Jump to content

1993 500 SEC V8 land yacht - it's vaguely for sale/swap (too big), but using it now.


RichardK

Recommended Posts

The eagle-eyed spotted that one of Six-cylinder's fleet has made its way a little bit North and is currently residing at the Farm of Chaos, sharing shed space with what some might argue was a compelling rival - the XJS. What follows probably explains why Keith always looks slightly nervous when he leaves a car here or lends me something he's just bought...

First, yes, I'm buying the 500 SEC - that's the replacement for the XJS, though the XJS needs to go or I need to pull some more work in. The things we do for our addictions. This hasn't stopped me from enjoying the car as is, though clearly being woken from retirement has caused the usual cascade of things - from a bit of trim going missing when washed, to some electrical gremlins.

So what happens when I get a car, loaned, bought or otherwise?

Initially, there's the rush of excitement. Such as "would you like to take it for a run first?" "NOPE IT LOOKS AMAZING IT'S A MERCEDES WHAT COULD BE WRONG WITH IT EVER!?".

post-19568-0-15552000-1470221277_thumb.jpg

Then there's the radio-less drive home listening for every noise, trying controls again.. "Mirror flappy (resolved by using the electrical folding thing a couple of times)... Lights on, did I just see the indicator flash? WTF?". It has a radio, I just leave it off to hear things. You don't hear much in an S-class.

Then there's the wash & going over the car "What's this bit? Why are these in the boot? Where's this thing? Why is this loose?"

And even on a car like a 500 SEC (yes, it is a 500 SEC and not an S500 Coupé) there are items like this. Most obvious was this...

post-19568-0-52277100-1470221172_thumb.jpg

The felt/rubber seal on the window was being pulled back as it went over the worn out window seal, so it was a real mess. Part number A1406700438, £38 inc. VAT, duly ordered. I think the B-pillar seal will be okay once the lower seal has been replaced, as the lower one contains the upper one neatly.

Addressing the 500 SEC question - it says S500 on the boot. It's also in the wrong place - too low, it should align with the lower half of the star.

post-19568-0-96554300-1470221633_thumb.jpg

Yes, it's a 500 SEC. For absolute, definite sure. So... A1408172715, about £25 later, and it's going to be badged correctly.

Going over the other bits...

post-19568-0-53767500-1470221201_thumb.jpg

You might notice the wiper extension part cover is missing. It was in the glovebox, cracked, a common failure. A1408240249, £16 later and we're good to go. Headlight wipers have decided they'd like some attention, there's a thermal resistance fuse in the motor modules so the nearside one also stopped, but has reset itself; the offside is remaining in the raised position. Solution is to strip, replace/uprate thermal switch (they have a finite life) but also to make sure the mechanism is free and the switch cam is correctly aligned with good contacts. Or just replace the motors, but then the fault can come back!

post-19568-0-70341000-1470221221_thumb.jpg

Love, love, love that engine. Want that engine in everything.

Not pictured - repairing door switches, discovering interior light wasn't working, changing bulb, loud pop, interior light REALLY not working, so a secondhand PCB for the interior lights circuit is on the way, replacing the boot lights with LED units, and a broken seat trim piece that I've yet to source a replacement for.

The soft closing system is next up for attention - the doors don't trigger the compressor, but are plumbed in so I think the switches are at fault, and the boot does trigger the compressor but doesn't pull shut. The compressor is running for timed actuation, not pressure, by the sounds of it, so there's probably a leak internally - I'll check it though as it could be leaking when the boot circuit is activated. The PSE runs on longer than it should too, but as all the accessories it controls seem to be working, that can be let slide.

Enough for now. Goodnight cars (the SEC now has the battery conditioner tail on it, so can be quickly plugged in, too).

post-19568-0-36080700-1470221245_thumb.jpg

Funny thing is, on any other car, all these little things adding up would stress me out. On a Mercedes, I just get on with it, knowing the parts will be available and will be good quality!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fuel consumption is bad, it's got the four-speed slushbox. Consider the extra fuel cost the trade off for not having to rebuild an early 722.6 five-speed because Mercedes told owners they were "sealed for life". The engine itself is very efficient, and it'll do 24mpg on a motorway run comfortably (I got 28mpg on my 500SL regularly, lighter car though) - just don't use cars like this for commuting or shopping and they're fine!

 

I need to take a picture of the XJS and 500 SEC that shows how weirdly proportioned the wheels are on the S-class - the XJS is all wheels and glass and swooping buttresses, the SEC is like a lump of car on castors. Shares that trait with the Lancia Kappa coupé and it's my least favourite aspect of it.

 

Investigations for today have revealed the extent of the door rust (driver's door), suggested the underneath is worth the investment, plotted putting the soft-close mechanism back to proper operation in the boot, discovered the headlight wipers have returned to their proper place when the lights were switched on and move effortlessly so it's just a weak thermal cutout, confused me as to why the seats don't slide forward when tilted (switches in seat, I suspect, but it may be a programming issue. That non-sliding mech is probably why I need to replace £120/worth of seat trim, the first expensive part broken. If I can't find a good used one anyway. The XJS has the same part damaged but I could plastic weld that one).

 

The A-pillar/door mirror sail panel rubbers are badly deformed and torn, probably contributing to wind noise - they're £33 each so will get done in the next batch of things, after I've done some mechanical bits (track rod ends/droplinks, steering damper if it has one - can't find it on the EPC but it's a box not rack, so should have). The wide rubber that covers between base of rear window and boot aperture is a whole £1.98 - this is why I replace all rubber seals on Mercedes, they're there for a reason and they're cheap to do when they've done the inevitable and shrunk so much there's a 1" gap either side. if it didn't need it, it wouldn't be there; if it's broken it may as well not be, so replace it, is my attitude!

 

Pictures to be sorted out in a bit, also, rotation, why must you torment me so. These show the correct way everywhere else, I know I will have to open and resave.

 

So, here's a Closure Assist pump - it's a pump to generate pressure, not vacuum like the PSE one under the seat. Outlets for boot and two doors, the blanked outlets are for rear doors on the saloon. Inside there's a module with solenoids and a large pump motor and reservoir.

 

post-19568-0-12254800-1470239873_thumb.jpg

 

Here's a parking pole.

 

post-19568-0-80169400-1470239889_thumb.jpg

 

Here's where a bit of trim fell off. New one ordered.

 

post-19568-0-43930800-1470239915_thumb.jpg

 

This is the passenger side B-pillar to show how the window seal should work.

 

post-19568-0-12707700-1470239930_thumb.jpg

 

This doesn't line up right and the mudflap has gone; I'll investigate later. Suspect it's popped off the slide-on mount.

 

post-19568-0-89171200-1470239944_thumb.jpg

 

This is the only rust I could find on the passenger door.

 

post-19568-0-51816700-1470239958_thumb.jpg

 

Rest of it looks lovely...

 

post-19568-0-85272200-1470239968_thumb.jpg

 

Driver's door, however...

 

post-19568-0-98476600-1470239992_thumb.jpg

 

And a bit nearer the B-post end...

 

post-19568-0-36480200-1470240005_thumb.jpg

 

Kinda hard to see, but this is the mirror seal. It's all ripped up and folded over & stuff.

 

post-19568-0-33021000-1470240026_thumb.jpg

 

I think there's a finisher missing here, the speaker hole on the other side has a black plastic ring to tidy it up.

 

post-19568-0-58556700-1470240043_thumb.jpg

 

And here's an LED boot light. They're in the incredibly clever tail light holders and beautifully engineered. Of course.

 

post-19568-0-61791900-1470240066_thumb.jpg

 

And that kind of obsessiveness is why Keith dreads lending me cars and why Mercedes-Benz's parts department loves me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice indeed. Pleased to see someone else flying the Ctek flag too. Surprising how often I use mine, have fitted a comfort indicator lead/panel to every car, plus my jump pack!

 

 

Mine's not a CTek! Battery Fighter BFS1215WR or somesuch - £36. It's brought many borderline big batteries back to full operation, including the 300C's one - 7 years old and I had flickering lights, fluctuating voltage - four days on the conditioner and it was flawless. The XJS has a tail, the SLK had one but I removed it worried a monsoon had caused a short circuit in the lead, now the SEC has one so I can just hook up without moving the carpets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Soft close boot repaired, though I need to replace some trim clips - I broke one, and there are two missing from the latch adjustment (it gets a whole new trim piece because, Mercedes - no, not a complaint. The trim clips I found used people wanted £4 each for - they come as part of the whole trim. The whole trim is £22 brand new - so I not only get clips, I get a scratch-free brand new part AND all the clips needed, and I can sell the undamaged parts. Yeay Mercedes!).

 

So what was wrong? The pump was in shut off mode, and can be reset with Fuse 9 pull/replace, upon which it worked. This means "Pneumatic leak" somewhere. 

 

The soft close works by extending, then reracting, the striker from the door - so all the pneumatic parts are in the bootlid - there are also pneumatic parts in the latch for the central locking. To get the boot to sit flush, the latch had been moved down, which was never necessary - there's a latch system in the back that will lock the striker in the withdrawn position and then the boot will close with a normal shut, albeit with a need to compensate for any wear. Looking though the latch, I spotted the first problem right away...

 

It may be hard to make out but there's a ball joint. That ball joint should have an actuator on it.

 

post-19568-0-60722000-1470246834_thumb.jpg

 

Still. That wouldn't explain the pump shut off. This, however, would...

 

post-19568-0-66086200-1470246824_thumb.jpg

 

I'm guessing that either it's rattled out, or the balljoint coming off the actuator caused it to jam and overpressure. Reconnect, and...

 

post-19568-0-91674600-1470246811_thumb.jpg

 

Soft close restored. I'll reassemble the carpet when I've got it all correctly aligned. Doors still not working but I strongly suspect the door microswitch, and will see if I can fake that signal to test the theory.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

goes well

 

comfy

 

seats a bit flat

 

bit big :D

 

 

Are you talking about the XJS?  :-D   :-P  ;-)

 

Compared to the XJS, and indeed, W124s I've had with the conventional seats, the 500 SEC seats are really nice. And have been leather soaped and conditioned now, and look really nice. Haven't tested the heating yet, but they don't feel like they need a rebuild for the foams or springs so if it doesn't work tough I guess.

 

Even for someone used to big cars, it's... big. I've named it Leviathan, which ties in with my SciFi naming for cars anyway but seems utterly appropriate. A certain ex wasn't pleasant about it when she saw pictures and became an ex before I picked it up - given her complaints about how cramped the SLK was, and how nice the C6 was for space, she'd have been singing a VERY different tune if she'd ever gone in this, it's just so... spacious. American car spacious. I really love it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The window/seal rubber that will be getting replaced when it arrives from Germany for a whole £1.98 it seems...

 

post-19568-0-57596000-1470252708_thumb.jpg

 

post-19568-0-09051700-1470252724_thumb.jpg

 

Hopefully the pieces on the side won't have shrunk too much. Worst case, I replace the delaminated rear window (expensive, so "nope") and replace all of the rubber and trim around it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lots of the trim looks like my w124 coupe. I didn't like the shape of the sec but it's got to be phenomenal value for money. I was tempted with Dave Prowse's one the other year which he sold to Kenny Baker- how's that for provenance - darth Vader and r2d2!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Replace rear window?...noooooooo.

The two i've had replaced on the 124 coupe were around £450 each, they don't bloody last long on 124's either.

 

Chap who did the last one couple of years ago told me mine was the last pattern part available until enough orders received for another batch to be made, genuine over £1000, he reckoned the CL500 (which that model of yours is often referred to as) is over £2k genuine, haven't a clue what a pattern part would be if available.

 

Lovely car that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The window is delaminating on my coupe, but hasn't really got worse since I bought it four years ago. It's not letting water in so I don't see the need to spend £1000 or so replacing it. Of course I could drop a hammer on it and phone national windscreens with the £70 excess....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Replace rear window?...noooooooo.

The two i've had replaced on the 124 coupe were around £450 each, they don't bloody last long on 124's either.

 

Chap who did the last one couple of years ago told me mine was the last pattern part available until enough orders received for another batch to be made, genuine over £1000, he reckoned the CL500 (which that model of yours is often referred to as) is over £2k genuine, haven't a clue what a pattern part would be if available.

 

Lovely car that.

 

 

£1137, IIRC, for the C140. I wouldn't fit a pattern part - my C124 had done the same... I suspect I am not so unlucky as to have an accident that would result in insurance replacing it!

 

Recent experiences with ex have made me re-evaluate how money is used. If I really want a particular kind of car, I'll put the money into maintaining it to the standard I want, because money is fleeting anyway. But new front wings professionally painted first. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes! I really want to get it working and have the CD changer working again. Failing that I saw a lovely - nice display with adjustable colours - Pioneer DAB/iPhone/hands free radio. Need to get the antenna fully extending as well, but that won't take long - got three segments instead of one now.

 

 

It's missing a button, so I'll see if I can find a spares unit on eBay too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's missing a button, so I'll see if I can find a spares unit on eBay too.

Yes, I am not sure where that has gone, it was there when I bought the car but not working. I had a fitting company check it out who diagnosed the head unit and fitted the Sony to the front speakers for me. The Becker unit was carefully stored in a box from another radio but I have checked and the knob in not in the box.

 

If you don't need the Sony unit I need a radio for my Visa 17RD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I am not sure where that has gone, it was there when I bought the car but not working. I had a fitting company check it out who diagnosed the head unit and fitted the Sony to the front speakers for me. The Becker unit was carefully stored in a box from another radio but I have checked and the knob in not in the box.

 

If you don't need the Sony unit I need a radio for my Visa 17RD.

 

 

I won't need it, and I have a couple of spare radios kicking about anyway :) Hopefully the Sony has been installed preserving the factory wiring, if not I'll make up a loom to connect the rear speakers from the fader.

 

Made the mistake of looking up Becker Mexico on eBay. Sheeeeeesh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unbutchered wiring. Much happiness. Sony extracted perfectly and can returned as soon as logistics allow. Can I hang onto the adaptor wiring from Becker to ISO though please? 

 

Now working out where the remaining components are in the system, the tuner appears to live in the boot!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tuner in the boot sounds familiar, the chap who looked at it seemed to know what he was doing. Like you I thought the easiest way was to buy a replacement head unit but the only one I could find was in Eastern Europe and very expensive, so the Sony went in.

 

We need an Eastern German Railway station at twilight in the mist to exchange radios!

post-4787-0-21387600-1470303861_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Started to untangle the radio system...

 

Uhoh, electrical tape *cold shiver*

 

post-19568-0-69910300-1470303106_thumb.jpg

 

Phew! Just protecting some wires!

 

post-19568-0-75793800-1470303116_thumb.jpg

 

So, let's remove the trim properly (very quick, of course).

 

post-19568-0-65551800-1470303140_thumb.jpg

 

So there's a lot of wiring, and a radio tuner, and a factory antenna lead to send radio to the front of the car, and it all looks good and not too butchered. Some foams have been damaged and the pneumatic tubes aren't in their guide, I'll sort that out at a later date, and the CD changer has been 'augmented" with some angle iron brackets - rather than remove them leaving the self-tapper holes, I'll work out why it was done, then smooth the edges and satin-black them so they look less of an improvised fix.

 

Oh, and there's the missing speaker finisher, must have been caught when someone last worked in there.

 

post-19568-0-61852100-1470303156_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Detangling. I'm guessing from the length of the wires and massive cable ties, the CD changer was added afterwards, so.... out it comes. I'll make sense of the speaker wiring, my gut feeling is that an adaptor lead to the fader switch will yield the result I want.

 

A lot of parts that were removed - Silverstone CD changer (needs clean) in incorrect bracket - hence the weird angle brackets - CD changer cable, tuner, tuner antenna adaptor, power cable to bring power to CD changer from tuner.

 

post-19568-0-48706700-1470311739_thumb.jpg

 

Empty boot!

 

post-19568-0-67388400-1470311765_thumb.jpg

 

Looks promising for rust.

 

post-19568-0-32569400-1470311789_thumb.jpg

 

Got to tidy up this area, the CA pump wasn't in the right space, the foam box has been torn, will sort it all.

 

post-19568-0-29741500-1470311804_thumb.jpg

 

I think this was a guide to prevent rattles, will check EPC for location.

 

(It goes in behind the seat back - and had been pulled through from the back. Will remove seat and replace "at some point", the seats aren't easy to pull on this).

 

post-19568-0-99216300-1470311826_thumb.jpg

 

Parking rod pneumatic motor. Leaving trim out, partly because this will have to come out to replace the chrome trim/seal.

 

post-19568-0-11319400-1470311839_thumb.jpg

 

This is why we're avoiding rain.

 

post-19568-0-66899200-1470311853_thumb.jpg

 

Look at the tool kit!

 

post-19568-0-89953600-1470311872_thumb.jpg

 

And indeed, the car!

 

post-19568-0-74193100-1470311898_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tuner in the boot sounds familiar, the chap who looked at it seemed to know what he was doing. Like you I thought the easiest way was to buy a replacement head unit but the only one I could find was in Eastern Europe and very expensive, so the Sony went in.

 

We need an Eastern German Railway station at twilight in the mist to exchange radios!

 

 

Hehe! I might take a run down in the XJS, because what would make more sense than spending more on fuel than the cost of a cheap new CD player to get a broken radio back :D

 

I suspect the issue may not have been the head unit, but the tuner/amp unit. Lots and lots of threads in forums discussing the way those amps suffer capacitor failure. I'll keep all the Becker parts together, built a test loom and see if they can be repaired but yeah, in the meantime, it'll be a case of doing exactly what you did except hopefully sussing out a way to get rear speakers as well. And getting something with DAB and iPod connections.

 

Redid some of the wiring - now have four speakers with working fader. Not replacing the boot trim until the close assist is fixed, but at some point if I want to do clever things with subwoofers or amps, the wiring could come in handy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was tempted with Dave Prowse's one the other year which he sold to Kenny Baker- how's that for provenance - darth Vader and r2d2!

That's back-to-front. It was Kenny Baker's first and he sold it to Dave Prowse. I only remember because a Womble friend of mine (Mrs N) had the pleasure of meeting him on the M1.

 

post-19900-0-73030800-1470325792_thumb.jpg

 

http://www.andaluz.tv/news/new-spain-international.php?idArt=446

 

Mercedes - unreliable tat. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...