Jaypee's 300td Merc - Unbearingable.. 23/07/21.

[jaypee]

On 6/9/2021 at 12:13 PM, dome said:

Top rear entrance action!

Can you fix/replace the microswitch on the old one and sell it on to get some money back?

Eh, potentiometerlly.... FNAR... 

[jaypee]

On 6/9/2021 at 12:53 PM, Talbot said:

The soft-close on these isn't essential.  If you move the motor back to it's normal "rest" position, the tailgate just works like a normal one and doesn't soft-close, but otherwise works like any other two-click position boot lock.  The last S124 I worked on had it unplugged, and it still worked (without the soft-close) just fine.

Usually they're very reliable.  Mine has only just started not engaging the motor sometimes, but with a swift tap to the tailgate does then engage.  It'll be a sticky/gummed up microswitch somewhere.  Other than the switch, they're as reliable as windscreen wipers... as that's essentially what the motor is.

Cheers for this dude, will have a look, I did have a play about with it, but could not get it to work properly. Motor is still strong as an ox though. 

[jaypee]

MPG UPDATE! 

[jaypee]

Also, this video is doing unexpectedly well... 

Am I now an influencer....? 😂😂😂

 

[jaypee]

MOAR MPGSESESES! 

[320touring]

8 minutes ago, jaypee said:

MOAR MPGSESESES! 

No way? That's mega MPG!

[jaypee]

1 minute ago, 320touring said:

No way? That's mega MPG!

WAY! Aye, it's been getting shoed as well. 

[jaypee]

I did some more work on the paint on Saturday, after a stern word with myself, I promised to take my time and not rush things. 

First off, the primered area under the passenger rear window, 

Sanded down 

A bit of filler and some new primer was added, then the first application of base coat. 

Nice! Colour wasn't a million miles away but the car has definitely faded over the years. Was looking good, best not rush the second coat of base......... 

Arses. It had a run, I thought, 'I'll leave that to dry and then sand it back', then I thought... 'nah, I'll just catch it with a rag and paint it back in' suffice to say, neither of those worked, the above is what was left, at this point, I paused for lunch and let the paint dry. After lunch it was sanded and re-primed, and painted. From that point on, I set a timer on my phone after each application, and solemnly stuck to it! 

[jaypee]

Next, it was onto the front wings, seen earlier in the thread. Now that I had access to the grinder and sander, I did some tidying up, and filling, and sanding, oh god, the sanding! 

Time for some colour... 

You can see on these the slight mismatch of the colour, but it's certainly a lot better than it was! 

[jaypee]

Some 'final' (or, that's it, I am going home) pics. Just got the feathering in/blending and lacquer to put on. 

Again, as I say, a metric fuck tonne better than it was, almost looks 'decent'* from 10 yards. 

After a full 11 hours of paint and sand and fill and wait and sand and fill and wait and sand...... 

.. Etc I called it quits and headed for home 

.. That would be a nice and event free* journey 

[jaypee]

As I exited the M77 on my way home, I turned onto Haggs Road and made my way to St Andrew's Drive, as I meandered along Haggs Road, I was met, by, what I felt was a very definite CLUNK from the front off side. Oh, great* I thought. Best get home and have a look tomorrow, when less tired. 

Plans were in place for Sunday, brunch with my mate. So after, I decided to see my folks, jumped in the merc and set off, convinced that the clunk heard last night was just an over active imagination, fuelled by filler dust and paint fumes. Alas, I was incorrect. It was still there, and quite disconcerting. A cursory look yielded no clues. Pressed for time, I turned home and took the e30 out for a blast. 

On my return I liaised with @320touring and a plan was hatched to have a look after dinner.

In preparation for the visit, I carried out the idiot check and confirmed all wheels were indeed bolted on correctly. My suspicion was, either a fubarred bush, a broken spring or an 'ARB drop link' even although it does not technically have any at the front. 

When Neil arrived, we went out a recon mission, the noise was pin pointed at the front right. Suggestions were made that a top mount may also be a culprit. 

A quick jack up, and wheel removal allowed us to discover. 

This bracket... 

Which should be attached to, this arb bush

Which, it wasn't, so with the bracket removed, we put it back together and took it a test drive over the splendid* road surfaces of Pollokshields. 

SUCCESS! The clunk was away!

You may note, that I replaced this bracket as part of the front suspension refresh, obviously it was a great* quality* part. 

Anyhow, a new one has been ordered for this ungrateful thing! 

Cheers to @320touringfor the assistance 

[Split_Pin]

Wings look loads better now, the lacquer will probably blend it in a bit more.

[jaypee]

ANOTHER MPG UPDATE 

[Jim Bell]

How come putting that bracket on upped the mpgs?

I'd say put more brackets on. 

[jaypee]

Some more progress on the merc this week, a quick* filler job turned out to not be possible.... Hopefully the pics will cover it off. 

Many thanks for the assistance to @320touring who kept an eye on me whilst I did a great job of making a mess of welding 😂

Also a special thanks to S_PEWGS.. ( @Split_PinEmergency Welding Gas Services) who kindly got us out of a tight spot! 

Again, it's not factory fresh, but it at least has metal in it, another wee skim of filler and sanding should see it ready for paint. The other rear arch looks fine from straight on, however is a little bit bubbly on the lower lip, so that's next! 

[320touring]

I'm really glad you decided to weld it up - you're making a grand job of making this into a much better car that it would have been if I had kept it!

Getting there with the welding too!

[jaypee]

OMG MPG UPDATE 

[jaypee]

Did some more work on the Merc this weekend. 

Finished off the driver side rear arch and did the passenger side rear arch too! 

Driver side done, just needs blending and lacquer. 

Passenger side rear arch wasn't too bad. 

Again, not too bad, certainly looking a lot better than previous! 

Of course, you wouldn't expect anything unfortunate to happen now, would you..? 

Due to this being an ungrateful, cow bag bastard it's gone and sprung a leak from the suspension pipes! Great*! 

#stancelyfm9

It looks like the pipe that runs from the accumulator out to the rear shock. So, further investigation is required! 

Cunt! 

Anyway, from about 20 yards, if you squint, it almost looks presentable.... 

 

[Carlosfandango]

They are a bastard when the fluid leaks from them - someone told me that they boughterated the suspension concept from citroen, but I may have dreamed that or been drunk. Or am drunk. 
Anyway, nice update. Bloody love these cars. I’ve had quite a few but none over the last 3/4 years but remedied that recently with a W124 saloon. 
 

Keep up the good work @jaypee

 

CFD

[jaypee]

8 hours ago, Carlosfandango said:

They are a bastard when the fluid leaks from them - someone told me that they boughterated the suspension concept from citroen, but I may have dreamed that or been drunk. Or am drunk. 
Anyway, nice update. Bloody love these cars. I’ve had quite a few but none over the last 3/4 years but remedied that recently with a W124 saloon. 
 

Keep up the good work @jaypee

 

CFD

I can hear you Carlos Fandango! 

Cheers, aye, I believe it's licenced from Citroën, @320touring should be able to verify, as we have had fun with the GSA in that regard.

Aye, they are pretty comfy when they work. Just need to get it fixed at some point. The saloon sounds sensible due to lack of SLS 😊

[Talbot]

The SLS on these is really simple.  It is indeed a Citroenesque system, but with springs fitted too, which means the vehicle doesn't sink (too much) when it's off.

The Spheres are mounted in the car, withing the triangle formed between the rear seatback and the boot-seats seatback.  You'll find a screwed-down panel that removes, revealing the spheres.  The rear dampers aren't really dampers, just hydraulic struts.  These connect with the pipes shown to the spheres, and there's a height corrector on the rear anti-roll bar.  I'm not sure where the damper drillings are, as I don't believe they're in the spheres on this.. probably in the hydraulic struts.  The spheres have to be unbolted from under the car, but then are removed from within the car.

The system holds only about 10%-20%  of the weight of the car, the other 80%-90% being held on the springs.  Consequently, the sphere charge pressure isn't actually very high.. just enough to ensure that fluid moves back and forth to the sphere as the suspension moves.

Last time I checked, the spheres are still available from mercedes for fairly reasonable prices.  I think I paid about £60 each for a pair, and it completely transformed the S124 I was working on.  The hydraulic lines are very basic, and could either be replaced or likely repaired by someone like Pirtek hydraulics.

Also, the remarkably-expensive mercedes fluid for these is in fact the same spec as LHM, which is of course a lot cheaper.  Lob that in.

It's a great system, which appears to be very reliable indeed.  The spheres seem to last a lot longer than the equivalent Citroen ones, which I'm convinced is because they hold less weight.

[jaypee]

13 hours ago, Talbot said:

The SLS on these is really simple.  It is indeed a Citroenesque system, but with springs fitted too, which means the vehicle doesn't sink (too much) when it's off.

The Spheres are mounted in the car, withing the triangle formed between the rear seatback and the boot-seats seatback.  You'll find a screwed-down panel that removes, revealing the spheres.  The rear dampers aren't really dampers, just hydraulic struts.  These connect with the pipes shown to the spheres, and there's a height corrector on the rear anti-roll bar.  I'm not sure where the damper drillings are, as I don't believe they're in the spheres on this.. probably in the hydraulic struts.  The spheres have to be unbolted from under the car, but then are removed from within the car.

The system holds only about 10%-20%  of the weight of the car, the other 80%-90% being held on the springs.  Consequently, the sphere charge pressure isn't actually very high.. just enough to ensure that fluid moves back and forth to the sphere as the suspension moves.

Last time I checked, the spheres are still available from mercedes for fairly reasonable prices.  I think I paid about £60 each for a pair, and it completely transformed the S124 I was working on.  The hydraulic lines are very basic, and could either be replaced or likely repaired by someone like Pirtek hydraulics.

Also, the remarkably-expensive mercedes fluid for these is in fact the same spec as LHM, which is of course a lot cheaper.  Lob that in.

It's a great system, which appears to be very reliable indeed.  The spheres seem to last a lot longer than the equivalent Citroen ones, which I'm convinced is because they hold less weight.

Cheers dude, aye it seems pretty rudimentary, I did the main front to back lines on it for the MOT. 

I think it's now just finding the weak spots on ths system now. 

I'll try and get a good look at it at the weekend and see what I can see. 

Also found a vid on the accumulator replacing, looks fairly straightforward and aligns with what wrote above. 

It's pushing its luck!! 

😊

[jaypee]

Did some more investigation tonight, couldn't get it to replicate the leak/fault, however, I do have my suspension suspicions!!  (car was on ramps so suspension was loaded) 

Up in the air, like she just don't care. 

Might be a leak here 

None here, but Ho Lee Fark, its a bit crusty. 

This came off the bottom of the accumulator on the passenger side. 

I reckon here is the most likely place for the leak, seems to be seeping out. 

Oh good... 

Best get the parts catalogue fired up. Just as well it's pay day tomorrow. (technically today) 

[Peter C]

Bad news about the SLS. When my TE needed new pipes (about ten years ago), Hughes of Beaconsfield sourced replacements easily enough. Perhaps they are still available? They will post parts for a small fee.

[jaypee]

4 hours ago, Peter C said:

Bad news about the SLS. When my TE needed new pipes (about ten years ago), Hughes of Beaconsfield sourced replacements easily enough. Perhaps they are still available? They will post parts for a small fee.

Thanks dude, yeah, I believe they are still free, found a couple of places on line, might try the dealer to see what prices they come back with... 

[jaypee]

Also think I have a sticky caliper or a dodgy bearing at the back driver side wheel 👍👀

[jaypee]

Think the wheel bearing has a little bit of play in it.... 

Great* 

 

[320touring]

I think that may be slightly out of tolerance...

 

So much so, it has as little tolerance as I

[Split_Pin]

More play than Slade's 'Merry Christmas' in December 

☹️

[spike60]

On 7/15/2021 at 7:53 AM, Peter C said:

Bad news about the SLS. When my TE needed new pipes (about ten years ago), Hughes of Beaconsfield sourced replacements easily enough. Perhaps they are still available? They will post parts for a small fee.

MB Newcastle post free when I've dealt with them, they list stuff on Ebay and seem quick to reply to questions that aren't about the listed item.