Oh no, not another W124. Lord Sterling's Benz: Will he fix it or will he fix a Rover?

[Lord Sterling]

Well done Mr Sterling.

I think I may have sold this too cheap! At least the oil slick outside my house is gradually getting rinsed away now though.

I agree, I must admit I did feel guilty when I got the pass as I know you where concerned about this. However, the oil slick on my road is pretty much the same as it always has been, very few cars I've ever had have been oil/air tight.

 

It is something that really does need sorting and is more of a priority than the other things. I shall certainly be holding onto it now.

[Wackeldackel]

Before you shell out for any repairs, look at the front top timing chain cover, it has a U shaped gasket underneath it, costs about a quid. This is a massively common oil leak source on merc 6 cylinder engines from 1980s onwards. Also worthwhile renewing camshaft oil seal/seals and having a look at timing chain while the cover is off. Not difficult to do, on my m103 single ohc engine it's easy, on this later version (m104 I think in your case Lord Sterling) with double ohc maybe slightly more involved but not a lot.

[chaseracer]

^  I need to do this.

[Wackeldackel]

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/296070-m104-992-95e320-timing-cover-seal-replacement-steps-pics.html

 

Peach parts is awesome for this sort of thing. Having read all that, my reaction is frig me thats a lot of arseache for one poxy gasket. Time consuming yes, but difficult, not really.

[320touring]

Glad to hear it has mot-excellent

[richardmorris]

The oil leak on mine was the head gasket-it had been leaking from the timing chain cover but a previous owner had "fixed" this with silicone sealant.

 

Where's the rad leaking from? Mine had a slight weap from the plastic pipe that plugs into the top rhs from the expansion tank. I bought a new joint from Mercedes last month for £3.90 that has cured it completely. The old o ring was very flat.

[worldofceri]

I already did that repair to the little pipe-elbow thingummy when I owned it.  Unless anything's changed there's a pin-hole leak at the top of the rad itself.

[Lord Sterling]

Right, Merc went in today. Eventually work on the Spheres had started and ended literally as the garage was shutting for the night. The mechanic who was working on my car (he is always allocated to my cars, and my cars, always being shite aren't exactly very easy to work on) was determined to get my car sorted the same day so he could at least sleep at night knowing my car was sorted.

 

Just to check the bouncyness had gone, I took it over a few speed bumps (slowly) and the ride was a hugely improved. Bouncyness: eliminated, ride: improved, cost: £80 for spheres and £40 fitting, me: happy.

 

Due to time constraints, the wing wasn't fitted, but that's not hugely important now. Have some recently taken pics:

 

 

Also, as alluded to in the News 24 thread, I tried to fit a replacement badge into the old Gunsight holder, but after all the fiddling I managed to snap off the Gunsight. Though better me break it than some bored twat chav kid in my area.

 

I have a proper replacement Gunsight and holder but I'll only fit that once I move somewhere else.

 

Here was the Gunsight, fitted for all of 2 minutes:

 

[Lord Sterling]

Post edited, after 5 minutes of uneasy editing because: TABLET

[worldofceri]

Do I see gaffer tape on that wing!?

[warren t claim]

I had to replace the star on mine, only took a minute and I removed it when I exported the car. I miss my W124.

[Lord Sterling]

Do I see gaffer tape on that wing!?

You do! It's the only way I could get it to pass the MOT. New wing will be fitted on in due course.

 

Hopefully if I'm ever passing Coventry, you will have to have a blast in it to feel how it is now.

[Lord Sterling]

I had to replace the star on mine, only took a minute and I removed it when I exported the car. I miss my W124.

I've almost (unintentionally) followed in your footsteps. Had a Blue Micra, Rover 800 and now a W124, I'm also attempting (very badly) to make money off selling cars, it hasn't happened yet though. Does that mean I'm destined to buy a 2004 BMW estate and then cab a 2.0 Mondeo?

[warren t claim]

I've almost (unintentionally) followed in your footsteps. Had a Blue Micra, Rover 800 and now a W124, I'm also attempting (very badly) to make money off selling cars, it hasn't happened yet though. Does that mean I'm destined to buy a 2004 BMW estate and then cab a 2.0 Mondeo?

Fucking lol! If it wasn't for the 2004 BMW Touring I'd probably still be selling cars today. EDIT: I know I bought and sold a car for profit yesterday but that was an exception.

[warren t claim]

Tonight Matthew I'm going to be Warren T Claim...

[HMC]

Great work getting the spheres sorted for such a good price, Lord S. Have you tested the self levelling out yet? If it doesnt first thing to check is that the compensator linkage on the rear ARB that starts the hydraulic pump up hasnt seized. A party piece on my old w123/4 estates was packing it up for holidays and then watching the rear lift itself off the deck when you fired it up.

 

I miss my w124 too.

[richardmorris]

I've read that more windscreens were replaced because of people replacing the mascot than by stone damage. Pop up bonnet, unscrew base of mascot and hear it slide down the bonnet and smash through the windscreen!

[Lord Sterling]

Great work getting the spheres sorted for such a good price, Lord S. Have you tested the self levelling out yet? If it doesnt first thing to check is that the compensator linkage on the rear ARB that starts the hydraulic pump up hasnt seized. A party piece on my old w123/4 estates was packing it up for holidays and then watching the rear lift itself off the deck when you fired it up

I've not checked this yet as I've not had enough in it to check, might get a couple of fat mates to sit in and see. In fact, one of the things we had to do after fitting was to get me and another reluctant mechanic to sit on the end of the boot and have the car rev to up to 4k rpm for 2 mins or something so this might have something to do with self levelling.

 

The Rover 800 had self-levelling, I remember watching a couple of my Sterlings rise after being loaded up.

 

I've read that more windscreens were replaced because of people replacing the mascot than by stone damage. Pop up bonnet, unscrew base of mascot and hear it slide down the bonnet and smash through the windscreen!

Gonna have to be careful with this. It can be hard securing the the badge to the bonnet once fitted unless your mascot happens to be new and the area of where it'll be secured to is very clean. When I fitted mine I never opened the bonnet fully, not even to it first stop.

 

To be honest, the grille will need changing at some point but only when I get around to the cosmetics side which might be a while. Lady_Sterling stuff to do first...

[Junkman]

So. When are you going to swap it for a Swedish brick, then?

[xtriple]

When I had my Merc I found that a new gunsight was really cheap from Merc themselves - about £11.00 I think.

[warren t claim]

So. When are you going to swap it for a Swedish brick, then?

He's going to replace it with a 200,000 mile 4.4 litre E61 estate with fucked air suspension and end up exporting it to Russia at a massive loss

[Junkman]

From Benz to Bermway?

Ya sure?

[Lord Sterling]

Well! er...Mercedes... Yes, I've done some things to it to improve it so I am getting there....

 

As has been alluded to previously, the Merc underwent spheres transplant, thankfully all is still well in that department.

 

Stuff (in bold) were tackled next....

Things I need to do though:

 

• Get spheres fitted

• Get oil leak sorted out - this is probably going to be an expensive, long job. So I'll need to budget for that.

• Have new brake pads fitted, they need changing.

• Sort out a new rad to stop this one leaking. Coolant has always been a sore point on all the cars I've ever had.

• Get drivers wing fitted asap.

• Get new keys cut.

• Get little jobs sorted like replace dash bulbs, sort ashtray out etc...

• Try and get some rear mats. All in time eh?

 

Mats and stereo

 

I bought a pair of front W124 mats from a Coupe, but I was still missing the rears, I'm quite particular when it comes to stuff like this, so far no one on eBay breaking a W124 seem to have any mats, there was a bloke who wanted near £50 for a full set, fuck that.

 

I managed to bag myself a full set of rubber mats for £25 which made sense as it's winter now and my muddy shoes weren't doing the carpets any good.

 

 

Another stereo was fitted on a rainy and windy week night, stereo is a little more fiddly but looks better, sounds better and isn't as annoying with constant demo lists coming up on the screen, plus I can plug up my tablet or a USB stick to listen to my fave tunes.

 

Wing and stopping aid

 

Back to Mahmoud's garage to have brake pad fitted and rivers wing bashed on. After an aborted attempt due to staff shortage my car found itself back at the garage. Amazingly, it even got on the ramp and a mechanic allocated to the job.

 

Brake fitted, all was well again but the wing still needed fitting, this was actually left to me as the car was still on the ramp (which helped) and again, staff shortages meant my car was left...

 

I've worked at the garage before (but not as a mechanic) and Mahmoud knew I wasn't scared of a challenge, he'd seen various cars that I had also tinkered with/changed panels on, and I'd also done various small jobs on customers cars before.

 

So, a couple of ratches and a location of bolts were soon done, the drivers door had to be undone slightly to get at the bolts between the door and wing, as well pulling the plastic cladding off. Soon, I was confronted with this:

 

 

Which admittedly didn't look bad apart from cobwebs and a tonne of dead leaves, in fact it looked in great condition, no corrosion or horrid bits, had I had more time, I would have Black-hammerited it, but I didn't, so I didn't.

 

Old wing was pretty well past it:

 

A lot of the lips and leading edge that goes onto the top of the bumper was cornflakes.

 

Inner wing was cleaned up, coated with GT40 type stuff (the only thing I could get to hand) and new wing was put on. Unlike most people from the West Midlands I took care to try my best to line up the wing and panel gaps, but like all West Midlands Rover builders, I didn't too well here.

 

 

Whilst refitting the indicator, the lense fell off, so I glued it back on, but it still fell off and has not been seen since:

 

 

All was good until I started hearing wind noise coming from the top of the drivers door, obviously my professional* fitting had failed, so on the way to a Christmas dinner, I stopped up in a layby, got out, held the bottom part of the door with my knee and yanked the top of the door a couple of times, got in and suddenly, no more wind noise, just bliss and quiet small talk.

 

So, no more bouncy ride, brakes actually work and it looks a little less rusty, plus it's got some snazzy Merc rubber mats on the floor to keep my muddy feet off the carpet.

 

Whats left?

• Oil leak
• Coolant leak - This seem to be dying down anyway, but I'll get it sorted as a precaution anyway
• Passenger wing needs attention, no rust/corrosion yet but it will need attention.
• Get extra keys cut
• Sort various little bulbs and stuff.
• Rear 'ribbed' carpet mats for the rear footwell.
• Clean and polish the metal under the plastic cladding.

Merry Xmas and all that.....

[chaseracer]

Passenger wing needs attention, no rust/corrosion yet but it will need attention.....

 

Need to find another 'diesel' wing, for consistency in the confusion dept... 

[Lacquer Peel]

I think the vent is only on the RH side.

[Pillock]

I remember VW boys paying £££ to have T4 vents put in Golf wings years ago. One of the local garages even offered it as an advertised, fixed price service.

[Lacquer Peel]

Thread derailment: I keep seeing a Golf Mk4 fitted with Land Rover Defender alloy wheels of all things. WHAT IS POINT.

[chaseracer]

I think the vent is only on the RH side.

 

Is it?!?  Every day's a school day... 

[chaseracer]

Thread derailment: I keep seeing a Golf Mk4 fitted with Land Rover Defender alloy wheels of all things. WHAT IS POINT.

 

IS NO POINT.  IS SCENE SHIT ONLY.

 

#pineapple

[Lord Sterling]

Small few extra things now done to Merc, nowt significant.

 

Firstly some extra keys were cut, there was only one key with the car so it was nice to have some extra keys for emergency. As I said in the '24' thread, the keycutters were insistant on not using the blanks of which I'd bought, I wasn't too bothered, only the wait and then the inevitable "they've got lost in the post" was a bit trying, they weren't great and seemed to have been done quite quickly. They work though except for the boot which so far seems reluctant.

 

 

Next, I decided to tackle the non-closing ashtray, this looked a little more involved but was actually quite easy....

 

Firstly I removed the storage box from the centre console, 2 screws out and its away:

 

 

There was quite a bit of dust/dirt under here (and some sort of Dr Who collectors card or summat) all this got cleaned out. Then it was just a case of a screw to remove the wood surround and then to the ashtray which simply pulled out (after unplugging the lighter)

 

Ashtray removed:

 

Cleaned out:

 

On the side of the ashtray was a plastic guide which had come out of the ashtray opening/closing rail, this was simply put back into its place and now the ashtray closed like a WINNA.

 

Plastic guide:

 

Closed:

 

Everything was carefully put back, not over tightened or forced back, just simply fitted back into place.