Compared to a modern engine, the M117 in Frosch is a slug. Could be transmission related. Either way, the car has had a bit of minor work since my purchase and she is running much better. Finally got close to 15mpg highway on my last long drive. Better than the 10mpg over the past four years. I only put 2500 on the clock each year to get her to 215k. She has had two water pumps under my watch. Trivial overheating both times. First was full pump failure due to calcium build up and fresh hoses. Second was when the viscous fan died last year.
May need the valves done in a few years. Some compression values off (but within range) on two pistons. PPI found that and have not had a recent retest to see if it got better. No smoke, no leaks of fluid on a 1973 engine. PPI made note of possible head gasket leakage, but I have not seen anything, nor has my indy made mention of it since. Biggest long term gremlin hunt has been the Djet system. Pretty much nailed it down now. I could not see much benefit to a 380 over the 450, given the timing chain issue and only gaining 2mpg. If I could put a 560 back end on it, that would give more oomph. But there is no way to make it payback in fuel saving. Best use of my limited funding is to fill the tank as needed and small cosmetics. Maybe install a fresh exhaust because the current one is rusting away and welding just makes more holes. clay On Nov 25, 2015, at 1:23 PM, Peter Frederick via Mercedes wrote: > From what I gather, the M117 usually needs a valve job around 250k miles, and > in many cases a total rebuild around the 500k mark when the rings go -- but > only in California, where people actually put that kind of mileage on a > 450SL. Most other parts of the world they rust away or don't get driven that > much. > > Only weak point I know of is the water pump, and it's a huge pain to change. > Otherwise, don't overheat them and they will run forever. > > Gas hogs though, due to the really low rear end and D-Jet. K-Jet is better, > but not by all that much. > > Peter > > _______________________________________ > http://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 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
