Mercedes w210 E430 (no titivating allowed)
Discussion
I think it’s the heat shield. The repair washers seem to have eliminated the twanging. Fingers crossed. The pattering is as bad as ever, however. I suspect shocks.
I fixed the near side air vent. The thumb wheel didn’t work. And the bulb was blown. So easy to do, this car really is beautifully made. Such a shame that they rust so badly.
I fixed the near side air vent. The thumb wheel didn’t work. And the bulb was blown. So easy to do, this car really is beautifully made. Such a shame that they rust so badly.
Barge threadists know what is coming.
Heading over to Cairnryan on a beautiful winter’s morning for the Cairnryan to Larne ferry, we struck a pothole and bust a wheel bearing. I’m posting from the recovery truck laid on by MB’s 30 year Mobilo warranty service. It is carrying us and the car up to MB of Ayr. There we will be provided with a hire car while ours is fixed. All for free (apart from the repair). We were recovered from the middle of nowhere (just outside New Galloway on the A712) within 90 minutes. It’ll be a long day but I think that’s impressive: this is an 18 year old car with 108,000 miles but still it’s manufacturer stands by it.
Heading over to Cairnryan on a beautiful winter’s morning for the Cairnryan to Larne ferry, we struck a pothole and bust a wheel bearing. I’m posting from the recovery truck laid on by MB’s 30 year Mobilo warranty service. It is carrying us and the car up to MB of Ayr. There we will be provided with a hire car while ours is fixed. All for free (apart from the repair). We were recovered from the middle of nowhere (just outside New Galloway on the A712) within 90 minutes. It’ll be a long day but I think that’s impressive: this is an 18 year old car with 108,000 miles but still it’s manufacturer stands by it.
I have the car back from MB Ayr. Costly. But the whole service was easy and saved the day. There’s something up at the back now. Baister replaced a rear spring and told me it needs rear shocks. I’ve ordered a pair of TRWs for £25! TRW is ZF Group so how bad can they be. I’ll fit them myself as access is really easy.
Killysprint, you should take your leaking gearbox to Baister at Staithes Garage. Tell him I sent you (seriously).
Meantime we’re reviewing expenditure on cars. I’m thinking of selling the 124 and the 210 and taking a Volvo on a cheap lease. I know I have these crises of faith every five minutes but various things are about to get a lot more expensive and I may just have to cut my cloth. £416 a month for 18 months and 30k miles, no deposit, a V90 CrossCountry 2.0 petrol AWD. Cheap motoring, I reckon.
In other news, I’m not that impressed by the CrossClimates in snow. They’re pretty good when you’re moving but initial traction is poor compared to full winters. We nearly got stuck in a school car park yesterday and that wouldn’t have happened in the 190 or 124.
Killysprint, you should take your leaking gearbox to Baister at Staithes Garage. Tell him I sent you (seriously).
Meantime we’re reviewing expenditure on cars. I’m thinking of selling the 124 and the 210 and taking a Volvo on a cheap lease. I know I have these crises of faith every five minutes but various things are about to get a lot more expensive and I may just have to cut my cloth. £416 a month for 18 months and 30k miles, no deposit, a V90 CrossCountry 2.0 petrol AWD. Cheap motoring, I reckon.
In other news, I’m not that impressed by the CrossClimates in snow. They’re pretty good when you’re moving but initial traction is poor compared to full winters. We nearly got stuck in a school car park yesterday and that wouldn’t have happened in the 190 or 124.
teleostbat said:
Love this thread, what a find the W210 has turned out to be!
After some advice really, just to gauge your (and everyone else) thoughts please...
We have been running my dads old E280 Avantgarde for the past 3 years. Dark grey with unmarked black heated leather (lovely place to be). Spec list good although no heated rears in this one.
It's been a well loved car both by us and my dad before, but recently we've had several major things go on that car, that is making me ponder whether to keep it alive or not. The latest of which is a rear brake line split, so new brakes lines needed.
In addition to this, the outer bodywork is suffering from the usual w210 scabby arches / tailgate, quite a few marks on the body (e.g. shopping trolley dints), as well as clunky front arbs, tatty Merak alloys and dodgy temp & clock dash pixels.
All of the above are fixable but is it worth it? The car is showing 148k miles, I've not put much money into it at all, just the usual service things to keep it running nicely but now its starting to need much more time to sort. I personally love the car, heart says keep and fix it, head says probably the right time for it to go. Thoughts?
Fix it!After some advice really, just to gauge your (and everyone else) thoughts please...
We have been running my dads old E280 Avantgarde for the past 3 years. Dark grey with unmarked black heated leather (lovely place to be). Spec list good although no heated rears in this one.
It's been a well loved car both by us and my dad before, but recently we've had several major things go on that car, that is making me ponder whether to keep it alive or not. The latest of which is a rear brake line split, so new brakes lines needed.
In addition to this, the outer bodywork is suffering from the usual w210 scabby arches / tailgate, quite a few marks on the body (e.g. shopping trolley dints), as well as clunky front arbs, tatty Merak alloys and dodgy temp & clock dash pixels.
All of the above are fixable but is it worth it? The car is showing 148k miles, I've not put much money into it at all, just the usual service things to keep it running nicely but now its starting to need much more time to sort. I personally love the car, heart says keep and fix it, head says probably the right time for it to go. Thoughts?
^^^ Thank you. That's what I need to hear. I haven't driven the Volvo yet, just too busy.
This is an alternative: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-e430/1836...
Don't go sneaking it from under me. The winning combination of Max Power motor and Full Werthers dress. Plus heated seats, integrated child seats and seven seats. 7up at 150mph and invisible to police cars.
This is an alternative: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-e430/1836...
Don't go sneaking it from under me. The winning combination of Max Power motor and Full Werthers dress. Plus heated seats, integrated child seats and seven seats. 7up at 150mph and invisible to police cars.
The Volvo's off the agenda. My estate car is not going to cost 7 grand over the next 18 months. And if it's s
te, I definitely don't want one. I'm quite hot on the Werthers. Rang this morning to be told it had sold and the buyer was on his way. Just had a text to say he didn't show. Hmm.
te, I definitely don't want one. I'm quite hot on the Werthers. Rang this morning to be told it had sold and the buyer was on his way. Just had a text to say he didn't show. Hmm.I stuck the new rear shocks on tonight. This is a very easy job. I started at 10pm and was finished by 11.15pm. It is a bit physical for late at night but easy enough. Pull back the boot lining and loosen the top mounts, holding the piston with mole grips. Jack up the car. Pop the wheels off. Remove the control arm covers. Loosen the bottom mount. Support the control arm with a spare jack. Remove the top nuts (they fly off like bullets, must be under a lot of tension; tip for the future would be to lift the control arm). Remove the bottom nuts and bolts. Remove shock. Put new shock in. Fix bottom mounts loosely. Fix top mount tight. Tighten bottom mount. Repeat on side two. Replace control arm covers and wheels and lower car.
The shocks are TRW. They are OK. The bump stop and dust cover are integrated into a single piece item. The finish and the rubber components are as good as anything else I have seen. I haven't driven them yet. They cost £54.96 for the pair, delivered, including VAT. Not expensive. They did not include new lower fixings, so I cleaned up the old and added fresh thread lock.
New and old (rather obviously):
Near side top mount:
And near side in situ:
I have ordered TRW shocks for the front. They probably won't come until next week. Again, they were cheap. I do like this car. I have to make my mind up what to do about bodywork. The front wings are starting to go. New wings are £130 each but they will be £500-plus to fit if the paint is blended across the bonnet and down the doors. And then you might as well do the rest of the car...
The shocks are TRW. They are OK. The bump stop and dust cover are integrated into a single piece item. The finish and the rubber components are as good as anything else I have seen. I haven't driven them yet. They cost £54.96 for the pair, delivered, including VAT. Not expensive. They did not include new lower fixings, so I cleaned up the old and added fresh thread lock.
New and old (rather obviously):
Near side top mount:
And near side in situ:
I have ordered TRW shocks for the front. They probably won't come until next week. Again, they were cheap. I do like this car. I have to make my mind up what to do about bodywork. The front wings are starting to go. New wings are £130 each but they will be £500-plus to fit if the paint is blended across the bonnet and down the doors. And then you might as well do the rest of the car...
Swapped the front shocks tonight. Again TRW items, JGT401 (JGT409 on the rear). Total cost £55.98. It took about an hour. Top and bottom mounts are very easily accessed. The w210 is a very easy car to work on; the design for maintenance is quite impressive. Shame they rust. The TRW shocks seem good quality, although again the design is different to what is on the car with an integrated skirt/bump stop. The price difference is too much to ignore given this car is a bit of a beater from which I only want another couple of years. Sachs would have cost three times as much at least.
So this was a very easy job with only two hiccups. First, when I unfastened the top mounts, the washer and nut flew off; one nut is lost forever under the ECU box, the others were fished out using a grabber. Second, on the nearside, the "cup" (at the top mount position into which the rubber buffer is seated) fell off, the first sign of structural rusting on this car. I don't think it is of vital importance. It is sandwiched in place between two rubber buffers under massive pressure so is unlikely to move; and the shock absorber does not perform any wheel location function on the w210 (and w140 which shares the same double wishbone front suspension design) unlike on the w124. I took the car for a quick spin and feels a lot more together; curiously better damped and more comfortable.
New and old:
Nearside top mount:
And bottom mount. Two 16mm nuts, so easy:
So this was a very easy job with only two hiccups. First, when I unfastened the top mounts, the washer and nut flew off; one nut is lost forever under the ECU box, the others were fished out using a grabber. Second, on the nearside, the "cup" (at the top mount position into which the rubber buffer is seated) fell off, the first sign of structural rusting on this car. I don't think it is of vital importance. It is sandwiched in place between two rubber buffers under massive pressure so is unlikely to move; and the shock absorber does not perform any wheel location function on the w210 (and w140 which shares the same double wishbone front suspension design) unlike on the w124. I took the car for a quick spin and feels a lot more together; curiously better damped and more comfortable.
New and old:
Nearside top mount:
And bottom mount. Two 16mm nuts, so easy:
Henry, I haven't returned to you about your E430, for which I apologise. I have been run off my feet at work, at home and in cars.
My car is showing 110k miles. I think the shocks were shot all round. But I'd be surprised if yours are gone at only 57k miles. The ride and handling and especially the directional stability are miles better on mine. The rear shocks were definitely shagged: they did not rebound at all when compressed.
I raked my E430 home tonight. It is a pretty fast car and has a lovely engine. It's also quite a nifty handler with the ESP switched off. An E55 motor in a 430 chassis I think would be superb.
My car is showing 110k miles. I think the shocks were shot all round. But I'd be surprised if yours are gone at only 57k miles. The ride and handling and especially the directional stability are miles better on mine. The rear shocks were definitely shagged: they did not rebound at all when compressed.
I raked my E430 home tonight. It is a pretty fast car and has a lovely engine. It's also quite a nifty handler with the ESP switched off. An E55 motor in a 430 chassis I think would be superb.
The service interval indicator announced the need for an oil change. Job done in 30 minutes tonight using a genuine MB filter (which is actually Mann) and genuine (WTF) MB oil. I bought a cardboard cube with a 20L bag of oil in it. You let the oil out of a tap. Quite ingenious. £62 for 20L of fully synthetic 229.5 spec 5W 40. Not bad at all. As usual, the hardest part of the job was removing the under tray.
I noticed the oil was very clean as I drained it. Updating the records this evening, I realised Baister did it 700 miles ago but obviously didn't bother resetting the indicator. Balls. What a waste of time and money. Still, kept me out of trouble.
Last night I had to change a rear brake/tail lamp. The car uses an odd spec, 21/4W. I didn't notice, used a 21/5W lamp which didn't seat correctly in the holder and promptly disappeared into the light cluster. My attempts to fish it out smashed it. So I had to remove the entire cluster. Why oh why am I so useless? Happily I had the correct bulb in the back of the garage.
The car is ever so slightly frilly around the edges these days. It is a w210, after all. I have had an offer at £1,500. It is showing 111,935 miles. Thing is, it is a very good car in very good order and will give us at least another year's motoring. As you know it has everything and is plenty fast and comfortable. I had 160mph out of it on the private test track the other day. So why would I prefer a 124 saloon?
I noticed the oil was very clean as I drained it. Updating the records this evening, I realised Baister did it 700 miles ago but obviously didn't bother resetting the indicator. Balls. What a waste of time and money. Still, kept me out of trouble.
Last night I had to change a rear brake/tail lamp. The car uses an odd spec, 21/4W. I didn't notice, used a 21/5W lamp which didn't seat correctly in the holder and promptly disappeared into the light cluster. My attempts to fish it out smashed it. So I had to remove the entire cluster. Why oh why am I so useless? Happily I had the correct bulb in the back of the garage.
The car is ever so slightly frilly around the edges these days. It is a w210, after all. I have had an offer at £1,500. It is showing 111,935 miles. Thing is, it is a very good car in very good order and will give us at least another year's motoring. As you know it has everything and is plenty fast and comfortable. I had 160mph out of it on the private test track the other day. So why would I prefer a 124 saloon?
M666 EVO said:
I have a W210 estate and the air con doesn't work, how do you check diagnostic from the drivers seat??
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=w210+climate+control+diagnos...You google w210 climate diagnostic and follow the instructions that you find here: http://www.mercedesmedic.com/ac-air-conditioner-di...
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