1963 Mercedes Benz 190DC Fintail. Bad fuel tank and leaks.

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, junkyarddog said:

Just be very careful undoing those glow plugs,a snapped one is a pain in the hoop,ask me how I know🙄

It's true, although if they need a 21mm spanner to undo them the risk would be much reduced over most modern diesels. The PSA 1.6 HDi 16v has an 8mm head and is buried down the back of the engine, for example. In other words almost impossible to get out without removing the head.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I didn't take any pictures of the glow plugs for this one, which I should have. As they are quite substantial plugs.

[jonathan_dyane]

Just leave the old glow plugs in, they don't wear out like spark plugs, they either have continuity and work or they are burnt out and don't and unlike modern systems this will break continuity of the circuit so if one is burnt out they all go down.

[Dyslexic Viking]

The reason I'm changing the glow plugs is because I don't know if any may be burnt out. This system didn't work before so something is/was wrong. The other reason for changing them is that when they are changed, there is one less thing that can cause problems. My plan with this car is to get it in such good mechanical condition that I could throw my mother in it and let her drive it across Europe without any worries.

[mat_the_cat]

On 8/25/2022 at 6:35 PM, Zelandeth said:

I'm trying to figure out a good reason to use a setup like that rather than just a light bulb...or indeed having a red hot ballast resistor tucked away safely away from prying fingers in a metal box and a separate light...

It's so it can double up as a cigarette lighter, surely?

[jonathan_dyane]

The glow plugs and warning light/resistor are wired in series, if the glow light is working (which it appears it now is) all of the glow plugs are operating/none are burnt out.

The individual glow plugs are either broken or not broken, if they are working there is nothing to be gained to replacing them. What usually burns them out is operating them for too long to try to start a tired engine or one in the cold with a weak battery 

[DodgeRover]

I don't know if it's been mentioned already but I saw you mentioned starting difficulties. My family had the same car here in the UK, 190D RHD but with a red MBTex interior, bench front seat and column change, it had been a former ambassadors car overseas (maybe Gibraltar) and had been re-registered here on a G plate. Low milage when we bought it too.

Anyway starting, ours had a pull lever to engage the heater plugs, it absolutely always needed 30 seconds of heat before trying to start it, unless you had literally just stalled the engine it just would not start without heat, speaking to other owners at the time that's just how they were 

Also very slow but economical 45-50mpg was normal.

Watch for rust underneath the factory applied under seal, it can hide horrors under seemingly solid looking protection.

[artdjones]

9 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I didn't take any pictures of the glow plugs for this one, which I should have. As they are quite substantial plugs.

From back when German engineering really was engineering.

[Dyslexic Viking]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

From back when German engineering really was engineering.

I think it would be interesting if someone took one of these and a similar Merc sold new now and disassembled them and compared the build quality and the quality of the materials used and the parts etc. 

[junkyarddog]

22 hours ago, artdjones said:

 21mm spanner to undo them

Lol,yes,I missed that part🤣

[Dave_Q]

If you can start and run the engine for a while before attempting glow plugs 3 and 4 again, it's normally easier to get them out with a warm engine

[NigeT]

Absolutely love it. A while ago I was pottering around Oslo in a mate's '64 220 (nicknamed Mugabe), what a comfy old barge, hope the two cars meet sometime!

[Dyslexic Viking]

It looks in amazingly nice condition. And I notice that the dashboard, steering wheel, etc. look in much better condition than mine, which is worn.

Quite a few of these cars have survived here and one actually drove past me on Saturday. And there are 3 for sale now in Norway. But they are all petrol. The one most similar to mine is this 1967 model which is the 200 petrol version.

It is unusually cheap for these so the owner cannot know the price level or something is very wrong. But this one has a much nicer interior than mine in condition so I'm looking forward to getting mine close to as good.

[DeanH]

And how much is unusually cheap?

[Dyslexic Viking]

14 minutes ago, DeanH said:

And how much is unusually cheap?

3900 pounds. The one below is for sale in Germany for about 3300 pounds, which seems like the normal condition for these in this price range.

[DeanH]

Lovely, not bad at all. If I had it spare I'd be asking a favour of you...

[Dyslexic Viking]

Haven't had much time for this in the last 2 days, but today I got a lot done. Had the last 2 glow plugs replaced and none of the old ones were broken but now it has brand new glow plugs which should last a long time. The next thing was the fuel hoses, got some changed but I made a mistake with the hose clamps so will have to take the rest later.

Then the next thing was to fill and bleed the fuel system. And after some cranking of the engine this was the result. It runs a again!

[RayMK]

2 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Haven't had much time for this in the last 2 days, but today I got a lot done. Had the last 2 glow plugs replaced and none of the old ones were broken but now it has brand new glow plugs which should last a long time. The next thing was the fuel hoses, got some changed but I made a mistake with the hose clamps so will have to take the rest later.

Then the next thing was to fill and bleed the fuel system. And after some cranking of the engine this was the result. It runs a again!

 

Excellent result!  Sounds very healthy as well.

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

So this is fantastic. But I have a few small things that need to be fixed, such as a leak at the lift pump, but now that the engine is running again, the focus is on body work.

Which will be a lot of work. So time has now been set aside to just work on this for a while.

[juular]

23 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Haven't had much time for this in the last 2 days, but today I got a lot done. Had the last 2 glow plugs replaced and none of the old ones were broken but now it has brand new glow plugs which should last a long time. The next thing was the fuel hoses, got some changed but I made a mistake with the hose clamps so will have to take the rest later.

Then the next thing was to fill and bleed the fuel system. And after some cranking of the engine this was the result. It runs a again!

 

What a sound!!

Fantastic work.

 

[loserone]

Phwoooaaaaarr 

[Popsicle]

Thats awesome, well done - sounds great!

[junkyarddog]

Just love the sound of an old Mercedes diesel😊

Great work. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

It has now been backed into the garage and the front wings removed. There will be a lot of work for several days ahead. And since rural Norway had almost only gravel roads in the 60s and 70s, there is a lot of gravel removal followed by scraping off old underseal and rust work where necessary.

And it is very clear where the arch liners were.

[320touring]

Great stuff! Good to see it progress 

[Jim Bell]

You're working fast man. It's great to hear it running. What a lovely sound. 

[auntiemaryscanary]

Really well done. That sounds lovely. Your perseverance has certainly paid off.

[dome]

That sounds ace, well done!

[Dyslexic Viking]

I've spent the last 3 days on this and got a lot done. Have had a lot of gravel scraped off and then sanded down and painted the inside of the front wings and the bodywork behind them. But this one needs some proper body work in the future. The passenger side sill will probably need to be replaced in the future, among other things. But it helps that this has thick and good steel. And this is well demonstrated in the picture below.

On cars with thinner steel than this, this would probably have been a rust hole when you have sanded it, but not on this one. There are craters and it is clear that the rust has eaten away at the steel, but it is still solid. The picture below shows the same point after sanding.

So I will treat it and then paint it and it should take a while before it rusts through. Will probably also apply Fluid Film to the inside of the sills, it will also help with rusting.

I have also had the new boot seal glued on. The 3M glue seems to work well. And although I haven't done this before, it went well except that there was a lot of glue everywhere and that I almost glued a glove to my face.

And there won't be so many pictures and post of this work as it is not very interesting but will give some updates from time to time.

[jonathan_dyane]

Looks like satisfying work