Raptelan's 1980 300SD

[Casey]

Wow, $900.  BUT, you got OEM parts and a receipt from MB.   That's    I love the stars on the belts 

...and a lifetime warranty, too.

[jbrasile]

Wow Casey... that's too bad regarding the alternator! I wonder if it was about to die and the new regulator just made matters worse...

Well, you spent the money but have the peace of mind of knowing your charging system is 100% correct and reliable now.

Tks

Joe

[1980sdga]

So did the nut fall off or the bolt break or could you tell. I just looked at mine and the bracket does seem kind of delicate.  I guess you should take care not to over tighten the alt belt    Maybe a bearing in the alternator went and cascaded to other components.

Did the voltage regulator help with your lights dimming?

Anyway, the engine bay looks good!  And I'm glad you got it back on the road.  Didn't you just go on a trip?

[Casey]

So did the nut fall off or the bolt break or could you tell. I just looked at mine and the bracket does seem kind of delicate.  I guess you should take care not to over tighten the alt belt    Maybe a bearing in the alternator went and cascaded to other components.

Did the voltage regulator help with your lights dimming?

Anyway, the engine bay looks good!  And I'm glad you got it back on the road.  Didn't you just go on a trip?

The new battery helped with the lights dimming.  The voltage regulator didn't get changed until a couple days later and made no noticeable difference.  The old voltage regulator was a lot better shape than I was expecting - I suspect it has been replaced in recent history...

What happened was that the tensioning bolt got over-loosened and would not tighten.  It was difficult to try to get centered on the threaded pin and get it to bite.  Finally when I accomplished that it was not on quite straight or something, as it got harder to tighten as I went.  Should have had the sense to stop and go backward but didn't want to go through the time-consuming rethreading again.  Ended up trying too hard and breaking the threaded pin.

This happened on my trip - I made it within a couple hundred miles of Chicago - ended up coming back early.

[Casey]

Acceleration after turbo vacuum hose replaced:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xtyQyXfn8Y

[1980sdga]

How does your car do in the rain at highway speeds?  I haven't had either of mine in the rain yet but it's coming 

Is that where your temp gauge sits most of the time?  Mine pretty much hangs out there but the Ga. heat is coming!

Acceleration looks about right.

[Casey]

Headlight brightness (for 1980sdga):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vWiojhechs

[Casey]

How does your car do in the rain at highway speeds?  I haven't had either of mine in the rain yet but it's coming  

It does grand.  I'm a bit paranoid because of my accident with the W124 losing traction in the rain (due to bald tires and issues with the multilink suspension), but it handles great.  I like rain - I tend to drive faster than most people when the rain gets heavy.

Is that where your temp gauge sits most of the time?  Mine pretty much hangs out there but the Ga. heat is coming!

Yeah, in about the middle.  Never had any issues with these diesels overheating...  And owned my first two 240D's (W115 and W123) when living in Atlanta.

[Squiggle Dog]

Dang, I have those same Contitech alternator belts, only no stars on mine.

[Casey]

Cleaned the engine bay up a bit more today...makes me wish I had another one so I could completely tear it all out, scrub each piece individually, and put it all back together looking like new.  Replaced the little metal clamps on the metal hoses with less rusted ones from a junk yard, along with the rubber L-shaped tube on the top of the engine.  Took a long drive after cleaning and it's not leaking oil like the old one was so looks like that was a cheap fix.  Unfortunately the brake booster line is completely different on a W126 so got that part for nothing.  Also got a acceleration parts (like the ball gaskets and stop switch), but these also seem to be entirely different in a W126 so just got some extra parts to hold on to (my W124 had some replaced with rigged up twisted wire from the time I bought the car).

Anyways...

Before:


After:


"New" rubber piece, not leaky after a bunch of driving:



Not sure what exactly this is for (it connects to the acceleration pieces and the hose on the right is the drainage hose), but the red rubber is cracked in two and I guess I need to replace it:

[WGB]

The red bellows looks to me like it is a seal for the accellerator linkage.

A hole in it will let is some noise and smell but little else.

Looks easy enough to replace.

Bill

[Casey]

I got a sweet deal on my oil change at the Mercedes service center today.  I went there because I was needing it pretty badly and couldn't find the filter anywhere locally so just decided to pony up for a quality job where I knew I'd get a good filter and oil and not have stuff broken (ala Jiffy Lube):



It ended up free because there was some error scheduling my appointment, so I had to wait for a filter for my car to be couriered to the dealership, and they had to take some time to get my broken driver window back up since they rolled it down.  Sweet deal I definitely wasn't expecting!

[Squiggle Dog]

Haha, wow! I was recently at my local Mercedes dealership for an alignment. It was interesting because when I called to set up an appointment the lady on the phone said that my VIN number was way too long and didn't compute.

When I arrived at the dealership the technician informed me that an alignment would most likely be a waste of money on a vehicle this old and he guaranteed me that he would find worn-out front end parts.

He put it on the rack and said that he was amazed that there was absolutely no wear on any of the steering components on a car with over 300,000 miles. He said the only worn spot he could find was the subframe bushings, which were still tight. Even the steering damper was working well.

He also said that whoever installed the steering box did an excellent job, in fact "nuts on". He pulled the drain plug and said. "See that dimple in there? That is exactly where it needs to be and the pitman arm is even lined up properly. Whoever installed this knew what he was doing." Then I told him that I installed it and his eyes got really big.

In the end, he said that it would be a waste of money to align the car because my tires were bad. He showed me that the set of 5 used tires that I had just purchased (with lots of tread) were wobbly. He said that the casings were starting to come apart and that I needed a set of 4 tires before it should be aligned. What a shame! I'll just have to drive them until they're threadbare and hope I have money for good tires by then.

But the good thing is that I got my car washed by them for free! No charge for the checkup, either.

[jbrasile]

I have always been in favor of taking our cars to an MB dealership as long as they have techs who are familiar with these older vehicles and  that the service advisers are not of the type who will thumb their nose at an old MB and treat you like a criminal... and believe me, there are plenty of those out there.

My 79 300SD was dealer serviced all its life, from 79 to 92 with the original owner and then from 92 to 99 while I owned it. I have never had anything but praise for the work done on the car at Auto Stiegler (Encino CA, I believe no longer in business) Westlake Village MB and South Bay Autohaus in Torrance. When I bought the 1980 450SEL, it was serviced and maintained at Westake for as long as I worked in that area and then at South Bay until I moved back to Brazil in 2005. Unfortunately the service adviser who used to take care of me quit and the new guys at South Bay are really hard to deal with so  I have been using Pete's Autohaus, a great independent shop that also does excellent work.

Bottom line, if you find the right MB dealership, servicing and maintaining your older MB may not be as expenseive as one might think...

Oh and by the way,  NO SHOP has been able to align the 1980 450SEL except Anaheim Mercedes, it took me years until Tom Hanson who used to work there (now parts manager at the Classic Center) insisted that I take the car in. I left with a big smile on my face and an absolutely perfect tracking 116.

Tks,

Joe

[Casey]

I have always been in favor of taking our cars to an MB dealership as long as they have techs who are familiar with these older vehicles and  that the service advisers are not of the type who will thumb their nose at an old MB and treat you like a criminal... and believe me, there are plenty of those out there.

I don't know how familiar they were with 116's, but everyone there was really friendly and a couple techs not working on the car made a point to come and compliment me saying that it had been a long time since they'd seen a W116 in that good of condition.  Had some fun chats with another customer who's owned a bunch of Mercedes' over the years, and currently has a '97 as well as a W108.  Plus their reviews online were all really good, unlike the /other/ Mercedes place in the same city.  So I dig it.