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

[RayMK]

4 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

It isn't. According to the manual, the brakes must be dismantled, then the brake back plate off and loosen the bolts that hold the axle shaft, then use a puller and pull out the axle shaft. And if I remember correctly there are 3 or 4 seals/gaskets. A gasket on the outside, and one seal in the axle and the rest on the axle shaft.

I'm starting to realize that Mercedes like to be a little annoying and makes things more complicated and difficult than they need to be.

Could you squirt some snake oil on to the seal - or put some in the diff?  I'm thinking of the sort which claims to swell elastomeric seals, thus reducing or stopping leakage.  Perhaps I've been watching too much VGG on you tube.

[Dyslexic Viking]

15 minutes ago, RayMK said:

Could you squirt some snake oil on to the seal - or put some in the diff?  I'm thinking of the sort which claims to swell elastomeric seals, thus reducing or stopping leakage.  Perhaps I've been watching too much VGG on you tube.

It's a good idea and I have some products lying around, but I doubt it will help, unfortunately.

[rusty_vw_man]

I ran an old beetle which had a long term dribble of oil - the back plate was similar and allowed the oil to fall straight through, although it was messy.

However pads for that were dirt cheap and easy to get, if I had rarer €200 pads I would probably be more careful with them. 

No disrespect, but I have noticed a theme, that you seem to be full of self doubt over you ability - the stuff you do always ends up top notch though. So if I were you I’d order the full set of gaskets (assuming they are available) and crack on, I have absolute faith it would be done in no time at all!! 

[juular]

Agree, your work is sound and you have the ability.

If you don't need the car urgently then you can chip away at it slowly. 

Is there any part of the job that means you won't be able to bolt it back together and take it to a garage if you change your mind?

[Dyslexic Viking]

1 hour ago, rusty_vw_man said:

No disrespect, but I have noticed a theme, that you seem to be full of self doubt over you ability - the stuff you do always ends up top notch though. So if I were you I’d order the full set of gaskets (assuming they are available) and crack on, I have absolute faith it would be done in no time at all!! 

Thanks, but I know my limitations and this goes beyond them.

I can do a lot of simpler work, but I have to leave more complicated things to others.And this job is definitely too complicated and miserable for me.

[Dyslexic Viking]

14 minutes ago, juular said:

Is there any part of the job that means you won't be able to bolt it back together and take it to a garage if you change your mind?

Everything really.

[rusty_vw_man]

What is it that you need you don’t have?

It seems to be strip off the brakes, then undo big bolts which frees the back plate. Then slide hammer to pop the clip out the differential end, withdraw shaft (stop sniggering at the back) and clean. Remove various seals, gaskets and rear wheel bearing, replace, grease bearing and the gently slide the shaft back in (easy now). 

Just thinking the job is one of those that is long and messy (and therefore expensive) but I suspect any new tools and seals would be pretty cheap. If the oil seals are leaking at least all the bolts will be well lubricated to undo as well. 

I can see it’s daunting, but unless I have missed a step it looks like a series of individually simple steps. 

[juular]

2 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

And this job is definitely too complicated and miserable for me.

Fair enough! I feel the same about lots of jobs. I'm flinging my van at a garage as I can't be bothered trying to rebuild the gearbox on my driveway and leaving it on stands for weeks while I wait for fiddly parts and tools.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I think an important thing is for everyone to understand that we all have different levels of what we are capable of. What you see as easy is what others see as difficult and a nightmare.

I have no problem admitting that I'm not as capable as others here and never will be. The problem with this job is also that if something goes wrong, the car is immobile and mobile mechanics don't exist here and I don't know anyone who can help, so I would be completely f... and possibly suffered a mental breakdown as a result. So I'll let someone with better skills and experience and more tools than me do this.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Now back to Mercedes. Fuel tank level sender that came from old tank it is said that only fits that tank, but it fits in the new one and with only 10 liters in the new tank the sender is wet so it seems promesing so I have ordered a new gasket for it and will to try it.

There has also been 10 liters of diesel in the new tank for a few days now and no leaks so far so that's good.

[Dyslexic Viking]

3 hours ago, juular said:

I'm flinging my van at a garage as I can't be bothered trying to rebuild the gearbox on my driveway and leaving it on stands for weeks while I wait for fiddly parts and tools.

And has it shit its gearbox also now? You really are having bad luck with that one.

[juular]

21 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

And has it shit its gearbox also now? You really are having bad luck with that one.

It's a Trafic thing. Kind of expected to have to do it eventually as they all go bad. I got 120k out of it which is considered not bad.

As it's a keeper I don't really grudge getting it fixed and hopefully getting another 8-10 years out of the van if I'm lucky.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I'm waiting for a new gasket for the fuel level sender that seems to never arrive.

But I've had this delivered, on @Surface Rust recommendation I'm trying this in my leaking steering box.

 

But first I had to get the oil out of the steering box and there is no drain screw so I had to suck the oil out with this below which worked great.

 

Then the next challenge is getting this Penrite product into the steering box, which is not exactly easy as it is not exactly very fluid and the filling hole is small. But by working it in with a screwdriver I got a good amount in but I'm struggling to get more in so I think I need to let it sit for a day or two so it can slowly run out inside the steering box. So will try to fill in more later.

[TrabbieRonnie]

You could heat the oil by placing the bottle in a pan of hot water DV, might make it flow easier.

[Dyslexic Viking]

20 minutes ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

You could heat the oil by placing the bottle in a pan of hot water DV, might make it flow easier.

That's a good idea, I've tried a little carefully with a hairdryer but I can try this too.

[Surface Rust]

I can't remember how I got mine in, probably left the bottle in the sun and might have used a metal syringe thing I have, looks a bit like this:

Try working the steering back and forth if you can,  maybe jack the front up so you don't have a heart attack!

[Remspoor]

I would make the seal up from gas kit paper.

[Dyslexic Viking]

1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

I would make the seal up from gas kit paper.

I thought about making it but new wasn't that expensive and is the correct I think cork gasket.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I have finally managed to fill the steering box with the Penrite steering box lube, filling it with a funnel was pretty hopeless so I tried the syringe thing I used to suck out the oil and it actually worked to fill it with that. So then this is done.

And the fuel sender gasket finally appeared.

 

And it fit, so with the fuel sender now installed it was time to see if the old fuel sender worked with this new fuel tank as it is really only for the smaller tank that was in the car.

With ignition off.

 

With the ignition on and about 20 liters in the tank, it rises a little, but not enough so the fuel light is on.

 

So a new tank level sensor is needed to get an accurate measurement but this can wait a little.

The next thing was to start it and let it idle for a while to check if the fuel system was drawing in air, which it doesn't seem to be doing. So that's good.

I've also looked through a bit of the spare parts pile for this one and I got a nice surprise. 2023 was total madness and I lost control a lot, so when the local garage replaced the rear wheel cylinders I bought some extra brake parts in case they needed them. And it turns out I have a new set of rear brake shoes, so since I have them I might as well drive this this summer as it doesn't matter if I ruin the old ones with oil from the oil leak now. The plan is to fix this in the fall.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I can honestly say that I've been a little annoyed lately that this one needs a lot of money spent on it this year also.

But when I took this for a drive today and was reminded of how fantastic these cars are, things like this are quickly forgotten.

[TrabbieRonnie]

3 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I can honestly say that I've been a little annoyed lately that this one needs a lot of money spent on it this year also.

But when I took this for a drive today and was reminded of how fantastic these cars are, things like this are quickly forgotten.

To the victor go the spoils DV...  Glad you are enjoying it 👍.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Not much going on here. But took this on a trip to town today but hadn't thought about the heat so I was boiling but the car didn't seem to care.

 

And having a massive boot is nice.

[Dyslexic Viking]

And on the way home I got stuck behind a fast looking modern Audi saloon and kept up with it the whole time so slow this car is not.