Today I sold my 1986 300SE W126. It was the right decision to sell, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to miss the car. It wasn’t the nicest 300SE in the country, but in some ways it was like a favorite pair of shoes, comfortable and familiar. I originally bought the car as a daily, and I was on full registration for...
For Sale: Australian delivered W126 300SE in striking signal red and cream MB-Tex interior. Both interior and exterior in nice shape. Car was repainted by the previous owner. I’ve owned the car six years and it was my daily driver until the covid lockdowns. Since then I have a different job and I’m not driving it as much as I used to – time...
I recently changed the flexible brake hoses in my 1986 300SE. I wasn’t sure how old they were and they are a wear item. The next step was obviously bleeding the brakes. Bleeding W126 brakes is really no different to any other car. I recently purchased a Motive Power Bleeder to make this job easier. I’ve bled brakes many ways over the years. ...
I’ve been meaning to change the brake hoses on the 300SE for a while. I have no history for the car, so I don’t know how old they are. As I also wanted to change the brake fluid, I thought it made sense to do both jobs at the same time. I had noticed a slight pull to one side on hard breaking. It...
When inspecting the SLS in my 300SE, I noticed that the fuel pump was seeping fuel. It wasn’t enough to smell fuel, so I am not sure how long it had been like that. I’ve owned the 300SE for about four and half years and have not done the fuel pump replacement job. As I keep a spare Bosch fuel pump and filter,...
On a recent drive with a few friends I noticed my 560SEC was sitting a bit low at the rear. I had it parked next to a 380SEC, which I am pretty confident is at the correct height, and my car was lower. Based on that, I started reading through the section on W126 self-leveling suspension adjustment to work out why. The length of...
Back a few weeks ago I identified the problems with my power window was the W126 front window regulator. In particular, the passengers side front. The regulator was missing some teeth. I had bought a new one some weeks ago, but the regulator was in the shipment that FedEx lost. I went with a VDO regulator as I expected it to be higher...
For the first time since I have owned the car, my 300SE has a working outside temperature display. Not only is it a useful feature of the car, but these small fixes can make the difference between the car seeming nice or a bit of a jalopy. The W126 Outside temperature LCD repair is really easy. It should be on the radar of any...
Another long standing to-do list item on my 300SE was the passengers side window. Over time, the window would slip down so there was half a centimeter gap at the top. It would also make a clunking sound at the top of the window travel. I had purchased a good used W126 window regulator a couple of years back. Yesterday I decided to try...
Last year, while I was fitting the monovalve elimination kit to my 560SEC, I cleaned the drains under the cowl covers. I also fitted a new upper seal and new shaft seals for the windscreen wipers. The condition of those seals was even worse on the 300SE, so today I finally got around to doing the same job on that car. I was...
The W126 outside temperature display was standard in all Australian delivered series 2 models. The little LCD screen is not really compatible with the Australian sun as most of them start to bleed and become unreadable. My 300SE and 560SEC both have unreadable LCD screens. The 560SEL, which was garaged all its life still has a good screen. Buying a used one is not...
When I bought my 300SE about four years ago, it came with an early 2000s era Kenwood CD player. At the time, I assumed I would need to replace it, as it wasn’t working. Turned out the plug had come out of the back and it actually worked fine. It wasn’t a bad unit, as it could play MP3 CDs, display track information...
My 1986 300SE is now back in business with good oil pressure. Turns out the reason why the oil pressure was low was a catastrophic failure of the oil pump itself. In the last part, I had narrowed the problem down to most likely being the pump. I assumed that something was either blocking the screen or the pressure relief valve was stuck. ...
As a recap, my 1986 300SE started showing low oil pressure. I tried changing the oil and filter, replaced the sender and checked with a mechanical gauge. Still low oil pressure. I decided to do some final oil pressure troubleshooting before I took it into a mechanic to lift the engine and remove the sump. I was advised on the ozBenz forum that another...
In my last update, I had ruled out the sender unit when it came to the low oil pressure readings on my 300SE. My intention had been to take the car to a mechanic to test it on a mechanical oil pressure gauge. Two things changed that. Firstly, my area of Sydney went into lock down. Secondly, most mechanics are on holidays until...
A few weeks ago my 300SE started to show low oil pressure on the gauge. It happened all of a sudden while on a drive. At the time, I surmised that I had a dead M103 Oil pressure sender. They are apparently a common fault. I ordered a new one and fitted it today. The M103 oil pressure sender can be found on the...
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