S320 CDI gentle restoration W220
Discussion
Time for an update. Happy new year everyone.
As we were talking about the Airmatic last time. Just after Christmas she started to make a rather horrible noise. The Air suspention pump was running very noisily and it seemed for a long time.
The pumps themselves are quite expencive so I looked into repair methods. I found you can get new piston rings for the compressor pump. So this morning I got stripping.
With the wheel arch liner removed there was however a bigger problem
Not easy to see in this picture I know, but the end plate of the pump had sheared off. With the pump removed and on the bench you can see better.
I had no choice really but to drill out the old rivets and mount up new ones.
Now I removed the top cover (cylinder head). No point in not replacing the piston ring now I have come this far. Typically one of those bolts snapped to.
More drilling and then taping the hole. Cleaned up the gasket surface and fitted the new piston ring.
I was very impressed with the piston ring kit. It came with new gaskets, bolts and a tap to clean the holes out with.
Finally I rebuilt the head, leaving the end cover off until last. New rivets in.
Refitted to the car and run. Quiet as a mouse, thankfully.
As we were talking about the Airmatic last time. Just after Christmas she started to make a rather horrible noise. The Air suspention pump was running very noisily and it seemed for a long time.
The pumps themselves are quite expencive so I looked into repair methods. I found you can get new piston rings for the compressor pump. So this morning I got stripping.
With the wheel arch liner removed there was however a bigger problem
Not easy to see in this picture I know, but the end plate of the pump had sheared off. With the pump removed and on the bench you can see better.
I had no choice really but to drill out the old rivets and mount up new ones.
Now I removed the top cover (cylinder head). No point in not replacing the piston ring now I have come this far. Typically one of those bolts snapped to.
More drilling and then taping the hole. Cleaned up the gasket surface and fitted the new piston ring.
I was very impressed with the piston ring kit. It came with new gaskets, bolts and a tap to clean the holes out with.
Finally I rebuilt the head, leaving the end cover off until last. New rivets in.
Refitted to the car and run. Quiet as a mouse, thankfully.
I've run an S430 for the past 18 months, never a car I would have actively sought out (mainly owned BMWs in the past) but it was just too cheap to pass (£1100) had a full MB history, which included fully rebuilt airmatic, so the main worry had been taken care of, someone was supposed to buy it off me just before xmas but had a change of heart.
Ive really grown to love it, fantastic for long journeys, and it hasn't cost me anything, bar an MOT (not a single advisory) and new tyres - oh tell a lie I had to replace a brake light bulb!
Very under-rated car, which makes them an utter bargain. I keep idly looking at W215 CL, are they really more of (supposed) money pit than the W220?
Ive really grown to love it, fantastic for long journeys, and it hasn't cost me anything, bar an MOT (not a single advisory) and new tyres - oh tell a lie I had to replace a brake light bulb!
Very under-rated car, which makes them an utter bargain. I keep idly looking at W215 CL, are they really more of (supposed) money pit than the W220?
The CL is a nice car as well. In general they are the same as the S. They are extremely rare, in the 8 years I was at merc I think I worked on 4. Which obviously keeps the value up. The only real problem I know the W215 has that the W220 doesn't is door wiring. The 215 has an unusual door hing that swings the door quite far away from the body. This tends to put to much strain on the wiring loom. I have had to replace a couple before. The other money pit side is of coarse they only came in petrol V8 or V12.
Interesting to hear you love a 420. Out of interest what MPG do you get from that?
Interesting to hear you love a 420. Out of interest what MPG do you get from that?
Hamster69 said:
The CL is a nice car as well. In general they are the same as the S. They are extremely rare, in the 8 years I was at merc I think I worked on 4. Which obviously keeps the value up. The only real problem I know the W215 has that the W220 doesn't is door wiring. The 215 has an unusual door hing that swings the door quite far away from the body. This tends to put to much strain on the wiring loom. I have had to replace a couple before. The other money pit side is of coarse they only came in petrol V8 or V12.
Interesting to hear you love a 420. Out of interest what MPG do you get from that?
Cheers for that.Interesting to hear you love a 420. Out of interest what MPG do you get from that?
On a long run it'll show an average of around 30/31 mpg, round town and general pottering about it drops down to 23/24.
No one believes how little these can be picked up for.
Had the old girl up on the ramp tonight. Tyres are basically done. 2mm of tread all round, ordered some goodyears this evening. Hopefully they will arrive before Saturday. With the engine covers removed I had a look at the glow plugs.
Five tested like this with a nice low resistance. Cylinder number three however was open circuit.
I would really like to replace the set, but with four tyres already on order it will have to be one for now. Hopefully all will be here ready for Saturday. I shall be working on our restoration project in the morning, then on to the S in the afternoon.
Five tested like this with a nice low resistance. Cylinder number three however was open circuit.
I would really like to replace the set, but with four tyres already on order it will have to be one for now. Hopefully all will be here ready for Saturday. I shall be working on our restoration project in the morning, then on to the S in the afternoon.
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.
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