Sensible family daily wagon - Mercedes Benz S211 E500
Discussion
So Christmas came and went... it was a refreshing change to have a simpler family affair, rather than the usual military timing for lunch operation. Thankfully, all of my family were in good health though it isn't something we took for granted.
It turns out that Santa had forgotten to deliver the gift from Magnus, so re-visited on New Year's Day.
and by 4th January
I threw in the towel; it would be far too much hassle to get this sorted by Wayne Gates as they were in Harrow and my breakdown cover restricted recovery within a certain radius of my property. Also, I felt that I had enjoyed my dalliance with alternative therapies and wanted back into the fold of tried and tested procedures. It also helped that Joe from WiM told me that the shocks were at the edge of their adjustability as they too, perish, just like their coil sprung counterparts and as I wasn't quite ready for offloading Magnus to either tobinen or Ovlovlover, I bit the bullet and called Star Tec; their quote was quite a bit more than PCS Horndean and it was about the same if not slightly more than MB Guildford with the geriatric car discount. However, they're a known quantity and collect/drop off the car and I know the characters; better the devil you know...
In time honoured tradition, whilst the car was in... the noisy boot skirt closing mechanism need replacing as it was noisy and also, the bootlid kept popping up randomly after the power boot closure button was pressed. Despite my having a used motor for the boot skirt purchased from ebay for about £30, they reasoned with me that since replacing it was about three or four hours labour and could only be tested when everything had been put back together again, I should consider purchasing the new item... at over £300!
We also had the oil leak as spotted, to address.
It turns out that Santa had forgotten to deliver the gift from Magnus, so re-visited on New Year's Day.
and by 4th January
I threw in the towel; it would be far too much hassle to get this sorted by Wayne Gates as they were in Harrow and my breakdown cover restricted recovery within a certain radius of my property. Also, I felt that I had enjoyed my dalliance with alternative therapies and wanted back into the fold of tried and tested procedures. It also helped that Joe from WiM told me that the shocks were at the edge of their adjustability as they too, perish, just like their coil sprung counterparts and as I wasn't quite ready for offloading Magnus to either tobinen or Ovlovlover, I bit the bullet and called Star Tec; their quote was quite a bit more than PCS Horndean and it was about the same if not slightly more than MB Guildford with the geriatric car discount. However, they're a known quantity and collect/drop off the car and I know the characters; better the devil you know...
In time honoured tradition, whilst the car was in... the noisy boot skirt closing mechanism need replacing as it was noisy and also, the bootlid kept popping up randomly after the power boot closure button was pressed. Despite my having a used motor for the boot skirt purchased from ebay for about £30, they reasoned with me that since replacing it was about three or four hours labour and could only be tested when everything had been put back together again, I should consider purchasing the new item... at over £300!
We also had the oil leak as spotted, to address.
To paraphrase Robert Nesta Marley, 'No Moustache, No Detail'.
On 1st February Magnus was returned to me,
complete with a four figure bill beginning with aone, two, three four.
As you can see, the boot repair i.e. chasing gremlins, consumed quite a lot of labour and parts. Bugger.
These were the cracks in the aux drive belt
However, I wasn't convinced that the ride height was set correctly and also, the boot seemed to sit unevenly judging by the uneven gaps on either side.
Additionally, the steering wheel wasn't pointing straight after the rear suspension had been replaced and alignment done.
However, on the upside, snow came about and I heroically and confidentially tackled the Siberian-like conditions with my winter tyres.
On 1st February Magnus was returned to me,
complete with a four figure bill beginning with a
As you can see, the boot repair i.e. chasing gremlins, consumed quite a lot of labour and parts. Bugger.
These were the cracks in the aux drive belt
However, I wasn't convinced that the ride height was set correctly and also, the boot seemed to sit unevenly judging by the uneven gaps on either side.
Additionally, the steering wheel wasn't pointing straight after the rear suspension had been replaced and alignment done.
However, on the upside, snow came about and I heroically and confidentially tackled the Siberian-like conditions with my winter tyres.
Edited by bolidemichael on Thursday 22 July 13:00
bolidemichael said:
However, on the upside, snow came about and I heroically and confidentially tackled the Siberian-like conditions with my winter tyres.
I think we can all agree that there is no greater vindication than the vindication of the man who bought winter tyres when the first fall of snow comes. Is there a greater smugness than the smug satisfaction that man enjoys when driving his 5.0 litre rear wheel drive Mercedes through snow flurries that would make a Land Rover owner pause for thought?r129sl said:
bolidemichael said:
However, on the upside, snow came about and I heroically and confidentially tackled the Siberian-like conditions with my winter tyres.
I think we can all agree that there is no greater vindication than the vindication of the man who bought winter tyres when the first fall of snow comes. Is there a greater smugness than the smug satisfaction that man enjoys when driving his 5.0 litre rear wheel drive Mercedes through snow flurries that would make a Land Rover owner pause for thought?Mr E said:
300sl-24 said:
More importantly have you booked the E class day in Gloucester yet?
The what now?Ray, I was procrastinating as we intended to get away to Provence. Since that isn't happening, we're likely to end up in Blighty and I'll possibly be attending. That and the National Concours. Thanks for the reminder.
Mr E, I hope that you had a nice time, though judging by your comment on the 'Fast Estates' thread, rain and vomit marred your journey.
The back end of February 2021. Brrrrr. And one for Mr Arrrrrrrronetwonine
One of my many watched searches on ebay came up trumps around about this time. It was an Islabike Beinn 29 for Mrs Bolide, a good adult's bike by the manufacturers of childrens' bicycles i.e. lightweight and sturdy, that had been discontinued after having been out of stock throughout COVID.
I made the man an offer he couldn't refuse (top of the market) and offered to collect from Gloucester, which clinched the deal. The drive up was early on a Saturday morning with the boy; the M40 and A roads were almost completely deserted, thanks to lockdown and at one point, the boy saw 130mph on the speedo
Of course, it takes no time at all to reach this speed in the E500 - pulse and coast, pulse and coast...
The A roads, A40 and particularly the A436 were sweeping, well sighted and rapid; hilariously, I had a chap in a Geralded P38A Range Rover attempting to play catch up and barrelling up to roundabouts as the last of the late brakers to make up some distance! It was similar to this Monte Carlo Blue example, but with chrome wrap around bars and door mirrors. The driver was so close to the windscreen that I could see his breath gathering on it!
The collection was swift and once back on the road, following Waze blindly on the A417, we began to traverse a wide road up a steep hill - the B4070, where my curiosity was piqued by a sign indicating a viewpoint. Turning into the long entrance, we ended in a car park and a wonderful vista at Witcombe overlooking Gloucester and the Severn Valley.
The helpful guide on the plinth, proudly declared 'OVER 500 MILLION YEARS OF BRITAINS HISTORY'.
The back end of February 2021. Brrrrr. And one for Mr Arrrrrrrronetwonine
One of my many watched searches on ebay came up trumps around about this time. It was an Islabike Beinn 29 for Mrs Bolide, a good adult's bike by the manufacturers of childrens' bicycles i.e. lightweight and sturdy, that had been discontinued after having been out of stock throughout COVID.
I made the man an offer he couldn't refuse (top of the market) and offered to collect from Gloucester, which clinched the deal. The drive up was early on a Saturday morning with the boy; the M40 and A roads were almost completely deserted, thanks to lockdown and at one point, the boy saw 130mph on the speedo
Of course, it takes no time at all to reach this speed in the E500 - pulse and coast, pulse and coast...The A roads, A40 and particularly the A436 were sweeping, well sighted and rapid; hilariously, I had a chap in a Geralded P38A Range Rover attempting to play catch up and barrelling up to roundabouts as the last of the late brakers to make up some distance! It was similar to this Monte Carlo Blue example, but with chrome wrap around bars and door mirrors. The driver was so close to the windscreen that I could see his breath gathering on it!
The collection was swift and once back on the road, following Waze blindly on the A417, we began to traverse a wide road up a steep hill - the B4070, where my curiosity was piqued by a sign indicating a viewpoint. Turning into the long entrance, we ended in a car park and a wonderful vista at Witcombe overlooking Gloucester and the Severn Valley.
The helpful guide on the plinth, proudly declared 'OVER 500 MILLION YEARS OF BRITAINS HISTORY'.
One of the things that I had been considering for a while, was the installation of a wood/leather steering wheel; a touch of golf clubhouse lunches. However, after numerous questions on t'interweb over a few years, I was unable to achieve a steer towards a definitive answer as to whether these were available as an option for my colour codes. Eventually, a comment from my indy -- "that steering wheel's a bit tired now" -- acted as a call to action (not that I needed one 
). I ordered some contemporary brochureware from ebay:
and it was indeed an option when new! From the EPC, I deduced the part number and plugged the search into ebay. It's fair to say that there isn't a bouyant market for these... however, upon widening my search to account for predictable human imperfection...
Zooming into one of the images, the correct part number pops up
Even more serendipitous was the location... just half an hour from our warehouse, so I made my way there one afternoon to inspect it.
Very classy... not cheap, but worth it for the experience I reckon.
). I ordered some contemporary brochureware from ebay:and it was indeed an option when new! From the EPC, I deduced the part number and plugged the search into ebay. It's fair to say that there isn't a bouyant market for these... however, upon widening my search to account for predictable human imperfection...
Zooming into one of the images, the correct part number pops up
Even more serendipitous was the location... just half an hour from our warehouse, so I made my way there one afternoon to inspect it.
Very classy... not cheap, but worth it for the experience I reckon.
bolidemichael said:
my curiosity was piqued by a sign indicating a viewpoint. Turning into the long entrance, we ended in a car park and a wonderful vista at Witcombe overlooking Gloucester and the Severn Valley.
That's just up the road from me. It's a great view I hear, very popular locally according to the Gloucestershire Echo.AC43 said:
bolidemichael said:
Very classy... not cheap, but worth it for the experience I reckon.
Back to March 2021 and the boot that I had paid a substantial amount of money to have repaired was not operating correctly. Periodically, when closing, it would bounce back up prior to connecting with the soft close latch (clicky linky). I called Star Tec and we considered a few options, inlcuding the battery health. I looked up how to check this
and it appeared to be fine.
Engine not running:
Engine idling:
At each stage, I operated the power boot and it performed correctly. The next step would be to get it back into the garage for further fettling.
and it appeared to be fine.
Engine not running:
Engine idling:
At each stage, I operated the power boot and it performed correctly. The next step would be to get it back into the garage for further fettling.
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