Wow that car is a pos, I will give you $500 for it Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 25, 2013, at 7:39 AM, Dan Penoff <d...@penoff.com> wrote: > All in all a very productive weekend with the S500. Saturday started with the > construction of a set of ramps. > I couldn't bear to part with $40 or $50 for the metal Harbor Freight models, > so I went to Lowe's and bought a couple of 2x10x12s and made my own by > cutting progressively longer pieces that I stacked on top of each other to > form a ramp. A pass on the end of each board with a 45 degree angle, plenty > of glue and deck screws between each layer and a pair of very functional > ramps were now ready for my car. > Next I took on my Craftsman floor jack that has been acting up for some time. > The "speed lift" function hasn't been working, and it has been lifting less > and less as time goes on. I had done some research as far as adjustments and > repairs, but these yielded no results. I suspect I might have been low on > fluid, but for the life of me I couldn't find a place to fill it. Finally, > after a very thorough inspection, I found a plastic plug in the side of the > hydraulic cylinder. I pried the plug out and realized that this was the fill > port. After I put almost 6 ounces of hydraulic fluid in it, it was once again > lifting as it had in the past. I still don't have the "speed lift" function, > but I'll compromise in order to have full lifting capabilities again. > And now to the car.... Previous inspection had shown that the front flex disc > had some hairline cracks in it, but the rear was starting to fail with tears > and cracks readily apparent. Not having done a flex disc since a W126 I was > in for a surprise. The W140 has 8 bolts rather than 6, and the flex disc in > front is a lot more difficult to access than ones in earlier models. Thank > goodness for pry bars and magnetic pickups. > The rear flex disc was far more accessible, especially after the "guard" or > strap was removed. It appears that on this chassis there is a metal strap > that wraps around the drive shaft to prevent it from lashing around should it > break loose. While you can work around this, it's fairly easy to unbolt one > end and bend it out of the way to better access the bolts on the rear flex > disc. Again, lots of brute force and use of a pry bar to get everything > apart. > It goes without saying that I have not been on a creeper for such a long time > in a great while. When I woke up Sunday morning I was hurting in places I > didn't even know I had. Fortunately, I had saved the simpler tasks for Sunday. > First order of business was the fuel filter. Since I had removed the cover > that protects the fuel pump and filter to access the nut that holds the strap > around the driveshaft yesterday, access was a simple matter. With the > judicious use of rubber plugs and caps I was able to swap the fuel filter > with a minimum of fuel loss. A pretty simple operation. With cover back in > place I was ready to move on... > Next was a flush and fill of the SLS system. I had noted that the fluid was > very dark and there was some sort of black crud in the screen, but I hadn't > looked much beyond that. > I put some clear tubing on the return line and ran it into a clear bottle. I > removed the cap and screen and proceeded to run the engine to pump the > reservoir down to the bottom. I found a bit of black crud in the bottom and > sides of the reservoir, which I was able to clean out using a dust-free cloth > wrapped around the end of a piece of coat hanger. I would have liked to > remove the reservoir and cleaned it more thoroughly, but my Mercedes Martha > Stewart-ness was on the ebb by this time. > After a liter or so of fresh fluid I was getting clear fluid out of the > system. I shut it off and topped up the reservoir. Now to the filter/screen. > There was a large slug of the black crud in the bottom of the filter screen. > When I separated the screen from the cap, imagine my surprise when I saw what > appeared to be the remains of a large rubber O-ring in the bottom of the > screen! This was the source of the black crud in the system - the O-ring was > apparently not something that should have been in contact with hydraulic > fluid, as it was breaking down and was soft and falling apart. I had > mistakenly ordered a replacement screen/filter, thinking that this system was > like earlier SLS systems that had the small pleated paper filter elements in > them, but in this case my lack of attention worked in my favor. The SLS > system in the W140 has a fine mesh screen that filters the hydraulic fluid, > and it's not a consumable item like the older pleated paper filters are. I > could have cleaned the old screen and it would have been perfectly passable, > but since it was covered with the remains of the broken down rubber part that > was lodged in the base of it, I elected to put the new screen on and leave > the old one to the rubbish. Reassembled the screen and cap, put it back on > the reservoir, attached the return line and checked the level. All is well. > Lastly, I wanted to clean the connections on the instrument cluster, as the > coolant temperature gauge was flakey. It might read accurately for a few > seconds, then flip to full scale, then down, then back etc. While I knew that > coolant temperature was within operating limits, if you're trained to watch > your instruments, scanning them on a regular basis and seeing one at full > scale catches your eye immediately, even if you know it's an aberrant > reading. > I had tested the sender and wiring, so I knew it had to be an issue in the > cluster. Getting my handy home made instrument cluster pullers out, the > cluster came out easily. > Unlike earlier models, the W140 has four connectors, two large round > octal-like sockets, one on each side, and two small black rectangular > sockets, each located near the larger sockets. These came apart with some > effort and the cluster was free. > With the cluster safely located on top of a towel on the kitchen table, I > removed the back cover (secured with some small Torx screws) and was faced > with a circuit board of a complexity I have never seen in a Mercedes. Yikes! > Further inspection showed that this board was held on to the cluster with > only three small Torx screw, after which were removed left nothing but the > pin and socket connectors for the various cluster elements. With the circuit > board removed I got out my Kaig DeOxIt and some Q-Tips and went to work. I > cleaned all of the pins along with a skinny contact strip that provided > connection to the board from the cluster. I cleaned the sockets on the board > as well. > Once reassembled, the cluster went back in after each connector in the car > received a good shot of Kaig DeOxIt. I reconnected the battery, turned the > key, and everything lit up and appeared to work. I then set out to reprogram > the radio and reset the power windows and sunroof. > The drive to work this morning revealed a working coolant temperature gauge > which now reflects the proper reading and doesn't make me panic when I scan > the gauges... > A postscript: For those who read the posts about my experiences with this > car, please do not construe my near obsessive behaviors as an indication that > there are defects with the car or that I am somehow unhappy with it. For some > twisted reason some members of the list have interpreted my questions about > it and the work I have done as such and have been suggesting to the former > owner that I have been experiencing a myriad of problems and am unhappy with > the car. This is not the case, and never has been. I would suggest that those > of you who have taken it upon yourselves to interpret my experiences as such > and then "tattle" to the former owner get your shorts out of a knot and mind > your own business. > Those of you who know me well understand that I am borderline obsessive about > my cars and as a result go to great lengths to understand them as well as > keep them in near perfect condition. The excessive questions I have posted > are merely a result of my lack of knowledge of this particular model, and an > effort to understand how it works and resolve those questions or concerns > that I have. > I have an ongoing discussion with the former owner who has been a great > resource in helping me understand how this very complex car works. I am very > pleased with the car and the purchase. > 'nuf said. > Dan > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
