vaughant

Yeah electrical contact cleaner would have been the stuff, not quite as harsh but either way for the money it's worth replacing it. 

Check all the connectors to it as well, that a pin hasn't crushed or wire become brittle.

They're decent cars these and you're halfway there in that it starts runs and drives by the look of things 👍🏼.

4 hours ago, St.Jude said:

There's a lot to reply to here.

I've not sent the money back, and he hasn't been in touch either.

I don't particularly care where it ends up or who wants it. The problem here is it needs a trailer. You could well be the lucky fucker who puts the key in and it starts first time but if you feel that lucky then do the lotto first and then get a trailer with the winnings.

I suspect that the neutral selector (not the Parking thing) would probably be the cause of this. It's the one thing I've not really looked in to properly. It's buried in the center console, I made an attempt to access it but couldn't work out how to get the massive plastic thing off without breaking it. Brittle plastics, 80's plastic, and me with a temper aren't conducive to a great working relationship. All I could do was wiggle it and move it back/forward. What doesn't help is that the car falls between the Mk1 and Mk2 versions. The neutral selector on a Mk1 should be under the battery (according to the books), but on this one it's missing. Which would mean it's located in the Mk2 position of being under the gearstick. Also the ignition coil you'd think it would have is the wrong sort for what you would think it's on.

It just needs to run, and if it ran I could move it and park it and through a tarp over it and and come back to it when the Lada is further along or done. But even now I still can't be fucked with it to the point it almost hurts. I've put it up on the for sale section.

I can't believe I mixed this thread after it got moved to the main section.

Did you ever find the wiring diagrams for it?

There's most likely a joint point you could test for continuity at for the park/neutral switch? And if so link accordingly. These fucking schoolboy rover electronics teachers who put all this daft unproven tech in it need their heads wobbled.

If you find them in still more than happy to trawl through and give you some ideas.

I know it's turned out to be a piece of shit but a running or at least trying to run piece of shit is worth a lot more than a non running piece of shit 🤣🤣.

1 hour ago, R Lutz said:

I don't believe these rev past 3k when stationary. 

My old ml wouldn't either, I think it's pretty standard on most moderns 👍🏼

As always loving the updates 👍👍

3 hours ago, yes oui si said:

Nope, seat in metallic beige. 

Yeah used to be a thing in the 90's/00's but not so much now for some reason, all this unlock with your phone bollox.

31 minutes ago, Shite Ron said:

Helen Mirren. One of the few I have been able to identify, it would be better if names were added.

My oh my, still hot now.

On 7/29/2023 at 12:12 PM, NorfolkNWeigh said:

Who is that?

What an outfit 🥵🥵🥵🥵

On 8/20/2023 at 7:46 PM, cort16 said:

I think its so you can see the buttons you're pressing. Mercedes do it the same way

I have these on my Merc, but povvo spec ones get them on the seats themselves.

I think it's an infinitely better idea than putting them on the seat when you inevitably have to move to the most awkward place to even find them, then adjust your seat to suit you in an awkward position as well.

On the door another good thing is that if another driver is 2'1" and you're 6'7" you can move the seat while the door is open so on the right place when you get in.

My son sits in a such a way in the car that I feel physically sick when I get in, like I'm being choked, seat back a bit as he's tall but the backrest feels like it's leaning forward, it's hideous. I drive gangsta style with the seat chilled out so having that feature is really useful.

Only bugbear is that I feel they could have put it on the remote so it detects who's keys they are and sets it up ready. Had a similar feature on my old Grand Cherokee and thought it was pretty cool.

Citroen looks lush by the way, well bought.

On 8/11/2023 at 6:50 PM, vaughant said:

Got all excited when I saw the postie about to deliver my icarSoft dongle as it said by 1:06pm and this was 1:05pm but alas it was only some wallpaper samples.

A bit concerned I checked my emails only to find out it's by 1:06pm Saturday 😬😬😬

This arrived on time and I tested it yesterday, wow what a piece of kit, covers 30 systems 😱😱😱😱.

Car has more historic faults than a 13yr olds homework but nothing that truly scares me.

Highly recommended for this class of car.

Cost £150 with the adapter but I did but an adapter for £8 I'm yet to try them the unit is only £99+8 so £107.

I'll report back when done.

Mightily impressed.

Got all excited when I saw the postie about to deliver my icarSoft dongle as it said by 1:06pm and this was 1:05pm but alas it was only some wallpaper samples.

A bit concerned I checked my emails only to find out it's by 1:06pm Saturday 😬😬😬

Things are slowly improving with this car after a bad couple of weeks.

Drove into work one morning at about 4am and hit a huge puddle on the motorway, car did well, no aquaplaning or the like but it did some damage to the bumper ripping it off its side mount, rusted away bolts but typical of this era Merc, easily fixed....

 Probably why I still haven't done it 😬😬😬.

But worse was to come, got into the work carpark and heard a knocking sound, steering felt dreadful.

Checked later on and the wheel had about 10mm movement top to bottom 😬😬😬.

Thought the bearing hub but may have worked loose as I'd checked and greased these a week previous but actually it was the exact opposite, almost welded on 😱😱.

Ummed and ahhhed but couldn't get a bearing kit for it anyway so took the decision to drive it home slowly and stop regularly to check. No issues to be fair but it needed some attention as you could see/hear the wheel.

Next day I needed to take doggy out for his morning walk and thought I may as well use the Merc and I'll get the parts for the car afterwards.

This highlighted (yet) another issue, everytime I took a sharp left-hander, it cut out and took a while to restart. FFS.

I had noticed the fuel guage was down at just under 1/4, as I'd come home on cruise at 60/65mph it hadn't really moved so I didn't stop to fill.

This was then getting worse and as nobody seems to understand hazard lights on mean you're stopped/broken down, I just kept getting beeped and shouted at, karma I suppose as I'm a bit of an angry driver most of the time with bellends.

Nursed it home and parked it, pissed off, in the street facing downhill.

Got wheelbearing etc in my other car, they were something silly like £18 a side so I got two.

Went to get the nut off, no fucking chance, I'd have to cut the hub.

Ah ok, let's get a new hub as well.... hang on, the spindle bit is part of the knuckle and that's the bit I'll need to cut ideally?

MEGA FFS!!!

At this point I try to start the car to turn the wheel and it won't go.

Considering car take back options and realising the chances of getting a new knuckle are non existent, I can it a rainy day fucked off and put it back as was.

Turns out this era of Merc all pretty much use the same knuckle and I found a 37k mile spare on eBay for £65 delivered, fantastic service and it even had an as new Merc brake backing plate on it. Winner.

Easy to fit really, even the bolts weren't awfully tight, had to replace one as it was spinning.

Car now drove nice and after lowering it to the ground, it started ok? Hmmm.

Lift pump maybe?

Well, these have mechanical lift pumps in the engine bay but nothing in the tank HOWEVER Google fu found the estate tank to be different and a known design error meaning below 1/4 it starves the engine on left handers 😱😱.

So that fix is to keep it above half.

With the new knuckle it drove great.

Only other issue was the under cover detached on the Severn bridge 😬😬😬.

I managed to salvage it at a safe place and I'll fix it back together in work when I can.

Got an icarSoft dongle thing coming today that's apparently the dogs for this model, should let me know why it has an airbag light and abs light on the latter only occurring after the hub fault so should be easy to fix.

The undertray has hidden a few horrors but nothing terminal.......yet.

5 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

The C4 Mutleyperplexor came with a load of leads for older Mercedes and the software I have covers the older cars. We have a 500E that comes in each year for Mot, I would like to plug that in and see what's what but I don't want my boss knowing I have this setup!

I know what you mean but at an industrial level. We interrogated some Siemens plc stuff the other day despite my direct boss saying I couldn't do it " just incase".

Well right now there's no wiring diagram and no support in anyway so what realistically are my choices? Factory can't run without it so let's go.

Waited for him to fuck off and job jobbed, found the fault in minutes and fobbed him off.

Reason being is we keep telling them they need it but they keep coming up with excuses why they don't then it goes down MEGABAD and it's all hands to the deck.

I'm looking at an icarSoft hand held jobbie for the 202 series as it has the 38pin socket.

I've got the Delphi knock off stuff but haven't had a chance to fully install it on my laptop yet, however with the expert help of @StankyI have a chance 🤣🤣.

I just quite like the hand held one as mine seems to like to fail on the fly 🙄🙄🙄.

Apparently the icarSoft for that age is really good, accesses all modules and works really well. There's a fair bit of YouTube reviews on it and all give great feedback, one even goes out and actually plugs it into his car of that gen to prove it unlike a lot of them who shove the reader straight into a brand new model.

I had a 1999/2000 ml that oddly had the proper 16 pin obd 2 port whereas this is the older style, my guess is due to the model starting in 1993 as opposed to 1998  and the handheld icarSoft a mate lent me was fantastic, reset and accessed all systems. 

A guy in my old unit share, who was also a fucking bellend, had one with the 3.0.

Utter crap, roof fucked, brakes fucked, sounded shit, paint was awful, always needed consumables. He thought he was the fastest car in the world as well when in reality it was very average.

Not a patch on the previous E36/39 gen cars.

I know you bought yours for the right price so you can tolerate it but they're nowhere near as good as the rep they gained in the 80's/90's.

My aunt bought one and I test drove it, the 3.0 back in 2011.

It went really well and felt solid back then but wasn't long before bits started breaking on it and  it just never had the appeal of the earlier models for me, felt a bit too corporate.

I still like BMW though, I think my only really irrational hatred is for VW transporters as to me they do absolutely nothing better than a whole host of other vans in the same category for at least double the price yet the owners think they're in some kind of super club where EVERY other VW van owner loves each other and it's all the summer of '67 again.

The reality is that the engines are shit, they have a host of stupid faults that never seem to get resolved like abs sensors, EML crap, rattly horrible engines, underpowered and also for me I find them terribly uncomfortable.

Living in the countryside as well and near a surfers beach it's even worse in the summer when they turn up mob handed doing 30 in a 60.

Watching 4 of them get out of the van after a night does always amuse me though, they look like they've had about 20 minutes sleep 😂😂😂😂😂, although no doubt telling their friends in work how wonderful it is to get away and "experience" the outdoor lifestyle whilst traveling somewhere pointless 30 miles from home each weekend to justify owning one.

Then to drive back down the M4 at 50 behind a lorry to try and save fuel or because it's gone into limp mode again.

Wank.

I do recon this will be the best maintained s211 on the road when it eventually comes up for sale ( and praying I'll be in a position to buy it 😉😉).

And to his defence, when he arrived for work the carpark was full so excuse the shit parking 😂😂😂, I only went over to fill up my washers.

Nearly a month in now and I'm still really enjoying it as a cruiser, really does just eat up the motorway miles.

Had just the one issue alluded to in the other thread when it cut out with an ESP light then took a while to restart.

The good folk on here seem to think a crank sensor is at foul play and I've also since found out (because I don't read things properly) that this was changed to be fair for an intermittent issue.

I think I'll need to remove the bulkhead at the rear of the engine for better access and just fully check all wiring etc just incase it's pinched on something, I do now have the delphi knock off so reading codes and so on would be really handy as i could be a million miles away. Admittedly there's been zero issues since so who knows, but I'd just like to confirm all is well.

Cleaned out the interior the other day and it's in really good order actually.

I use this as a temporary home when I'm in work for 2 nights a week and it's perfect for this, the armrest provides a great footrest so I can really stretch out 😂😂😂.

Underneath I've found a patch that needs welding, best to do it sooner rather than later, it's on the chassis outrigger top cover, really easy access, O/S.

The crossmember needs attention as well, but does, for now, seem to be solid, just needs a good wire brushing and protecting. Again it's one of these clever* designs in that it's covered by plastic and foam to stop dirt getting into the engine bay/reduce noise...... But stop dirt and water getting out, FFS. Still, we're way beyond the life cycle of this car now in manufacturers eyes.

I've spotted a bit on the chassis leg at the front that seems soft under the underseal so that will need looking at also, again really easy access.

Jacked it up on both side jacking points and very solid, seems like the welding done there for the MOT was of a good standard.

Ironically the N/S is pretty much as new, can't see rust anywhere, very odd.

I still think it's a great looking car, not as nice as my colleagues T5 I parked next to the other day but then he gave pretty decent coin for it.

13 minutes ago, Tepper said:

Could you lap it flat on a pane of glass with some wet & dry? Shouldn't take too long on a part like that so long as it's not mega warped.

I would do that...

10 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

yeah maybe. Although I'm wondering if heating/bending might be worth a try first

Before you do that.

After sanding flatter you can then in theory for a thicker gasket/goo to take up the difference but not affect internal dimensions much (not sure how vital they are).

I suppose adding some heat initially and perhaps a lump of wood/soft mallet on top might help it get closer?

I'd worry with my hamfistedness that I'd crack or break something though 😬😬.

Bloody bargain that, paint looks really good under the stickers.

£1111 for me.

Looks pretty decent but I can recall someone on here selling a nice one with OMGHGF done and couldn't get a grand for it.

Yes it's low miles but aren't they all?

Also, I still think  much over £1k for a metro/100 is a hard mental hurdle to overcome 😂😂.

1 minute ago, uk_senator said:

I mean... What?!?

Weirdly, one of my friends told me that one of his friends did it the other way round, put a private plate on something that shouldn't be compliant, & magically, it then was cimpliant...  Its just... ugggg... 😑

It's like anything else that gets rolled out without all the bugs ironed out, that's plenty of exceptions that sneak through, just luck of the draw which one it is.

I saw many Merc E-Class for sale when we were looking for one, newer than our c class, but still part of the old shape that had the Euro 5 engine rather than the Euro 6 our W205 came with.

Many sites advertising these euro5 cars as compliant but they shouldn't really be, so I can only think that it's still quite a "manual input" exercise to alter details rather than getting the algorithm to do it all for you.

In fairness, I think this is common for companies to send in their data in one form, then either the algorithm or humans to alter it to suit, this was basically my lads job when he started at Deloitte. He has now developed a tool to do it for them but they still have a lot of human intervention.

And as we know, no system is infallible.

4 minutes ago, uk_senator said:

Precisely.. Its absolute bollocks. I regularly check Y reg & 51/52 plate cars for compliance, its not the first time I`ve seen this kind of nonsense.

Its risking cars as well, as older owners check/get a letter & just immediately decide to scrap them, rather that questioning it or selling them on. I`ve seen so many increasingly rare, very tidy, low mileage, suspected OAP owned cars near me being scrapped in the last few months, its frankly depressing..

It's like the scrappage scheme all over again, unveiling old beauties that the old folk have been talked into getting rid of to "save the grandchildren".

I went up the scrappy in the middle of the first scheme and my god they had some lovely cars in there.

They'd cut the back off a 16k K11 Micra to make it a pick up which was to be fair totally mint.

Although I believe, and I think @LightBulbFunmay have the answer, but you can re-categorise some cars based on another figure on the v5c?

He's so cute 🥰🥰

Loving the updates 🫡🫡🫡

1 hour ago, Nyphur said:

When folk are saying these are a Focus underneath - how much is shared between the two?

Brakes and engines deffo are, we used to make the brakes in Ford, only difference was they were etched Volvo on them.

Can't go wrong with a focus either, very well made cars.