Spartan Mercedes 190 (w201)
Discussion
I had a run out today in m friend's 190 E 2.5-16. That is an interesting car. It is extremely focussed. The suspension is taut: I wouldn't say stiff, more that it feels under tension and needs speed to flow. The car has the dogleg gearbox and goes nicely. This was a first shakedown run after quite extensive restoration works. It runs 16" Evo wheels; I feel it needs the compliance of the 15s. What a treat to drive one of these, though. Fourth gear pull is very impressive, all the way to 7,000rpm. A fast car. Also, I think his is the only manual Mercedes I have ever driven.
Round the corner was this thing again. An Ascot Grey 190 running the supercharged m111 engine from a CLK230 Kompressor and its manual gearbox. I live the 16" steels. It is for sale. £7,500. In the background a Sprinter is being fitted with an om606 turbo motor.
Round the corner was this thing again. An Ascot Grey 190 running the supercharged m111 engine from a CLK230 Kompressor and its manual gearbox. I live the 16" steels. It is for sale. £7,500. In the background a Sprinter is being fitted with an om606 turbo motor.
Mr Tidy said:
I don't know why manual Mercs don't seem too popular TBH.
I don't know. The dogleg in the -16 cars is a Getrag unit and is well-regarded. I found it a bit of a struggle. Obviously there was the dogleg confusion but the detent to get into first was tricky to master. Once accustomed to it, I expect it would be great. The clutch was nice, too. The selector mechanism had just been rebushed so I expect it needed a bit of softening up.Regular Mercs have a Merc manual transmission (rather than Getrag). I have never driven one but recall a long passenger ride in a very early w202 C220 manual. It seemed to have a clear and positive shift and the driver liked it, too.
The ride on the 2.5-16 was challenging to say the least. It was more like a go kart than anything I'ver driven.
The 190 buggers along flawlessly and is on 191,000 miles. We found ourselves parked up next to an E30 325i in Morpeth. The owner emerged from nowhere; then another chap joined us and, before we knew it, my children were urinating in flower pots, chasing a cat, making friends with the local tramp and generally getting up to the sort of mischief that children who have been ignored for 45 minutes will get up to.
Check out the Blaupunkt graphic equaliser and tuner on stalks, not to mention the car phone.
Check out the Blaupunkt graphic equaliser and tuner on stalks, not to mention the car phone.
OEMster said:
Owning a 190 myself I’m attuned to spotting them in the wild…. So today on the A1 in North Yorkshire (not in my 190, but a Discovery Sport) I spotted an immaculate custard cream 190 G355… could that really be Spartan? Absolutely! Apologies to the lady driver for the stares but the car did really look mint!
That was indeed the boss en route to her sister in South Yorkshire. There's a bit of rot on one wing which I need to have attended to, so not quite immaculate. A bit of excitement in the Spartan today. Mrs r129 had not long left the grandparental abode and was negotiating a bend when her offside front tyre blew; the Spartan went careening into the path of an on-coming crusty wagon and there was contact. Mr Crusty was far more charming than he looked and shrugged his shoulders at the suggestion that he may want Mrs r129's details; after satisfying himself all was well, on he went.
The poor old Spartan looked a bit ropey, however. The mirror housing was smashed and there were black strakes all down the side. Mrs Arr drove on the flat back to the Rentals and Grandpapa r129 mounted the spare (the flat tyre is ruined). The wheel trim was found in the road. And fortunately, Mr Anally Retentive r129 had a spare wing mirror and the the black strakes rubbed off. All is again well. This is how we live in the countryside. It's high-octane stuff.
Smashed wing mirror housing:
Battle scars:
All cleaned up:
The sidewall must have been snagged on something. Odd hole, though.
The poor old Spartan looked a bit ropey, however. The mirror housing was smashed and there were black strakes all down the side. Mrs Arr drove on the flat back to the Rentals and Grandpapa r129 mounted the spare (the flat tyre is ruined). The wheel trim was found in the road. And fortunately, Mr Anally Retentive r129 had a spare wing mirror and the the black strakes rubbed off. All is again well. This is how we live in the countryside. It's high-octane stuff.
Smashed wing mirror housing:
Battle scars:
All cleaned up:
The sidewall must have been snagged on something. Odd hole, though.
marky911 said:
Wow, a lucky escape for your wife and more importantly the car, obviously. 
It’s still looking great.
I used to see you a fair bit when I lived in Whalton. I see you positively bloody everywhere now , as we have moved to the Longhirst/Ulgham area. I passed you last night in your R129 at about 4.30 between the bends before Longhirst. Just after the stretch where they’ve resurfaced the road by dumping a load of loose stones down. 
The SL is still looking grand too. I’m jealous. I need to get back to some car tinkering instead of house tinkering.
Anyway, it’s always good to see one of your cars cruising about.
I was on my way back from Morpeth. I think I was on the phone so probably not paying attention. If you fancy a car chat and a coffee sometime, give me a shout. My brother lives in Whalton and my parents live on the other side of Morpeth; I live up at Druridge, so you're very much in the middle of my stomping ground. I understand about the house tinkering: I am obsessed with gardening at the moment, to the detriment of the fleet. (Probably too much information here for the jigsaw stalkers.)It’s still looking great.
I used to see you a fair bit when I lived in Whalton. I see you positively bloody everywhere now
, as we have moved to the Longhirst/Ulgham area. I passed you last night in your R129 at about 4.30 between the bends before Longhirst. Just after the stretch where they’ve resurfaced the road by dumping a load of loose stones down. The SL is still looking grand too. I’m jealous. I need to get back to some car tinkering instead of house tinkering.
Anyway, it’s always good to see one of your cars cruising about.
A couple of weeks ago we used the 190 to go to Northamptonshire and back. I did the return journey and I noticed a bit of vibration in the brake pedal when slowing from speed. I changed the rear discs and pads today. This has not cured it, so I will do the fronts next week. However, looking at the state of the existing parts, I think it was a worthwhile exercise. The rear pads were down to maybe 25% of their life. The discs however had a lot of corrosion and pitting. What worried me more is the state of the shocks. They are terribly rusty. It is about 85,000miles and six years since they were installed. I had been thinking they needed changing anyway. More work.
Mrs r129sl adores this car and I love it, too, but it is neither fast nor refined enough for me. Anyway, here is the offside rear with new parts. Note the shocker.
And the nearside, the rotten shock much more visible now:
Here are the discs. Not the severe surface corrosion on the inside face of the offside disc:
I also noticed a lot of oil on the bottom of the diff. I thought perhaps it was coming from the breather as there is almost none on the propshaft. However, the top of the diff felt dry. I suspect a weeping pinion seal. I popped the fill plug out and oil came out so there is plenty in there for the time being.
We are just under 190 miles from the big 200,000 mile odometer roll.
Edit: I have been onto Autodoc and sprung for all new front discs and pads, shocks all round, front shock top mounts, front dust covers and bump stops. Does anyone know which way up the bump stops go, pointy end up or down? Total cost for all these parts (Febi for the brakes, Sachs for the suspension) was £270. They will take an afternoon to fit, two or three hours. I really want a lift for my garage, it would make life a lot easier.
Mrs r129sl adores this car and I love it, too, but it is neither fast nor refined enough for me. Anyway, here is the offside rear with new parts. Note the shocker.
And the nearside, the rotten shock much more visible now:
Here are the discs. Not the severe surface corrosion on the inside face of the offside disc:
I also noticed a lot of oil on the bottom of the diff. I thought perhaps it was coming from the breather as there is almost none on the propshaft. However, the top of the diff felt dry. I suspect a weeping pinion seal. I popped the fill plug out and oil came out so there is plenty in there for the time being.
We are just under 190 miles from the big 200,000 mile odometer roll.
Edit: I have been onto Autodoc and sprung for all new front discs and pads, shocks all round, front shock top mounts, front dust covers and bump stops. Does anyone know which way up the bump stops go, pointy end up or down? Total cost for all these parts (Febi for the brakes, Sachs for the suspension) was £270. They will take an afternoon to fit, two or three hours. I really want a lift for my garage, it would make life a lot easier.
Edited by r129sl on Sunday 31st October 13:28
seawise said:
my old 190 went in for it's annual MOT yesterday
passed (i should hope so to given it's only done 26,360 miles over the past 33 years) but with a minor defect advisory ''Offside Front Suspension arm ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated''
i suppose even i can fit a new dust cover, where can i order such a part online do you think please ?
I missed this. What you need is a new ball joint, about £25 for the dealer. Fitting is quite tricky unless you're happy braying the spassed (i should hope so to given it's only done 26,360 miles over the past 33 years) but with a minor defect advisory ''Offside Front Suspension arm ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated''
i suppose even i can fit a new dust cover, where can i order such a part online do you think please ?
t out of the suspension with a hammer or have the correct ball joint press. I'd pay someone an hour's time to do it.
I got up early today and set about replacing the shocks all round and the front discs and pads. The hardest part of the job was getting the lining out of the boot. I haven't put it back yet, a job for tomorrow, along with tidying the garage and putting away the tools that I have strewn around it.
Here is a rear axle in progress. In order to facilitate access, I removed the calliper. Not a difficult job given I had them off last weekend to do the rear discs and pads. Getting the lower part of the shock absorber out of the control arm was tricky until I went and fetched a big pry bar. Then it was easy. The thing to remember with shocks is you cannot compress them quickly; but if you push firmly but slowly, they compress fine.
Here are two old shocks next to a new one. You get all new fixings with Sachs. They must be OK quality because I used these last time and everything came apart without effort. The old shocks appear slightly shorter than the new, suggesting wear; I am not sure, though. I was the rusty bodies that convinced me to replace them.
And new parts in situ. Removing the boot trims, jacking up the car, removing the wheels and control arm covers took me about 30minutes. Doing the left side took about the same; doing the rights side second took about ten minutes.
And now for the fronts. The shock bodies were in similar slightly rusty condition and there was a dull, quiet knocking from the nearside shock top mount.
Since I was changing the discs and pads, I stripped these parts off. There is no need to do so if just doing shocks but it doesn't half improve access.
Old and new, not much in it:
And nice new bits. I used Febi Bilstein for the brakes. I have been quite impressed by Febi parts lately and these were very cheap, less than £40 for the lot. Everything came apart with ease. The discs and pads were about 60% worn in each case but there was a warp on the discs which annoyed me.
All this took about four hours. I was late for lunch with some car chums and also filthy dirty. I bombed out in the 190 but the knocking was worse than ever, so I abandoned it and took the 124 instead. This evening I came back to the 190. More haste, less speed: I had not torqued up the wheel nuts on the offside. Also, I had cocked up the installation of the brake pad wear sensors and forgot to reclip the ABS cables. It just goes to show that rushing can be bad news. Anyway, everything checked and it drives beautifully. No disc warp, no dull knocking, much smoother and more controlled ride. Definitely worthwhile. The cost of all these parts was £270. This is a cheap car to keep mint.
While at it this evening, I swapped over as much power steering fluid as I could and installed a new filter. This is very easy. The filter are less than £5 and the fluid is about that much per litre.
I was rushing today and did not have a chance to tidy up. I don't like leaving tools out, but needs must. I will put them all way and give the place a spruce up tomorrow but right now it is wrecked with tools apparently scattered around as if shot out of a blunderbuss.
I bought these long ring spanners recently and already they have paid for themselves. Not cheap at £35 but the shape of the ends affords good access and the extra leverage they offer comes in very handy to a weakling like myself. They made short work of loosening the long since fixed fastenings on the shocks and brakes.
Here is a rear axle in progress. In order to facilitate access, I removed the calliper. Not a difficult job given I had them off last weekend to do the rear discs and pads. Getting the lower part of the shock absorber out of the control arm was tricky until I went and fetched a big pry bar. Then it was easy. The thing to remember with shocks is you cannot compress them quickly; but if you push firmly but slowly, they compress fine.
Here are two old shocks next to a new one. You get all new fixings with Sachs. They must be OK quality because I used these last time and everything came apart without effort. The old shocks appear slightly shorter than the new, suggesting wear; I am not sure, though. I was the rusty bodies that convinced me to replace them.
And new parts in situ. Removing the boot trims, jacking up the car, removing the wheels and control arm covers took me about 30minutes. Doing the left side took about the same; doing the rights side second took about ten minutes.
And now for the fronts. The shock bodies were in similar slightly rusty condition and there was a dull, quiet knocking from the nearside shock top mount.
Since I was changing the discs and pads, I stripped these parts off. There is no need to do so if just doing shocks but it doesn't half improve access.
Old and new, not much in it:
And nice new bits. I used Febi Bilstein for the brakes. I have been quite impressed by Febi parts lately and these were very cheap, less than £40 for the lot. Everything came apart with ease. The discs and pads were about 60% worn in each case but there was a warp on the discs which annoyed me.
All this took about four hours. I was late for lunch with some car chums and also filthy dirty. I bombed out in the 190 but the knocking was worse than ever, so I abandoned it and took the 124 instead. This evening I came back to the 190. More haste, less speed: I had not torqued up the wheel nuts on the offside. Also, I had cocked up the installation of the brake pad wear sensors and forgot to reclip the ABS cables. It just goes to show that rushing can be bad news. Anyway, everything checked and it drives beautifully. No disc warp, no dull knocking, much smoother and more controlled ride. Definitely worthwhile. The cost of all these parts was £270. This is a cheap car to keep mint.
While at it this evening, I swapped over as much power steering fluid as I could and installed a new filter. This is very easy. The filter are less than £5 and the fluid is about that much per litre.
I was rushing today and did not have a chance to tidy up. I don't like leaving tools out, but needs must. I will put them all way and give the place a spruce up tomorrow but right now it is wrecked with tools apparently scattered around as if shot out of a blunderbuss.
I bought these long ring spanners recently and already they have paid for themselves. Not cheap at £35 but the shape of the ends affords good access and the extra leverage they offer comes in very handy to a weakling like myself. They made short work of loosening the long since fixed fastenings on the shocks and brakes.
Edited by r129sl on Saturday 13th November 22:44
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