W111 poor running issues and becker update

My 250SE has been suffering from poor running issues for almost two years now.   It started not long after I got the car back from being repaired from the impact with the Kangaroo.   Despite a lot of work to try and rectify these issues, they are still plaguing the car.

The challenge is that these are intermittent problems, and so hard to diagnose.   I started by checking the basics – the fuel filter, tank and so on.  I also changed the plugs.  This had no impact.    My mechanic thought it was ignition related, so we’ve changed most of the wear components of the ignition system – points, cap, rotor, condenser, coil, suppressors and so on.   When the car is running well, its running better than ever.   But when it runs poorly, it stalls and stutters.

Based on that, I’ve got the car booked in again for another look early October.   I haven’t been driving the car much this year, as its just not very pleasant to drive when its running this way.   This is a shame, as I normally really enjoy driving the W111.

I took the car out again last week to see how things were going, and it ran quite poorly.   It stalled a couple of times and felt like it wasn’t getting enough fuel.     I’ll have to see how the visit to the mechanic in October impacts the car.   The more I drive it, the more I think its fuel injection related.

I had hoped to take it on a drive to Victoria I am doing in November.   Even if it seems fully fixed in October, due to the intermittent nature of the problem, I will probably not take it on that trip.   I’ll likely take the 560SEC instead.

While I was there, I also removed the Becker Tribute radio.   I had been having problems with this also.   The radio would just lock up and stop responding to inputs.   I took it out last year and even sent it away to Classic Auto Sound to be checked.   They kindly looked at it, and on their bench could find no fault.    I don’t know if its the car or the radio, but it stopped working for me earlier this year.

I took the radio out to do my own testing and put in one of my Beckers in its place.    Its a mid series Becker Europa II.   Its a radio that I need to have serviced anyway, so if my car is eating radios its better to try this one.    While the serial number tag has been lost, this radio would have most likely been manufactured between 1974 and 1976.    It has the newer style of speaker connectors, the larger stereo light and other features that place it in this date range of radios.    I don’t think this is the radio I will put in the car long term, but it looks great in there.    Even if the car is still running poorly, I plan to display it at the all German show later this year.

The Becker Europa II has a crack in the dial scale, but reproduction dial scales are available.    The advantage of the Europa II is that it is a one piece unit, so very easy to fit.    This era of Becker’s are DIN sized, but use their own mounting system of metal rods to hold it in place.   Those rods are often missing with second hand backers, but not hard to find.     The radio is installed in the dash without the knobs or the dial scale.    Outside the two knob shafts are the slots for the rods which are easily inserted and tightened up.     While I was there I also threw in a USB charging port.   The modern charger is very ugly in the beautiful W111 dash.