I owned a 1982 W123 280CE for just over a year between mid 2013 and mid 2014. I hadn’t planned to purchase this car, but I saw it on ebay with Mercedes mis-spelled and nobody else bid on it. The car was described as needing a new radiator, but actually it needed a new water pump. This was better for me. While...
The motor mounts were changed on the 300SE around six months ago, but there was not time to do the Transmission mount. It was obvious it would need doing from the condition of the motor mounts. In addition, I was feeling some vibration from the drivetrain at various times. changing the W126 transmission mount is generally a simple affair. The transmission is jacked up...
You can own a car for years and still find interesting design details that you never noticed. I’ve owned W111’s for around 10 years and today discovered for the first time that the W111 fuel filler cap door can be held open with the fuel cap. Another example is the little brackets on the DS bumper that keep the rear wings from scraping. There...
The windscreen washer has not been working on my 450SLC for a couple of months. The wipers started up, but no water squirted on the windscreen. On quick inspection, I assumed it was the pump as it was rather rusty. The W107 windscreen washer pump is a poor design in my view. It appears that the motor is below where the water is...
I don’t feature the E350 Wagon on this site much. It is the main family car, mostly driven by my wife. The S211 is (in my view) a much better option than the plethora of SUV’s on the road. The lower ride height makes loading babies and prams easy and it drives and handles like a proper car. Just after Christmas, the rear...
When I last replaced the battery in my W111, I was unable to fit the correct sized battery. In the end I fitted one smaller than I would have liked, but it was the only one that fit into the mounting frame I had. I knew the mounting frame was not original to the car as the previous owner purchased it on eBay. ...
In recent years a nice 560SL is going for 3-4x the price of other R107s. They have always been the most valuable of the series, but are they worth the extra money? I would argue they are not event he the best model of the series. They might be the newest, and have the largest engine, but that doesn’t make them the best....
The saga of my non functional A/C is now over. The 300SE is blowing cold air. It would want to after all the parts I had to change to get this far. The final piece of the puzzle was the Klima relay. This relay controls the engagement of the compressor and had burned out when the clutch shorted. I ended up buying a rebuilt...
I have always admired the W116 model. However, since the introduction of the W126 in 1980 the W116 has lived in its shadow. My 450SLC has been my primary car for most of the time I have owned it, but with three children, this is no longer possible. As I needed something that could fit three child seats in a row, a W116 would...
My fight with the W126 Air Conditioning system is almost over. When I purchased the car, the A/C worked rather well. After the water pump gave out, it looks like it shorted out the compressor clutch. Changing out the clutch is not much different to changing out the whole compressor, so I sourced a new compressor and receiver/drier. This was rather irritating as working...
My story of fixing the W126 climate control can be summed up by: If everything points to a problem with an expensive part, don’t waste your time trying to replace the cheaper parts around it in a futile hope it will solve the problem! After trying a used Climate Control Unit, new fan resistor etc, I finally bit the bullet and bought a rebuilt...
I’ve been fighting with the W126 Climate Control system for the last few months – and it’s been winning. When I purchased the car in November last year, it was a very hot day and the A/C worked great. It had a new radiator, so I took the evidence of leaking coolant to be history rather than a current problem. Turned out the...
The 300SE has been suffering from poor hot starts. It required a lot of cranking before it fired. On a K-Jet car, this is normally caused by a faulty fuel accumulator. From what I understand it’s the job of the fuel accumulator to hold fuel pressure after the car is switched off. I also planned to change the fuel filter as I didn’t know...
The Sydney German Car Show 2017 was held today and as usual it did not disappoint. A great selection of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, VW and Audi’s were on display. The only downside was that aside from the Micro cars, there was no representation from the niche German cars. There was also only one pre-war car. This event has really grown...
My Mercedes collection after giving them a quick wash. A representative from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
I had a couple of small jobs on the 250SE I had been meaning to do for months. Since the car is to be displayed at the German Car show, it seemed like a good time to do them. One of the hubcaps was in poor condition. I had another set of used hubcaps painted almost a year ago now. However, I...
This weekend I was down in Canberra. Since the 2017 ACT German Car Show was on, I stopped by. Unfortunately, I was only able to stay for 10 minutes as I had assumed it was held in the regular location near the national library. Turns out it had moved to Pialligo Estate, near the Airport. Perhaps not as picturesque a venue, but...
NSW has a great historic registration system. It allows for classics to be used for 60 days on a logbook for a drastically reduced fee. For unknown reasons the plates issued are tiny plates with purple numerals. The plates are so small they are not wide enough for the mounting holes on most cars. As these plates don’t end up...
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