1998 Mercedes-Benz CL420 (C140)

[tobinen]

If you go back a page I have the Febi mounts purchased from Autodoc. I haven't booked it into the garage yet but I will eventually.

[tobinen]

Condensation woes. I took it for a run this morning but it took around 20 minutes to defrrost and dry out the interior, which was sopping





I bought one of these to try though I don't think there is enough air circulation but I shall check in a week



Twice it's left a trail of water when reversing. Might be nothing or something.



Now it is time to go to the pub

[tobinen]

I don't know but I don't think so. The climate control is always on auto and seems to be working correctly. There is nothing on WIS for drains unfortunately.

[tobinen]

Bicester Scramble today, a few of us stayed at the Premier Inn last night.

Bavarian royalty parked next to me for a while.



A very clean B V8



Stegel brought his iCarSoft reader and it reset the SRS light. Great result and thanks.



A trio of barges

[tobinen]

MoT day today after a couple of months procrastinating (it ran out in Jan). Only around 1,000 miles completed in 14 months.

Success with three advisories:

Offside ball joint gaiter deteriorated
Front inner arches slightly corroded
Rear brakes slight binding

1 and 3 are no biggies and 3 is probably due to lack of use.

2 is not ideal if one is selling. Do I bite the bullet and replace the wings and have this attended to at the same time? Time to procrastinate some more...

[tobinen]

The boot lid will not close. It all unlocked but the handle did not extend as it should

I've tied it with wire for now until I decide to start taking apart stuff

[tobinen]

Yes, you are quite correct. I will have a closer look when the rain stops.

[tobinen]

After a lot of reading fora elsewhere and WIS/ASRA, I am not making any progress. I don't think it's the main PSE pump as I swapped connectors and the handle still won't extend, nor the closing of the last few mm

The boot release catch in the rear panel works.

I suspect the issue is with the actuator, and/or there's a leak from the other block going to it. It's somewhere tucked away in the NS quarter

I tried to remove the handle from the boot lid but there is no way I can access the nuts

[tobinen]

I was booked into Star this morning for the boot lid issue. I had tied it down partially and it lasted all along the M4 but the USB lead I used gave up on the A33 just coming into Reading. I really didn't care as I was close enough so I carried on for 15 minutes with it up. It attracted odd looks.

Good news, it has fixed the bootlid closing and locking manually.

Bad news, the suspected pump (not the main one but there is another for the bootlid somewhere in the NSR quarter) is NLS from MB. No surprise really.

Thus some more digging required but it closes for the forthcoming winter. I also have steering wheel shimmy at 50-70 MPH.

I've had no joy on sourcing any wings so that is a real issue. My OSF is in poor shape and probably past repair. I still contemplate selling as it is not being used. I always jump into the SL these days. The E39 is giving issues too, to rub it in. Damned 20+ year old cars!

[tobinen]

The resident next door has misjudged his width and run along the side. The NS door moulding is pushed in and I suspect the door is behind it. I will remove the moulding to check. He was very apologetic and has said he will pay.

If it needs a door it's a write-off through official channels so let's see.

[tobinen]

Yes, I have been using it most weeks to go to the office. I still haven't found the reason for the bootlid soft close failure but that is one for the better weather when it comes.

[tobinen]

Some good news: I had two estimates, one for £727 and one for £516. The lower one was by the bodyshop that did the respray ealier in the thread. It also said it can repair my wings with some better stuff than it had the first time. He also accepts cash.

The neighbour has paid me the lower figure so I am booking in to have the dent and wings sorted at the same time.

Next week when/if it's not raining I will take the SL over for it to check my quarter panel dent and how much to sort the bonnet and match the mouldings ballsed-up by the previous bodyshop.

[tobinen]

It passed the MoT today which makes it a good day. Only 650-ish miles in 12 months so it does make me question why I still have it.

It's booked into the bodyshop on the 25th.