Minimad5

At this point I was waiting for the injector to turn up, so turned my attention to other things.
Airbag light was illuminated, thankfully the previous owner @406V6 was spot on with his diagnosis - Drivers seat being the culprit. Didn't grab any pictures of this, as I was kneeling on gravel, and just wanted to get done, but found the offending item:

With that snipped out, a new plug and socket was fitted

 
Did it work?
Did the injector turn up ?
Will it ever see the road again ?
*Dramatic music* Stay tuned for updates 

So with everything out the way and a  compression test done, I had a niggling in the back of my mind - 'Do we actually have good spark, is the injector getting a pulse??'
One way to find out

Apologies for the poor picture, but with a noid lamp -  (Freshly purchased from https://www.sealey.co.uk/product/5637205125/6pc-noid-light-set ) , it was confirmed we had injector pulse.
And Halfords spark tester  (https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/electrical-diagnostics/laser-ignition-spark-tester-in-line-208694.html ) , it was also confirmed we had spark, but a rather weak looking one. Tried a new coil and things looked much healthier, result.
Old plugs removed and replaced 

I actually forgot !
You have to take the inlet manifold off, in order to get to the rear bank -

As you can probably see, it covers the back 3 cylinders.

Hhmm lovely, lots of instant gasket.
Thankfully before pulling anything apart, I thought to order a set of gaskets (Did so too, as I was adamant I could hear a vaccum leak)

Also making an appearance is the new coil (No idea why Beru / Behru came in BorgWarner boxes)

'Ooft, must eat juice being a V6'

The autobox seems to change up early, meaning you're never stressing the engine, it just wafts, BUT press the sport button and its a different version of events, I can see why they chose a V6 in the mental Clios.
A few weeks (month ?) Of wafting around in this, and I won't lie it is THE most comfortable car I've owned, I even lent it to a friend, and even he said 'this floats along similar to my old Bentley, just needs less aggressive tyres to be silent' , genuinely not making that up !!! .
Anyway non of this work would have been worth it, if it couldn't pass a MOT

MOT WHILE YOU WAIT. 🙈 These sort of places never normally end well, but:

Yep, advisory free PASS.

This nifty chap turned up (old one pictured)

So we've had new plugs, new coils (x2 - Still awaiting others to be in stock) , new injector and a new Airbag plug.
Checked everything was plugged in before refitting the inlet manifold, broke open the new gaskets, torqued down to spec, and ...
It fired straight into life 🥳, so decided to treat it to a new air filter, as I wasn't too sure when the last service was (Juley ?)


A quick trip around the block, and I could still hear a air leak - Can't be manifold as all gaskets are new here, but peaking beneath the throttle body, I found this

Rang up Peugeot/ Citroen dealer, and they basically said 'LOL NO', so unfortunately had to sleeve it, with some pipe. Refitted and no more unmetered air. The idle seemed to be much smoother now too.
So the next few days I put some miles on it, as I wanted to make sure all this work (and more) was worth it.

267 miles later, I can confirm it's a good car.
So with that in mind, it got MORE NEW STUFF

New brakes all round - discs, pads and shoes.
 

This nifty chap turned up (old one pictured)

So we've had new plugs, new coils (x2 - Still awaiting others to be in stock) , new injector and a new Airbag plug.
Checked everything was plugged in before refitting the inlet manifold, broke open the new gaskets, torqued down to spec, and ...
It fired straight into life 🥳, so decided to treat it to a new air filter, as I wasn't too sure when the last service was (Juley ?)


A quick trip around the block, and I could still hear a air leak - Can't be manifold as all gaskets are new here, but peaking beneath the throttle body, I found this

Rang up Peugeot/ Citroen dealer, and they basically said 'LOL NO', so unfortunately had to sleeve it, with some pipe. Refitted and no more unmetered air. The idle seemed to be much smoother now too.
So the next few days I put some miles on it, as I wanted to make sure all this work (and more) was worth it.

267 miles later, I can confirm it's a good car.
So with that in mind, it got MORE NEW STUFF

New brakes all round - discs, pads and shoes.
 

This nifty chap turned up (old one pictured)

So we've had new plugs, new coils (x2 - Still awaiting others to be in stock) , new injector and a new Airbag plug.
Checked everything was plugged in before refitting the inlet manifold, broke open the new gaskets, torqued down to spec, and ...
It fired straight into life 🥳, so decided to treat it to a new air filter, as I wasn't too sure when the last service was (Juley ?)


A quick trip around the block, and I could still hear a air leak - Can't be manifold as all gaskets are new here, but peaking beneath the throttle body, I found this

Rang up Peugeot/ Citroen dealer, and they basically said 'LOL NO', so unfortunately had to sleeve it, with some pipe. Refitted and no more unmetered air. The idle seemed to be much smoother now too.
So the next few days I put some miles on it, as I wanted to make sure all this work (and more) was worth it.

267 miles later, I can confirm it's a good car.
So with that in mind, it got MORE NEW STUFF

New brakes all round - discs, pads and shoes.
 

At this point I was waiting for the injector to turn up, so turned my attention to other things.
Airbag light was illuminated, thankfully the previous owner @406V6 was spot on with his diagnosis - Drivers seat being the culprit. Didn't grab any pictures of this, as I was kneeling on gravel, and just wanted to get done, but found the offending item:

With that snipped out, a new plug and socket was fitted

 
Did it work?
Did the injector turn up ?
Will it ever see the road again ?
*Dramatic music* Stay tuned for updates 

e-mail them? good god man drive the car there for a foto!🤣

I left the paint to dry overnight and this morning.
I removed the masking tape and broadsheet to reveal sweet looking bumpers.


The front grille looks sweet too.
Next issue, sort out the sun burned bumper trims.

I have a plan and Amazon have delivered the solution but unfortunately I ran out of time this afternoon to make further progress.
Definitely more soon.
 
 
 

Yep that's the stuff we use.
 
Silicone is really a nightmare, even a tiny bit hangs around and will ruin any paint finish that "flows" as it knackers the surface tension, like a single drop oil on a lake causes a flat spot 30m in diameter.
A local bodyshop was more or less put out of business about ten years ago when a disgruntled customer smashed a little window and pierced a few cans of trim shine and threw them in, every job that was in progress had to be re-started, and they were getting defects for months/years!

That's the problem really, none of the local drivers understand French 

More than just a bhp figure, I think it's about the gearing, and having enough torque to keep in that top gear.
My modern V70 diesel manual is doing about 1500rpm at 70, my 1964 Austin 1100 was with the original diff doing 4700rpm at the same speed. The Volvo is about 100bhp/tonne and the Austin probably 50bhp/tonne, but the Volvo could manage with quite a lot less for cruising.

As some of you may know courtesy of my recent car buying threads, my old daily driver has thrown most of its toys out of the pram. About a month ago I started getting a bit of light bearing whine, this eventually became more of a full on underground train impersonation. After checking the car over I traced it to one of the rear bearings, I also discovered that both rear shocks had oil slicks running down them.
I dragged the car into the garage and over the pit and started digging into the issues, I figured I would just unbolt the hub carriers and pull the shocks out, easy right? Nope, although the body is pretty rust free for a near 25 year old car, the multi link rear suspension seems pretty corroded  in all the wrong places and unlike the front suspension none of it has been apart in years.....
No amount of hammering would free the hubs from the suspension arms, so I decided to remove the arms from the subframe.  As I examined the subframe I found a crack and a rust hole rather close to the left rear arm. This could well explain why I am getting a weird judder when turning sharp left out of junctions! 😗

Crack and hole (that sounds wrong!) circled and you may also notice that I had to get the grinder out to slice through the bolt, carefully running it between the arm and the subframe, chomping through the rubber bush before I could get the bolt..... Most the of the passenger side suspension bolts required fairly mediaeval methods to remove them, new nuts and bolts will be needed!
After much persuasion the arms came off, meaning I could drag the complete suspension units to the bench and work at them from a more comfortable angle, pin them in the vice and attack them with the angle grinder and the ugga dugga gun..... Essentially the carriers have a long bolt running through them, picking up the suspension arms at both ends.  On the passenger side one, removing the nut from the end did nothing the arms were seized to the bolt and the bolt seized the carrier...
To get it out I cut the head off the bolt, then put the nut back on and set the ugga dugga gun to do up, essentially pulling the bolt the wrong way through the carrier, kinda brutal but it worked.. 
A very crap bit of potato shop to show the offending bolt before it all came apart and I lost my enthusiasm for taking pictures...

A few days later I got back on it, next stage after freeing off all the arms from the hubs was to take the exhaust  off, drop the diff and carrier to free the crusty subframe..

Then after a brief fight with the crusty bolts I got the subframe off the diff, think it looks a bit grumpy about the whole ordeal?

But more importantly I could have a good look at the subframe in all its crusty glory..

Will it weld???

Looks like it will the metal is just thick enough.
So far so good I think, this little project has taken days and days and there was a small matter of panic buying a Honda part way through and if you were wondering were the Rover has got to...... Its just behind the Forester being ignored, excuse the mess...

And yes that is a B series engine just sat there and no it doesn't belong in either of those cars.
Anyway,  the next stage is going to be weld the subframe and make sure I am happy with the result, then fight with the subframe to diff bush remnants as they need to come out. Then drop the fuel tank (yes really) as the brake lines are getting rather crusty and run above the tank and are inaccessible. Whilst its all apart, it makes sense. 
Thanks for reading please unlike and subside......
 

Well, don't be burning yourself out 👍, take time for yourself, little 'un and good lady.
Cracking workmanship too btw 

You have been summoned for jury duty, because it's
MERCEDES ON TRIAL

GUILTY of STALLING AGAIN!!
GUILTY of stalling once at some lights and me pretending maybe that didn't happen! 
GUILTY of stalling in the car park at The Trafford Centre, causing me to have to be at the Trafford Centre for several minutes longer than necessary!
GUILTY of stalling while turning around in a cul-de-sac and then not starting again, ironically blocking a driveway containing a W124 300E! 

(photo taken by passenger)
Mercedes is hereby sentenced to SHIT CHINESE PIECE OF SHIT POTENTIOMETER THAT ONLY LASTED LIKE A FUCKING WEEK to be UNPLUGGED 
(*gavel bangs*)

With the potentiometer unplugged, the Baby Benz has done 50 miles in varied conditions without stalling. 
 
So here’s a £70 vote of confidence:


don’t let me down now, hurensohn!
 
How does it drive with a bit of the injection system unplugged? Beautifully! I’ve fallen back in love with the car. The only noticeable issue is that it doesn’t know what to do with itself for the first few seconds of a cold start but settles once the throttle has been blipped. 

RIP MULTI MEATER U R WIV DA ANGLES N PRICNESS DI NOW XXX

Update. Things still not going very well - it played up both going to and from work yesterday. I dropped into my local motor factor - the proprietor also owns a broken 190E - and he loaned me a fancy multimeter which does duty cycle and can potentially help diagnose it. Well, it's certainly fancier than my multimeter, which I bought about ten years ago for £1.97 including first class post. His multimeter does this when you turn it on, which confirms it speaks the same language as the car: 

The next step was to drive the car around the backstreets until it stalled, and then hook this thing up and see what it had to say. I did loops of deserted suburban streets for 15 minutes with no issue, until I accidentally turned down a street terminating at a main road. With two cars behind, the second I pulled into traffic, it cut out. Awesome. I got it restarted and limped it out of the way. It was idling, but any touch of the throttle killed it. Multimeter time. I hooked it up and... a quick flash of 666... then nothing. 
When you looked at the photo above, did you notice the low battery warning? Because I sure as shit didn't. I put the dead multimeter back in the glovebox and waited for the car to regain composure, then drove home.
But! When I got home my AutoDoc parcel had arrived! In only twelve days. This contained the second valve cover gasket. The first one I bought was wrong (no-one says there's two. But there's two). When I test drove the car it STANK of burning oil, but I wasn't too concerned as there was oil misted all over the engine bay. I thought it was the valve cover, but the first time I took the air filter housing off I found this broken pipe:

So that was an easy fix. It did leak a little from the valve cover gasket, though, so a new one was a good idea. 

While I had such good access I was having a poke about looking for clues when I decided to test the potentiometer, which I'd forgotten to do last time. Here's the criteria:

Nominal value between 3.6 to 4.4 Ω. What's mine?

hmm, quite out of spec. Good work, cheap multimeter buddy! Friends 4 eva!
whoops!

I checked with the borrowed meter and it gave the same result. The values are correct when the air metering flap is pushed, but too low when it's closed. Could this be why it flakes out when I come off the throttle or apply the throttle from idle?
 

The way you tackle jobs 👏 
Absolutely smashing it

The morning after the first breakdown, I was tentatively driving to work when there was a huge bang from the rear of the car, followed by a loud hissing sound. I've had tyres blow out before, and this didn't feel like a tyre blew out. I pulled into a bus stop and sprung from the car to investigate. It didn't take long to get to the bottom of it. To jump the car the night before, I'd taken a spare battery and jump leads. I left the battery in the boot and immediately forgot about it. Then, that morning, for no apparent reason (I was driving down a straight road) the battery fell into one of the wells in the boot and pierced a can of lithium grease I had purchased 12 hours prior. The can exploded. 
So it was time to sort out the boot. 
However tatty my car is, the boot is always clean and clear. I hate cluttered boots, and I hate dirty boots even more. If the spare wheel is in there, it should be clean, too. I also hate a boot you can't leave a coat in, and this boot was damp and musty. Not tolerable. 
Water gets into the boot, and then condenses on the bootlid. This condensation then runs down the bootlid into the channel behind the latch, and then when you open the boot, it all suddenly empties into the boot. This video illustrates it very nicely at about 20 seconds:
I found the source of the water ingress and plugged it. I also employed Kent's suggestion from the video of drilling two train holes in the bootlid, which immediately dribbled a load of water onto the taillights so that's definitely going to be a big help. I left the boot open all day, then when it started to get dark I stuck a fan heater in there for half an hour to completely dry it out. 
The carpet, miraculously unharmed by the burst-lubrication, was damp and musty. The hose will sort this out! My hose attachment was all fucked up by the frost a while ago, but I bought new a one. Although it was pretty frosty a couple of weeks ago... I hope it's okay...

Oh dear. 
The carpet came up nice though. Smells of Woolite. I draped it over a radiator and put the heating on a little early (a move which likely cost more than ordering a new carpet) and I'm pleased to say the boot is now really quite pleasant, and up to my exacting standards. 

The £79 Autodoc one arrived today, I'll post a photo of it when I get home, as I dropped it and the car off at home earlier. 
Its interesting, as it seems to be made of a solid piece of Alloy rather than a bendy metal plate covering. It's the red top double fuse one, as with you, I had been told that it simply supersedes the single fuse one which are NLA. 
As I was tinkering with it the other day, my neighbour came out for a nosey. I know he's a semi retired Private Jet pilot, but what I didn't realise is that he also ran a Bosch Centre. He explained all the workings of the FI system, then casually mentioned that he has all the special tools etc to recalibrate the KE - Jetronic system fitted to mine. 
So I WILL be taking him up on the offer of a tune up once the OVP is fitted!

This has KE-Jetronic, that’s good ol’ K-Jet with modern fripperies like an ECU but unencumbered by modern nonsense like fault codes. It’s really quite simple, if you look at the following diagram of how it works:

 
…and from what I read, it’s super simple to figure out faults except for the fact that every one of the components appears to cause every conceivable symptom an engine can suffer from. 

Track your order >
9/12/23 3pm: order placed with EXPRESS DELIVERY (+£1,000,000)
9/12/23 4pm: being processed at our warehouse
10/12/23 12pm: sorry, we thought we had no orders yesterday, turns out the zebra printer had no labels in it
10/12/23 4pm: being processed at our warehouse
10/12/23 6pm: courier's van is idling in our loading bay just waiting to speed your parcel to you
10/12/23 6:05pm: but we didn't give it to him
11/12/23 4pm: being processed at our warehouse
11/12/23 5pm: your order is assigned and locked out on the pick gun Jim accidentally took home yesterday
11/12/23 7pm: being processed at Jim's house

My Mercedes Experience:
W124 300D: Repeated breakdowns due to OVP, heater never worked properly, sunroof broke
W124 280TE: SLS pipe ruinously expensive to fix, seized PAS pump
R170 SLK: Supercharger broke on day 1 of ownership, gearbox went into limp mode, oiled up its MAF and lost power
W201 190E: all good so far, except the stuff I mentioned above