Mercedes 129 titivation

[irish boy]

Yeah he wasn't too forthcoming when I suggested trying it. Maybe it is because its not his thing....and maybe not....

Is the soft top the main thing that can cause large expense?

[Zonergem]

r129sl said:

This poor picture was taken yesterday at the new services by Leeming Bar. It was amazingly sunny for the north east of England.

That's my regular Shell garage. If you took the new A684 west of that junction down towards Bedale there's a mile and a half so of pristine straight tarmac.

Last Friday was indeed a beautiful day. I watched the sun come up from the passenger seat of pick-up heading down the A1 and came back with this on the trailer for not really very much money.



It's a near-twin to my other car - one of the last 066 chassis cars - factory build April 1992, UK reg Feb 1993. 113k miles, no service history but an MoT history that didn't show anything intimidating beyond under-use.

It's off to my indie to have a look inside the rocker covers, check the timing chain stretch and generally poke around. I'll start the titivating process with a view to selling one and keeping one. It would need to see the Man as well at some point. Otherwise there's plenty of breaking value in it. At some point I think it had a front end do-over, as it has clear indicators, a six-bar grill and headlamp wipers in much better condition than the mileage suggests.

[Lowtimer]

irish boy said:

Yeah he wasn't too forthcoming when I suggested trying it. Maybe it is because its not his thing....and maybe not....

Is the soft top the main thing that can cause large expense?

It's far from the only thing - these cars can and do produce big bills in all sorts of ways - but it's the one that's easiest to check for problems, being as how all you have to do is work one big red button.

To quote this long-term owner:
http://mysl500.blogspot.co.uk/
"The R129 soft top is operated by an electrically driven hydraulic pump, a bank of 15 hydraulic actuators, 11 solenoids controlled by microprocessors and 17 end-position switches. Complicated and not cheap to repair if things go wrong. Therefore, make sure you test the roof mechanism before buying the car."

Edited by Lowtimer on Thursday 1st June 20:21

[mwstewart]

r129sl said:

...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.

The things we do for cars!

[r129sl]

Lowtimer said:

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.

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

The NI car looks good to my eyes. It appears to be original: wheels, lights, headunit are all correct. The spec is good: silver over black, heated seats, orthopaedic seats. Insofar as you can tell from the pictures, the condition looks good: the boot is very tidy and commensurate with the low miles and the driver's seat doesn't look too bad.

It may be that the dealer is just being lazy. But if there are two of you, it's no trouble to whip the hardtop off, carefully rest it on some timber battens, an test the soft top. You're not being unreasonable to insist on it and you're taking a gamble without testing it prior to purchase. That said, the roof mechanisms are pretty reliable, so long as they are used. This car has low miles and there are a few cars out there (I know of one personally) where the hard roof has never been removed.

It's my birthday tomorrow. Do I take my SL500 or my new-to-me-this-week E430? Decisions, decisions.

[Stegel]

Lowtimer said:

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.

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

+1 on the roof, unless the car was far, far cheaper or they can verify it works properly.

My SL has had two £1,300-1,500 repairs done, pre my ownership, to address issues with the roof controls. It is currently, and has been for 4 weeks, in the dog house after the importer fitted (Scorpion) alarm took the battery down (despite being on a CTEK charger) as it died and rendered the roof inoperable - I have not had an opportunity to investigate, but will probably summon up the enthusiasm to try and chase the issue down this weekend, but am partly resigned to admitting defeat and throwing money at it. If you do go for it, it is likely it will have had the same alarm fitted, and I recommend it is removed as the failing ni-cad batteries give issues as they themselves give up the ghost.

(Being, uncharacteristically, generous I wonder if the air-scarf issue is simply ignorance on the dealer's part and he actually means the wind deflector?)

Edited by Stegel on Thursday 1st June 22:17

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Zonergem said:

Last Friday was indeed a beautiful day. I watched the sun come up from the passenger seat of pick-up heading down the A1 and came back with this on the trailer for not really very much money.



It's a near-twin to my other car - one of the last 066 chassis cars - factory build April 1992, UK reg Feb 1993. 113k miles, no service history but an MoT history that didn't show anything intimidating beyond under-use.

Congrats. Looks a decent start point, and there's always a perverse sort of appeal to having two cars the same!

[Stegel]

r129sl said:

It's my birthday tomorrow. Do I take my SL500 or my new-to-me-this-week E430? Decisions, decisions.

Happy birthday - I'd take the E, the SL is still your everyday car while the E is the new toy - the SL can be a treat in future years.

[r129sl]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Zonergem said:

Last Friday was indeed a beautiful day. I watched the sun come up from the passenger seat of pick-up heading down the A1 and came back with this on the trailer for not really very much money.



It's a near-twin to my other car - one of the last 066 chassis cars - factory build April 1992, UK reg Feb 1993. 113k miles, no service history but an MoT history that didn't show anything intimidating beyond under-use.

Congrats. Looks a decent start point, and there's always a perverse sort of appeal to having two cars the same!

Agreed. Having two identical cars is fantastically eccentric. Needs re-gingering.

Hope all is well CdeG and Zonergem (and everyone else, of course).

[r129sl]

A bit of an update. Nice new rear tyres were installed today. I went for same-old-same-old Continental Sport Contact 5s, because that is what is on the front and only the rears need doing. £250 at Kwik Fit.

Meanwhile, the idler pulley on the serpentine belt has failed. This is a £11 part held on with a single T50 torx bolt. Unfortunately, the bolt fouls the fan and you have to remove the viscous fan assembly in order to remove it from the timing case. I have ordered a fan clutch removal tool (see link below) having failed with water pump pliers and a 36mm wrench. I foresee the bolt being mighty tight so I have ordered two 1000mm lengths of steel tube to slip over the wrenches. It is a standard right hand thread.

I will fit a new fan clutch while I am at it.

I have to say I have very little enthusiasm for car fettling at the moment.

Removal tools: http://wondermantools.co.uk/8pc-mercedes-benz-bmw-...

Link to instructions: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/attachments/w163-m...

Picture of defunct idler pulley. My engine is minging.

[Zonergem]

Which fan clutch make do you use? I found the Beru/Borg Warner (for the M119) varied hugely in price - 400 Euros at Rexbo.eu, £106 delivered from Amazon. Was still Made In China so probably the same part as URO and all the brands that get done down on the forums. You can read Made In China on a sticker under the branding. Works fine though.

[r129sl]

I happen to have a Vemo fan clutch in the boot but I am minded to spring for a Merc one. I seem to recall the Merc one is about £180. I'm not going to have the tools until mid-week, so I might as well order one.

[r129sl]

My fantastic new fan clutch tools arrived today. Will I use them more than once? Who cares?




I set about the job this evening. Here you can see the water pump pulley holder and the 36mm fan clutch spanner in situ.




I was not strong enough to loosen the fan clutch bolt. So I slipped the 1meter long steel tubes over the end of the tools. No problem.




You can see how long the bolt holding the idler pulley is. Two minutes to swap over; bit of loctite on the threads before nipping up to 10nm with me new baby torque wrench.




The fan clutch was filthy. I was unable to remove it from the fan. I rounded one of the bolt heads trying. I have ordered a new fan (£30) and I will order new bolts and a pukka clutch (if not Merc then at least Sachs) and do it that way. I suppose I will then use my new tools at least twice. Removing the fan and fan shroud—which with the right tools is very easy—affords hugely increased access up front.




I reassembled and tightened the fan as tight as I could using the tools. The specified torque is 45nm but I do not have an open torque wrench so I just tightened it as hard as I could. I ran the engine a while then checked it and it remained tight.

There still appears to be an oil leak from the oil filter housing. I'll have to get Baister to tackle that in due course. If I have any money over the winter, I am going to have the entire front and rear suspension rebuilt. I don't use this car enough but I am determined to change that next year.

[mickyveloce]

Great post J, cements you in the upper echelons of 129 resources!

Interested in the suspension re-fresh thing. My 129 seems ok, but I'd be keen on trying an as-new example.

I'm planning a full strip down and refresh on the C36 at some stage. Koni do a kit, but I don't want a bone shaker.

What mileage are you up to yet? I suspect my 142000 is well behind your 500.

[r129sl]

Too kind, Michael.

Mileage is 267,000-odd presently. I'm doing less than 10k a year these days.

The springs and shocks are relatively fresh on mine. The rear axle was done at about 150,000miles. The front control arms were done before that. And I've had the steering gear changed relatively recently. I recall that the rear suspension rebuild made a huge difference last time, it was no less comfortable but felt much more agile.

The forecast is a bit grim for the next few days but I might get a blast at the weekend.

[f1ten]

Funny my r129 is probably the one car I will try and hold onto even my Ferrari will go first.

CharlesdeGaulle said:

You're such an old romantic!

Great picture, and nice to see the car soldiering-on in such style.

[Ilovejapcrap]

Loved the tacho fix.

I had a c280 m reg i think it was and it had a sticking speedo. Had to take the clocks apart for that and wipe off oil f on factory which had become sticky over time. Oh the memories.

[r129sl]

A bit of serious work on the 129 this week: all new front and rear chassis components. New rear axle (all links, drop links, bushes, bars, everything but the sub-frame), new front arms, new fuel pump package, new lines, new heat shields. Loads of other stuff, too, wheel bearings all round, brake disc backing plates, various clips and channels and brackets.

Happy sight:


Not too much rot:


Rear axle in progress:






Rusty stuff awaiting replacement:




Nice new parts:


It would have been nice to have the subframe shot-blasted and powder coated but Baister seems to have ignored that instruction. It will be cleaned up, however.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Looks good; what promoted that level of replacement? Or is 'titivation' simply an all-encompassing term?

[r129sl]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Looks good; what promoted that level of replacement? Or is 'titivation' simply an all-encompassing term?

It needed doing. It is eight years and 120k miles since the rear suspension was overhauled, more since the front was done; all the rubber has gone hard and some of the bushes are knackered. I haven't really been happy with the drive for a while; there is quite a bit of driveline vibration, straight line stability is not as good as it should be and the turn in is hideously inconsistent (it comes in two movements). Stuff like the fuel pump and lines is just preventative maintenance. I want to use this car more than 10,000miles a year; I quite like driving it very fast; and I rely on it. So it's no good if it is not tip top.