Describe your latest W116 holiday adventure

[s class]

I live near Johannesburg, South Africa.  Its the commercial hub of the country, but located in the northern part of the country, well inland.  On Friday 29 December, the wife and I are taking a family holiday trip to Durban, on the south eastern coast.  Its at the centre of the Natal coast - a popular summertime holiday destination.  The trip is about 600km each way. 

As you may have gathered, I have been desperately trying to get the w140 ready in time, but the engine isn't running very well and I have determined that I seem to have bent valves on the left cylinder bank.  You guessed it - I'm pretty gutted about it.  The cost of the spares to repair it myself is enough to buy a 6.9.  So I am currently thinking very hard about whether I really need to be a W140 owner.  OK so the point is I have the prospect of 1200km of flat out motoring in the 280SE W116 facing me in the next week.  Excited?  You bet. 

My friends in Durban will be very disapointed to see the W116 with tatty paint rather than the W140, but they will never understand the passion and thrill of the W116. 

What's your adventure?

[s class]

Big Richard,

What I have surmised about the history of the W140's engine is as follows.  The 4 camshafts are each marked with identification numbers.  Three of them indicate that they are "original assembly parts".  The left exhaust cam has an identification number indicating that it is a "first repair size" item.  So clearly some cam or chain work has been done before.  the right inlet cam was the mistimed one and I think that rather than having jumped a tooth, I think it may have been due to careless assembly during the previous work.  And it can happen a lot easier than you might think because the inlet cams have hydraulic valve timing adjustment, and no fixed timing marks.  Even to determine that the timing was wrong took me almost a whole day of working through an invloved setup and measurement procedure with dial gauges etc. 

NOw the question is why was the left exhaust cam replaced - what happened?   I suspect there may be valve probelms dating back to the original damage that should have (but were not) been corrected when the cam was replaced. 

I have also ascertained that the chain is not stretched at all, which can only mean that it has bee replced at some point, probably when the camshaft was done.  Although that was some years ago, the car seems to have done very little mileage since. 

But you are right that chain problems are usually fatal for the Mercedes V8's and most casual owners are quite ignorant of the dangers. 

I have priced a second hand engine at AUS$8,000.  Hmmm.  And there aren't a lot to choose from either.

Ryan

[s class]

Big Richard,

The chain timing error amounted to about 20 degrees on the crank, which was large enough that I got ahead of myself and presumed htis would account for my problems.  After fixing that it was some weeks before I drove the car because it was laid up with brake problems.  When I eventually drove the car I was surprised and disapointed that correcting the chain timing had actually made very little difference. 

When I get round to it I will get my webpage up and running, and I plan to document the repairs there, I think that would be more appropriate than flooding this site with off-topic photos.

By the way, thanks for the sympathy and interest, its well appreciated right now. 

Ryan

[s class]

Well I'm back from my 1200km round trip from Johannesburg - Durban - Johannesburg.  The 280SE was brilliant.  No problems at all.  Here Johannesburg is at an altitude of almost 2km, so I really enjoyed the extra performance of being at sea-level (Durban).  I'm still using the R129 wheels with 225/55VR16 Potenzas.  Very very nice indeed.

Ryan

[Martin 280s]

 I think my best holiday experience was when I went on a 2-week road trip around the south of Brazil. If you have a map of Brazil near-by it could be useful.
I started out from Jundiaí , where I live,around 50 km from São Paulo city and the first stop was +/-450km later in Curitiba, state of Paraná - the next state down from me.
From there we travelled down to the coast to Florianopolis, state of Santa Catarina via Blumenau. Blumenau is a very teutonic town! That day we stopped for lunch in Camboriú, the restaurant was fabulous and really cheap!
After Florianopolis we continued down the coast through Laguna to Torres, state of Rio Grande do Sul from there we travelled over to Canela, R.G do Sul, through Itambézinho National Park. The road is made up of rocks and stones and is a steep twisting path to follow so it was very slow and uncomfortable, more like a rally for geriatrics than anything else!
After Canela we went through Gramado, Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul on to Guaporé. From there we visited Antonio Prado. This was our last town in R.G do Sul and signaled that our longest stretch of the trip would start! We left Antonio parado and headed straight for Curitiba via Lages, I think we spend about 8 hours on the road that day and had the misfortune of seeing some very fatal accidents resulting from imprudence.
We left Curitiba the next day and headed home, in all we travelled just over 3,000km (+/-2,000 miles). If you think I had no problems with the car you're wrong! For some bizarre reason the temperature would suddenly go almost into the red, so I had to stop and put in water on a couple of occasions. Nothing which would spoil my trip, however in Caxias do Sul I stopped for fuel and asked the attendant to check the water in the radiator, no reserve tank on the 280s. For some stupid reason he didn't release the pressure slowly and brown, boiling water jetted out of the radiator causing everyone near-by to run for cover as it was more like an explosion than anything else!   
After finding the cap, it too was blown away but the jet! We put a rubber ring over the mouth of the radiator which caused the cap to seal better and..voilà...the problem was solved! The spring in the cap was a bit weak so under pressure it had caused a slow leak.
When I got home I bought a new cap and had a new, larger capacity radiator made. Incidentally, the frame of the radiator is the same, there are now 3 rows instead of two which means the coolant capacity has been increased by 1 litre. The thermostat was changed for a one from the MB 608 truck and now the temp rarely goes beyond 80.C. No I have no worries about cooling. Ambient temps in Brazil can be quite cruel to old cars so prevention is better than cure! 
If want want more info about modifications I've made, just ask!

[s class]

Martin,

I've also had my radiator upgraded.  I got a triple row core radiator from a 350SE, together with it's reservoir tank.  280SE and 350SE have the engine oil coolers on opposite sides, si I had to have the 350SE radiator disassembled and reassembled in mirror image to put the cooler bracket on the opposite side.  Now I have the benefit of the bigger core, and the reservoir tank.

[Martin 280s]

Martin,

I've also had my radiator upgraded.  I got a triple row core radiator from a 350SE, together with it's reservoir tank.  280SE and 350SE have the engine oil coolers on opposite sides, si I had to have the 350SE radiator disassembled and reassembled in mirror image to put the cooler bracket on the opposite side.  Now I have the benefit of the bigger core, and the reservoir tank.

How much more coolant do you now have and has your running temp been reduced?

[s class]

I have no idea how much more coolant.  The radiator is basically the same size as the 280 radiator, just I have the 3 layer core instead of 2.  The reservoir tank and piping for it probably adds a further litre to litre and a half I would guess.

I did this years ago when I was battling with cooling problems.  I also replaced the thermostat and viscous fan coupling.  THese all cntributed to assisting my problems, so I'm not sure it was all due to the bigger radiator.

The bigger radiator also brought some problems.  THe top inlet fitting is larger diameter than the 280 radiator, so the original top hose won't fit.  I had to find an aftermarket hose to do the job.  The radiator also sits slightly (say 15mm) lower than the 280 radiator, so my fan shroud dosen't fit properly anymore. 

I just wanted to mention these problems to assist anyone considering a similar mod. 

Ryan

[Martin 280s]

I have no idea how much more coolant.  The radiator is basically the same size as the 280 radiator, just I have the 3 layer core instead of 2.  The reservoir tank and piping for it probably adds a further litre to litre and a half I would guess.

I did this years ago when I was battling with cooling problems.  I also replaced the thermostat and viscous fan coupling.  THese all cntributed to assisting my problems, so I'm not sure it was all due to the bigger radiator.

The bigger radiator also brought some problems.  THe top inlet fitting is larger diameter than the 280 radiator, so the original top hose won't fit.  I had to find an aftermarket hose to do the job.  The radiator also sits slightly (say 15mm) lower than the 280 radiator, so my fan shroud dosen't fit properly anymore. 

I just wanted to mention these problems to assist anyone considering a similar mod. 

Ryan

There is the advantage of having a core made-to-measure. In Brazil, this is not too expensive to do, I don't know about your part of the world. However, your solution was certainly good for those who don't have a M-T-M service available.

[Tomi]

Yes Martin, pictures, por favor.

Just for your information, I lived in Brazil when a teenager (74-78, sao paolo and rio) and I did visit those towns you mentioned. That was before my mercedes era, well my father did own a W115 at that time. It would be nice to see pics of Brazil too.

obrigado,
chau Tomi