Mercedes 129 titivation
Discussion
I haven't fixed it so I am sending it to the professionals while I am on holiday.
I had an easier time of it tonight. Got it up on stands, removed the under tray, cleaned it. I had a good look and feel around the oil cooler and filter housing and couldn't find any leak. So I checked it was full and ran it. Straight away there was a leak from the left front of the engine. I cannot tell where from. I removed the filter housing and checked the seal was well-seated, which it was. I didn't dare remove the cooler but I checked all the fixings were torqued, which they were. I cleaned it up again and ran it. Still the leak.
I am now wondering whether I haven't damaged the timing case when loosening the filter housing. Actually, I don't care anymore. I am going to pay someone else to fix it. Lesson learned.
I had an easier time of it tonight. Got it up on stands, removed the under tray, cleaned it. I had a good look and feel around the oil cooler and filter housing and couldn't find any leak. So I checked it was full and ran it. Straight away there was a leak from the left front of the engine. I cannot tell where from. I removed the filter housing and checked the seal was well-seated, which it was. I didn't dare remove the cooler but I checked all the fixings were torqued, which they were. I cleaned it up again and ran it. Still the leak.
I am now wondering whether I haven't damaged the timing case when loosening the filter housing. Actually, I don't care anymore. I am going to pay someone else to fix it. Lesson learned.
Sorry to hear about the 129, I suppose it's like my Grandad, - resident of your part of this island. He's also done about 250k miles. Bits sort of break off or gush oil, but he's still a fantastic chap and great to have around. Very sorry for you though. It's just so frustrating when you have a bit of time, no kids chewing tools or wearing gaskets and then it all goes to pot.
Lowtimer said:
Many years ago I changed the oil filter on my BMW 3-series and was very pleased with myself. Except it transpired after a long motorway trip that I had seated the o-ring in entirely the wrong place on the housing thread and the bulk of the oil had escaped, saturating the engine, the entire underside and rear of the car. I wasn't too far away from seizing the engine.
And adding that yes, I just did this a month ago on my Alpina. My son changed the filter and poured the oil in perfectly- he's 7- and I f
ked up the oil filter housing o ring. Only 1.5 litres of fresh Castrol pissed out, but not ideal. And he did his bit perfectly dammit.Here's to brighter, less oily days. Well oily on the inside only.
Terry fixed the oil leak: I had managed to pinch one of the seals. He also replaced a rear ABS reluctor ring and procured another 12 months' MOT sans advice. At the weekend I thoroughly cleaned and polished the paint, removed the hardtop and proofed the soft top canvas with Fabsil Gold. I would like to get the wheels off to clean their insides and also to do under the wheel arches but I will never have the time.
The 129 is in daily use now because the weather is nice and the 124 is awaiting a head gasket. Why don't I just lease that Audi A3? Anyway, this evening I noticed a funny ticking noise from the nearside rear. Further investigation revealed the brake disc splash plate was falling to bits, just as MB Newcastle promised it would. This is quiet serious because the splash plate holds the parking brake gubbins in situ. Fortunately the central portion looks intact.
I have removed the offending iron oxide:
I was slightly concerned about this cable stay which is bolted to the splash guard but have pushed it well out of harm's way:
It is dirty and grotty under here, but fundamentally Ok. Apart from the splash guard, that is.
This did give me the opportunity to clean the inside of one rear wheel. Saddo.
New splash guard is £37. New wheel bearing kit is £85. Times two. That makes £246. Plus labour. Why oh why? Happily, the chassis looks pretty good and I think renewing the rear suspension links can be postponed for a further year. They were last done at about 150,000miles and the car sees much less winter use now than it did during the first ten years of its life. I can't really grumble. It has lasted this long and I was warned.
The 129 is in daily use now because the weather is nice and the 124 is awaiting a head gasket. Why don't I just lease that Audi A3? Anyway, this evening I noticed a funny ticking noise from the nearside rear. Further investigation revealed the brake disc splash plate was falling to bits, just as MB Newcastle promised it would. This is quiet serious because the splash plate holds the parking brake gubbins in situ. Fortunately the central portion looks intact.
I have removed the offending iron oxide:
I was slightly concerned about this cable stay which is bolted to the splash guard but have pushed it well out of harm's way:
It is dirty and grotty under here, but fundamentally Ok. Apart from the splash guard, that is.
This did give me the opportunity to clean the inside of one rear wheel. Saddo.
New splash guard is £37. New wheel bearing kit is £85. Times two. That makes £246. Plus labour. Why oh why? Happily, the chassis looks pretty good and I think renewing the rear suspension links can be postponed for a further year. They were last done at about 150,000miles and the car sees much less winter use now than it did during the first ten years of its life. I can't really grumble. It has lasted this long and I was warned.
Edited by r129sl on Wednesday 3rd May 21:33
Looking good.
I dropped my Jaguar in to join the 190 and W124 300e II in the garage tonight. In fact I couldn't be bothered to make my own way back so I took the 190 with the blowing exhaust... why do I own so many cars none of which work entirely?!
What are you coming to the barge meet in on Sunday? The r129 please!
I dropped my Jaguar in to join the 190 and W124 300e II in the garage tonight. In fact I couldn't be bothered to make my own way back so I took the 190 with the blowing exhaust... why do I own so many cars none of which work entirely?!
What are you coming to the barge meet in on Sunday? The r129 please!
0a said:
Looking good.
I dropped my Jaguar in to join the 190 and W124 300e II in the garage tonight. In fact I couldn't be bothered to make my own way back so I took the 190 with the blowing exhaust... why do I own so many cars none of which work entirely?!
What are you coming to the barge meet in on Sunday? The r129 please!
I know how you feel. There is always one car that needs something; never any end to the torrent of money flowing from the pockets.I dropped my Jaguar in to join the 190 and W124 300e II in the garage tonight. In fact I couldn't be bothered to make my own way back so I took the 190 with the blowing exhaust... why do I own so many cars none of which work entirely?!
What are you coming to the barge meet in on Sunday? The r129 please!
I'm bringing the Spartan. I will have the boys with me and we are coming via their Godparents' in Sheffield. The back of the 129 is not really up to long distance work, especially for the youngest. They can't comfortably fall asleep in there.
With a bit of P&Q this evening, I finally got round to straightening up my rev counter. Tachometer for those who must. This is quite a common thing on these cars it seems. It is really very irritating.
First I pulled the instrument cluster out. This is quite tricky. I have the special hooks but was very wary of breaking the screen, having done just that on the 140 I managed for a while. In the end I dropped the lower dash cover and pushed it out from behind but this isn't easy, either. Naturally, MB manufacture the back side of the dashboard out of razor blades so a little torn skin is inevitable. That way you can bleed all over the cluster, the dials, the seats, the carpets.
Anyway, cluster out, you can see the tach' has slipped anti-clockwise:
With the cluster out, it's easy enough to dismantle. Two Torx screws on the upper reverse and then five plastic clips along the bottom, Just be gentle with the clips, both when releasing them and when re-fixing them upon re-assembly. The plastic does feel dry and slightly brittle.
This is what you find. The gauges are stuck onto little up-turned perspex bowls, each one screwed in by two or three Torx screws.
The rev counter just pulls up and out:
The dial face can be moved by inserting a flat knife between it and the perspex bowl to which it is stuck, and gently working it round.
Line up the little hole in the dial face with the little hole in the perspex bowl:
Re-assembly is the reverse. And hopefully it is much better.
My advice to doing this job is to be very careful to clean the cluster screen out. It appears that I have dislodged some dust which has come to rest at the bottom of the warning light apertures where it will irritate me almost as much as the wonky rev counter did.
First I pulled the instrument cluster out. This is quite tricky. I have the special hooks but was very wary of breaking the screen, having done just that on the 140 I managed for a while. In the end I dropped the lower dash cover and pushed it out from behind but this isn't easy, either. Naturally, MB manufacture the back side of the dashboard out of razor blades so a little torn skin is inevitable. That way you can bleed all over the cluster, the dials, the seats, the carpets.
Anyway, cluster out, you can see the tach' has slipped anti-clockwise:
With the cluster out, it's easy enough to dismantle. Two Torx screws on the upper reverse and then five plastic clips along the bottom, Just be gentle with the clips, both when releasing them and when re-fixing them upon re-assembly. The plastic does feel dry and slightly brittle.
This is what you find. The gauges are stuck onto little up-turned perspex bowls, each one screwed in by two or three Torx screws.
The rev counter just pulls up and out:
The dial face can be moved by inserting a flat knife between it and the perspex bowl to which it is stuck, and gently working it round.
Line up the little hole in the dial face with the little hole in the perspex bowl:
Re-assembly is the reverse. And hopefully it is much better.
My advice to doing this job is to be very careful to clean the cluster screen out. It appears that I have dislodged some dust which has come to rest at the bottom of the warning light apertures where it will irritate me almost as much as the wonky rev counter did.
It's all working, nothing's broken and I can't see the dust. Result.
The children lost some Lego bits down the little gap between the seat belt buckles and the seat squab. I whipped out the squab (the two red clips, dead easy) and took the opportunity to clear out the model sheep, the polystyrene spitfire wing, the random Haribos, a used elast-o-plast, something with a big and sharp but invisible spike on it, half a wobbly bug and a lot of crumbs and pine needles. This being the child seat, there was not the consolation prize of £2.32 in small change to be had. Here's a picture out of interest. There's quite a lot going on under there. The big silver box is the roof control unit.
The children lost some Lego bits down the little gap between the seat belt buckles and the seat squab. I whipped out the squab (the two red clips, dead easy) and took the opportunity to clear out the model sheep, the polystyrene spitfire wing, the random Haribos, a used elast-o-plast, something with a big and sharp but invisible spike on it, half a wobbly bug and a lot of crumbs and pine needles. This being the child seat, there was not the consolation prize of £2.32 in small change to be had. Here's a picture out of interest. There's quite a lot going on under there. The big silver box is the roof control unit.
I have enjoyed using the car is the sunshine the last couple of days. I had one of those dream drives on Wednesday evening: glorious weather, empty roads and a place to be 120 miles away. 1hr 29minutes door to door. The journey was marred only by a bad moment on my private test track: taking the car hard up to maximum speed in second, third and fourth gears, I backed off a bit suddenly and it blew a fair bit of smoke out the back. Answers on the back of a postcard.
This poor picture was taken yesterday at the new services by Leeming Bar. It was amazingly sunny for the north east of England.
This poor picture was taken yesterday at the new services by Leeming Bar. It was amazingly sunny for the north east of England.
[quote=r129sl]I have enjoyed using the car is the sunshine the last couple of days. I had one of those dream drives on Wednesday evening: glorious weather, empty roads and a place to be 120 miles away. 1hr 29minutes door to door. The journey was marred only by a bad moment on my private test track: taking the car hard up to maximum speed in second, third and fourth gears, I backed off a bit suddenly and it blew a fair bit of smoke out the back. Answers on the back of a postcard.
This poor picture was taken yesterday at the new services by Leeming Bar. It was amazingly sunny for the north east of England.
Gearbox modulator valve?
Used to do this on my 2.5 16V auto.....replaced it and no more smoke
This poor picture was taken yesterday at the new services by Leeming Bar. It was amazingly sunny for the north east of England.
Gearbox modulator valve?
Used to do this on my 2.5 16V auto.....replaced it and no more smoke
Jonathan, or anyone else....
Quick opinion on this? Ideally i'd like the later v6 or any v8 but this has popped up locally and seems good.
Only thing is the dealer has never tried the soft top.
http://www.cameroncarsni.co.uk/Cars.html?car=18591...
Quick opinion on this? Ideally i'd like the later v6 or any v8 but this has popped up locally and seems good.
Only thing is the dealer has never tried the soft top.
http://www.cameroncarsni.co.uk/Cars.html?car=18591...
irish boy said:
Jonathan, or anyone else....
Quick opinion on this? Ideally i'd like the later v6 or any v8 but this has popped up locally and seems good.
Only thing is the dealer has never tried the soft top.
http://www.cameroncarsni.co.uk/Cars.html?car=18591...
Nice car, shame it is only the 320. Having had the same engine in another Merc, it is a lovely fine engine.. But I would always wish that I Bought the 500 Quick opinion on this? Ideally i'd like the later v6 or any v8 but this has popped up locally and seems good.
Only thing is the dealer has never tried the soft top.
http://www.cameroncarsni.co.uk/Cars.html?car=18591...
12k is a strong amount to spend on a R129 so I would buy the exact engine & colour I wanted over low milage
Thats me, you might find the 320 is fine for your needs
irish boy said:
Only thing is the dealer has never tried the soft top.
http://www.cameroncarsni.co.uk/Cars.html?car=18591...
Sorry, but if they told you that I would be forced to assume the mechanism is not working, and that is probably the #1 walk-away point on an R129.http://www.cameroncarsni.co.uk/Cars.html?car=18591...
I mean, WHY have they not popped off the hard top and cycled the soft top? Apart from anything else it guarantees they haven't even cleaned the car properly for sale.
Also, that car does not (as claimed) have an air scarf system. That was not invented until the 2004 R171 SLK.
Edited by Lowtimer on Thursday 1st June 18:56
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