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Tai-Pan posted:Aren't the US cosworth heads a bit lower compression? Well the joke's on you, because he's in CA! 
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Oct 1, 2011 02:51
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LobsterboyX posted:crackin auto. I guess you'll have to wait until Christmas then!
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Oct 1, 2011 04:51
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In the next day or so I'm going to be taking a look at a 1991 300TE wagon. Anything in particular I need to look for?
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Oct 1, 2011 06:40
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I don't know why everybody hates on late 90's-early 00's reliability. My W202 '98 C180 has served us just fine, and in 13 years of owning it, hasn't failed us even the slightest, just minor stuff like random tail light problems (which is just bending contacts a bit) and rear windows not working. We took it to the dealer for service for the first 8 years and since then we've been taking care of it pretty much ourselves, and nothing drastic has happened to it in 220k kms. At least where I live parts aren't that expensive, and you find plenty of them. In fact I'll go as far as to say I'll probably keep this car for 10 more years, since it's been quite reliable for the time we've had it.
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Oct 1, 2011 21:41
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Steiler Drep posted:I don't know why everybody hates on late 90's-early 00's reliability. My W202 '98 C180 has served us just fine, and in 13 years of owning it, hasn't failed us even the slightest, just minor stuff like random tail light problems (which is just bending contacts a bit) and rear windows not working. We took it to the dealer for service for the first 8 years and since then we've been taking care of it pretty much ourselves, and nothing drastic has happened to it in 220k kms. At least where I live parts aren't that expensive, and you find plenty of them. In fact I'll go as far as to say I'll probably keep this car for 10 more years, since it's been quite reliable for the time we've had it. My parents' '96 W202 C250 diesel was real trouble. Just from the top of my head, I can remember the windows working intermittently, the wiper assembly poo poo itself so the whole thing had to be replaced, the steering was sloppy, the power steering poo poo itself, the rear suspension failed, the tracking went out of wack every 6 months, a heater hose blew right above the pedals, scolding my dad's feet with boiling water, and finally the gearbox completely poo poo itself, it wouldn't shift properly and reverse just stopped working. All of these could be explained by poor maintenance, but my parents are very meticulous about that. Plus they had two W201's before it, one of them with over 850.000km on it. Both were completely trouble-free and required hardly any work ever, apart from wear items and rust. It may just have been a monday car, but what a monday it must have been at the factory.
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Oct 2, 2011 09:34
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Steiler Drep posted:I'll probably keep this car for 10 more years, since it's been quite reliable for the time we've had it. These anecdotal discussions are always stupid. Someone will always get an Accord that explodes on the second day and some people will drive Gremlins for 300,000 miles. Your experience does not data make. Just look at the aggregate reliability reports from Consumer Reports, JD Powers, independent reviewers, etc. Mercedes really scrapped the bottom of the barrel during the dark years. Add in to that the cost of parts and service and you are looking at a real poo poo storm that drove many of their long-term buyers into the arms of the Japanese and Audi. As an aside, our C320 had $8,000 worth of warranty work done in the first 12 months. It now has 54,000 miles on it and the door handles are coming off and the headliner is sagging. By comparison, my 23 year old 560sl is so reliable that I am thinking of selling it. Nothing to tinker with.
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Oct 2, 2011 21:11
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Tai-Pan posted:These anecdotal discussions are always stupid. Someone will always get an Accord that explodes on the second day and some people will drive Gremlins for 300,000 miles. Your experience does not data make. :/ I guess it's luck then. We really got lucky with this one. My parents had a '87 W124 300E before the W202 and it was wonderful as well, I think we're just really lucky with Mercedes Benz.
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Oct 2, 2011 21:20
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Does anyone know a source for the W107 shifter console light? That little rear end light bulb is proving hard to find locally, despite the Internets insistence that Advance Autoparts should have it. I can order it from MB, but they want 5 weeks and $25 (after shipping) for it.
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Nov 3, 2011 16:06
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I joined the club!
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Nov 4, 2011 00:36
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LUBE UP YOUR BUTT posted:Alright I might go for a 2001 Elegance trim E320 (W210). Out of curiosity is the stock GPS system even worth using? Assuming routing and directions are adequate, how would it get map updates? Pretty much all the Mercedes nav systems use NavTeq maps, and the update DVDs are generally around $150, though that might vary by model.
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Nov 4, 2011 01:10
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wallaka posted:I joined the club! Nice! If you have any questions ask away and be sure to join https://www.mbworld.org it contains an amazing wealth of information.
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Nov 4, 2011 04:34
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Meathole posted:Nice! If you have any questions ask away and be sure to join https://www.mbworld.org it contains an amazing wealth of information. Yeah, I joined. It's been interesting trying to sort through the chaff over there, but it's not nearly as bad as the BMW forums.
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Nov 4, 2011 04:47
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Tell me about 2000-2005 CL500s....
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Nov 4, 2011 07:27
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gently caress. I did a valve job (my first ever) on my 77 300D and now it will not start. When it does start, or tries to run I should say, it kills itself immediately; all while the car is shaking violently. Just went though it the 3rd time and the spacing is good. Anyone have any suggestions?
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Nov 15, 2011 06:03
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Intake/Exhaust clearances could be mixed up if the diagram was read upside-down. .10mm exhaust and .30mm intake for nonturbos. You're measuring at the camshaft and rocker arm, right? Adjusted valves with the camshaft pointing straight up for each valve? Any binding linkage cutting fuel?
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Nov 15, 2011 06:39
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MATLAB 1988 posted:Intake/Exhaust clearances could be mixed up if the diagram was read upside-down. .10mm exhaust and .30mm intake for nonturbos. You're measuring at the camshaft and rocker arm, right? Adjusted valves with the camshaft pointing straight up for each valve? Any binding linkage cutting fuel? As for linkages, they are all moving freely and not touching the fuel lines inappropriately.
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Nov 15, 2011 08:10
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LobsterboyX posted:Tell me about 2000-2005 CL500s....
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Nov 15, 2011 22:28
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Today I checked the clearances again and went to start it, now it is making a noise each cycle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CihwxR7RQxg It is the same sound that my 1985 300D made when the engine would not start, here is hoping I can fix both of them .
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Nov 16, 2011 00:53
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As Nero Danced posted:In the next day or so I'm going to be taking a look at a 1991 300TE wagon. Anything in particular I need to look for? Turns out that "the next day or so" ended up meaning a month and a half- knee surgery screws everything up. Lucky for me, it wasn't sold in the meantime. 
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Nov 16, 2011 19:45
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wallaka posted:I joined the club! Hah. How's the E55? Blown away every possible expectation you ever had?
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Nov 16, 2011 19:52
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EvilMoFo posted:Today I checked the clearances again and went to start it, now it is making a noise each cycle. I got a 78 300d last summer and attempted to do a valve adjust on it myself. Did not turn out to well, though luckily my dad is a diesel mechanic and he helped me finish it up. Valve adjustments are a bit tricky, I had never done one before and there is a lot of "feel" to get them right. Any chance you could get a hand from someone who has done a few valve adjusts before before? I'd also suggest getting the correct tools as well, something like these: http://mercedessource.com/node/715 I heated and bent a old set of wrenches I found, and while they sort of worked, there is no substitute for the correct tool. I'm no expert at all, but from the sound of it in the video, they have been adjusted too tight..? I'd suggest not starting it again and re-doing the adjustment. Like I said, it takes a bit of practice to get the feel for valve clearance right.
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Nov 16, 2011 19:59
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7734 posted:I got a 78 300d last summer and attempted to do a valve adjust on it myself. Did not turn out to well, though luckily my dad is a diesel mechanic and he helped me finish it up.  .I am going to talk to a couple people I know that work on cars and see what they say. From everything that I have read about valve adjustments, I have the spacing perfect but we shall see.
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Nov 16, 2011 23:11
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Nait Sirhc posted:Hah. How's the E55? Blown away every possible expectation you ever had? I never really paid attention to the fact that M-B made performance cars before now. I love it. The car is ridiculous, even more so since I installed that 180mm crank pulley earlier this week. I suppose headers are next after the heat exchanger and intercooler pump I've ordered come in.
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Nov 16, 2011 23:14
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wallaka posted:I never really paid attention to the fact that M-B made performance cars before now. I love it. The car is ridiculous, even more so since I installed that 180mm crank pulley earlier this week. I suppose headers are next after the heat exchanger and intercooler pump I've ordered come in. Did you get the EC tune yet? I've had my 180mm and EC tune for a year and a half now and absolutely love it! It's fun applying about 400 lb-ft to that crank bolt, isn't it? I just got my new rear rotors and pads in today. 116,000 miles on the stock rotors probably wasn't the best idea, but it will still suck your eyeballs out. This car never ceases to amaze me, especially during the colder months when rolling burnouts at 60 mph are the norm and fuel mileage barely creeps into the double digits.
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Nov 17, 2011 04:50
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Meathole posted:Did you get the EC tune yet? I've had my 180mm and EC tune for a year and a half now and absolutely love it! It's fun applying about 400 lb-ft to that crank bolt, isn't it? I just got my new rear rotors and pads in today. 116,000 miles on the stock rotors probably wasn't the best idea, but it will still suck your eyeballs out. This car never ceases to amaze me, especially during the colder months when rolling burnouts at 60 mph are the norm and fuel mileage barely creeps into the double digits. Yeah, I installed the pulley Monday morning, called up EC, and they set up a remote tune by 3pm. It went way easier than it should considering I was involved in the process. That crank bolt was a bitch, I though I broke the socket when I removed it. I was so paranoid that I switched to a different socket after the first two loud cracking noises, but it was just the bolt breaking loose. I torqued it with my torque wrench and switched to my breaker bar and angle gauge to finish. The breaker bent so much I pulled about 60 degrees and had to reseat the socket on the bolt. The handle of the breaker traversed well over 90 degrees during that pull, with 3-4" of visible deflection down the length. Haha, I broke the tires loose at 60 today with ambient temps of around 70. It was a little damp out, but still.
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Nov 17, 2011 07:49
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How reliable are the E55's, are they something that can be maintained without CPO and with some DIY?
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Nov 17, 2011 19:26
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sanchez posted:How reliable are the E55's, are they something that can be maintained without CPO and with some DIY? You will get a million different answers to this, but here's my take. FWIW, I purchased my car 2.5 years ago and have put 55,000 miles on it. In that time I have had both exhaust manifolds crack at the flange where it dumps into the pipes(welded long ago and holding fine. FREE), one wheel cracked(got knock off E63 wheels for $600), intercooler pump($175), Airmatic pump($100 used) and engine/transmission mounts($130). I have been relatively lucky. There are others who have racked up $10K+ in repairs in far less time and bitch and moan about how no one in their right mind would own one of these cars without a warranty. There are many known areas that can fail and be costly to fix, such as the Airmatic suspension, valvecover gaskets, fuel tank/pump, alternator, supercharger clutch, and the SBC(brake by wire) unit. Some of the stories you hear will be from people with a warranty who manage to turn a $1K job into $8,000 worth of work because they have a warranty and want every little thing "fixed" whether it's really broken or not. I would do the same thing. It's really luck of the draw. I feel that on the whole they are just as reliable as any other car, but when something breaks it can get costly in a hurry. I do all my own work, and I maintain that if the car is a daily driver and doesn't sit for weeks on end that it will break less often. You will go through rear tires every 15K or less, and brakes can be very expensive if you don't do the work yourself. I just replaced front and rear rotors and pads with Mercedes parts and spent about $550, which isn't bad at all. It's really a crapshoot, and if you budget for major repairs and never have to do them, then great! Even though you can get the car for $17,000 - $30,000, it's still an $80,000+ car when it comes to maintenance. wallaka posted:Yeah, I installed the pulley Monday morning, called up EC, and they set up a remote tune by 3pm. It went way easier than it should considering I was involved in the process. I was making GBS threads a brick trying to tighten that crank bolt. I thought the breaker bar was going to snap. I just switched over to some 245/40/18 all-seasons in the rear for winter, and they grip 100 times better in 30 degree weather than the Summer tires I had. I don't care how stupid it looks, I'm not going into a ditch this Winter. Here's what I do during the Summer. I think this was my 11.96 run. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffc1XBNlmyA Meathole fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Nov 17, 2011 |
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Nov 17, 2011 23:28
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sanchez posted:How reliable are the E55's, are they something that can be maintained without CPO and with some DIY? I would always buy an AMG CPO'd. They've already taken a monster hit on depreciation and you will want the dealer inspection and warranty. Trying to find a better deal is just an unnecessary risk with potential costs that seriously outweigh the savings. Pretty much everyone I know who owns an AMG loves it, and trades it in for a new one when they're done with it. Owners that don't re-buy AMG have likely already had a nightmare with it, an expensive nightmare. e: "everyone I know" 
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Nov 18, 2011 01:57
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Are W126 560SELs part of the 'maintenance nightmare' branch of the MB family, or do they lean more toward the 'hammer-like reliability' side? I've always had a soft spot for the big cruisers from that era, and want to pick one up to feel like a foreign diplomat about town. Things like 25-year-old self-leveling suspension make me a bit nervous.
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Nov 18, 2011 04:56
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sanchez posted:How reliable are the E55's, are they something that can be maintained without CPO and with some DIY? I wouldn't own one without a warranty. That said, I owned mine for eight months out of warranty and it never had any issues. Pretty much the most incredible car you can find for <$30k, bar none.
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Nov 18, 2011 22:34
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McCune posted:Are W126 560SELs part of the 'maintenance nightmare' branch of the MB family, or do they lean more toward the 'hammer-like reliability' side? I've always had a soft spot for the big cruisers from that era, and want to pick one up to feel like a foreign diplomat about town. Things like 25-year-old self-leveling suspension make me a bit nervous. I have the same engine (M117) in my 560SL. Generally speaking, these engines tend to be very reliable and the fault points well known these days. Drive train parts tend to be pretty easy to come by as well. The KE Jetronic fuel distribution system is awful, but is probably not going to break if it hasn't at this point. They are torque monsters, but not exactly rocket ships by modern standards. Expect little things like the moving vents to break, but who cares.
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Nov 18, 2011 22:44
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Meathole posted:
Winter tires? I live in Bama, it gets colder than 45 degrees for maybe two weeks. Nice run (well, except the red light). The track's still open here and I need to go. I purchased a set of shorty headers off of mbworld classifieds, should be here next week. That's as far as I'm going for a while. After this it's just incremental gains anyway.
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Nov 19, 2011 00:08
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Okay, assume for a moment that I know next to nothing about cars and am in the market to buy a used car. Also assume that I've found a 560SL and have decided that I really, really like it. Now, the mileage makes me a little apprehensive, but my stepdad said that it, being a Mercedes, has probably held up very well. I'd certainly like to believe that the statement has some validity to it. Does it? Do you guys know about when I would need to replace parts or tune it up to keep it in good shape? Sorry if these are really dumb questions.  I'd really like to use this car as a learning experience.
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Dec 6, 2011 05:16
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Morganman posted:Sorry if these are really dumb questions. As I mentioned two posts above, the 560sl is a very solid car with well known fault points and a good community. In terms of reliability, like all old Mercedes they are extremely well built and 200K mile 560sls are not at all uncommon. It definitely will not be as cheap and easy to work on as some other cars like a miata, so keep that in mind. Understand that this era of vehicle was in the no-mans land between computers and vacuum control. It has the worst of both worlds. But I really like mine.
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Dec 6, 2011 06:50
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Morganman posted:Okay, assume for a moment that I know next to nothing about cars and am in the market to buy a used car. And you're asking, which means you'll probably do just fine if you take some very important advice: find a qualified independent mechanic with good references locally and bring them any car you are serious about buying for a pre purchase inspection. Yes, it will cost you around $100. No, it won't catch everything. But it is the right way to protect yourself. If a seller balks at arranging to get the car to your preferred mechanic, walk away as they are hiding something. I'd say drat near half the value of a pre purchase inspection is seeing how the seller reacts when you tell them you will need to get one.
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Dec 6, 2011 14:41
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Morganman posted:Okay, assume for a moment that I know next to nothing about cars and am in the market to buy a used car. Also assume that I've found a 560SL and have decided that I really, really like it. I wouldn't necessarily buy that 560sl due to a rusty passenger fender, dented hood and a steering wheel that shows 210-310k miles worth of wear, not 110k. Definitely test drive that one and see if you like it. They have a great tank-like feel that few cars share. Later years of an MB model are valued higher because MB ironed out bugs and fuel injection technology advanced (r107 was first made in the early 1970's, early fuel injection is tricky)
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Dec 6, 2011 16:58
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I really need a g/f or a wife... or block craigslist on my computer. http://desmoines.craigslist.org/cto/2759146909.html Any recommendations on what to look for? Looks like it could prove to be a fun car to toy with. vvv Oh god yes, the wheels are hideous.. Any thing to watch out for? BrokenKnucklez fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Dec 19, 2011 |
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Dec 18, 2011 20:43
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Any recommendations on what to look for? A better set of wheels.
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Dec 19, 2011 03:00
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Hey guys, looking into getting a Merc at some time in the next few days perhaps. I've honestly tried looking online for reviews etc, and I've found a very promising car.. a 1992 Mercedes 300E. 2.6 litre I6. I'm going to go have a look at it in a few days time. http://sa.gumtree.com.au/c-Cars-Vehicles-Motorbikes-Parts-cars-Mercedes-Benz-300E-Urgent-Sale-W0QQAdIdZ339278708 Sorry, not sure how to post a print screen of it. 
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Dec 21, 2011 22:27
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fingerling posted:Hey guys, looking into getting a Merc at some time in the next few days perhaps. Do you have a garage, tools, a bank account, a spare car, and a good shipping address? Because you'll need to be ready to use all of them on an $1800 Merc.
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Dec 21, 2011 22:30
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