So far I have done the following:

• Oil and filter change
• Renewed spark plugs
• Transmission oil and filter change
• Differential oil change
• Power steering oil and filter change
• Removed the after market chrome wheel arch trims

Still to do, is both petrol filters, air filter and to properly flush the power steering.   This service I was only able to replace the oil in the reservoir.   I forgot to order the right oil but the oil for the rear suspension also needs replacement.   The car is fitted with rear self-levelling suspension that requires a Mercedes hydraulic oil.   This suspension is based on the design used in the Citroen DS.

Examining the car, it looks like it has been generally well looked after.  It has a new radiator and back half of the exhaust system.   It also would appear it has a refurbished or new A/C compressor.  However, from speaking to the previous owners the last service was done by an ultra-tune rather than the normal Mercedes specialist and it shows.   The car was fitted with resistor spark plugs.  On a Mercedes of this era, non-resistor spark plugs are a necessity as the leads have resistance built in.   Adding resistance via the spark plugs results in a weak spark.    The car has more power and runs better with the proper plugs.

Despite improving the car I had a setback today as the A/C stopped working.  It went from working well to warm air almost instantly.   My assumption is that the system developed a major leak, although I have not yet looked into it closely.  I checked the fuses first, to rule that out and noticed I am missing a relay.   It would appear it is for the high speed on the auxiliary fan.

I don’t know why it was removed.   I can only think that either it was blowing the fuse on high speed, or another relay that was more important failed.     Finally, I also noticed a bad bushing had caused the height corrector on the rear-self levelling suspension to disengage.  I was able to replace it temporarily until I can get a proper bushing.

All in all, the 300SE looks like it will be a good daily driver.    Next step is to finish the service, and fix the broken odometer.  The A/C is also important, but beyond my capabilities.

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• New Spark plugs
• Transmission fluid and filter
• Rear end fluid change
• Brake fluid flush

We used NGK spark plugs as they offer non-resistor plugs that are easy to find.   The original spec for these cars called for non-resistor spark plugs, which are much harder to find now.   The plugs that were already in there were Beru and in reasonably good condition.

For the transmission, we changed the fluid, filter and pan gasket, but didn’t drain the torque converter.   When doing this it is important to not over tighten the pan and warp it and ensure that no debris is allowed to get inside the transmission.

The brake fluid was was much easier using a vacuum pump to make sure that all the old fluid was removed from the lines.

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