Hello,
I would like to ask for some knowledge about a 1973 280. I bought it a
few months ago on craigslist. I'm not sure of how many miles it has due to the
odometer not working, but I can live with that. I am in high school and this is
my first car. As one would expect from a 16 year old, I don't have a whole lot
of automotive experience or skill, but I have been working on restoring an old
Jeep for a few years, so I'm not completely mechanically inept. I will try to
repair whatever I can myself before even thinking of taking into a mechanic.
First of all, the car smokes after getting up to temperature(maybe
after driving 4-9 miles). It is a white smoke from the exhaust. Because of this
I've been careful about regularly checking the oil. The seller said that they
had it looked at by a mechanic, who told them it needs new valve seals. I
purchased the new seals and plan to install them myself. Can I do it with the
head still on the engine? If so, wouldn't the pistons have to be at top dead
center to do job? What I was wondering is how to turn the crank in order to do
this. It doesn't look like there enough room to fit a socket wrench onto the
front of the engine to turn it. The fan, vacuum pump, A/C, and radiator all
seem to be in the way. Is there a way to turn the engine without removing the
radiator? Also, if I'm careful, can I reuse all of the gaskets and seals, or
would I have to buy new ones.
I was also wondering about the vacuum pump. Is it really necessary at
all? Would there be any benefit in removing it? Does it put extra strain on the
engine? What would I have to do to remove it?
Also, the sun roof doesn't work. It worked for a couple days after I
bought the car, then stopped working. When I press the open button nothing
happens, but when I press the close button I hear the electric motor. The
seller said it something about the fuses kept going out. I haven't found any
bad fuses. Is the sunroof fuse in the main fusebox that has around 9 or 10
fuses in it, or somewhere else? My dad and I ran a multimeter on some things
found that the motor is good, but that the switch might be a little messed up
(of course we might have just tested it wrong). We tried to repair the switch
to the best of out ability, but I feel like it was better off before. Maybe I
should buy a new switch just incase we killed it (any good places to buy one).
Anyways, has anyone else had similar troubles? I know it's not at all important
to the operation of the vehicle, but it would be nice if it worked.
Finally, are there any little nuances about operating and maintaining
an old Mercedes W114 that I should know about? Other than these things I
mentioned, I love the car and hope to keep it in good condition.
-Conrad
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