1996 Mercedes SL 600
Discussion
Happy New Year. I may curse myself by uttering this but all is going well since the resolution of the jammed throttle body. I haven't being using her as much as I would like due to the miserable weather.
87,000 miles:
After examining one spark plug last year I thought it would be prudent to give them all an inspection. Access is very easy on this engine; for each cylinder simply remove the pencil coil and whip out the plug. All coils are original 1996 items:
Feeler gauge in use. All plugs were in great condition with the correct gap of 0.80mm (not 8mm as you may read on some Merc forums!)
However, a few of the spark plug wells had engine oil in them. This suggests gasket failure so the intake manifold and valve covers may need to come off at some point. I will keep an eye on it.
A recent oil change. The car had only done about 2,000 miles since the previous one. I used a Mann filter this time. Well regarded filters but it didn't seem quite as well made as the OEM Hengst filters I had used until now. I think I will go back to Hengst filters next time:
To access the oil filter cartridge housing the nearside air intake needs to be removed:
I managed to crack a headlight lense but found a used pair of lenses on Ebay:
It's a simple job to remove the headlight unit and swap over the lense. However, as with all cars of this age, the job takes twice as long since you will use the opportunity to clean grubby nooks and crannies and treat any local surface rust:
The reservoir next to the screenwash is for the suspension's hydraulic fluid:
87,000 miles:
After examining one spark plug last year I thought it would be prudent to give them all an inspection. Access is very easy on this engine; for each cylinder simply remove the pencil coil and whip out the plug. All coils are original 1996 items:
Feeler gauge in use. All plugs were in great condition with the correct gap of 0.80mm (not 8mm as you may read on some Merc forums!)
However, a few of the spark plug wells had engine oil in them. This suggests gasket failure so the intake manifold and valve covers may need to come off at some point. I will keep an eye on it.
A recent oil change. The car had only done about 2,000 miles since the previous one. I used a Mann filter this time. Well regarded filters but it didn't seem quite as well made as the OEM Hengst filters I had used until now. I think I will go back to Hengst filters next time:
To access the oil filter cartridge housing the nearside air intake needs to be removed:
I managed to crack a headlight lense but found a used pair of lenses on Ebay:
It's a simple job to remove the headlight unit and swap over the lense. However, as with all cars of this age, the job takes twice as long since you will use the opportunity to clean grubby nooks and crannies and treat any local surface rust:
The reservoir next to the screenwash is for the suspension's hydraulic fluid:
bolidemichael said:
Come on Hereward, you must've been indulging in some fettling during lockdown! 
Hello and apologies for the slow replies. I do not receive notifications for this thread.Very little to report. Touch wood she is behaving perfectly and the to-do list remains mercifully short.
The car has always had the infamous wobbly rear view mirror glass. Coupled with a broken interior light switch in the roof console I decided to tackle both concurrently. Here follows the usual format of excruciatingly dull close-ups.
Step 1 is to rip everything off the roof:
This is the broken light switch in question. I cannot quite fathom how it broke in this manner. Perhaps an over-exuberant finger jab:
The mirror glass wobbles when the spring clips retaining posts break inside the mirror housing. My car has a replacement windscreen so perhaps their fate was sealed when the unit was removed during the replacement process:
The fixing solution is to Dremel some slots where the end of the clips can be wedged in to, thus restoring spring pressure against the back of the glass. This involves bending one end of the clip. Of course this resulted in me snapping one clip, rendering it too short.
However, using remarkable (for me) lateral thinking I can confirm that a collar stiffener from a Charles Tyrwhitt business shirt makes a better-than-OEM replacement clip. I am confident that my SL is unique in the annals of Mercedes-Benz fettling with such a bespoke arrangement. Here we have the spring clips nicely slotted in to position against the back of the mirror glass:
Umm...that's about it. I really need to drive it more...
Thank you for the detail on the rear view mirror window clip.
Back in 2004 I had a CL420. Mirror became wobbly and naively I took it to a dealership round the corner from me at the time.
They explained the clips were broken. I asked if they could fix it. They say no can do, can only replace the whole unit at over 400 pounds.
I duly pulled my trousers down and they emptied my wallet.
...Oh the days before I knew about Pistonheads
Back in 2004 I had a CL420. Mirror became wobbly and naively I took it to a dealership round the corner from me at the time.
They explained the clips were broken. I asked if they could fix it. They say no can do, can only replace the whole unit at over 400 pounds.
I duly pulled my trousers down and they emptied my wallet.
...Oh the days before I knew about Pistonheads
Crazy scenes at the MOT testing station.
Despite the MOT extension due to lock down I thought it would be wise to get the MOT done early. The test centres are quiet (and will now remain so every June for a few years) and come September they are going to be super busy.
The car scraped through on CO emissions but embarrassingly failed due to a dead screenwash pump. I never use the screenwash and I didn't think to test it before the MOT. It had died of since it was last used at the previous MOT. I cannot recall a previous MOT failure on any car.
Even by my standards these pics are excruciatingly dull but I want to show the thought that went in to the design of the screenwash reservoir
I needed to test the voltage going to the pump to confirm it was indeed the pump that had died. The engine bay is packed tight so my initial thought was to remove the headlight to gain access to the pump. However, an exploratory lift of the reservoir showed it had been designed to lift straight out vertically. It is not bolted in place at all; a groove down its side slots it in to place on a bracket shared with the hydraulic suspension reservoir and all the piping and electrical cables are long enough to permit vertical removal.
This shows the disconnected dead pump that sends screenwash to the windscreen:
This angle shows the bracket the reservoirs slot on to (Yellow circle). The Green circle is the pump to the headlight washers, the Red circle is the dead pump to the windscreen jets:
New pump that the main dealer had in stock:
As well as a screw cap the reservoir also has a large circular lid that be totally pulled off to enable easy access inside for cleaning out if necessary. Not sure why they didn't just make it a single cap/lid but that's attention to detail for you:
All quickly sorted and the re-test passed. Nice to learn something else about this car. Luckily it wasn't the column stalk that had died, that would have been very tedious to fix.
Despite the MOT extension due to lock down I thought it would be wise to get the MOT done early. The test centres are quiet (and will now remain so every June for a few years) and come September they are going to be super busy.
The car scraped through on CO emissions but embarrassingly failed due to a dead screenwash pump. I never use the screenwash and I didn't think to test it before the MOT. It had died of since it was last used at the previous MOT. I cannot recall a previous MOT failure on any car.
Even by my standards these pics are excruciatingly dull but I want to show the thought that went in to the design of the screenwash reservoir
I needed to test the voltage going to the pump to confirm it was indeed the pump that had died. The engine bay is packed tight so my initial thought was to remove the headlight to gain access to the pump. However, an exploratory lift of the reservoir showed it had been designed to lift straight out vertically. It is not bolted in place at all; a groove down its side slots it in to place on a bracket shared with the hydraulic suspension reservoir and all the piping and electrical cables are long enough to permit vertical removal.
This shows the disconnected dead pump that sends screenwash to the windscreen:
This angle shows the bracket the reservoirs slot on to (Yellow circle). The Green circle is the pump to the headlight washers, the Red circle is the dead pump to the windscreen jets:
New pump that the main dealer had in stock:
As well as a screw cap the reservoir also has a large circular lid that be totally pulled off to enable easy access inside for cleaning out if necessary. Not sure why they didn't just make it a single cap/lid but that's attention to detail for you:
All quickly sorted and the re-test passed. Nice to learn something else about this car. Luckily it wasn't the column stalk that had died, that would have been very tedious to fix.
I don't know why you insist on prefacing your posts with a warning of nerd content. It's your MO and it keeps up coming back for more!
Well explained, well maintained. Out of interest, since the vehicle had failed the MOT, were you still able to drive it, as the previous one hadn't expired?
Well explained, well maintained. Out of interest, since the vehicle had failed the MOT, were you still able to drive it, as the previous one hadn't expired?
bolidemichael said:
I don't know why you insist on prefacing your posts with a warning of nerd content. It's your MO and it keeps up coming back for more!
Well explained, well maintained. Out of interest, since the vehicle had failed the MOT, were you still able to drive it, as the previous one hadn't expired?
Too kind, thank you.Well explained, well maintained. Out of interest, since the vehicle had failed the MOT, were you still able to drive it, as the previous one hadn't expired?
I need to drive the damn thing. A proper European adventure like your wonderful thread. The engine is ideal for demolishing long distances and then the retractable roof is ideal for taking in the scenery pottering around on the twisty bits. Or, weirdly, it may make more sense to fit the panoramic roof to improve motorway refinement if covering large distances. The fabric roof lets in a lot of road noise at motorway speed and this may become wearisome hour after hour. The hardtop turns the car in to a GT rather than a boulevard cruiser.
When it had failed the MOT I was not allowed to drive it other than to and from a place of repair and to and from the testing station. It all worked out well; I had replaced the part within a few hours of the fail and then passed the re-test the next morning since they were so quiet.
Hereward said:
I need to drive the damn thing. A proper European adventure like your wonderful thread.
Tommie38 said:
The European jaunt can wait, even the little fixes are a good read.
Now is a good time to drive over here. Road trips are limited in appeal by the current paucity of hotel rooms and open restaurants, but the weather if fantastic and the roads are clear. Camp-sites are open though ...Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff