W111 poor running issues and becker update

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 […]

Troubleshooting the Classic Auto Sound Becker tribute radio

I installed the Classic Auto Sound Becker tribute radio in my 250SE a couple of years ago. The W111 series are supposed to have a slimline radio instead of a DIN size. Unfortunately, a previous owner cut my dashboard to DIN size. This meant putting the correct radio for the year was now practically impossible. Instead of putting a 70s Becker instead, I went with this tribute radio which is based on a Retrosound radio with an actual Becker faceplate.

I’ve been happy with the radio in the car, and would recommend it to anyone who had their dashboard modified […]

250SE extended test drive

After all the recent work done on my 250SE, I wanted to take it for an extended test drive. Its had motor and transmission mounts, front crank seal, re-sealed power steering pump, injectors, distributor cap and rotor, points, condenser, coil, plugs, alternator, voltage regulator and more done. The spark had been quite weak and the engine was carboned up.

The Mercedes-Benz club have started running mid-week pop-up drives. I’m not normally able to attend mid-week events but I have a bit of time at the moment. This weeks drive was down to Berry via the Royal national park then back […]

Classic Auto Sound Becker tribute radio update

A couple of weeks ago I installed the Classic Auto Sound Becker Tribute Radio in my 250SE. I’m really happy with it, it worked really well on my recent drive down to Canberra. One of the only things I thought could have been improved on the radio was the buttons were unlabeled. The real radios had LMKUU buttons. Classic Auto Sound, who build these radios have recently improved them with stickers for the LMKUU buttons. They were good enough to send me a set of the stickers for my radio. What great customer service!

The LMKUU stickers really make a […]

Retrosound Model 2 Repair

The Retrosound Model 2 radio in my Citroen DS has been playing up. It would randomly adjust the volume on its own, mostly down. The practical effect of this was not being able to listen to the radio. A while back I removed the face of the radio to take a look and the wire from the volume knob to the radio looked chafed. The face of the radio is separate from the main unit as there is not enough room in the DS to install it in one piece.

Retrosound sell replacement shafts so this seemed like a […]

Classic Auto Sound Becker tribute radio part 2

Today I completed the install of the Classic Auto Sound Becker Tribute. In the first part, I removed the old Clarion, and installed the the Retrosound wiring harness. I also tested the radio and it was working fine. The new radio looks great and is a huge improvement over the Clarion CD player.

Installation Step 4: Convert the Becker Tribute radio to DIN

At some point in its life, somebody cut the dashboard of my 250SE for DIN. To fit the new radio, I also needed to order a DIN kit. The radio was supposed to be already set […]

Classic Auto Sound Becker tribute radio part 1

I have been wanting to change the radio in the 250SE since I have owned the car. It was a basic Clarion unit that looked totally out of place. The dashboard in my car has been cut to DIN size, meaning going back to the original Becker wasn’t really an option. Unfortunately many W111’s had their dashboards cut up in the 70s and 80s as owners demanded cassette decks and CD players.

My plan was to customize a Retrosound radio with a real Becker face plate. I even went to the point of purchasing the face plate about 18 months […]

Retrosound radio in the DS almost complete for the second time

Previously, I had been working on a nicer faceplate solution for the Retrosound Model 2 radio in the Citroen DS.

I am happy to say that this is now almost complete and back in the car. There are a few more adjustments to do, but overall it is a much better solution to the one I had before.

With the rear knobs cut down to size, the next task was to mount the shafts for the knobs to the front of the radio. I had already separated the front of the radio from the main chassis when I originally installed […]

Retrosound model 2 knob adjustment

Previously I had started re-looking at the faceplate of the Retrosound Model 2 I have installed in the DS. The biggest issue is fitment of the secondary knobs. In my first attempt, I had tried to file away small holes in the side of the cubby housing for them to fit, but I found that they jammed easily and interfered with the primary knobs.

My next attempt was to file down the knobs so only the small handle would be left. This is a design that has been used in many other radios in the past, but Retrosound don’t seem […]

Retrosound Model 2 in a Citroen DS – Revisited

Last year I installed a Retrosound Model 2 radio in my Citroen DS. Overall, I was happy with the result, but there were one or two small things that were not working as I expected. This was mostly down to so little space for the unit in the DS, as it is hard to get the radio face and knobs to fit inside the original cubby in the dashboard. My goal was to install the radio without cutting into the dashboard, so I had to come up with a creative solution. This involved cutting up the little plastic cubby (which […]