Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - Renault VelSatis 3.5 V6

[Schaefft]

Bit of an update:

On Monday I made it back to Newcastle in time, unfortunately with a bit of a detour through pretty much the entirety of England, as the ferry in Amsterdam decided to leave 30 mins before scheduled, leaving me with the Dunkirk crossing which meant driving all the way from Dover up to the North East over night, something I've been doing in the Senator 2 years before and had no intention of repeating again. Redbull and a macchiato from Starbucks (it should be noted that Im not a coffee drinker) helped and I managed to show up at work in time in the morning, albeit a little tired.

I've also finally received my voltage regulator that was supposed to arrive before I left, fortunately the alternator seems to be healthy which means it won't need any attention anytime soon. I've found someone who happens to have a set of W140 8-hole alloys that will be delivered to my brother in the next few days, the wheels I have on the car right now have really grown on me but the 8-hole design was always my favorite so needs must!

Also this happened on the Autobahn so a new set of wings is probably coming as soon as the same person I bought these wheels from decides to break his parts car which happens to be the same color. All other panels are in pretty good condition and will probably not need attention any time soon. If the chance comes up the grille surround and bottom edges of the doors will get sorted though.

Other things that will need attention are the power steering pump front seal, springs (I cannot imagine them being okay, the car is sitting too low in the back) and a slight battery drain that I am investigating right now. Things are pointing towards a tired anti theft alarm battery so that should be an easy fix as well. Preventative maintenance will be a big thing again to make sure that this car will stay on the road, I think Ive really fallen in love with it!

[Schaefft]

I guess its only been 2 months!

Not that much happened really. I'm currently trying to diagnose the source for a battery drain in the Merc, you can see that the drain isn't much bigger than that of a small interior bulb but its actually related to Fuse #17 which is the one fuse that powers everything thats supposed to stay on when the ignition is off (radio, dome lights, gauge cluster, hazard lights and so on). The problem now is that I've disconnected pretty much everything that is connected to fuse 17, without there being much of a difference for the drain. A Merc specialist indicated that the ignition switch might leak voltage, or the typical engine wiring loom insulation issue (it just falls apart) might cause it but Im not sure if that would apply here (pulling the fuse gets rid of the drain entirely).

I've also decided to tackle the pretty bad power steering leak that the car had from day one of my ownership. Taking the pump out was a bit of a pita (thanks to Mercedes for putting two of three bolts on the back of the pump) and I had to order a few tools to get to the point where I am now. I will call the Mercedes dealer tomorrow to find out how much it'll cost to order the list of parts I need to rebuild the pump, in any case it'll only be a fraction of what a rebuilt pump would cost, and that rebuild probably wouldn't have been as thorough as this.

 

[Schaefft]

Time for an update! The power steering pump rebuild was a success, I was able to buy anything I needed directly from the dealer, to my surprise the kit needed to rebuild the pump was just a lousy 11 quid. On the other side they were also asking 25 quid for a paper gasket that goes underneath the reservoir, being the cheap shiter I am I decided to buy a sheet of gasket material instead and cut my own gasket. I did the same for the 5cm of hose that connects the reservoir to the pump, Mercedes wanted over 50 quid for a meter of the stuff, I managed to find an oil/fuel/temperature resistant hose with a 15mm inner diameter (which is surprisingly hard to find as most automotive hoses apparently are factions of an inch in size, none of which would fit the pump assembly...) and cut it to size.

I had to buy a puller tool to remove the leaking front seal, something that was on my list for a long time anyway, apart from that no special tools were needed to get the complete job done, although accessibility was quite a pain.

I think in total, not counting any tools I should have anyway, I invested less than a hundred quid. Thats a fraction of the price of a used pump which might leak as well, an even smaller fraction of a rebuilt pump that might not even have all relevant parts replaced, and probably 15-times cheaper than anything you would have paid for at a dealer to have this job sorted. All in all I'm very happy with how things went. The instrument cluster is getting fixed and tested next week and I have already reserved a set of front wings in the correct color to replace the old rusty ones.

 

[richardthestag]

when it comes to comedy prices for main stealer spare parts I will always give it a go at either repairing or sourcing a suitable replacement elsewhere.

Top work 

[nacho man]

I have totally missed this, but I FRIGGING love w140's and especially the early ones with orange indicators, yours is mega.

 

[Schaefft]

14 minutes ago, richardthestag said:

when it comes to comedy prices for main stealer spare parts I will always give it a go at either repairing or sourcing a suitable replacement elsewhere.

Top work 

I just don't want to support BS like this when I know that a gasket or hose just cost them a few cents to make. I happily pay extra for quality parts but that was just taking the piss. I need to replace my upper engine wiring harness eventually (biodegradable wire insulation yay), I asked the dealer just out of curiosity how much it would cost and they want over 1300 quid just for the part! I'll order one from a specialist made using better quality insulation for a bit over a third of that instead.

[Schaefft]

1 minute ago, Danterzza said:

I have totally missed this, but I FRIGGING love w140's and especially the early ones with orange indicators, yours is mega.

 

YES! The orange indicators are a must and will definitely stay! It looks exactly the way I want it (minus the rust and wheels, I already bought a set of 8-hole alloys), I guess thats part of why I love it so much!

[spike60]

Sorry, I only just saw your request for the Lincoln pic.  I think this is the only one,  - and the bugger took some finding, I had to dig out the old steam powered laptop!

 

[Schaefft]

Thanks again, like a mentioned in the pm this photo must be about 3 years old! I still had the broken grille and old wheels and front shocks back then, I've since realigned the whole frontend as well to get rid of that hood gap. Its odd to see photos of your own car that you haven't taken yourself.?

[Schaefft]

Time for another update!

I've had my instrument cluster fixed after it would have a fairly common issue where all warning lights come on for a fraction of a second when using the indicator stalk. It wasn't a major problem and the cluster was working just fine but I wanted to get it checked out before it would get worse. Fortunately theres an excellent oldschool car audio professional in Gateshead (Jim from Car Audio, I think he was even recommended to me on here!) who replaced the capacitors on my Celsior's ECU and instrument cluster before, I dropped the cluster circuit board and the replacement capacitors off at his place on a Saturday and got it all fixed up and tested back on Monday, and at 25 quid an hour you really can't get a much better deal. I had the burnt out LCD display backlight bulb replaced at the same time, Mercedes soldered that one in place...

During reassembly I noticed that one of the capacitors was a little too tall for the cluster housing in the back:

The tape measure told me to do something about this debacle. Fortunately I've got just the right tool for the job, the good old Dremel that shouldn't be missing in any household:

All back together. Bigger is better right? Not like I had a choice, the selection of capacitors with the right specs was surprisingly slim for this one. Not sure if I should cover it in electrical tape or leave it exposed to aid cooling...

If anyone wonders how I managed to drill the first hole exactly where I needed it to be, a black marker and double sided tape worked just fine:

I will add a set of chrome instrument surrounds (yes because they actually look good and make the cluster look less plasticy) soon so I haven't pushed it all the way back into the dash, its a pita to remove the cluster in a W140. 

I've also received my new* floor mats yesterday! I tried to clean them up a little and had them dry over night. Well, I'm not sure why but these actually look mint in more ways than one now:

I honestly have no idea why they look like that, normally they match the carpet perfectly. The W140 wasn't even available with an interior in a mint color and these must have been grey at one point. If anyone has an idea how I can make them look grey again, please let me know!

[Jim Bell]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F123574418147

 

I'm sure this won't work, but it would be very entertaining reading about you giving it a go man. 

[Schaefft]

It might work, who knows! A liter of this stuff would cost almost the same as I paid for the mats though, maybe its best to return them and try to find another set in actual grey... I wanna try and clean them properly with a carpet cleaning machine first though.

[Schaefft]

Im really not good at keeping this thread updated. Lots of things have happened since a month ago! I've visited the first Radwood event outside the US at the beginning of the month. They decided to have it at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, which meant I basically had to cross the entirety of England to be there in the Lincoln. The event was a real success, fairly small compared to more established car shows but still at a decent size with an interesting lineup of 80s and 90s vehicle, from crappy old Civics to crappy old Testarossas in form of the Ratarossa as it is know on the internet:

Some of the nicer stuff there, one of them being an S2 Coupe with around 300!! miles on it:

A few more Autoshite related vehicles that could be seen there, including a 200k miles Galant of a fellow shiter:

One of my favorite cars there was this Carlton 300 Gsi, so much more interesting than the 3 Lotus Carltons that showed up there:

Super low mileage 605:

This one is pretty obscure, even without being a Quadra:

There may or may not have been some images of this floating around Social Media:

I'll definitely are going to be at next year's Radwood event again, I have the feeling that its been off to a very good start and will just become bigger and more popular over time, as it has its very own unique vibe I haven't seen at any other car show before.

Of course after such a long journey something had to break... I noticed a "Check Airride" message on my dash and quickly realized that the compressor wasn't running anymore. After a little bit of investigation it turned out to be the relay for the airride system. A quick swap with the ABS relay which happens to be the same confirmed that this is exactly the source of the problem, I received a new relay today and will try to replace it (along with the Cruise control cutout switch which must have died and apparently was a recall item due to the risk of sudden fire...) on Saturday before leaving for the Chumley meet. I'll also replace all rubber isolators for the compressor mounting bolts to quieten the damn thing down once and for all!

[Schaefft]

Theres also some Mercedes news, of both the good and the bad kind! After finally receiving a set of instrument cluster rings that actually fit I was able to install them and put the cluster back in the car, only to be thanked by a non working speedo, and an ABS light and non functioning speed sensitive steering. I've had this issue once before where one of the cluster connectors apparently wouldn't be plugged in correctly. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be that easy this time, and I do not think that there just happens to be an ABS sensor that suddenly died and caused exactly the same symptoms. Once again I've done some investigation to figure out whether my recently repaired and tested speedo just died (every other function works fine so I kind of doubt it, a visual inspection didn't reveal any issues) or whether there is another problem. According to the document below the speedo gets its signal directly from one of the ABS sensors, so rotating the wheel or driving the car would result in a measurable voltage increase at one of the pins of the connector.

I couldn't measure any voltage so I'm wondering if the ABS/Vehicle speed sensor really died, not giving any signal, which would be a very strange coincidence considering I never had the issue before, or if I somehow disturbed the cable and caused internal damage (the wire insulation looks perfectly fine and I have no idea why that exact cable would suddenly cause issues). If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated!

In other news, I've also replaced my blower motor which was about to seize up. Turns out those for LHD cars actually dont work on RHD ones, which means the new one is now sucking the air out of my car instead of blowing it in. Amazing. Getting another one soon...

Also, I've finally replaced my crusty driver side fender. The old one was in absolutely horrific state as you can see below, which is odd considering the bodywork of the rest of the car wasn't too bad. The lower bracket that held it on literally rotted off the bolts and fell down on the undercarriage plastic shields. The new one came without a side repeater hole so the other side will be following soon.

Lightweight S-Class! There has been a bit of surface corrosion that was dealt with, some of the brackets were in pretty bad shape and will need to be replaced eventually though.

Old fender after removing some of the rust. What the hell happened to this?!

Replacement fender had the same paint color to ensure perfect paint match but needed a little attention as well. Kurust, zinc primer and some spray paint took care of it. I should have gotten a proper wire wheel in the first place, the wire brush got rid of the loose stuff but I probably could have done a better job. Next time...

Look closely and you'll see the bracket, or what remains of it, at the bottom:

New fender on the car. I love this car, even though there's still a long list of things to be done:

More updates soon, the windshield was supposed to get replaced today but the Autoglass guy didn't seem very motivated and quickly left again. I'll have a talk with them about that tomorrow...

[Schaefft]

Update time. I noticed that some of the brackets for the A-pillar trim had some minor corrosion so I thought it'd be a good idea to sort these before the new windshield goes in on Saturday (unless there are new issues...). Instead of using a wire brush I've actually done the right thing and bought some wire wheel attachments for my Dremel, which once again proves itself to be one of the best tools in my tool box. Considering two dozen or so of these Chinese wire brush attachments did cost me next to nothing, they held up extremely well (only used one of them) and took any rust down right to bare metal. Kurust, primer, paint and clear coat, and heres the result:

[Schaefft]

Update time! After the first Autoglass technician proved to be a lazy c*nt, I brought the car into their local branch, properly prepared to have the windshield replaced by someone who can actually give a damn about what hes doing. And as it turns out that is the only thing that was really needed, as the replacement windshield went in without any issues, no extra parts needed. We did however find out what caused the old one to crack. Surprise, its once again shoddy workmanship by someone who couldn't give af about doing his job properly (something that has been a regular occurrence with garages since I moved here until I met Scaryoldcortina) , which ultimately caused it to crack under stress. We found out it wasn't even sealed properly.?

Anyway, I put everything back together today and its as good as new. Just need to get a new wiper arm from the breaker (who still hasn't managed to get me the blower motor after 2 weeks, which takes 10 mins max. to remove), as it turns out the old arm doesn't have any splines left. I managed to clean them on the wiper assembly side at least.

Still haven't figured out the speedo issue, also it seems like the cats are starting to break apart now so that will need attention soon as well. Fun times!

 

[Dave_Q]

On a J plate can you not just ditch the insides of the cat?

[Schaefft]

Thats the plan? Unless the car starts to smoke/stink like stupid after removing them.

[Schaefft]

Another quick update. The world's most unreliable breaker yard owner wanted to send me the blower motor and wiper arm for the Merc last Friday after weeks of waiting and reminders for him to remove the parts. Considering the parcel still hasn't arrived I suspect that he didn't send it off on Friday... Thats after complaining about me sending him the money via Paypal (for buyer protection), "slowing down his cash flow" because the money is locked up until I have the parcel. Why is it becoming increasingly hard to find anyone competent enough to do their job?

In other news, I decided to reactivate the 528i after about a year of slumber for winter. I'd prefer to buy something else so the car wont be exposed to salt any further but funds are not allowing it right now, and I plan to drive back to family over Christmas, so winter tires are a must. The car idled very poorly after starting it up after a fairly long time so I suspected the MAF potentially being the cause as its pretty ancient by now, the car ran fine with it unplugged, too. Just to be on the safe side I wanted to try cleaning the idle air control valve first and realized that one of the hoses leading to it was ripped, causing the poor idle, which was confirmed after taping it up as a temporary solution. Take a guess how much BMW charges for a few inches of molded rubber? 48 quid... Im currently trying to think of a cheaper, long term alternative, the problem being that both ends of the hose have different diameters.

I still need to stitch up one of the ABS Sensor wires that rubbed through before and find a set of wheels and tires, Im also planning to fix the sunroof once and for all but finding the right parts (without buying another sunroof) isnt that easy either unless you want to spend a fortune. Oh, and I need to get all the import paper work to actually register it here. Shouldnt be an issue though. I really cant wait to drive it again, its just such a good, capable car and although it wasnt my first car, it really feels like it is!

ScaryoldCortina had a look at the transmission pan gasket of the Lincoln yesterday as well. Hopefully the leak is finally fixed now, looks like there was some botching going on with the old gasket before, what a surprise!

 

[loserone]

I must admit I was surprised sitting in the 306 outside the yard waiting for Scary to rock up so I could retrieve my bag from the LEAF when he arrived in the Lincoln.  Apparently they're similarly disconnected to drive, which is probably a compliment

[Schaefft]

Haha yes, I did see the Leaf, too and was wondering where that came from! Im not sure how it compares, Ive driven this car (and similar stuff) for so long now that I cannot complain about how the steering feels or how soft it is, its just "normal". Although I think it should ride so much smoother over rough roads, I still need to figure out how so much harshness comes through. The Focus definitely was a different driving experience?

[Schaefft]

The updates just keep coming! I've visited the local Mercedes specialist today to figure out the odd vibration/noise coming from beneath the car, the non-working speedo and battery drain. Turns out the specialist was so good, two of the three issues were fixed even before I arrived there! The speedo issue must be trigged by the ABS sensor on the front left wheel missing a beat once in a while, only that it didnt fix itself on the journeys I had before. The hubs seem to be heavily corroded, but thats something I knew from ScaryoldCortina before. Will have a look into getting a pair eventually, its not a super high priority.

Somehow, the vibration/noise that sounded like something wrapped around the driveshaft and slapped against the underside (I thought the inside of the cat coming lose as it was RPM dependent, not speed dependent) must be linked to the ABS issue as it disappeared around the same time the ABS light went off. I have absolutely no clue what it might be, neither did the Mercedes pro.

Leaves the battery drain, which is supposed to be coming from the cluster. I dont really know how that can be though as the cluster was unplugged plenty of times before while I was measuring the drain directly at the battery. I have to try again later. My blower motor and wiper apparently arrived yesterday as well so I'll replace those asap as well.

In other news, I finally fixed my sunroof in the E39 after what must be 3 years. That involved removing it completely and assembling the sunroof itself, as well as putting everything back together. Good thing Ive done this about 3 times before... Bonus picture from 1.5 years ago when it was used properly the last time.

A few more things and it should be ready for MOT. However a friend of mine mentioned an incredibly cheap 2006ish A4 Quattro his parents in law try to get rid of, maybe that could be the winter beater I was looking for...

 

[Schaefft]

Well, destiny (and the Ebay tat thread) apparently wasn't happy with the number of cars I own.  Many of you will have seen the ad before, and now its mine...

Its a 1995 Mitsubishi Galant GLSi Liftback! With the bottom end 1.8 (unlike advertised as the 2.0), but in incredibly nice condition, as it only has 58k miles and was giffer owned pretty much its entire life, apart from the first few days when it must have been registered on the dealer's name, and the last 5 months when it was owned by a family member of the previous owner. I only drove it around the estate as it was pretty clear that this car had no apparent issues at all. I've only got it this morning, and still need to tax/insure it later today. But so far I have to admit that this might have been one of the best deals I made on a car yet (sorry to all the other shiters who might have shown interest in it, it will come up for sale/roffle eventually).

So whats the plan? I'll have a thorough check over the car in the next few days as time allows. The Merc wasnt supposed to be driven during winter, neither will be the Lincoln which is pissing ATF all over the place right now and needs to go into winter storage soon anyway. The 528i was supposed to be their replacement but will be pushed back a few months, although it will still be ready for MOT asap. 

More photos and a proper tour will follow.

This car has no right to look this good. Shame about the painted wheel trims.

[Bren]

I hope you never have to go to a dealer for parts. You will find out the definition of expensive.

[skattrd]

Nice one on the galant. I really like that shape, and most galant tbh.
Feel free to drop me a message if/when you think of selling it.

[ProgRocker]

The Galant is flipping ace!  Well bought.

[Schaefft]

38 minutes ago, Bren said:

I hope you never have to go to a dealer for parts. You will find out the definition of expensive.

Well, I own two BMWs that are listed in their "Classic" parts catalog now. How much worse can it be??

And thanks guys. I think its a genuinely good looking car. I'd much prefer the 2.0 V6 or 2.5 V6 AWD over the 1.8 but at least it should be very easy to work on, easy to get parts for and fairly economical. I'll probably use it to visit family over Christmas and haul parts there and back again, the hatchback design with rear folding seats is pretty much perfect for that.

Also, VR4 and Evo parts are more or less bolt on I bet?

[Schaefft]

I've spent some time digging a bit deeper into the Galant and took it for a drive for a few minutes, and the positive impressions I got this morning have only been reinforced. Its a genuinely well taken care for car, without any bodging or modifications apart from an aftermarket radio, alarm and battery (plus the painted wheel trims - already starting to think about finding some OEM alloys...). The engine pulls well and sounds healthy, I can't spot any leaks and it really seems to be completely rust free aside from the spots that were welded about 5 years ago and still look strong. Everything inside works, I didn't even notice the car had a sunroof (which I didnt test in the rain). Even the original tool kit is there. Its a genuine little old lady owned, low mileage Galant and I'm hyped to own a car thats not only interesting/rare and good looking but should also be cheap to run and easy to repair (especially compared to the rest of my cars...). Looking up the owners address on streetview, it probably has been garaged most of its life, explaining the condition its in.

Lets go on a little tour around the car, shall we?

The liftback rear fascia is what makes it for me, I think its just perfectly proportioned. The scuff on the o/s corner of the rear bumper is the only cosmetic flaw aside from the painted trims.

That and the missing H in the lettering I guess. Oddly enough, you cannot open the tailgate from the outside without the key, there is no switch or handle. GLSi means LUXURY IN ABUNDANCE.

Dollywobbler will approve, a functioning rear wiper! Marvelous!

A minor detail, but I like how the hood doesn't flow into the headlights/grille. The dark burgundy colors fits the car's shape perfectly, too I think.

Oversized headlight washers. Loving the sleek frontend design of this gen Galant, its just perfectly proportioned and sporty without being overly aggressive. Always been a fan of car grilles integrated into the headlight cutouts and it just works really well here.

OEM wheeltrims but painted. Might find another set or alloys the Galant came with back then:

Interior and engine following...

[loserone]

That's ace!

[Fumbler]

That looks lovely!