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Bought another 500SEL full hydro

Started by s class, 28 September 2015, 06:08 AM

s class

Given that there are no more 6.9's available in South Africa, the next best thing is an early euro W126 with full hydro. I've been looking for a 500SEL for a long, long time, they appear to be even scarcer than 6.9's here. Finally, I found an attractive proposition - black on black, seems to be a 1983, low mileage, always garaged, first owner was Jody Scheckter.







The car was located 1400km from me, and I bought it sight unseen based on a few photos.


[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

s class



[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

s class



Drove it back over the course of two days and discovered amongst other things :

- misfiring under load, appears to be fuel starvation, suspect blocked filter, will look at that tonight

- front suspension knock, now diagnosed as guide rod joints (no surprise there - standard 126 issue)

- almost no front brakes - replaced the nonexistent front pads, now a little better, seems the master cylinder is shagged, so I ordered a new one, will arrive in a couple of days.

- both front accumulators completely shagged.  Made for slow progress coming home.  I fitted new ones this morning, and the struts seem to have survived.  The fluid is rancid though.  I will do a first flush tonight.  I suspect the pump is also sucking in engine oil.



Otherwise its not bad... no rust, no sun damage


[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

s class



[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

ronw123w124

Nice catch, the car still looks very fresh inspite of being more than 30 years old. I must admit that even though this is a W116 forum , the W126 is my all time favorite Benz, it took me more than 20 years to finally own the car of my dreams in the form of a 1990 260SE. Two years later, I felt I have had not enough of the W126 series that I bought another one, a US model 1981 300SD.

s class

I've got two 500SEL euros.  This one is the best.  Its LHD.  We are a RHD country here.  My other 500SEL is also full hydro, but its RHD, and a fullon basket case restoration project.

I'm actually looking for a nice early 380SE to use as a daily to take the strain off my W116 350SE. 


[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

daantjie

Nice one Ryan! Is that Montagu plates?
Daniel
1977 450 SEL 6.9 - Astralsilber

robertd

116   1978 450SEL 6.9 #  4848
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 5884
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 6225  SOLD
116   1978 450SEL  6.9 # 5128  SOLD
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 5884  SOLD
116   1974 450SEL  DJet

floyd111

Come see us in Taiwan, or contact my mate here, an importer/exporter. 126's galore here, no rust, no miles, and cheap. The 500's are always SEL and pretty much unsellable, due to the high road taxes on 500-engines and the national lack of interest in anything not new.

daantjie

W126 with full hydro is scarce as hen's teeth here in Canada. Any other regular W126 is plentiful and cheap as borscht here.
My next Benz if I can get it past the missus will be a W126 2 door with the 300hp Euro spec motor. You can get nice low mileage examples here via Japan.
Or a nice W124 500e but nice ones are pricey here and hard to find. Plentiful in US but the exchange rate kills it.
Daniel
1977 450 SEL 6.9 - Astralsilber

s class

Quote from: floyd111 on 04 October 2015, 09:50 PM
Come see us in Taiwan, or contact my mate here, an importer/exporter. 126's galore here, no rust, no miles, and cheap. The 500's are always SEL and pretty much unsellable, due to the high road taxes on 500-engines and the national lack of interest in anything not new.

High shipping costs and punitive import duties mean that even if I got the car for free in the far east, it would still work out too expensive once landed here. 


[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

floyd111

That may be true.
It would depend on your budget, for sure. I have seen 126/500 range between 2500 usd and 5000usd for a showroom specimen. Shipping is some 1500usd for a container. No idea what your levies are, but considering such cars would need little or no fixing for years..
I would pick one up myself in a breeze, if it weren't for the road taxes (2000usd per year!)
The 126/500sel was the very first car I ever drove...way back, in the early eighties. It was new, and very, very fast! Took it for a ride to Paris and got a heart attack when I saw the tacho at 240km/h. I never noticed. The car was so quiet and I was too busy figuring out how to avoid all the other cars that were parked on the highway.

ZCarFan

Quote from: floyd111 on 05 October 2015, 11:22 PM
That may be true.
It would depend on your budget, for sure. I have seen 126/500 range between 2500 usd and 5000usd for a showroom specimen. Shipping is some 1500usd for a container. No idea what your levies are, but considering such cars would need little or no fixing for years..
I would pick one up myself in a breeze, if it weren't for the road taxes (2000usd per year!)
The 126/500sel was the very first car I ever drove...way back, in the early eighties. It was new, and very, very fast! Took it for a ride to Paris and got a heart attack when I saw the tacho at 240km/h. I never noticed. The car was so quiet and I was too busy figuring out how to avoid all the other cars that were parked on the highway.

Interesting note on the prices.  I believe that's cheaper than you can find nice W126s in the U.S.

floyd111

That said.. my heart skipped a beat seeing the one you bought.. what a looker..

s class

Back in October 2015 I did an oil change.  I'm sending the filter and an oil sample to WearCheck for analysis given that the car ran for a long time effectively with no air filter. I also discovered why there are oil pressure problems - the sump is bashed in, and I suspect it will be the common scenario of the oil pump's rubber pickup boot being squashed.  The electronic oil pressure sender is also a bit flakey.

I was frustrated to discover that I'm out of stock on fuel filters, so that will have to wait until MBSA deliver to me this week on Thursday. 

I decided to get started on the hydro system.  There are two filters in the main pressure regulator assembly - in the tank is the well-known paper element that filters the return fluid.  Again, I'm waiting for delivery on Thursday to be able to change this one.  Inside the pressure regulator itself is a fine mesh filter on the supply side.  I pulled it out and it looked like this :



5 minutes later :



The suspension system is still chronically slow to build up pressure, but clearing this filter has helped.  The low-pressure warning light on the dash has been disabled.  Sorting that out showed that this poor suspension is running low on pressure most of the time.


[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL