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What have you done for your W116 today?

Started by BWalker82, 18 May 2011, 06:27 PM

ptashek

#195
Got another batch of suspension/steering work done today: replaced all tie rods, steering damper, front shocks (Gabriel), all exhaust suspension rubber. I'll need to check the tracking/alignment, but after a few test miles there's no sign of gross misalignment. It was a heck of a job, mostly because of poor access, but well worth the effort.

I've planned to do the rear shocks and springs as well, but the nuts holding the top part of the shocks are seized like hell on both sides. I think I'll need to cut through the piston somehow and get it out topside, then get the rest out normally. I've given up on front springs. I'll let someone else do these. My life is to dear to me :)



1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

entresz

This probably doesn't count as today, but more as 'in the last few months'...........

- new fuel injectors and seals; runs like a dream, more power, and improved fuel efficiency.
- new front upper control arms; front wheels are no longer have a strange camber.
- new tyres; I have grip!
- hood star fitted!
- boot and bonnet/front guards reprayed.


it's a labor of love !
1975 Mercedes-Benz 280SE
1981 Mercedes-Benz 300D
Previous cars:
1979 Mercedes-Benz 450SE
1982 Mercedes-Benz 280E

AndreasF

A brandnew goods vehicle test certificate from the German TÜV for my W116.  Certainly without any defects, YEESSS  ;D



Love my good car  :-*
350SE (silver) from 1979 (sun roof, air condition, central locking, Becker Mexico, ....)

Green74280se

Replaced a blown rear brake light globe, removed the steering wheel and placed it in the quarter past 9 position instead of 20 past 10!!!

Also had a strange scraping sound when turning sharp right... RH side swaybar bolt had come loose and was scraping inside the rear wheel!!!... LHS was also loose so after tightening both up she handles much better!

;D

hagar24

For my W116 350 SE,New distributor, new timing chain and rails, new fuel pump.

ptashek

I've replaced almost all rubber parts under the hood, well at least the ones I considering worth replacing ;)
So that would be:

- all vacuum connections, except for two or three "bridges" that were still in very good shape

- A1170780481 - Small rubber boot connecting the aux air valve to the WUR via a plastic pipe. Badly cracked. Cold idle got a fair bit smoother after replacing it.
- A1000941191 - It's the big rubber boot on aux air valve side. It got so hard I had to take the valve off to replace it :/
- A1160940282 - That's the other one, same issue as above + a crack
- A1170940391 - Idling air distributor hose. This one had a few small cracks at its base.
- A1160940791 - Air filter housing to engine block hose. This one wasn't half as bad as the others.
- A0010942280 - Air filter housing to throttle housing hose. Hardened rubber doesn't seal...

More on the aux valve coming off - I've totally missed the fact there's a paper gasket sealing it. The price at MB UK? Twelve pounds sterling!
Being faced with an insane price, and the car being grounded for a few days, I have simply made one myself - at zero cost. It seals perfect.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

w116john


today i managed to fix the prndl cable on my column shift, i was not looking forward to taking out the cluster and checking
that i had a cable.  the instrument cluster came out real easy, i found the cable and  connected it easily enough which is brilliant, now to find a bulb for it , it is tiny much smaller than the other bulbs.

john

1974450SEL

I finally purchased a brand new windshield after breaking the original one (My smart self replacing wiper blades let the arm spring back without the blade in place and a nice star crack on the original windshield 3 years ago)  Good thing too, they showed me a place where severe rust has started lower passenger corner, they cleaned it out and sealed it before they installed the new gasket.  I told them she's no show car but still needs to be functional.  Safelite did a great job to the tune of 395.00.  I inquired about having the rear window gasket replaced and the owner told me I would need to purchase that separately and he would install it only charging me the labor rate.   My next big project is to refurb the AAV.

mrkozzy

How far will 356000 kilometres get you?

About this far..........


MrKozzy

JasonP


Today I replaced all 5 glow plugs on my 1979 300SD. Normally I try not to work on my car on Sundays, but since it will get in the 30's this week, I thought this must be done today.

The glow plug light has been flashing after startup for several weeks now, and I know one or two cylinders is not firing right away from the sound and vibration.

The first 90 minutes was spent cleaning and repairing the relay, which was missing it's cover, and had been sprayed with oil, from an unknown oil leak, for years. So after I cleaned all that out, and snatched a relay cover from my parts car, I moved on to begin the real work.

I did a resistance test on the relay plug for each glow plug. It looked like 2 of them were out, do not remember which ones. I didn't really care since I was replacing all 5.

I ordered Monark plugs from Mercedessource, along with his tutorials, special tools, and reamer. I followed his directions to a tee. I removed all the fuel lines before I got started, for clearance.

Cylinder #4 was the worst, as my wrench had about 15 degrees of play to unscrew the plug. It took forever. I finally got fed up and removed all the throttle linkage in the way. That was the worst plug - hard to remove and rusty on the threads -  probably because it was so hard to get to the previous owners ignored it as much as they could.

The most carbon was in the first two cylinders. Reaming was fine, I did not have any problems. I even vacuumed out the hole and used Kent's brush when I was done reaming. The hole for #4 scared me though, as the glow plug's threads looked a little damaged. There were a few sparkly metal shards in the hole, too, that I vacuumed out, and hopefully none fell into the cylinder. The new plug screwed in just fine, so the threads were not stripped in any significant manner.

When I was all done the sun had already set (I have no garage and work outdoors). The only fault I had was with the 8mm nuts that connect the wiring harness to the glow plugs. These did not have washers, and when tightened, they pulled the wiring harness connecter with it. I did my best to not let that happen, but unfortunately two of the 5 rubber (now brittle) wire housing tubes "cracked" when I tightened.

I lost one of the old 8mm nuts too, it fell behind the fuel pump. Oh, well. I made sure it was not jamming any linkage play.

Finally got everything back together and started the car. I did not make any special attempt to bleed air out of the fuel lines, I just let the starting process do that. After holding the starter for about 5 to 10 seconds, the engine started right up and ran beautifully - every piston firing. I killed the engine and cleaned up a little more, then went back out for a test drive on the highway. Started up, no flashing glow plug light.

Job done. And well, I might add.  8)

I would have liked to take pictures and create a write-up as a tutorial, but it just takes extra time to do that. Since it was a Sunday afternoon, I said forget it. The entire job took 5 hours and 45 minutes. Most of the time was spent unscrewing and screwing the glow plugs and reamer. Because there was so little clearance, it took forever.

1979 300SD
Color: 623H "Light Ivory"
1979 300SD
Color: 861H "Silver Green Metallic"
1977 280 E
Color: 606G "Maple Yellow"
-------------------------------------------

mswcpt

The last two months have been pretty expensive!

- engine dampeners replaced
- new upper control arms and bushes
- New shocks, front and rear
- new bearings - front
- new break pads
- re-cored radiator + replaced all hoses to engine!
- thermostat replacement
- heater electrics overhauled, switches and vacuum overhaul
- prop shaft bearing replaced + balanced
- overhauled diff from donor car fitted (Tks S Class!)
- gearbox mounting bracket replaced with new
- valves adjusted
- timing adjusted
- carb injectors overhauled
- steering column bearing replaced
- oil service
- thorough clean

coming up: manifold removal and inspection, new door rubber seals


ZCarFan

I finally got around to working on the 280SE again.  Been sitting for nearly a year while I worked on other projects.  Replaced the plug wires, copper washers at the fuel pump and filter, put in about 2 gallons of fresh gas and ran it for a while.  Still popping back through the intake when revving in neutral though smoothing out.  Will adjust the valves, pull the plugs and do a compression test to rule out a stuck valve.  If that looks good then I guess it's time for a K-jet pressure test kit.  One of these days I might actually get to drive it. :)

Unfortunately while I was crawling around by the pump I noticed some issues with the quarter panel.  Looks like at least part of the panel was replaced but did not line up fully with the inner wheel well lip.  I expect that it was hit in that corner at one time and the repair was a bit off.  Looks straight on the outside but there is some cracking paint/filler by the corner of the rear window that seems to fit my theory.

socalsean

I moved mine so it wouldn't get towed.  ;D

JasonP


I replaced my windshield washer pump.

It stopped working about three weeks ago. I hear a whirring sound, but no fluid comes out. So I went to my handy-dandy parts car, yanked that pump out, and installed it in my daily driver. When I removed the daily driver pump, snot was clogging one of the fluid lines. It would probably work if I put it back in, but I had already removed and cleaned the parts car pump, so I just continued the job.

The hardest part: getting the hose (feed line to the window) off the pump. The connecter has a mushroom top, and it hangs on pretty tight. Used a tiny screwdriver to help pry it off.

Total time: about 1 hour.

Sweet.

Oh, yeah, it works.


P.S. Where can I get a nice, new battery tray?

1979 300SD
Color: 623H "Light Ivory"
1979 300SD
Color: 861H "Silver Green Metallic"
1977 280 E
Color: 606G "Maple Yellow"
-------------------------------------------

socalsean