| Today was the annual Sydney German car show. Due to work travel and the pandemic, the last one of these I attended was back in 2018. It seems quite a while ago now. This is always a really good event and as usual it was very well organized. The show is held in Gough Whitlam park in Earlwood, which is good central location. It is probably pretty much at capacity though, so I assume the event will move at some point. I took my 250SE to put on display this year. It’s the car I normally take for shows like […] Over the last few months, the blinkers have been playing up on my 450SLC. It started out when the car was first started up, the blinkers would flash very fast. After a while, I guess the flasher unit warmed up and they went back to their normal rate. Over time, this took longer and longer to happen, until they stopped flashing at all and just stayed hard on. It seemed obvious that the flasher unit had stopped working. I had assumed that the flasher unit was built into the switch, like it is in the later cars. A friend had […] In the first part of this series, I installed the 123 ignition distributor and got the car running. This part focuses on test driving the car and fine tuning the install. I should note that the 123 ignition distributor has nothing to do with the W123 Mercedes. A couple of people assumed I was fitting a distributor from a W123. The 123 ignition is a brand new electronic distributor that fits many makes and models. My first step was setting the correct advance curve for my engine. Luckily the workshop manual has all the specifications I needed. The first specification […] A couple of weeks ago, I posted an update about my W111 running issues. A reader who is an expert in these cars suggested I fit a 123 ignition distributor. His feedback was that even if it doesn’t solve my current running problem, it is a very worthwhile upgrade. My mechanic also thought the issues were probably ignition related. Based on that, I decided fit one. I spoke to the local agent for 123 ignition, and based on that discussion, I checked the distributor in the car. My car being an early 250SE (10/65) has ‘0 231 116 047’. This […] Today was the annual ACT German Car show. I always enjoy this show and this year was no different. The show is held at Queanbeyan Park, which is a great spot with plenty of shade. As with the last couple of years, I went down to Canberra for the weekend. Its a much better way to enjoy the show than getting up early and doing a day trip. The night before the ACT club normally organize a dinner. This year was a fun informal event, where we all had to guess some rare Mercedes parts, including a C107 glove box […] I’ve known the automatic transmission in my 560SEC was weak for a few years now. It was exhibiting a lot of the symptoms of wear that these 722.3 transmissions do when they are wearing. When it was cold, there was a lot of resistance in reverse. It would also occasionally bang into a lower gear or shift erratically. Once it warmed up, it was a lot better, the feel of the transmission was not close to the 722.3 in my 560SEL or the one in my 300TE. While it didn’t leak normally, if I didn’t use the car for about […] 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 […] For August, the monthly MBNSW night drive was back up north. The route started in Windsor, taking the putty road up to Bull Ridge road, across to the Sackville Ferry, up to the top of Wisemans Ferry road, then to Dural McDonalds down the Old Northern Road. These are all really nice driving roads, with little traffic at night. While the night before had been a big downpour, the weather was great on the day of the drive. We had nine cars on the drive in the end. This is a really good number to keep the group together. We […] Owning more than a few classic cars can often be problematic, as minor maintenance jobs are often deferred. My 450SE (Claudia) had been on top of the hoist for a few months without being driven. I think she was prompting me to use her as a thick layer of dust had formed. When getting her off the hoist, I noticed I fair bit of auto transmission fluid had leaked out, and when measuring on the dip stick, it was reading under the low mark. Greg at “Gullwing Motors” quickly diagnosed the gearshift seal and kick down solenoid seals had failed […] This week my 450SLC has been in the workshop having a major service. This was the first time since the big trip to Adelaide last year. There were a few things to sort out, but one of the major ones was having new engine mounts fitted. These were noted as collapsed when I had the car checked over before the trip to Adelaide. There wasn’t time to replace them, so I ordered a new pair and they were finally installed this week. I was pretty disappointed as it wasn’t all that long since I replaced them and I had used […] | |
