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The Concours Run 2023 – Day 5: Leeton to Sydney

The final day of our road trip came up quickly. After a pleasant evening in the historic Hydro hotel in Leeton, it was time to head back to Sydney. Our first stop for breakfast was a bakery in West Wyalong. The drive was 130km, and went through far more farmland than we had seen yesterday. I guess this all part of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.

During a stop to let the convoy regroup, I noticed a grinding noise from my engine bay. Using a hammer as a sound transmitter, it was clear the noise was coming from my alternator. I […]

November 20th, 2023 | Tags: , , , | Category: Drives, Mercedes | 2 comments

W111 alternator upgrade

This last week my 250SE has been at the workshop having an alternator upgrade. Back in 2020, my alternator gave up, and I replaced it with a rebuilt 35A alternator. Ever since then, that alternator has struggled to charge the car. It would charge the battery when driving along during the day, without any accessories. But as soon as the A/C was running or the headlights were on, it would barely make enough power. The charge warning light would come on at idle, and even faintly glow when driving.

The W111 alternator is supposed to be a 35A model, and […]

March 18th, 2023 | Tags: , | Category: Mercedes | One comment

Mercedes Clubs National Rally 2022 – Day 2: Orbost to Torquay

Day two dawned on our trip to the Mercedes Clubs national rally with the situation that while the 280CE now had a full battery thanks to the trickle charger, it had no way of charging it while driving. Unless we did something, the car was going to run out of electricity. There has been a recent trend to electrify classic cars, particular in Europe. I guess this is what it feels like to own one. Nevertheless, we set off for our first stop, Stratford where we would have breakfast. Today’s route was planned to take us to Torquay and about […]

April 7th, 2022 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Drives, Mercedes | 3 comments

Mercedes Clubs National Rally 2022 – Day 1: Sydney to Orbost

Today was the first day of our epic drive to the Mercedes-Benz clubs national rally in Glenelg, South Australia. I am going with a group of friends on a road trip to and from the rally which I have detailed in a previous post. Our route took us from the meeting point at McDonalds Heathcote to Orbost, Vic and covered around 620km.

One of our group had made magnetic rally stickers for our cars, which was a fun touch. They are meant to look like those period rally badges and detail our route. The east coast of Australia has been […]

April 6th, 2022 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Drives, Mercedes | 3 comments

250SE Alternator replacement

On the way back from the September night drive my 250SE stopped charging properly. I was able to make it back home about an hour on the battery. Even using the headlights the 250SE does not use a lot of power. As it happened, a friend of mine had a rebuilt alternator that was correct for my car. He drives a 280SE 3.5 W108 which uses a 55A Bosch alternator. The earlier cars (to 1969) used a 35A alternator which is what he had. This is the correct 250SE Alternator.

Initially I assumed I would replace the alternator myself. It […]

November 10th, 2020 | Tags: , , | Category: Mercedes | One comment