2004 Mercedes C180K: Winter/ULEZ Beater of Distinction

[wesacosa]

got the first one on, including a second hand blocker harness I found on eBay. Still hopeful the one that got lost in the post will eventually turn up but guess its looking unlikely now

unfortunately I damaged that little central rubber sealing grommet on the other one , they are an absolute pig to fit and manage to tear it so awaiting a replacement from eBay before I can fit the other one

quick spin around the block and no sign of a leak but really needs a longer test before I confirm it as ok

Interestingly you are supposed to centre the cam actuator on the cam with a drill bit and put the rubber grommet in afterwards but that's just impossible, so hopefully it won't matter if its not exactly on centre.  Plenty on people on the YouTube vids I saw don't use the drill bit

 

[wesacosa]

Still no ABS light since I disconnected the battery.   Given that it appears to have started coming on after a flat battery perhaps the code I read and cleared on the abs sensor was an old stored code not responsible for the error ,and in fact it was some issues due to previous low battery that was making the light come on.  That might make some sense in that the ABS light (and associated malfunction messages on abs, brake assist and traction control) seemed to reset every restart and didn't always come back on immediately so perhaps disconnecting the battery whilst I did the work on the vac hose has reset something in the memory

Something to keep an eye on, but given that since I picked it up the longest it has stayed off is about 20 miles I'm hopeful as its now been off for approaching 200 miles

 

[wesacosa]

I'm starting to think this car doesn't like me

I wanted to tick the final scheduled job off the list today by doing the oil and filter change having replaced the other VCT magnet yesterday. Easy job, yes.

well no actually. 

This is what the oil filter carrier is supposed to look like

this is what it actually looks like

with the rest of it well and truly wedged down here

its quite brittle plastic so can't seem to get enough purchase on it with long nose pliers without risk of cracking it

Grr

[SiC]

Perhaps cracking it might be the way of getting it out? It's going to have to be a replacement job by the looks of it anyway.

[wesacosa]

im worried about cracking the top part off and giving me nothing to then pull the rest out if its still stuck 

[SiC]

If that happens then could always go medieval with a screwdriver and crack the remains down in there. Then use a wet vac hover or similar to remove the remnants. Is it possible to unbolt the oil filter assembly or is it part of the block? Would risk less contamination if it could be removed to be worked on.

[SiC]

I imagine it's the o-rings that are grabbing and stopping it begin removed. Can you get you fingers down there and try twisting it out? Might break the bond of the rubber/plastic and metal. Also fingers are a bit more gentle than pliers. 

[SiC]

At least if it goes completely tits up, the complete housing can be had pretty cheaply. Even if it means more expense. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256347478207

(I put a new o-ring on that though)

I think there is a Febi new for about £90 from a quick search. 

[wesacosa]

well a stroke of luck

I removed all the oil in the housing with my oil pump and the set of long nose long handled pliers I needed for the vac hose job had a 90 degrees one which fitted perfectly under the shoulder of the stuck bit. It came out in one piece and wasn't actually broken, I guess the lower o ring had stuck and the two parts unclipped from eachother instead of pulling out in one bit

 

[Back_For_More]

So you'll replace it...... Or do the same again next service? 

[wesacosa]

17 minutes ago, Back_For_More said:

So you'll replace it...... Or do the same again next service? 

it seemed ok so I just did the O rings this time and tried again. I suspect that next time if I twist the housing before pulling it then it might not get stuck .

The two parts are clipped together so nothing has actually broken it just unclipped itself 

[wesacosa]

still no milf or abs lights so calling that a win

the vct jumper harness from @Stankynever was found by Mr Postman so I had to bite the bullet and pay the extortionate price for a new one, which given its there to rectifying a poor design in the first place is a bit galling

In exciting new news its developed a horrible scraping sound

The backplate has seen better days so assuming its that. They are a bastard to change though but think there is a cheat involving cutting and shutting the new one, although could be handbrake shoes if im unlucky 

I also need to investigate the high frequency bearing type noise at idle too which seems to be coming from the alternator/supercharger area of the belt. worse cold and disappears with slight rev increase

 

 

 

[Stanky]

Re scraping noise, on mine it was the pin that held the handbrake shoes in position has pulled out of the backplate and allowed one of the handbrake shoes to flop and rub on the inner surface of the disc - take the back wheel off, lift the caliper out and pull the disc off and you'll see what I mean. It sounds serious but is easily rectified. You can replace the backplate, or just refit the sprung pin into a different place in the slot in the backplate.  The scraping noise is probabaly the sprung pin that has fallen out and is jammed into the lower one and scraping the inner edge of the disc, like this

If you do replace the backplate then cut & shut, doing it 'properly' will require a shitload more work as you need to take the hub off, bearing out and allsorts and is a giant faff. I think @Talbot used the cut and fit approach on his W210 and then welded the cut back up just for completeness?

[wesacosa]

thanks. yeah just chatting to a mate who had something similar. He went for the cut and shut with pop rivets but someone on YouTube just partially cuts it then silicones the joint

[Supernaut]

I recently did the back plates on my BMW with a very similar parking brake.

I cut out the segment that goes behind the caliper and just bashed it on.

Yes, I'm a farmer. How could you tell?

[Talbot]

1 hour ago, Stanky said:

Re scraping noise, on mine it was the pin that held the handbrake shoes in position has pulled out of the backplate and allowed one of the handbrake shoes to flop and rub on the inner surface of the disc - take the back wheel off, lift the caliper out and pull the disc off and you'll see what I mean. It sounds serious but is easily rectified. You can replace the backplate, or just refit the sprung pin into a different place in the slot in the backplate.  The scraping noise is probabaly the sprung pin that has fallen out and is jammed into the lower one and scraping the inner edge of the disc, like this

If you do replace the backplate then cut & shut, doing it 'properly' will require a shitload more work as you need to take the hub off, bearing out and allsorts and is a giant faff. I think @Talbot used the cut and fit approach on his W210 and then welded the cut back up just for completeness?

I did indeed do the Pacman cut and then reweld them back together, but not on the 210, it was on the 203 that I sold to @chaseracer.  The rear backplates were absolutely rotten on this, and although doing a cut-and-weld is a bit of a bodge, it's a lot less of a bodge than either siliconing them back together, or bodging them in some other non-electric-glue method.

I'd do the same again.. Fitting them "properly" means splitting the rear wheel bearings, which I believe needs a special tool.

Rotten backplates, allowing the shoes to run on the inside face of the "drum", which sounded AWFUL.

Fixed:

 

[wesacosa]

thanks. I took the disc off this afternoon and it is indeed as suspected, plates rotted and springs snapped for good measure

Sadly I can't weld so will have to try maybe some pop rivets and JB weld

 

[Talbot]

the trick is to not cut all the way through.  on the extreme left of the backplate as shown, it was not cut through.  You make sure there are two bolts in each half, and if you're going to pop-rivet a repair back together, make sure you've worked out which bits of the backplate the brake shoes sit against, and avoid that bit (IE go for a non-functional surface of the backplate)

[wesacosa]

thanks for the tips . will do

 

[abir246]

On 13/11/2023 at 15:12, N Dentressangle said:

Ignore all the horror stories about these cars. MB forums are full of real worriers.

It'll be fine.

I can back this up - my dad had a Y reg Avantgarde manual version. He did around 115k worth of minicabbing in it from late 06 to late 2012, and hung around with it until April 2013! Was a lovely machine, never let him down apart from the odd physical incident and a fuel filter! Lived on for another two years until it was scrapped by its next owners. Rest easy Y551 MRX!

[wesacosa]

a mixture of waiting for parts, illness and shite weather meant I have only got around to starting the backplate job today

given its been over 2 weeks without a car and I can't weld I went for the cut n shut and JB weld method with the thought that if it goes to shit I can look at maybe having it welded later

can't say im too pleased with it so far. I think strength wise for the shoes it should be ok but the joint at the calliper ended doesn't look great so pretty sure its going to snag on the disk. will see what happens when the JB weld dries but not holding out much hope. 

[wesacosa]

seems like some of the mismatch was because I had the caliper resting behind it stopping it sitting flush. doh

that said still not a great fit.  Because I was rushing it I blindly followed a man on the internet where he made the cuts but he cut under the shoe footprint rather than outside it for some reason which I subsequently noticed.   DOH. Lesson learned about using brain and not just half heartedly following

Hoping once the shoes are fixed in and JB weld cured it might actually keep it all pushed together.....

[wesacosa]

all back together. horrible noise gone but there is a small bit of scraping especially when turning so need to do some bending or snipping 

[wesacosa]

I thought I'd better check today when in May the MOT is due so I can try and be proactive and get it booked early. Turned out it was due today. Doh

Luckily they had a 4pm slot so now has 12m MOT.  Yay

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Love the advise, let’s face it all Mercs should have that from their 1st MOT!

[wesacosa]

53 minutes ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

Love the advise, let’s face it all Mercs should have that from their 1st MOT!

Ha I didn't even see that!   He didn't seem to worried just said it could do with some underseal 

[N Dentressangle]

13 hours ago, wesacosa said:

Ha I didn't even see that!   He didn't seem to worried just said it could do with some underseal 

You wonder why he even bothered writing that 🤣

New MoT is fab - good to see the car's settling down to be dependable.

[rob88h]

5 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

You wonder why he even bothered writing that 🤣

My mother always taught me; “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”

That’s why I could never be an MOT tester. Clean Pass for everyone 🤣

 

[wesacosa]

I noticed one of the rear quarters seemed to be sitting a bit low

feck 

Not sure if it's just happened or if it was missed by the MOT man (its not easy to see without removing wheel and shining torch in

 

 

[wesacosa]

I think I am at a crossroads with this car. I originally bought as a winter hack but its so far ferrying me to work and back comfortably ,reliably and returning 40mpg on a run.  However its not mutt or Sinclair C5 shifting friendly being a saloon, and I was planning to try and go a bit HMC and try and get through a few cars this year . 

Its now at the point where its going to need a few quid spending. Definitely needs two new rear springs and the rear tyres have slow punctures and are low enough on tread to likely need replacing rather than fixing. Its also got a bit of a shudder on the brakes now which I'd imagine is the front control arm bushes which are a known weak spot.   Chain wise there is definitely a rattle for 1-2 seconds on start up when its been left but you can actually hear it turn off like a switch has been pressed once you pass that time. These are also known for noisy vct actuators and tappets on start-up so not guaranteed even to be the chain 

Given its a bit* tatty (but solid) on the arches and sill corners and im already probably a grand in with purchase and repairs to date if I do the jobs needed its going to need to stay for the foreseeable to justify the expenditure. 

Decisions, decisions