1998 Mercedes-Benz CL420 (C140)

[tobinen]

Door mirror OK in the end. The electric fold out has secured as it should. No more flapping.

[tobinen]

Minor clean today and finally improved the tachometer position, thanks to r129sl's excellent guide earlier in this thread

[r129sl]

Looks good.

I see it's hot down south. It never gets that hot up north!

[Jimmy Recard]

Who was the cack-handed mong who fitted those rev counters?

That's awful. It's good to see it's easy to repair though

[tobinen]

I had an 'interesting' journey last night back from Taunton in the spray. The RH wiper mechanism has stuck in the extended position. I elected to not use the wipers in case I made things worse. The blade is banging against and over the A pillar and not clearing the screen on my side. Fortunately I had recently cleaned the glass so it dispersed eventually but passing trucks was a bit of a white knuckle ride.

Does any kind soul have any docs as to how this hangs together please? My WIS is temporarily out of action

[r129sl]

tobinen said:

I had an 'interesting' journey last night back from Taunton in the spray. The RH wiper mechanism has stuck in the extended position. I elected to not use the wipers in case I made things worse. The blade is banging against and over the A pillar and not clearing the screen on my side. Fortunately I had recently cleaned the glass so it dispersed eventually but passing trucks was a bit of a white knuckle ride.

Does any kind soul have any docs as to how this hangs together please? My WIS is temporarily out of action

The wiper extending mechanism is FUBAR. Very common fault, as I have discovered. Push the wiper back in to the retracted position. You will find it won't extend any more but that is not the end of the world.

I have yet to dismantle mine (because I am hiding from the car). It looks quite complicated. The common fault appears to be the teeth on some little cogs breaking off, but my man reckons it might be something else.

Here is a Benzworld thread to get you started: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w140-s-class/15131...

New cogs are available on Ebay for relatively little. I have ordered one plus the rack that it goes against but, as I say, I can't bring myself to embark upon the job.

[tobinen]

Great, thanks. Pushing the arm back in only lasts for two wipes then it extends. Hopefully it will stay dry later and I'll have a look

[colin_p]

It is good that it is only a minor niggle but bad in so far as it makes the car unusable in the wet and bad that it needs fixing.

[r129sl]

I think you have the broken cog issue.

[alec.e]

Beautiful car, love the period mono-block wheels!

[tobinen]

I've ordered a new cog from an eBay seller for just over a tenner. If it isn't that (unlikely from my web research and r129sl's suggestion) then I'll always have it in stock. I'll start spannering when it arrives and do it in one hit. In the meantime here's hoping for mostly dry weather.

[tobinen]

Two days from Turkey, not too bad. Something to attempt this weekend

[r129sl]

I'd like to know how you get on with this. JR

[tobinen]

Unfortunately my back has been playing up (partial disc prolapse, resulting in sciatica down the left leg) so I have been unable to lean over cars or do pretty much anything useful. I'm booked in this Friday to my trusted indy for an A service and other things, so I've asked him to do it. That's unless my back worsens as he's a two hour drive and I struggle to exit it at the moment.

I haven't driven it for over a week and been taking the train where at least I can stand up. The forecast is dry so no wipers required this week all being well.

[tobinen]

It's good news and bad. Dropped the car in to my indy (Newbury to Stowmarket) on Friday morning and awaited news. He ran out of time to finish on the Friday but I had an agreeable W220 CDi as a loan car so back to Newbury on Sunday via a stop in Cambridge to stay with mother.

Call today: service done, wiper repair done, oil pressure gauge fault not traced (sender and feed good), rear quarter window not attempted, HRW power feed good to fuse and relay but not attempted to strip out C pillar trims to investigate feed to screen.

He offered to take it to the MoT station; result fail. Broken front spring (was OK at service but broke soon after), brake hose twisted and headlamp bulb out. Emissions at the top end but a pass (no LH cat).

Spring ordered and should be fitted tomorrow for the re-test so I have driven tonight from Newbury to Cambridge and will collect tomorrow afternoon. He says he has sold the 220 and wants it back in any case.

Bittersweet overall, but once my WIS is back up I may attempt the quarter window myself. The rear screen will almost inevitably be the glass itself, I'll wager.

I am expecting a large-ish bill tomorrow. The joy of Mercedes-Benz barges.

[tobinen]

Thread update. Now on roughly 95,700 miles and a visit to Alex Crow last week.

A service, plus V belt and coolant - done

RH wiper not working - fixed (£10 gear from an eBay seller in Turkey)

Oil pressure gauge not working - suspect gauge as feed to and resistance of sender is OK

OSR window stuck up - suspect cable broken

HRW window not working - feed to fuse and relay good but he ran out of time to remove the C pillar trims. Looking likely to be the glass I guess.

As the MoT was due at the end of the month he put it through the MoT for me which failed on headlamp bulb, OSF spring broken and a twisted brake hose. Just scraped through on emissions. Still, it's another year until I go through the MoT fun again.

£522

And to top it off all the speakers driven off the amp stopped working as soon as I drove it away. All I can hear is a click every second. Now booked in Friday to the ICE shop.

Next up: insurance quotations as that expires 6 July. Chris Knott has offered me a renewal price of £391 which is more than last year so a-hunting I will go.

[r129sl]

Try Footman James Classic insurance. £129 for my 140.

[Max M4X WW]

I'm currently paying CN £70pm on my CL500, annoying - I changed the policy over from the 850 T5 and that is what they came up with!

Glad to see the car is still going OK.

[idiotgap]

I usually try phoning round the Mercedes club's panel of insurers and see which one comes up best and maybe throw in another. It's a pain to shop around every year, but as an actuary friend once told me it's the only way to avoid paying the "loyalty fee" and "courtesy charge" he built into his models.
The club's list is:
Peter Best
Footman James
Adrian Flux
Hagerty

[tobinen]

Footman James not interested until it's 20 years old, so I'll go through idiotgap's list