Recently on the 300SE I had to make a decision if I would fix the head gasket or junk the car. To do the repair right was going to cost pretty much what I paid for the car. I had also spent pretty decent money doing the water pump only a few months before. To add to that I probably had...
The Mercedes-Benz museum is the best of the manufacturer museums I have been to. I was able to visit the new museum in 2008, which was a couple of years after it opened, replacing the old museum. I was already very impressed with the old museum and this new one was a big leap ahead. Of course the rich heritage Mercedes-Benz...
The current Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart opened in 2006, but it wasn’t new. There was a previous Museum that was replaced. The previous Museum was smaller, but it was still an excellent museum. It featured the most famous cars like the 30s F1 cars, the 500K, Gullwing etc. I was able to visit the old Mercedes-Benz Museum back in 2003 and recently...
Previously, I had identified that the cause of my A/C problems was the fuse blowing. I have been narrowing down the problem more and more to the compressor clutch. Therefore, I wanted to eliminate everything else as the compressor is every expensive and beyond my skillset. I had already unplugged two other components that are part of the fuse 5...
The 300SE had a severe stumble at idle. It only occurred when the engine was hot. It never stalled the engine, but felt like it was about to. There was also a miss at takeoff. My initial thought was to check the distributor cap and rotor. However, on further examination, you could see sparking around the #6 spark plug. It...
When new, a W126 Mercedes would have come with four keys: Two square headed master keys. One round headed valet keys. A flat ‘wallet’ key. The master keys were designed for everyday use and opened all locks on the car: doors, ignition, glove box and boot. The valet key is similar, but does not open the glove box or boot if manually looked....
Today I got back behind the wheel of my old W123 280CE. The 15 minute and 5km drive is actually the longest I ever took in that car! This was a car I rescued more than purchased. The previous owner had it up on ebay with no reserve, had mis-spelt Mercedes and it was claimed to have a leaky radiator. Despite...
When I purchased my 300SE, the A/C worked well. I assume the overall Climate Control system did too. I never did test anything more than max A/C as the weather was very hot. Everything seemed fine, except for the little aspirator fan which was noisy. Unfortunately 3 weeks after purchase, the A/C stopped working. I was sitting at red traffic lights and...
Despite the newest examples being almost 30 years old, the Mercedes W126 is still a fairly common sight in Australia. Wheels Magazine awarded it the car of the year in 1981, a controversial choice for such an expensive car. They were popular both with private buyers, and the limo trade who racked up big mileages. 30 years later, good examples still change...
My ‘new’ 300SE suffered from a common problem with Mercedes of that era, a non functional odometer. The mechanical odometer is driven by a small electric motor instead of a traditional speedometer cable and associated gears. This is because the speedometer is electric yet the odometer is mechanical. This combination was common in the late 80s and early 90s before cars...
My ownership of the 300SE had been off to a good start until 3 issues reared their ugly head in the last couple of days. As outlined in the last post, the first issue was the A/C stopped blowing cold. I already knew I had to do a few things for the climate control – I could hear the little aspirator motor rattling away...
The 300SE didn’t come with much concrete service history. I started a full service on the car to establish a baseline. This will allow the car to be properly maintained to the factory schedule. The service items arrived this week, after a quick call to MB Spares in Canberra. So far I have done the following: Oil and filter change Renewed spark...
The Achilles heel of M116 and M117 engined cars is the timing chain. As the engine is an overhead valve engine, the chain is used to make sure the valves open and close when they should. On the V8 the chain needs to go to both heads and down to the crankshaft and so it is very long. This exacerbates the...
Today I purchased a 1986 300SE W126. I needed a car that had room for three child seats when necessary and was eligible for historic rego. It also couldn’t cost too much money. Enter the W126. I had originally agreed to buy a 1976 450SE in gold, but that car developed a major engine problem. I had never owned a W116 and...
Today I was able to drive a 450SEL 6.9 for the first time. I have driven many M117 engined cars (450’s and 560’s primarily) and the big difference is the massive amount of torque on tap with the M100. Regardless of the speed or gear the car launches immediately with even minor throttle input. The car I drove was the imported...
I heard this week that the 250SE was the runner up in its category at the recent German Car show and Mercedes-Benz Concours. The German Car show functions as the 2016 MBCNSW Concours. The category was for the W111/W112 Coupes and Cabriolets. This was the first time I’ve displayed the car with the correct headlights and wheel trims and the car is the...
This weeks Ad features the introduction of the 220SE Coupe, photographed in front of an Austrian castle. The 220SE was introduced at the Geneva auto show in 1961 and was overshadowed by the Jaguar E-Type. The Mercedes W111 Coupe represents one of the most elegant designs of the 1960s and is one of my favourite Mercedes-Benz models. Coupe D’Etat For over half...
This weeks ad features a double page ad featuring the 280SE Cabriolet W111 to the pre war 540K. The choice of the desert scene is rather odd for these type of cars, and the picture feature the American model with the strange front running lights. If you were a prince in the 1930’s, you might have owned a Mercedes-Benz 540K. Today, you can...
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