rust in floor on passenger side front and minor on drivers side.  No carpets today   Time to book it in to crash repairers.

Sigh.......depressed.

Chris M

Chris,

If you're modifying this car anyway you might try using truck bedliner material to coat those pans - I've used it for years.  You don't even need to cut out the bad metal - just grind the lumpy spots off, tape (yes, simple paper TAPE) the holes and have them spray it from underneath.  Put a rust-inhibitor on the interior part of the panel and toss the pad and carpet back in.    You can even have it colored grey (as part of the blend) to match the other undercoating - the stuff is incredible.... 

I coated an anvil with this stuff 5 years ago and it still hasn't worn away - and I literally BUILT a Suzuki Samurai 4X4 out of rust, tape and bedlining material as a trade show demonstration.  I saw it running around town two weeks ago and it looks perfect to this day.

No need to be depressed, rust repairs are just part of the package when it comes to owning a 26 year old car. And dont worry, unlike cancer, the success rate is much higher

Unfortunatly though, getting slack jawed aussies to actually do anything costs alot of money. So shop around.

Also, dont just fix the symptom, find and fix the water leaks. Or your just pissing in the wind.

I have the same rust on my black 6.9 and had to cut the same area in my silver 6.9. I think its a common water trap. You may want to replace the seals once you repair the rust. Underseal on both sides of the floor pan is a good idea.

Rusting floors is a common issue. I agree with alabassi to underseal both sides of the floors. additionally what I did was that I made a hole in the floor and applied one of those directioned rubber grommets so that water can escape.
There are so many places were water can enter to the floor that it is good to have this water drain in the lowest floor part.

Hi Chris,

Before you do anything, two comments.

Firstly, there's a reco cc computer on ebay aus at the mo for $99.95 with money back guarantee!  Here's the link http://cgi.ebay.com.au/CRUISE-CONTROL-COMPUTER-MERCEDES-116_W0QQitemZ4623578284QQcategoryZ72454QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Secondly, as for the rust, I posted a thread ages ago relating to rust in the front passenger footwell. You can read about it here Topic: Leaking Cabin? Found the problem, finally
The pics went awol during the forum upgrade but I know the fist two below were there plus I've thrown in a few more.  See them  below.  There's been a couple of other recent comments on the ingress of water and it makes me wonder if this is the common cause.  If the car's going to crash repairs, might as well get em to check it out.

Click images for larger view.


The trouble spot


Urethane applied to lap join.


Painted


Front passenger footwell receiving treatment


Back together and still no leaks


EDIT, CHANGED 1st pic

wotta rip off some people charge for these things. If you are able to desolder/solder, they can be "reconditioned" for under $5.

If you just blanket resolder the whole board it will get it working. But if you want accurate speed holding, you will have to change all of the capacitors, or the speed will simply drop off slowly.

Rip off?  Really?  I'll take your word for it.  Me, I have no experience with these ccc's, however, I 'll pull apart anything and sometimes put them back together correctly.  It pays to take notes, which I don't.  I'm guessing the electronics are bulky inside compared to modern pcb's and if it's a simple desolder/resolder kind of job then I'd have a go.

A week ago our laptop fell asleep.  Long story short, replaced screen, usb ports  and found a lose screw that caused the mayhem.  By the time I got it together and running, I had 12 screws left over. .  At least they wont be causing trouble in the future.

So what now for Chris?  Is it possible to make an extension harness/lead to make plugging and unplugging a ccc quicker and easier until he finds one that works?

Absolutely a rip off, its as usual, business's taking opportunity by charging like wounded bulls for something dead easy because most people are too scared to take a look at it them selves. The PCB is single layer and the tracks are the size of those in a 1970's woodbox television, IE. MASSIVE - which coincidently, i was trained on all of the transistors, IC's and capacitors have modern equivalents. Its also a complete CROCK that incorrect wattage brake light bulbs will damage the circut, because it just doesn't work that way and it will never happen.

Having said that, I wouldn't want someone with poor soldering skills to attempt a repair, bridging some tracks could result in a permanent wide open throttle. 

Thanks for all the advice everyone; I'll shop around and get the rust problem "solved" for good. As for teh Cruise Control Big Richard has kindly offered to help me with it (perth based!); so I'll report back in a few weeks when hopefully we have it all working!
Cheers
Chris

  my cover is blown 

True! So now the long version.
I was quoted $707 for a new laptop screen.  The manufacturer, (no names mentioned) wouldn't sell me a new screen on its own which is $530.  They want the system and the work involved in replacement.  They also said a new motherboard was needed to address the broken USB ports, another $700.

My answer! $440 for a wrecked laptop, ebay.  Replacement screen plugged straight into motherboard and about two hours to salvage and replace 4 USB ports.  Plus now I have excess parts that I don't need and will hopefully recoup some money.  My soldering skills are good but electronic knowledge is limited. 

With run down 116's so cheap, there's good opportunity to pull apart, play and learn and no doubt save some dough on maintenance and repairs.  That is, assuming you've all spent wads on buying the necessary MB special tools.   All the best Chris.

I work in the service industry, 99% of the time people don't ever want to repair things them selves, and just want things fixed. Some of the most expensive jobs i perform require the undoing and replacement of 2 philips head screws. My experience in the technical service industry has left me somewhat jaded, no one helps anyone or does anything for nothing. I'm the opposite, despite constant threats of unemployment, I do anything and everything for my customers to make sure they get value for money. I give freebee's, don't charge for parts when i cant be bothered writing them up etc & I'll happily dribble shit to someone on the phone for an hour and talk them how to fix things for them selves at no cost. This in itself has got me inundated with work, inside and outside of work. Tossers that want money for everything and tell you to "bring it in" rather than tell you how to fix a product, really annoy me and I'll do something for FREE just to spite them. I cant stand greed.

Car related work, i love as a hobby, but i wouldn't ever do as a job. I hate getting my hands dirty and getting broken nails. Working on these disgusting filthy machines and charging lots of money is warrented to a degree. My comments were not aimed at the auto industry - I know mechanics are a rip off, some charge as much as a lawyer yet only have a high school education, or you get apprentices working on your car, reality check required there. If i was one of those people afraid to fix things himself, I'd be riding a bicycle, luckily I'm not. 
 
I was talking about MY job!!, where my competition are a bunch of self absorbed $%^@@# who think their better than everyone else and never help in any way without $$$.

Also, when there is high turnover, you can give customers lower prices, which snowballs into more customers comming back. Either that, or you can charge the same as everyone else, and your customer base growth can remain stagnant. My commercial standards simplistic, yes, unrealistic, NO, I've never made a loss yet.

BR: I couldn't agree more with your sentiments! In my business (editing, designing, and publishing books), there is much competition. My competitors spend huge amounts on advertising and promotion, and do nothing free of charge - not even a five-minute phone consultation.

I frequently yak on for 15-30 minutes giving free advice to non-clients (and existing clients, too). I also don't charge for some piddling, minor amendments to second-run jobs when clients have changed their minds about something. About 50% of the time, those whom I advised free have ended up becoming paying clients; those who don't have, nonetheless, mentioned my name to others who have then become clients. My success is dependent upon three things: the quality of my work, my readiness to assist without charge (where appropriate and practicable), and word of mouth about the previous two items.

I spend absolutely nothing on advertising and promotion; I don't go seeking clients or work. Yet, despite my being upfront about being far from the least expensive of my service type in the region, I usually have more work on than I can see the end of. Sure, my business is not capital-heavy in that I don't have to invest much other than my time in the work I do; if I were in Styria's business, having to supply expensive components or utilising subcontractors, it might be different. However, in no form of business at all do I see a valid justification for outright greed. That is not only counterproductive to a business (unless it's a bank - grrr!), but is counterproductive to the fabric of society. Australia is already far enough down the "me! me! me! - screw you!" gurgler without my assisting its further decline.

Carry on as you are, BR!

Rant over.

PS: This is not a criticism of Styria's (very honest) comments - just my slant on the subject.