1 – Drive the Car

First step was to get it registered so I can drive it.  I’ve now put about 100 miles on the Daimler.  It hadn’t been registered for around 20 years (although it was used on a trade plate for a few years after that) and It’s only done less than 6,000 miles since the year 2000.   A bit of use already has it driving better and better.

This is also helping me identify future improvements.  It runs well when warmed up, but not so well when cold.  The suspension work so far was the minimum required to get the car registered.  It will need some more to bring back the great ride these cars are known for.

2 – Clean and feed the leather

Preserving the special Vanden Plas interior is critical, and so one of my first steps was to clean and feed the leather.  The leather is not perfect but its really very good for its age.   I’ll want to do this a few more times.  I used the Auto-Glym leather conditioner.

3 – Clean the carpets

The carpets were pretty dirty.  I removed the ones I could easily and used my little carpet cleaner.   The ones in the car I did as I could.   It made a pretty big difference and the water out of the carpet cleaning machine was pretty dirty by the time I had finished.  I also noticed that the underlay material was missing on the passengers front, which led me to my next job.

4 – Replace the underlay on the passengers front

I had some carpet underlay on hand I bought for a previous project.  It was thinner than the material used on the rest of the car, but two sheets together was about the same thickness.  I used the front carpet as a template and cut two sheets to size and installed them.   These cars had pretty extensive sound deadening compared to a regular XJ.

5 – Installed a battery monitor and charge port

I use the BM2 Bluetooth Battery monitor in all my cars.  While the Daimler is fitted with a voltage gauge, I am not sure how accurate it is.  The bluetooth monitor allows me to quickly see the voltage of the battery even when the car is not running.  The gauge is particularly useful on the Mercedes and Citroens that don’t give you a voltage gauge, but I was able to verify that the alternator was working well, and the gauge in the car reads a little low.     In addition, I installed a port for my ctek bettery chargers so I don’t have to worry about alligator clips.

6 – Installed a second hand lower grille

The lower grille on my car was totally missing.  Its not immediately obvious on the series 1, but having a gaping hole under the front bumper is not ideal.   I was first given a grille which turned out to be for a series 3.  I then found one on uk ebay that was for a series 1 and fitted it.  A small improvement that makes quite a difference once fitted.

7 – Fixed rattling hubcap

On my first couple of drives, I noticed quite a rattle from the front drivers wheel.  At first I wasn’t sure what was causing.   I couldn’t see anything hitting the wheel when the car was jacked up.  I couldn’t see the trim ring touching anything either.   Turns out the Daimler badge on the hubcap was loose.  I’ve removed the hubcap and added some glue, and will refit and test.

8 – Owners manual and keyring

I purchased an owners manual and keyring.  I couldn’t find a Vanden Plas owners manual, but owners manuals for the regular Series 1 Double-Six are easy to find on uk Ebay.  At the all British day, I also purchased a Daimler keyring, which has sadly already broken.

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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.

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I already have various battery testers which are useful for standalone battery testing.    However, I didn’t have a good way of checking the overall charging system of the cars.    In particular, I have seen some strange behavior with the radios in my 250SE and Citroen DS that may be related to over or under charging.

I ordered the BM2 Battery Monitor devices a while back, and they finally arrived yesterday.   I had the E-Type at my house this week, so thought I would try out one of the devices.

There are two apps you can choose from.   The free app, that lets you connect to one Battery Monitor at a time, and a paid one that lets you connect to four.   I started with the free app.     You don’t connect your phone directly to the BM2 battery monitor bluetooth, you start the app and give it permission to use the bluetooth device.

When I first connected the phone, it showed the current status of the battery in the car.   As expected the battery was fairly low.   The last drive was quite short, in the rain and dark.

When I started the car, I was able to use the cranking test which passed (as expected).   Next, I tried the charging test.   This is where the unit somewhat fails on older cars.   According to the BM2 Battery monitor, the car wasn’t running, so I couldn’t start the test at idle.   Its not really surprising as modern cars have very large alternators that provide plenty of amps even at idle.    The E-Type has a 43 amp alternator.   It doesn’t produce a whole lot at idle.    I was only able to start the test holding the revs above 2000. I imagine it would have even less luck on an older model equipped with a generator.

In any case it showed that once the revs were up, the alternator created plenty of current.   This was even more apparent during normal driving where the Alternator was putting out plenty of power.  I was seeing a regular 14.5-14.6 volts while driving.

I did get an alarm at idle when the cooling fan was running and I switched on the headlights.   Once I took off again there was plenty of power.   The E-Type has pretty low power needs.   During normal driving only the fuel pump, the ignition system and sometimes the cooling fan are drawing power.

I think this will work well to test the charging system of the 250SE and Citroen DS.   I may even get a couple more to keep them on the older cars.     It would be good if the app could be put in a mode where the screen does not turn off, as it could function as a temporary voltage gauge.    The range is quite good as I was able to connect to the device from outside the garage.

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