The $10 benz

[Zaphod]

Zaphod? Is that from the Hitchhikers Guide?
In Dutch, he's called Zaphod Bijsterbuil

It's Beeblebrox, president of the Galaxy.  i loved the Douglas Adams stories so I use it a lot.  my real name is Jeffrey

[Zaphod]

Check the oil and coolant level. Top off if necessary. Then go get a bottle of diesel purge and make yourself a little fuel tank out of a jug. Unhook the fuel in and out lines and put them in jug. Give the primer pump a few pumps then try firing the motor up. You might be able to drive it out of there if you can pump up those tires.

I checked the oil and it didn't look all that bad for diesel oil (almost always black).  Didn't think about adding any purge on first start.  i was going to try to prime it a little before I tired to start it, and it needs water so I'll be taking that too.  Believe it or not the tires are not as low as they look.  The car has actually sunk into the ground about 4 inches.  The lady I'm buying it from said it's been there 2 years but the inspection and registration show 2011.  Who knows, it might drive but it's 30 miles between there and my house.  I don't think I want to risk it (tickets) nor ride in the damn thing before I get try to clean it out.  IT is all kinds of nasty.  I'll take pictures before I start to clean it out so you can see what I'm talking about.  If I lived closer I might risk the trip depending on what is sounds like and if I can get it fired up. 

[Zaphod]

Yup those trunks were huge for a reason

I am sure you will have success. Fresh oil/filter and a diesel purge as suggested can work wonders. As well check all vacuum lines and rubber connectors very closely. Down the line you'll have to drop the transmission pan and pray you don't see a metal "stew" in there

Thanks Daniel,
  OMG on the vacuum, I'm sure that will be a monster to clear out.  I've gone through that with both the old 123's I had so I know the routine.  The only cool thing is I found a place that sells the elements now, when I had the other 2 cars I had to buy new elements at $50 a pop, in my toolbox is a hand held vac gauge that luckily still works as I'm sure I'll need it.  I will for sure drop the pan.  Plan is to first do valve adjustment and compression check, if it passes that then do all fluid changes, (tranny, engine (though I might go ahead and do that first), differential, coolant, fuel filters and the other basics to see what I'm starting with here.  And the brakes of course but this will probably live in my garage a good few months before I am able to make it roadworthy.

[Zaphod]

Yup...really looks like a scene out of a movie where the body was just taken from the trunk and dumped.

The 116 makes a good mafioso/underworld vehicle.

Its got both a classic and sinister stance, put in its part it can play a role as good guy or bad guy...lol

LOL, I'll let you know if i find one under it when I move it.  I agree, it has this odd kind of cool factor that I didn't appreciate until I look at some of the pictures and see it in person.  I'm looking forward to getting it home, which is probably almost 2 weeks away (payday).  it has "character" in the truest sense.  I hope I can get it running, moving and livable. 

[Harv]

Yup...really looks like a scene out of a movie where the body was just taken from the trunk and dumped.

The 116 makes a good mafioso/underworld vehicle.

Its got both a classic and sinister stance, put in its part it can play a role as good guy or bad guy...lol

The W116 was used in a recent movie by a not so great guy. 

[daantjie]

American History X?

[Harv]

American History X?

Yepp. The leader guy of the Neo-Nazi group drives it.

[Zaphod]

Well, after I neglected to check the voice mail on my phone this morning and started to shovel the endless piles of rat shit out of this I realized that the bee keeper never got the hive of honey bees out of the underside of the car.  Actually they've build a hive in the rocker panel, so with the smell of copious amounts of critter shit is the smell of honey.  Luckily they're pretty tame and they didn't come after me after pulling the carpet and mat out of the trunk and even running the shop vac to suck more shit out of the trunk, literally.  If I manage to get this running (likely) it will be a freaking miracle if I can get the smell out of it.  In one of the attached images look in front of the driver's side rear wheel.   You'll see nice pile of honey bees doing their thing though a bit freaked out I'm sure since I moved the car 30 miles to my house.

in one of the images is the mass of wires on the passenger side of the engine compartment.  Looks like the bastard critters got to chewing on that, I see and least 3 or 4 wires that are chewed through but tomorrow I plan to try to cut the covering back some more to see if I can reconnect those.  Will be interested to see if any of those are at all related to the starter.  I put a charged batter in the car today and turned the key.  The glow plug relay must at least be working, since that came on then went off but when I hit the starter I got nadda.

It also looks like someone ran a knife through the mass of vacuum lines going that the climate control servo, I don't know if that was critter related but doesn't so much look like it.  Someone could have thought about stealing it then never came back. 

One a side note have any of you seen the following on this site?  So far my quick searches are not seeing much.

1) how to pull front windshield when the rubber gasket is just dried out chunks of rubber.  the rear window looks fine but I've never seen a rubber seal as bad as this one and just running hose over car you could see water go behind it.  The glass it good but I'm concerned about trying to pull it with the seal this hard.  One of the few things about this car that are really good is the chrome and aluminum trim, that's all near perfect.

2)  Wiring diagram for under the hood (obvious reason)

3)  Crazy question, where are the windshield washer nozzles?  The tubes are busted but I can't see where the sprayers are.  Just curious

4)  How to reattach the bars under the hood, that look like they were to hold on the hood insulation, one of them came off.

The interesting thing about this car is that prior to getting bought at auction by the current owner I think it had previously been taken care of.  There's not much rust outside the one small hole in the driver seat floorboard.  The fenders are clean except for the driver side front fender, which rusted through just behind the blinker so I'll have to replace that before I repaint it.  There's a little surface rust on two places in the rocker panel and a tiny bit on one of the doors but the rest is clear from what I see so far.  The A/C was converted to 134A though I doubt that will work unless I throw a little more freon in it (low on fix it list.  I'll post more interior pictures so you can see what a truly trashed interior looks like.  Hopefully I'll get the bee issue addressed this week

[daantjie]

There is a super video on YouTube posted by one of the forum members on the windshield.  Just Google w116 windshield.
The nozzles sit inside the chrome grille.

[Zaphod]

Thanks Daniel, just found it, good stuff.  Just wonder if there's any flexibility left on the interior side.  It is one seriously crunchy, dried out chunky window seal...LOL