S320 CDI gentle restoration W220
Discussion
Car back in the workshop this afternoon.
Only two of my four tyres have turned up, but in the end I wouldn't have had time to fit them all today anyway.
This isn't because I'm a particularly slow tyre fitter. It's more to do with an issue with the tyres.
They are goodyears which is fine and were about half price because they are old stock, which is even better. The only problem is they haven't been stored very well, probably left lying on their side, which has caused the side walls to fold in. If you look carefully you can see they are out of shape.
Once blown up they will be absolutely fine, but getting them to inflate with the bead not sitting on the rim could be a problem.
Anyway, old tyres removed. The Rims seem to still be in quite good condition, considering it's two years now since I had them reconned.
So on with the first new tyre and you can straight away see the problem.
The only way to inflate the tyre is to plug the gap, to allow the pressure to inflate the tyre and push the bead into the rim. In this case I used plastic sheet. Pressed in all around the rim until you have no leaks.
This is a big pain in the back side and took hours to inflate both tyres, but hey half price tyres.
With the tyre finally on the rim, I used the bead breaker to ease the bead off and pull the sheet out.
Anyway eventually they were both fitted, balanced and back on the the car.
I hope the other two are in a bit better state when they turn up.
So, onwards and upwards. New glow plug fitted.
I gave her a quick thrashing just before, got the engine nice and hot. This eased the removal of the glow plug and got the oil thin ready for a change.
Oil filter is pretty filthy. I have brought this service forward by 3000 miles as I have noticed the mpg going down recently. I think now she is 15 years old it is fair enough to do the service every 10,000 miles or so.
Finally I gave the brake fluid a change.
Drove home very smoothly, hopefully that should keep her going for a while longer.
Only two of my four tyres have turned up, but in the end I wouldn't have had time to fit them all today anyway.
This isn't because I'm a particularly slow tyre fitter. It's more to do with an issue with the tyres.
They are goodyears which is fine and were about half price because they are old stock, which is even better. The only problem is they haven't been stored very well, probably left lying on their side, which has caused the side walls to fold in. If you look carefully you can see they are out of shape.
Once blown up they will be absolutely fine, but getting them to inflate with the bead not sitting on the rim could be a problem.
Anyway, old tyres removed. The Rims seem to still be in quite good condition, considering it's two years now since I had them reconned.
So on with the first new tyre and you can straight away see the problem.
The only way to inflate the tyre is to plug the gap, to allow the pressure to inflate the tyre and push the bead into the rim. In this case I used plastic sheet. Pressed in all around the rim until you have no leaks.
This is a big pain in the back side and took hours to inflate both tyres, but hey half price tyres.
With the tyre finally on the rim, I used the bead breaker to ease the bead off and pull the sheet out.
Anyway eventually they were both fitted, balanced and back on the the car.
I hope the other two are in a bit better state when they turn up.
So, onwards and upwards. New glow plug fitted.
I gave her a quick thrashing just before, got the engine nice and hot. This eased the removal of the glow plug and got the oil thin ready for a change.
Oil filter is pretty filthy. I have brought this service forward by 3000 miles as I have noticed the mpg going down recently. I think now she is 15 years old it is fair enough to do the service every 10,000 miles or so.
Finally I gave the brake fluid a change.
Drove home very smoothly, hopefully that should keep her going for a while longer.
Finally last two tyres turned up yesturday. They were just as out of shape as the others but I seem to have got my technique together now and got them fitted without to much drama.
With the front wheels off I took the opertunity to adjust up the front wheel bearings.
As you can see they were quite dry. Luckily working for merc for eight years, I have a tool box full of stuff like this.
I pulled out the bearings and inspected.
The bearings still seem in good condition. So I repacked them with grease and rebuilt them. Just one more small step in stretching out the life of a battered old car.
With the front wheels off I took the opertunity to adjust up the front wheel bearings.
As you can see they were quite dry. Luckily working for merc for eight years, I have a tool box full of stuff like this.
I pulled out the bearings and inspected.
The bearings still seem in good condition. So I repacked them with grease and rebuilt them. Just one more small step in stretching out the life of a battered old car.
Been on the road now for a couple of days with all the new tyres fitted and service done. The MPG seems to be going back up slowly, I will get an air filter cleaning kit next month. I need to clean the cone on my track car, so may as well do them both.
She does seem smoother again. It's funny, you don't notice over the year things becoming a bit more noisy and rough. Then you service and everything get quieter.
These tyres are rated at 68 db, which is low. Most these days are around 71. It really is like driving a sofa.
Summer is on the way, my first track day is booked. BMW will be coming back out of the garage next week. So this may be the last update on the S class for a while. Depends if she breaks down, but hopefully I will only be updating the track day toy thread for a bit.
She does seem smoother again. It's funny, you don't notice over the year things becoming a bit more noisy and rough. Then you service and everything get quieter.
These tyres are rated at 68 db, which is low. Most these days are around 71. It really is like driving a sofa.
Summer is on the way, my first track day is booked. BMW will be coming back out of the garage next week. So this may be the last update on the S class for a while. Depends if she breaks down, but hopefully I will only be updating the track day toy thread for a bit.
I would love to get the rust sorted, but unfortunately I don't have the money anymore.
I do agree the build quality wasn't at its best around the turn of the century. But the S class really doesn't suffer as badly as some. The early 211s where awful cars, the first run of 203s almost as bad.
I do agree the build quality wasn't at its best around the turn of the century. But the S class really doesn't suffer as badly as some. The early 211s where awful cars, the first run of 203s almost as bad.
So it's been about a month since the tyres went on and they have done a thousand miles. Luckily I can report that it is all plain sailing. MPG is back up in the mid 40s.
I'm going to clean out the air filter in the next couple of weeks. But other than that I have no plans for the S for a while. Now the sun is here my other car is back out.
So this will be getting most of the workshop time for the foreseeable future, with the S class doing the daily grind.
I'm going to clean out the air filter in the next couple of weeks. But other than that I have no plans for the S for a while. Now the sun is here my other car is back out.
So this will be getting most of the workshop time for the foreseeable future, with the S class doing the daily grind.
Hmmm that looks like a bit more than a project.
Very small amount of work to do today. Bright and early wipped the air filter out. Scrubbed it, scrubbed it and scrubbed it.
I then left it to dry for the morning. Finally around lunch time I applied some new K&N oil.
Amazing how new it looks when the oil soaks in. I gave it two coats until you could see the red coming though on the other side. Popped it back in which is nice and easy on this engine.
Hopefully we may see a few more MPGs now.
Anyone who is thinking, "He isn't putting much work into this mini restoration"? Well that would be because I'm heavily involved in a full restoration. Which is getting me up very early in the mornings and not leaving a lot of time for anything else.
Very small amount of work to do today. Bright and early wipped the air filter out. Scrubbed it, scrubbed it and scrubbed it.
I then left it to dry for the morning. Finally around lunch time I applied some new K&N oil.
Amazing how new it looks when the oil soaks in. I gave it two coats until you could see the red coming though on the other side. Popped it back in which is nice and easy on this engine.
Hopefully we may see a few more MPGs now.
Anyone who is thinking, "He isn't putting much work into this mini restoration"? Well that would be because I'm heavily involved in a full restoration. Which is getting me up very early in the mornings and not leaving a lot of time for anything else.
One little thing that has annoyed me with the S class is the lights. Specifically the dip beams and the number plate lights. They do work, but intermittently flicker or more annoyingly put their respective bulb warnings up on the dash. The front dip beams have some aftermarket HID kits in. I'm not a big fan of these but can't deny they give much more light and often look nicer. The bit I'm not a fan of is they are usually installed by a DIY method that I would get sacked for. These where no different. You have to drill through the rear cover of the lights to run four wires. This had been done ok on the N/S but the other had far to large a hole and the catch had been broken off. This resulted in the cover not closing and not being water tight. I found a new cover on Ebay drilled it correctly and replaced both bulbs. You can often buy the bulbs and igniters cheaper seperatly than buying a whole kit.
The number plate lights were annoying I had already cleaned up the contacts and replaced the bulbs, but you would still from time to time get the warning on the dash. Well I'm not buying expensive Mercedes bulb holders and more bulbs just for it to stay standard. It's cheaper to upgrade. I stripped out the boot lid carpet. Traced out the wiring loom, opened it up and fitted some 40W 6ohm resistors. These are quite large and get hot so I screwed them to the inside of the boot frame where they can't touch anything. That will stop the bulb warning coming back on. It also means I can fit LEDs.
Now I know you can buy those LED festoons with resistors in them. But I have used them before. I find them unreliable and they get so hot they can melt bulb holders. The way I have fitted these the hot resistors are nicely mounted out of the way and the bulbs themselves stay cold. Hopefully I will never have to touch the system again. Apart from the actual shape of the car and reg it is all mod cons now.
The number plate lights were annoying I had already cleaned up the contacts and replaced the bulbs, but you would still from time to time get the warning on the dash. Well I'm not buying expensive Mercedes bulb holders and more bulbs just for it to stay standard. It's cheaper to upgrade. I stripped out the boot lid carpet. Traced out the wiring loom, opened it up and fitted some 40W 6ohm resistors. These are quite large and get hot so I screwed them to the inside of the boot frame where they can't touch anything. That will stop the bulb warning coming back on. It also means I can fit LEDs.
Now I know you can buy those LED festoons with resistors in them. But I have used them before. I find them unreliable and they get so hot they can melt bulb holders. The way I have fitted these the hot resistors are nicely mounted out of the way and the bulbs themselves stay cold. Hopefully I will never have to touch the system again. Apart from the actual shape of the car and reg it is all mod cons now.
I will take some in the morning. It's currently parked outside a nice little cottage in the Cotswolds we rented for the weekend, trip there in a new car was a nice surprise for everyone. I put it on a ramp before I bought it and thankfully there really is nothing wrong except a smashed fog light surround. So I don't think I will be doing a thread on this one. First time I have ever bought a car that didn't need a load of work doing. But it's a sort of sensible investment to last me a few years hopefully.
So the S class is still thundering on and on. Despite being in the daily use of my young lady now. Just turned over 150K this week. So I thought I would celebrate by taking her to work for the day and having a good look over. Initial inspection not to bad. Oil level ok. Tyre pressures and depths still good. The braked really aren't doing what they should though.
So, I stripped out the front pads, these were very glazed over. Five mins on a flat surface with a sheet of emery, looking like new. I drilled all of the disc holes out to clear the blocked ones. Then finally with all the pads greased and back in, I bled the brake fluid. Stops on the button now!
Should have taken some pics but I was a bit rushed. I'm hoping no more work will be necessary before she finds a new home.
Cruising home I remembered why I love this car so much. Huge, comfy, quiet, economical, just brilliant. It will be a sad day when she goes.
So, I stripped out the front pads, these were very glazed over. Five mins on a flat surface with a sheet of emery, looking like new. I drilled all of the disc holes out to clear the blocked ones. Then finally with all the pads greased and back in, I bled the brake fluid. Stops on the button now!
Should have taken some pics but I was a bit rushed. I'm hoping no more work will be necessary before she finds a new home.
Cruising home I remembered why I love this car so much. Huge, comfy, quiet, economical, just brilliant. It will be a sad day when she goes.
The new Audi has been in the body shop for the last week. Learnt my lesson with the S class. Get it sorted at the start or you never will.
All the rust and main scratches we could see are now gone. Thankfully at staff rates.
Now I can bring her home. Wish I could do the same to the S class but it's just not economical for its age and value now.
Think I will be fitting the new suspension arm on Friday then the S will be up for sale, mechanically very sound and with 10 months MOT!
All the rust and main scratches we could see are now gone. Thankfully at staff rates.
Now I can bring her home. Wish I could do the same to the S class but it's just not economical for its age and value now.
Think I will be fitting the new suspension arm on Friday then the S will be up for sale, mechanically very sound and with 10 months MOT!
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