MBCNSW March 2023 Night drive – Appin Road

The March 2023 night drive route was another new one. We try to rotate them around the city, so this one ventured south. The route started at McDonalds Heathcote, before venturing south on the Princes Highway (not motorway) and then turning onto Appin road before finishing up at the Campbelltown Chubby Buns burger truck. This is a different Chubby buns location to the one we visited last year.

The route worked very well, and I would certainly do it again. As well as the actual drive last night, I did a trial run two weeks ago. Enjoyed the drive […]

W124 Becker radio install – part 3

I have been in the process of installing a Becker Grand Prix 1402 in my 1990 300TE. This is the model of radio it came with, although this particular radio is not original to this car. In the first installment, I sourced and tested the Becker 1402 and removed the Sony Xplod. In part two, I wired in the right connectors for the Becker, as well as the iSimple Tranzit BLU HF FM injector. By the end of that installment, I had music from my phone playing through the speakers of the car.

To complete the install of the Becker […]

W124 Becker radio install – part 2

Yesterday, I started installing a Becker 1402 in my 1990 300TE. This was the radio it was sold with, and the same radio I have in my 1987 560SEC. I had removed the old Sony and inspected the wires, plus fixed my broken Hazard light switch.

This morning I looked up the wiring colours for the Sony online. The wiring in the car has been ‘modified’ by various radio installers over the years, so starting with the Sony wires was a good place to start. As outlined the operation instructions, the Becker 1402 wiring harness has four wires going into […]

W124 Becker radio install – part 1

I purchased my 1990 Mercedes 300TE with a modern Sony Xplod CD player. It was a fairly low end model that sounded pretty bad and looks really out of place in the W124 dash. The passengers front speaker was not working, adding to the poor sound. The S124 has very silly speakers in the rear, one of the few design flaws in the vehicle. Losing one of the front speakers is a major blow to sound in the car.

My car was first sold with a Becker Grand Prix 1402. The operating instructions is still in the owner manual kit. […]

300TE Thermostat change

Since purchasing my 300TE, I haven’t been happy with the operating temperature. It hasn’t overheated, but it was running hotter on days in the mid to high 20s than I would like to see it. I want to be able to rely on the car on days well into the 40C range.

My mechanic had suggested that the fan clutch be changed. I had that done, and while there was an improvement, I still didn’t like what I was seeing. I was hearing the fan clutch roaring while cruising on the motorway, and temperature was creeping up at motorway speeds. […]

Machines & Macchiatos March 2023

Today I attended the monthly Machines and Macchiatos event in Terrey Hills. Last time I was able to attend was October 2022, when I took my DS. Today is a swelteringly hot day of almost 35C, much more suitable for a car with air conditioning. I don’t think I’ve taken my 250SE to one of these events before, so I brought it along. There was only one other classic Mercedes – a very nice 280SL pagoda in a subtle two tone.

I’m not sure if the heat had something to do with it, but the numbers were down quite a […]

MBCNSW drive to the Australian Motorlife Museum

Today I joined the MBCNSW for a drive to the Australian Motorlife Museum. The museum is located in Kembla Grange, near Dapto. It primarily focuses on pre war cars, motorbikes and automotive memorabilia and there are over 100 vehicles on display. I had previous visited the museum in 2018. I was looking forward to a return visit as the collection does change, and there is so much to see you’ll always find something new to look at.

The treasurer of the MBCNSW is a board member of the Museum, so he organized a guided tour of the museum. That was […]

W111 alternator upgrade

This last week my 250SE has been at the workshop having an alternator upgrade. Back in 2020, my alternator gave up, and I replaced it with a rebuilt 35A alternator. Ever since then, that alternator has struggled to charge the car. It would charge the battery when driving along during the day, without any accessories. But as soon as the A/C was running or the headlights were on, it would barely make enough power. The charge warning light would come on at idle, and even faintly glow when driving.

The W111 alternator is supposed to be a 35A model, and […]

W116 sunroof switch repair

The sunroof on my 280SE has not worked properly since I bought the car. It would sometimes move a bit, if I played with the switch, but not often. Since I didn’t want the roof stuck open, I didn’t use it. Based on that, I figured my issue was the W116 sunroof switch.

The car is booked in for the Shannons auction in May, so I wanted to get the Sunroof working. I don’t use sunroofs a great deal, but they are not common on the W126 280, so its a valuable feature on my car to be working. I […]

Citroen DS rebuilt rear spheres

Earlier this year, I had the suspension spheres on my 1970 Citroen DS checked for pressure. The ride had become pretty terrible, so it was obvious there was a problem. We were able to successfully regas the fronts, but one of the rears was completely dead. It was time for some rebuilt rear spheres.

My mechanic sent them away to Pleiadies in Queensland. They were able to fully rebuild my rear spheres including new diaphragms, and repaint them to the factory colour and pattern. When they arrived back they looked almost too good to put on the car!

A bit […]