Spartan Mercedes 190 (w201)

[r129sl]

Mental pricing. The spec is very nice but it has the deficiencies identified plus holes in centre console from an old phone. Even if it had a six (E65 Ross may have been right...) it would still be a five grand car. Max.

[r129sl]

Zonergem said:

Even more spartan 1986 model also in Light Ivory and carb-fuelling but also offering Choose-Your-Own-Gear amusement.




http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C942227?dt=1


I want very much, though the MOT history isn't the greatest.

If you're serious about a 190—and they are great—you might want to ask Oa (Alec) whether he'd sell his 190 E 2.6 auto (I think he has five cars now). It's a pre-facelift (on a D, I seem to recall), smoke silver over, wait for it, wait for, green velour. Last time I saw it, it was stone mint, as Baister says.

[r129sl]

Zonergem said:

A much less attractive 190E in Light Ivory, and also far more expensive.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...



1. Don't care for the body-coloured Saccos.

2. Diamond-cut 8 holes are too much.

3. Spoiler

4. Unable to see how I could live with the colour clash between exterior and interior. Shame as in the interior looks in fine nick and would go so well in a silver car.



5. Ludicrous price.

Has the price just got more ludicrous? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253374860949?ul_noapp=t...

[r129sl]

A bit of action on the Spartan today.

The heater fan has been squealing like the proverbial stuck pig. My wife tells me she hasn't noticed it, but it drives me bananas. So a new MB heater fan was ordered and my boy and I fitted it today. It is a relatively straight forward if lengthy job. Remove lower windscreen trims, remove wiper mechanism, remove heater box cover, replace fan. Refit everything in reverse order. The great thing about the 190 is that it is like Meccano: it was designed and built to be taken apart.

We also did the oil and filter, the air filter, the wiper blade and topped up the carb damper. I say "we" but really my eldest did the oil and filter service without assistance from me.

New and old blower motors:




Lower windscreen trims, wiper and heater box cover out:




It is up to 163,229 miles although it is not getting much use at the moment, my wife having attached herself to the 124 and 210.

[r129sl]

MJK 24 said:

The bulkhead on the W201 has a removable section enabling blower motor removal without having to disturb the windscreen wiper.

No way. You can remove the centre section of the false firewall/bulkhead but you'd have to drain the coolant to do so. Even then I don't think you could remove the blower motor without taking the wiper mechanism out. It is pretty easy to get the wiper out. It looks pretty difficult to get the centre bulkhead out! I followed these instructions:

http://mercedes-190.co.uk/topic/215473/1/

[r129sl]

Oh well, you live and learn. I loosened the six screws/bolts (the hardest part of the job) and wobbled the bulkhead back a bit to make more space. I assumed its purpose yesterday was merely to cut my hands to ribbons.

[r129sl]

For fans of beige: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1987-E-Mercedes-Benz-19...

[r129sl]

A bit of snow action in the Spartan. It is on the same tyres as the w124 but it isn't as good, presumably the low weight means it is more easily deflected.

[r129sl]

It's just down to tyres. If you can't be arsed with a spare set of wheels shod with winter tyres (and when you have multiple cars it is a major ball ache), cars like these should run something like CrossClimates all year round. That's the way I am going to go if and when the 201 and 124 ever wear out their tyres; I'll do the same on the 210 for that matter. It's not like my daily drive is Brands Hatch on August Bank Holiday.

[r129sl]

Zonergem said:

Put CrossClimate+ on my wife's Yaris Hybrid in early Feb after getting sick of being snowbound -skinny little 175/65/15s. Was absolutely fine last week on snow and ice right up until someone slid a van into the O/S wing...

Opportunity knocks... you're going to replace it with a stone age Merc, right? Your wife seemed very keen on the idea when I suggested it.

[r129sl]

The Spartan continues to impress, wanting nothing other than scheduled maintenance since my last post three and a half months ago. I took a few pictures tonight. The car was unprepared, not having been cleaned in ten days and having stood in the rain all day. It's a gorgeous vehicle, I think.










It is all about the big sky in my part of the world:

[r129sl]

The Secretary of State refused permission but the applicant has appealed. There's a planning JR in October. Who knows?

[r129sl]

The old Spartan let the boss down last night, conking out in the middle of the Blue House Roundabout, one of Newcastle's busiest junctions. Did anyone stop to help her? Did they hell. Fortunately, I was only five minutes away in the 210. I pushed it into a lay-by (did anyone help...) and the boss took off in my car. I cleaned out the distributor cap and got it going and was off. Unfortunately, it stumbled and died about four miles from home.

It will not start and run when hot. It will start and run badly when cold.

So far as I can tell, it is getting spark. I took a spark plug out, grounded it on the block, had my boy turn the ignition over, and saw it sparking. I don't know the difference between strong and weak spark, though.

It reeks of fuel, too. I had it running for about five minutes tonight, misfiring as it got warmer, so I am guessing it is getting fuel.

My guess is the distributor cap and rotor are worn. The rotor is 19 years old. I have no idea about the cap. I have ordered new Bosch parts and a new Bosch coil, too. It needs front pads, so I have ordered them as well. Let's see... In the meantime, any ideas are welcome.

[r129sl]

I'll check the OVP relay. It has a fuel pump relay but not an electronic fuel pump, being a carb model. I am pretty sure it is the ignition system. It started on the button this morning but after a minute or so started missing and then died. That strikes me as weak spark. I have added new leads and a coil, all Bosch, to my order. The leads won't arrive until Wednesday unfortunately.

[r129sl]

Zonergem said:

I bought a brand new A 201 540 37 45 OVP relay from Teesside MB last week for about £60+VAT last week for the 300CE - if that's the right part number for you as well (and there are several supercessions on the EPC) then you're welcome to borrow it for fault-finding purposes. Say the word and it's in the post.

That is a very kind offer. Yours is the correct part number for me. Let's see how I get on with the new ignition components. They all arrive tomorrow after all, should have them fitted on Wednesday. If I suspect the OVP, I'll give you a shout, Alex.

I'm off to the Fatherland for Sunday lunch at the weekend in the E430. Happily that car seems to be running like a champ. I'm busy planning a slightly indirect route which takes in quiet autobahns.

[r129sl]

Yes, the bloody thing conked out. It cut out when hot and wouldn’t restart. It seems to have a fuel leak but I’m getting the ignition components renewed and the carb tuned. A bit of a bore.

Meanwhile it appears Merc Newcastle acceded to my request to lift the speed limiter on the E430. Running it 400 miles across Germany today saw it comfortably exceed 155mph several times. Childish, I know, but fun!

[r129sl]

^^^ I understand the speed limiter can be removed in the STAR system. Whether they did it or not, I don't know. I saw 159mph in the digital read out with more to come, so maybe they did.

The 190 is back from the dealer after a carburettor rebuild. I found the idle speed a bit low at first but it seems to have settled down. I carefully set up this throttle damper and idle speed regulator (picture below) and it seems to be running well again. I'd quite like to learn how all this stuff works and how to service the carburettor, but life is too short. Unfortunately the MOT runs out next week so I'll need to take it back to the dealer later.

So much petrol has gone through it that the dealer changed the oil but didn't have a filter in stock. I changed the filter this evening (less than a minute) and thought I might as well do the air filter, too, another quick job. It is a very easy car to work on. I have a replacement distributor cap, rotor, leads and coil in the garage, all Bosch parts. I may just keep the existing Merc leads, though, they are very high quality. But when I get the chance I'll change the other bits, it can't do any harm. I have ordered some spark plugs to complete the set.

[r129sl]

There is some serious car maintenance going on this weekend in the absence of Mrs r129sl. As well as the 124 works, we set about the ignition system on the Spartan, my intention being to replace the coil, distributor cap, rotor and plugs and maybe the leads.

I have done the distributor cap and rotor. New and old rotors:


Old distributor cap:


New cap:


The coil will have to wait another day, the replacement Bosch item being poorly made. See how the negative terminal is not attached to the body of the coil.



I haven't done the plugs and I haven't done the leads. I am not sure about the leads. The originals look so much better than the replacements. I'll do the plugs tonight.

I also adjusted the mixture slightly. I think it was running too lean as it would stumble when warm but not hot.

[r129sl]

I finished the job (part from the coil) this morning, changing the plugs and the leads in the end. The leads look like they were the originals, 28 years old, so about time, I suppose. The plugs were in good shape. The car is idling beautifully now, this has definitely made a difference. I have ordered another Bosch coil.

Here are leads and plugs, old and new. The old leads are definitely of superior quality. They were made by Beru for MB. Maybe I should have bought Beru leads. I have other things to worry about.

[r129sl]

To be honest, BI, I rather let the car down. I should have had the carburettor serviced a long time ago. I must say, it is running very sweetly indeed this morning. Next jobs, timing chain and engine mounts.