What broke in your car today?

[littlefin]

Wise words Tony. While we're on the subject, for the benefit of the uninitiated, could one of you gents advise the function of each of these items in the fuel supply line? In other words, which one of these items is the filter please?



PS The underside of my car no longer looks this this 

[adamb]

From right to left:

• Damper
• Pump
• Filter
• Pressure reservoir

Nothing wrong with that underside  I've seen much much much worse. I notice you had the whole rear assembly down. A big dissassembly - what were you fixing?

[scraf]

Not today, but recently that little copper tube on the top of the radiator.

I was changing the water pump at the time, the tube came loose, so I take the radiator into a previously untried cooling specialist.

I get a phone call the next day, "tested the radiator, needs a new core, €400 or so"

"Um, um, um, ok"

Next day, another call, "ordered wrong core, our fault, need to order a bigger, more expensive one"

"Wait on that"

I price secondhand one's, as I'm not sure if I've blown a head gasket or two while overheating at inconvenient times, and big repairs are not really what I want to get into with the Dutch government probably wanting around €2000 a year to keep the girl on the road for the next two years. ( changes in the oldtimer road tax laws ).

Find a new one for less than €300, go back to the shop to pick up remains of the old radiator, pay them €60 for the work that they did, leave thinking that they are probably rip off merchants, since I only got back the frame of the radiator, no mention of what would have been a few quids worth of copper at the weigh in.

So new radiator isn't available, nice German company pays my money back.

Find a secondhand radiator at my favorite scrapyard an hours drive away for €100. Go and get it, they didn't actually have the right one, got one that should have an oil cooler as opposed to one without.

Managed to get the thing in with the aid of tie ribs, last action is to connect one of the transmission lines. Too short, dammit. Got the necessary bodge in house, just need inspiration and a little less heatwave and they'll be a road test coming up.

[littlefin]

From right to left:

• Damper
• Pump
• Filter
• Pressure reservoir

Nothing wrong with that underside  I've seen much much much worse. I notice you had the whole rear assembly down. A big dissassembly - what were you fixing?

Thanks Adam

Welding rear chassis legs + replacing rear subframe bushes + rectifying all that nasty surface rust:



Looks better now, no?

Sorry for going off-thread everybody 

[adamb]

Mmmm, that underside looks yummy

[ptashek]

The wheel alignment was off quite a bit, 1.5* toe-out I believe, after all my recent suspension work on the 450. Got it sorted today, and the difference is quite positive, even though my local garage simply can't replicate the exact MB procedure with their simple tooling.

[Squiggle Dog]

Not today, but recently that little copper tube on the top of the radiator.

Ugh, I HATE those! Mine has popped off several times already. I soldered it back on and then JB Welded over it the first time, but it still came out, so I gave up on soldering and just kept JB Welding it. It's in a spot where I tend to support myself, and I always seem to lean on it and break it off again. I feel like designing a shield of some kind to prevent this from happening over and over.

[nostat]

 Had my 74 450SEL in storage for the winter. Brought it out checked fluid levels and took it for a spin. Everything was working as should be. Then it began running rough and blowing black exhaust. This became a on again off again problem until it just wouldnt start. Its been in the shop for a month now and the mechanic (I trust him he has done good work for reasonable price in the past  ) said he finally figured out the problem is the power points. $750.00 new from MB $ 450.00 rebuilt. I havent got the final bill yet ,but man it's getting expensive to keep my baby on the road.

[adamb]

Had my 74 450SEL in storage for the winter. Brought it out checked fluid levels and took it for a spin. Everything was working as should be. Then it began running rough and blowing black exhaust. This became a on again off again problem until it just wouldnt start. Its been in the shop for a month now and the mechanic (I trust him he has done good work for reasonable price in the past  ) said he finally figured out the problem is the power points. $750.00 new from MB $ 450.00 rebuilt. I havent got the final bill yet ,but man it's getting expensive to keep my baby on the road.

Drive it more and it won't break so much. No, seriously, cars don't like to stand.

[ptashek]

Expanding on my previous post about mileage while driving across Europe: ~2300km on the road in a single, virtually non-stop trip, and not a single thing broke. Not even a bulb. Those cars are just amazing when cared for according to schedule and driven on a regular basis.