The S211 E350 wagon is better than the W164 ML350 in pretty much every way

My wife owns a 2007 E350 wagon. This car has been in the shop the last couple of weeks having the balancer shaft replacement done. This car was outside the known affected engine numbers, but still required a balancer shaft. We’ve had a 2005 W164 ML350 W164 as our loaner for the last few weeks. Its an interesting comparison as the ML and now GLE have basically killed off the E class wagon. From what I understand the E Wagon is being withdrawn.

After three weeks of driving the W164 ML350 I’m left scratching my head as to why these […]

K-Jet fuel pressure test part 3

This is part three of a series where I am trying to diagnose poor cold starts on my 1979 280SE. Please click here for part 1 and here for part 2. In the last part, the fuel pressure tests had pointed to high control pressure. This would most likely be cause by the Warm Up Regulator (WUR). However, after a while the pump became very noisy, and since rebuilt WURs are expensive, I wanted to rule out a bad pump.

Luckily I had a 420SEL parts car on hand. The previous owner told me the fuel pumps were almost new. […]

Planning a 4,000km Classic Mercedes road trip

In Australia, each state (and territory) has their own Mercedes-Benz Club. Most countries have a central club with regional chapters. This isn’t really all that surprising given the states could not even agree on basic stuff like a common railway gauge. Every two years one of the clubs hold a “National Rally” event on a rotating basis. The idea is members from all the national clubs get together at one of these events. The 2022 event is being organized by the South Australian club and held in a suburb of Adelaide.

This event was interesting to me because not only […]

Preparing my 450SLC for a 4,000km road trip

This year I plan to attend the Mercedes-Benz clubs of Australia national rally. The event is being held in Adelaide in April this year. I’ve done plenty of road trips while living in the USA, but not really in Australia. In addition, I am joining a group of friends from the club in an extended drive that will take us the scenic route to Adelaide. Our route will feature five days of driving and almost 4,000km. I’m taking my 450SLC so this week I have been preparing my 450SLC for a 4,000km road trip.

The best thing I did was […]

Rolls Royce Club Federal Rally 2022 display

Yesterday I was in Canberra to attend Wheels 2022 with the Mercedes Club ACT. I found out that this weekend was also the Rolls Royce Club Federal Rally. Not sure if it was a coincidence, but the public display was about a 10 minute walk from Queanbeyan showground. Based on that proximity, it would have been almost criminal not to go along and see the display.

Given the wild weather of the past few weeks, I was impressed with the number of cars sporting interstate plates. There were plenty of cars on Victorian, Queensland and South Australian registration. This is […]

Wheels 2022 Queanbeyan

Today I attended the Wheels 2022 event in Queanbeyan. This is a large car show open to car clubs affiliated with the ACT Council of Motor Clubs. In some ways it is quite similar in concept to the Eastern Creek event I attend in Sydney. The Mercedes-Benz club ACT planned to put on a special display – and invited members of the NSW club and other to participate. The goal of the display was to have a Mercedes-Benz to represent each year from 1951 to 2001.

Not only was it fun to go down and be part of the […]