Mugwump's flying without wings - E320 CDI, ATF migration.

[Bear]

The saga of car shuffling continues. In the past few days it has gone:

Mercedes A160 dies, replaced with Saab 9-3SE

Mercedes SLK gets MOTd, fails on coils after fuel leak fixed, new coils ordered.

BMW 528 finds a buyer, scares a buyer away, buyer comes back AND IT'S GONE!

Chrysler 300C gets some serious enquiries.

I take money from BMW and another thing I sold and go to Norfolk to look at a W124. Despite being solid I just don't want it. Thread seems to agree with "if you don't feel it, don't buy it".

 

Cue miserable scrolling through Gumtree, Autotrader, eBay etc. thinking "My £900 won't get me ANYTHING nice, they're ALL horrible" with galactic mileage, rusty "viewing advise" W124 wagons. I almost considered going 4-door and W201. Lots of leggy, smokey, rusty W210s. Silver. The estates look FOUL, like someone was looking through a pint glass whilst drawing the back end. E240s seem cheap though. Six cylinder petrol should be nice.

 

But wait. An auction for one local. It has days to go and is already bid close to my budget, so I'm thinking "should I spend more? Can I spend more?" - to be honest spending more just seems to increase the pool, not improve it.

 

 

I go to buy the SLK a new battery in the hope I'll feel better getting that back on the road. Figure "I shall call the seller of that W210. I've never driven one."

 

 

Came home in a W210 - with COMAND, leather, aftermarket but looks factory sunroof, 7 seats, detachable towbar, a year's MOT. With only 112,000 miles on it. All four tyres are good, the brakes work, it only made one disconcerting noise from the back (diff bushes I reckon) and it only has small amounts of arch rust and tailgate mank.

 

 

 

 

 

Needs a clean inside, wheel is grotty, but... I consider that a good result. A car I can carry stuff in, park anywhere, that doesn't drink too much fuel (I don't care that much but it is a bonus) and ostensibly hasn't been used to the end of a good working life before I get it.

 

 

Oh, and after all that, it has a little extra boost over the leggy C180 and E240s I was contemplating.

 

[forddeliveryboy]

Good buy, or so it seems! Is it rude to ask how much?

[JohnK]

Looks lush that! I'm starting to quite like the look of these in estate form.

[Bear]

Time to rake through the books. And scour eBay for an unlocked/Vodafone 6210

 

Serviced every 18 months-2 years it looks like...

 

First proper owner appears to have bought it ex-demo for £32000 in July 2002.

 

Aug 2003 - 16685

Aug 2005 - B service - 31633

Nov 2007 - B service - 45844

Aug 2009 - 60005

(Mystery gap!)

AHA! 

Service receipts here.

Pin bushing, Air Mass meter, fuel cooler, balljoints - 64825

Transmission service 79K/2012, various o-rings and whatnot 81K/2012

June 2013 - 86910

Sept 2014 - 103888

 

And it appears to have a Tracker fitted - probably nonfunctional like the parking sensors.

 

Will find the changes of keeper when the V5 arrives, but yeay. Oil and pin bushing not 'ABSOLUTELY URGENT MUST TO'.

[Bear]

Good buy, or so it seems! Is it rude to ask how much?

Less than two years tax on my Chrysler

[Cavcraft]

Loving that, same engine as the CLK of that vintage? If so (as you'll know) they're brilliant things and seriously quick when needed.

[skattrd]

Don't PeteM & M.O. drive these as well?

[chaseracer]

Top bombing, sir 

[gordonbennet]

Nice, is that Mercs own greenblack, if so i'm bloody green with envy cos that's my favourite car colour of all time.

 

Well bought sir.

[Lacquer Peel]

Loving that, same engine as the CLK of that vintage? If so (as you'll know) they're brilliant things and seriously quick when needed.

 

I think it's a 320 CDI judging by the rev counter and thread title.

[messerschmitt owner]

Don't PeteM & M.O. drive these as well?

yep - Pete M beat me to one off RR by a matter of hours, so I bought one from just east of the north sea.

 

Average 35mpg, can do 43mpg on a run. COMAND is great - although the cd knows no streets after 2004, so I never ever get to go to modern, horrible housing estates.

 

The 300 supposedly runs veg but the 320 runs straight derv.

 

Mine has just added to the service history with a £330 service including all filters, brake pads front and rear and am just heading out to fit the new alloys.

 

They come recommended as the only car to match up to my XM estate for load lugging and still having a level drive, thanks to the hydraulic suspention at the rear. 

 

Engine has poke - 200bhp of poke!

 

Leather seats are comfy, and mine is at 183k and is still better than cars I have driven with 50,000 on the clock. 

 

Bargainous, if a potential for rust on the front wings.

[messerschmitt owner]

Nice, is that Mercs own greenblack, if so i'm bloody green with envy cos that's my favourite car colour of all time.

 

Well bought sir.

it's obsidian black metallic. And yes it is nice ...

[Lacquer Peel]

Are there 'good' and 'bad' years of these W210s or is it a lottery? I guess any that have survived this long in good nick are decent. I really fancy a 300 turbo diesel estate version.

[Lord Sterling]

Nice Merc estate. I must be doing it wrong then by owning a W124...

 

...or maybe not...

[messerschmitt owner]

Are there 'good' and 'bad' years of these W210s or is it a lottery? I guess any that have survived this long in good nick are decent. I really fancy a 300 turbo diesel estate version.

it's pot luck.

 

The egr valve does stick on these later ones but there is a workround involving a resistor and a diode (about a £1 and if it's needed I have spare of both plus the wiring diagram and how to) to fool the ECU into thinking the egr valve is working (it's just a resistance drop that the ecu is looking for).

 

Otherwise, some parts are dead cheap, some are extortionate, some cheaper at merc, some at GSF, etc. A one or two owner car is the way to go with them - they are easy to be found as some owners keep for a very long time. Mine had, Merc and then one owner from around 3,000 miles to 178,000, a full service history and apart from some rust on one wing has escaped a lot of the rust issues.

[Bear]

Nice Merc estate. I must be doing it wrong then by owning a W124...

 

...or maybe not...

 

No, I wanted a W124, I just didn't have the cash for a W124 to meet my expectations. £1K is not enough for a good colour/trim/condition combination, and after being inspired by my black/cream leather 300CE, it had to be something to compare. But I don't feel the W210 is the cheap nasty second-best I'd always feared.

 

The colour is 816U Andradite Green Metallic with quartz/siam beige leather. And PeteM's W210 - the purple one - is one I'd been going to buy on RR to replace my 528i - it was local to me - but was too busy to chase up! I don't know what's on the V5 but mine looks like demo, owner from 2002 to 2011/12, then another, then the chap I bought it from. It's had some maintenance on the rear but the seat of my pants combined with Google says "subframe bush, differential bushes, spheres" - if you take it to a dealer enough to write off the car.

 

It'll get a service, I am finding the part numbers to compare Mercedes with GSF (I nearly always buy genuine parts for Mercedes, the prices are so good except for things like fuel pumps where there's a lot of OEM competition) - I want to replace the sound deadening foam under the manifold/oil filter cover, and the air filter box has lost whatever ring/clamp holds the top to the casting on the engine - one perished rubber O-ring remained. Need the part number for that. Cleaned the sticky gunk off the steering wheel buttons, the Satnav is 2005 data but recent maps do exist for purchase* - apparently the CD-ROM reader doesn't like cheap CDRs. I want to check the phone cradle works before splashing £30 on an eBay 6310i, though Pete reckons a Bluetooth puck insert thing is a better idea.

 

So far I find the ride and handling better than the young, low mileage 200TE I had (and I could make that thing move if I had to, it was just undignified) and I find it way easier to place on narrow roads. Love the power.

 

So far the only glitch I've had is the indexed reverse mirror tends not to return to the proper position after reversing. And I am torn on the seats - I wish it had the ortho ones with all the adjustments.

[robinmasters]

So that's why those telephones had that grommet on their back. I bet iPhones don't have a Mercedes mounting point.

[Pillock]

Used to be quite standard, a little push-fit antenna connector on a mobile phone. Back in the days when a phone was for calling people.

[messerschmitt owner]

I haven't bothered with the telephone - decided I could live without - does your COMAND have the tv option?

[Bear]

No, no TV module installed. I've been vaguely prodding the internet to see what software updates I could apply and whether the TV option can do anything useful, and it looks like "spend 1/4 of the car's price to get kludged DVD/DVB features". Shame, as I'd probably have hooked up one of those Commodore 64-in-a-joystick things so I could play Outrun whilst stuck in traffic.

 

I find hands free phones great. About the only time I want to talk on the phone is when I have 10 junctions of British motorway to deal with and am trying not to fall asleep. Bloody speed cameras. It was more fun when I were a lad, etc.

 

Main thing I want is one of those hook things that goes on the spare wheel door. I'm missing one.

[dome]

That is lovely. Well bought. Facelift does look nice on these and i so wanted those alloys on mine-because I was going for a veg muncher though I was limited to pre facelift. And your Comand screen works! I iz well jell.

[messerschmitt owner]

I just bought a set of these alloys - £165 with a brace each of  4mm tread contis and bridgestones - included new wheelbolts too.

[oldcars]

Time to rake through the books. And scour eBay for an unlocked/Vodafone 6210

 

Serviced every 18 months-2 years it looks like...

 

First proper owner appears to have bought it ex-demo for £32000 in July 2002.

 

Aug 2003 - 16685

Aug 2005 - B service - 31633

Nov 2007 - B service - 45844

Aug 2009 - 60005

(Mystery gap!)

AHA! 

Service receipts here.

Pin bushing, Air Mass meter, fuel cooler, balljoints - 64825

Transmission service 79K/2012, various o-rings and whatnot 81K/2012

June 2013 - 86910

Sept 2014 - 103888

 

And it appears to have a Tracker fitted - probably nonfunctional like the parking sensors.

 

Will find the changes of keeper when the V5 arrives, but yeay. Oil and pin bushing not 'ABSOLUTELY URGENT MUST TO'.

I might have a nokia 6210 if you want? Not sure it has a battery and its in a tidy* cupboard let me know if you want me to have a look.

[Bear]

I might have a nokia 6210 if you want? Not sure it has a battery and its in a tidy* cupboard let me know if you want me to have a look.

 

Don't go to loads of bother, but if it's easy enough to dig out I'd like to see if the kit works! Wonder if it would power up without a battery? They're cheap enough and easy to get at least.

[messerschmitt owner]

if richard doesn't want it, i'd like it for my empty phone cradle ...

[flat4alfa]

I can haz donate a nice pair of 6310i to this cause.

 

The ladies will flock.

[oldcars]

I will have a look tomorrow for it, i have not been in the "cupboard of doom" for some time. i may find interesting* things.

[Bear]

I can haz donate a nice pair of 6310i to this cause.

 

The ladies will flock.

 

Cor, 6310i - very posh! Bluetooth and WAP!

[Bear]

Starting to get settled in with the thing now. Still pondering Sci-Fi name for it, as most of my cars get named after spaceships or robots. Tried Hector, but it doesn't quite fit.

 

First job, service. Onto Inchcape for the bits - "what's supposed to hold the top of this air filter from moving?" - in the bag with air and oil filters is a packet with two things that look like tiny two-hole exhaust rubbers, and two rubber mounts with metal bushes.

 

The air cleaner box is both simple and fiddly. Simple in that it has three easy reached bolts, fiddly in that I can't actually tell if it's engaged before closing it up. Anyway, I spend a while pondering how it removes, then take the air cleaner out - bingo, two bolts through rubber mounts. Just the mounts are enough to stop it flopping onto the turbo, but the rubber rings for the top really sort it. It looked like someone had tried to bodge it before as I found a bit of o-ring sticking to the plastic side. The invoice price suggests these bits are a whopping £3 each. I can see how saving £6 would be worth having the air cleaner box rattling about.

 

It looks like the usual behind the bumper rust is lurking, thanks to giffer parking techniques (battered bumpers betray bashed bodywork behind) rather than inherent failings in MB rust prevention. Though I have seen some horrors when googling W210 rust.

 

Oil change and then a note on the dash (or reprogram with the dodgy Star install I have) for 5-6,000 changes. Millers XF 5W40 fully synthetic going in. The air cleaner suggests I might find the oil left in probably was good for the ASSYST 12K service interval but sod that, if the bodywork gets really bad (I have subframe bushes to do) then I want that engine to recoup a big chunk of the cost, so I'm looking after it!

[gordonbennet]

Good stuff, whilst down and dirty oil ( i like Millers) changing have a good poke nose at the undertray, they form a virtually watertight seal so salty water gets trapped between the undertray and the front cross member which can itself  rust completely through, simple enough to put a couple of washers between tray and cross member on each bolt if suspected.

 

Also check the front spring perches behind the plastered on sealants where they are welded to inner arch forms, they've been known to rip completely off the inner wing, replacement panels available.

 

You probably know all this, sorry for preaching to the converted if so.