I created a list of items I wanted to address, with the first being the critical one.

• Occasional coolant leak after long drives
• Fix a transmission leak
• Windscreen washer not working
• Oil pressure gauge odd readings
• Slight noise from alternator
• Poor A/C performance
• Fit battery monitor

My 560SEL has 342,000km on the clock, but I use it quite a lot so it is in good mechanical shape.   Any older car can have an issue, but sorting that list out would give me confidence for the trip.  I also packed some spares with me, such as radiator hoses, fuses, the old alternator and the like.

Poor A/C Performance, Alternator & Transmission leak

I started with the A/C performance, largely because I hadn’t noticed the coolant leak at that time.   Late last year, the freon leaked out of the system, so it felt like a good opportunity to not only address that issue, but fit the same uprated condenser I have on my 560SEC.   I started this upgrade at roughly the same time as I upgraded the condenser on my 450SLC.

As with before, I got the kit from Klima Design works, and my mechanic fitted it for me.   There wasn’t any real issue fitting the kit, but the leak was found to me my compressor.   The compressor had been replaced by the previous owner about 10-12 years prior.   Based on the leaky compressor, we didn’t re-gas the system and I sourced a new compressor to be fitted on my next visit.

The transmission leak turned out to be the secondary transmission pump.   The seals were replaced, as well as the transmission cooler hoses.   At the time my mechanic noted it looked like the radiator had been leaking coolant.

I had heard some noise from the alternator, so had him replace it with a Bosch rebuilt unit.   After my experience last time, I figured the swap meant I would also have the old one as a spare before it failed.

A few months later I had the compressor changed and now had working A/C again.   It didn’t seem as cold as the 560SEC is, but it is a good improvement on what I had before.

Coolant Leak

I was only able to see the coolant leak after a long drive, and after that I would have a small puddle of coolant under the car.    The puddle was always under the middle of the car, but I could not see any evidence of leaks from the coolant hoses.

To try and narrow it down to see if it was the radiator or something else, I ran the car while up on the hoist.  I couldn’t get it to leak coolant and I checked carefully around the radiator and heater hoses.   I changed the oil pressure sender unit while the car was up in the air.

After leaving the car overnight, I had a small pool of coolant on the floor underneath where the starter was.  At least the oil pressure gauge was working correctly.

Since the leak was not conclusive, I took the car back to my mechanic so he could pressure test it.   Turns out the radiator would leak from the seams when under pressure.  I guess the coolant was running down the undershield, or being blown back onto the engine before leaking onto the ground.   A new Radiator fixed the problem.

Windscreen washer and battery monitor

Having a working windscreen washer is quite useful for country driving.  The first and most obvious test was that I had fluid in the tank, which I did.  I was also able to test the headlight washers, which did spray when the headlights were switched on.    The pumps from my parts car were really crusty.  I simply swapped the headlight and windcreen pumps over.  I now have a working windscreen washer at the expense of the headlight washer.   The headlight washer is really for snowy environments.

I also fitted a BM2 battery monitor, which I use for most of my cars.  Since Mercedes-Benz didn’t provide a voltage gauge, the battery monitor allows my phone to act as a voltage gauge.

The post Preparing my 560SEL for a 4,800km road trip appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

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 had noticed a squeaking noise from my car when cold, which I had put down to belt noise when cold.   I guess 3,000km of driving has been hard on the bearings in the alternator.

The noise didn’t seem too bad, so we kept going and had breakfast in West Wyalong.   The home made potato pies were great!

When I restarted the car, I heard a horrible belt squeal and smoke from under the bonnet.   I quickly shut down the car to see that the alternator had totally locked up.     This presented a problem, as we were over 500km from Sydney.   We cut the belt off, and drove to a nearby auto electrician.

He didn’t have an alternator, nor was there one locally.   What he did have was a battery that should fit, so I bought that as an insurance policy.      We also stopped by a wrecker, who didn’t have anything.   While city wreckers are becoming a thing of the past due to property prices, country wreckers are still very much in business.   Not surprisingly they don’t carry many parts for 80s Mercedes.

We decided to keep going and see how car I could limp the car without an alternator.   I ultimately managed to get the 140km to Parkes before I was down to 11.6 volts.   They car was still running fine but had become rather sluggish.   I was really happy about two things.   Firstly, that I installed the bluetooth battery monitor a couple of days before the Concours Run, and that when I had wired up the amplifier, I triggered it off a relay from the radio.   Turning off the radio turned off the amplifier.

Instead of using my new battery so early, the owner of the 380SEC kindly agreed to do a battery swap.   That way I would use his battery and his car would charge mine.    We were not going to let a seized alternator get in the way of the days agenda, so we headed off towards the Parkes Radio Telescope for some photos.     It is far further from Parkes than I remember, abut 20km towards Dubbo.

After taking some photos in Parkes, we headed off towards Orange.   The drive was uneventful, as agriculture gave way to rolling hills.     Orange was the location of a fuel stop, and another battery change.    The 380SEC had become a mobile battery tender. The W126 has such a big battery that the other cars could not help.  We also stopped in at other wrecker. While they had a D-jet 350SE with an alternator, it was very crusty and much smaller.

From Orange, our next destination was Mt Panorama.   We wanted to do a lap of the track and take some photos with the cars .    The track is a normal road with houses on it most of the time.  But it is heavily policed and drivers need to stick to the speed limit.

We soon arrived at Mt Panorama, although a short-lived wrong turn into the shooting club was quickly reversed, as there was a live fire event going on.     Our first lap was more about finding the photo locations, and the second lap was about enjoying the track.   It’s my third time driving around it, and the second time in the 560SEC.

After yet another battery swap, it was time to head to the final waypoint of the entire journey, Lithgow.    We headed there, and did one final battery swap.   I now had my original battery, fully charged.   I also had the brand new battery in the boot.   It was 5pm, and I had about two and  half hours of daylight left.   If I wanted to avoid a tow truck, I was going to need to get home before headlights would be required.

I had found that my car didn’t use much electricity if I just cruised along.   But stop and go traffic using the brake lights and indicators was draining my battery.  Based on this, I took Bells Line of Road.  I drove with one of our group who lives in that area, and when he peeled off at the bottom of Bells Line of Road, I had just dipped below 12 volts on the first battery.

I continued taking the back way, through Annangrove road, until finally installing the brand new battery near the intersection of the Old Northern Road and New Line Road. I was down to 11.6 volts and 1% on the battery monitor.  At this point, I had about 40 kilometres to go, and was confident by then I would make it.    Up until this point it had been quite nerve wracking to see if I would make it so far with no alternator, or If I would be on the back of a tow truck.  I guess this is what owners of electric cars go through on a daily basis.

After 7:30PM, it was becoming twilight, I turned on my parking lights.   I only had 20 minutes to go.     I arrived home a little before 8PM, still with some reserve power.     Today, I had driven 720km, 588 of it with no alternator.    Total for the trip was 2932.    For most of the day the instrument cluster had been lit up like a Christmas tree with warning lights.

Granted an alternator is more likely to fail if it is old.   However, I would not have been able to do what I did in a newer car.   For starters newer cars draw so much more power, it would not be possible to drive so for long just on the battery.  Those cars would also be far more sensitive to low voltage.

Secondly, newer cars use a single serpentine belt instead of separate V-Belts.    Even my 1990 300TE is like this.   I like the separate V-Belts because you can recover from a bad accessory.   I can remember cutting off the belt from the A/C compressor on my old W123 230E.

Everyone else got home without incident.   The trip was a big success and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The post The Concours Run 2023 – Day 5: Leeton to Sydney appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The W111 alternator is supposed to be a 35A model, and the previous alternator had a 35A part number.   It kept up much better.     I can only assume that either the previous alternator was rebuilt at some point to make more power, or the new one wasn’t a good rebuild and was making less power than it should.    I had already replaced the external voltage regulator to rule this out.

That W111 alternator barely being able to keep up with the car’s power needs made me reluctant to take the car on long trips.   I also wondered if it had anything to do with the car’s recent running issues.   With the charge warning light on, was it even making enough power at idle for a strong spark?

I decided to source a better alternator, and purchased a Bosch rebuilt unit from the USA.   Instead of going with the standard w111 alternator of 35A, I went with a 55A alternator.   This is a bolt in replacement that still uses an external voltage regulator.   The one I went with is used on the late 280S/SE W108 and the /8 models.     Other than a slightly different plug, you would hardly notice the difference.   I didn’t want to change the wiring to go with an internally regulated alternator.

The Bosch rebuilt units have a good reputation, and this W111 alternator looked almost new.

As can be seen in the picture, the rebuilt alternator didn’t come with a pulley.   When my mechanic was removing the pulley off the previous alternator, he discovered that it wasn’t assembled properly.    They had used the wrong pulley, and to make it fit, omitted the little key that prevents it from spinning on the shaft.   It had been tightened up, so wasn’t obviously slipping, but who knows what was happening under load?   My mechanic had another dead alternator with a good pulley he was able to use.

In any case, there was a huge difference in performance with the new W111 alternator.   Even with headlights on high beam, AC on max, I was still getting just under 13 volts at idle.   It would drop down into the high 11s before at times.

The one thing that it did not improve which I was hoping was the radio performance.   I’ve been having all sorts of strange behaviour with my radio.  I event sent it back to the seller to test and it worked fine on the bench.   I was hoping that a better and more consistent power supply might fix these issues, but it hasn’t.   More investigation to do there.

As well as the W111 alternator, the car also had a regular service and a tune.   Previously the idle was very low and it would be almost stalling in gear.   Now its driving really nicely – better than it has in a couple of years.   Its a really nice car to drive again.

While it was in the workshop, I also had the subframe mounts checked.   The front end feel is a little vague.   The subframe mounts made a big difference on my 450SLC.   The verdict was they were fine.

The post W111 alternator upgrade appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

We stopped for fuel not far outside Orbost, where I learned the 450SLC had done about 16l/100km. Not bad for 450, particularly with the ADR engine. Surprisingly, this petrol station didn’t just stock every brand of crisps on the planet, but actually sold useful stuff, like car batteries. We left with full tanks and a fully charged spare battery. It was still raining, but a lot less than the day before. Mostly light showers.

We reached Stratford without incident and had breakfast at a local cafe. Of course, after 90 minutes of driving it was time to check the battery on the 280CE. It read around 11 volts, which actually wasn’t too bad. Instead of using the new battery so early in the day, we decided to swap the battery out of the 280CE with a good alternator. This would allow the white car to charge the battery that had previously been in the green car.  After a while, we would swap them back.   We even used one of our jump packs to ensure the owner of the white car did not lose any of his radio settings during the change!

By then, it was late enough in the day to start making some calls.   turns out finding an alternator for a 1981 W123 is not so easy at short notice.   In the end, we found the only used alternator available in the state of Victoria, located in Dandenong (an outer suburb of Melbourne).   Dandenong was in the right direction for where we were going, although not on our planned route.     Our planned route had us basically hug the coast until we reached Sorrento.

We decided as a group that the best course of action would be to do directly to Dandenong and get the 280CE working again, so we could complete the rally.   Our itinerary for day 3 is planned to be pretty hectic, so today was the day to get everything ready.   Going directly would save an hour or two and put us on the motorway.

The first hour was on A roads until we hit the motorway.   Just before the motorway began, we stopped and swapped the batteries again.    Overall it took us about two and a quarter hours to get to the wrecker in Dandenong from Sorrento.     The owner of the 280CE did the alternator swap in the driveway of the wrecker, and it was quite odd seeing a shiny new part being removed and replaced with a dirty old one.  The old alternator was a real Bosch unit.   The one in the car was near new, and had been advertised as a Bosch, but looked to be some kind of clone.

The replacement alternator wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot better than the one we had removed.   It actually charged the car.     It struggled a bit when the auxiliary cooling fan and headlights were on though.     On the short drive to lunch, it was apparent that the auxiliary fan was on nearly all the time, and the temperature wasn’t dropping very fast on the motorway.   It actually looked like these two problems were somewhat related.   The car was struggling to cool itself, causing the auxiliary fan to come on all the time, putting more load on the charging system.

At the lunch stop we tried two more things.   Firstly, the new voltage installed yesterday was put on the used alternator, which did improve charging somewhat.    The thermostat was also gutted to try and provide more flow to the radiator, plus we stopped at Repco to buy a few supplies to rig up a manual switch for the auxiliary fan.

This wasn’t the only 280CE that had problems today though.   The white car was still having issues with ride height.   Even after another adjustment while the alternator was being fitted, it still rode too low.  It is better than before, and will probably be fine to complete the trip.   The height corrector valve is going to need a rebuild as the car sinks quickly after being parked.

From lunch, the plan was to try and take the ferry across the mouth of Port Philip bay as we had originally planned.   This was far preferable than batting rush hour traffic going across Melbourne.   However, after getting back on the road it was clear that these modifications were not enough.    The car would not keep cool enough top stop the auxiliary fan coming on.    This is where the group temporarily split up.   The owner of the green car went to get a new radiator and viscous fan coupling.  This meant doubling back to Dandenong.  The rest of the group went and took the 4PM ferry to Queenscliff and then on to Torquay.

By the time we got to the ferry the sun had actually came out and we were able to enjoy the views from the ride over to Queenscliff.  The ferry is quite a pleasant ride, although it is very expensive at $72 for a car and driver.  Its extra for any passengers!  It was better value than the $33 cigarette lighter to USB plug I had to buy at Repco as mine failed today.   Annoyingly, I have plenty of these at home.

After our now smaller group got to Queenscliff, we checked out a lookout and Royal Australian Navy memorial.   The memorial was extensive, including  a bit of a focus on World War two.  Coincidentally, There was a plaque dedicated to a ship that the father of one of the members of our groups served on during WW2.

The view from the lookout was great, and it was nice to experience the sunshine for a change. I even opened the sunroof for a while. I would have been drenched had I opened it even a few hours earlier.  The cars look much better in that photo than they do in reality, as they are filthy from all the grime of wet weather driving for two days and over 1,000KM.

From there we headed on some nice coast roads to our hotel in Torquay and found a good brew pub for dinner.   We were later joined by the owner of the other 280CE who came with a new radiator and viscous fan coupling.  He had managed to grab these minutes before the closing time of the vendor, and just make the 6pm ferry.    We have a very early start tomorrow, including almost 900km of driving.  Because of that, he made quick work of fitting all those parts in the dark.   The 280CE now has a used alternator, new voltage regulator, replaced viscous fan coupling, new radiator and a switch to control the auxiliary fan.    It is now hopefully ready for the big day tomorrow and our whole group is really keen to see everyone make it in the car they started in!

Our revised route today took us around 460KM,   I filled up the 450SLC just before we got to the hotel in Torquay and managed to get 14.5l/100KM, which is almost a record for my car.   It’s actually not too bad when on the open road.   Despite a few issues with the cars, the trip has been a lot of fun so far.  There has been the added challenge of trying to do what we can to make sure each car makes it.

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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 caught in the grip of one of the wettest autumns I can remember.   Therefore our expectation for day one was consistent rain, which is what happened.   There were only a few short periods around lunchtime when it wasn’t raining.

Our first leg took us through the Royal National Park and the sea cliff bridge through to Nowra.  This is always a nice scenic drive, although the weather was extremely poor and we hit a lot of traffic around Wollongong.   We had originally planned to stick to the coast right through to Kiama, but we did a bit more on the motorway to gain back some time.  At Nowra, we stopped at a shopping mall to stretch our legs and have a break.

The second leg took us from Nowra to Batemans Bay and was the only leg where we had long stretches without rain.   This also got me to the end of familiar roads and to places I have never been before.   We stopped and had a nice lunch by the water in Batemens Bay.  We were able to take advantage of a beak in the rain for our lunch break.

The third leg took is from Batemans Bay to Eden hugging the coast where possible.   We went though towns such as Bermagui and Tathra.   Unfortunately the weather was shocking and this was the worst we would experience on our drive to Orbost.  There were points where we could hardly see anything, and we had to slow right down to ensure we stayed on the road.   I would like to do this drive again because I could see glimpses of great scenery and water views through the terrible weather.

We finally got to Eden over an hour late, so we took a quick 10 minute break and got back on the road to try and  make up some time.  At this point we were on track to arrive in Orbost at about 6:45PM.

About an hour into the drive is when the trouble started.   We had made really good time in the first hour, with litle traffic on the road and only light rain.   However, at this point one of the 280CE’s reported being down on power.    We had walkie talkies in the cars, which would prove to be invaluable later.     The power was much better with the lights off, so we kept going as best as we could until it started to get dark.

At that point we pulled over and attempted to repair the 280CE.   It became apparent that the alternator was not charging the car.   The alternator was a only a few months old, so all the signs were pointing to a bad unit.   At this point we still had 100km to Orbost.

Too eek out the remaining twilight, we bunched up together, slowed down to 80km/h and let the lights from the other three cars light the way for the 280CE.   This got us another 25km until it was completely dark and the 280CE was now practically invisible.   We stopped at a service station, not only to have another look at the 280CE with the bad alternator, but to troubleshoot a self-leveling suspension problem with the other 280CE.   That car had become very bouncy and the ride height was far too high.

The second 280CE was easily put right.  The control rod for the self-leveling rear suspension had broken and we did a makeshift repair with cable ties.

The situation with the other 280CE was far worse.   The battery was getting low and it was now completely dark.   After more troubleshooting, we tried the spare voltage regulator I had for my 450SLC.   We were able to get some charge out of the stricken alternator, albeit with a pretty bad burning smell.

We had 75km to go, so we hoped that this small amount of charge would be enough to power the fuel pump, ignition system and the parking lights. Again, we bunched up, kept our speed to about 80km/h and set off into the night.  Our aim was to nurse the stricken 280CE to our hotel stop in Orbost without headlights or wipers.  The walkie talkies were really helpful for this part of the trip.   Ever so slowly, the distance to orbost started to tick down. Firstly to 50km, then 20km and finally to 10. We were close. The 280CE was also almost out of electricity. We had to shut off the lights for the final 10km, but in the end we did limp the car into our hotel and check in around 8:30PM. That was an opportunity to remove the battery and place it on the trickle charger for tomorrow.

Luckily, after we checked in, we found a local cafe about to close. The very nice lady running the cafe stayed open and we were able to grab some dinner.  We plan to start very early tomorrow to take advantage of daylight so we can get as much out of the fully charged battery as possible in the 280CE.

In some ways, our experience today is actually a testament to one of the advantages of classic cars.   While they are more likely to fail to proceed due to age, their simplicity means you’re more likely able to limp them home.   In a modern car, a charging problem would have rendered the car inoperable.  We would have been stuck waiting for a tow truck for hours in the rain.

The post Mercedes Clubs National Rally 2022 – Day 1: Sydney to Orbost appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Initially I assumed I would replace the alternator myself.   It didn’t take long to change my mind.   The alternator is inaccessible from the top due to the A/C compressor.   It is hard to get from the bottom due to the air filter box too.   I decided that this was a job for the professionals and I am glad I did as it turned out to be a 7 hour job.  The 250SE alternator is just visible underneath the compressor.

Additionally, with the alternator out, it was apparent that a nearby coolant pipe had seen better days.   It was a good opportunity to have it replaced.  Its amazing it wasn’t leaking like crazy given its state.  There was also some wiring replaced at the same time.

I kept the old alternator.  Parts are getting hard to find for these cars now and it is likely rebuildable.

As well as replacing the Alternator, I also replaced the regulator.  I had hoped to buy one of the Bosch solid state regulators, but I think they are no longer available.  I could only find one vendor selling them and they wanted almost $500USD for it.   In the end I got a Beru unit.   The voltage regulator in the car was a Bosch points type, but was not the original one.   It looks like it was originally for another car as a small separate adaptor was needed to plug it into the cars wiring harness.

The old one was still working, but I am getting better voltage out of the new one.   Curiously, one of the pins was not connected on the old regulator.   I’ve had the car for more than 8 years and it was working, so not sure the impact.   I’ve been able to plug the new regulator into the main plug.   As with the 250SE alternator, I will be keeping the old regulator and that extra harness as a spare.

The rebuilt alternator and new regulator make good voltage and 35A seems sufficient to power the car – even with the A/C which is not original to the car.   There are no ECUs or other power hungry accessories on this car.   The fuel injection is mechanical, so the only power draw required to run the car is the fuel pump and ignition system.   The other main accessories are the car’s lights, the radio and the A/C.

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