Benzin' (Top of the Stops at the Lights Edition)

[captain_70s]

Despite (because of?) the car being a pig this is a quality thread.

[Jim Bell]

The O in O-ring stands for "Oh these ones don't have O rings"

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I now have three orders for three distributor caps and three rotor arms from three different places because it turns out paying extra for -=SUPER FAST DELIVERY=- does not include super fast actually posting it in the first place. 

Not available from local factor, not in stock at any ECP/GSF I can get to after work without a car. 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Track your order >

9/12/23 3pm: order placed with EXPRESS DELIVERY (+£1,000,000)

9/12/23 4pm: being processed at our warehouse

10/12/23 12pm: sorry, we thought we had no orders yesterday, turns out the zebra printer had no labels in it

10/12/23 4pm: being processed at our warehouse

10/12/23 6pm: courier's van is idling in our loading bay just waiting to speed your parcel to you

10/12/23 6:05pm: but we didn't give it to him

11/12/23 4pm: being processed at our warehouse

11/12/23 5pm: your order is assigned and locked out on the pick gun Jim accidentally took home yesterday

11/12/23 7pm: being processed at Jim's house

[shampooefficient]

My word. What a palaver. But that is a very rare spec combo.

Watching with interest!

[stuboy]

it looks a fine beasty

[castros_bro]

Real Benzin?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Fun fact: I would much prefer to commute by bus. There is a bus which goes from my front door to my workplace, and it's on the Bee Network, so the fare is only £2. It takes about half an hour. It's great. Unfortunately, I start work far too early for it, leading to this situation:

So I am motivated to repair the car. I've also noticed some other downsides to not having a car, such as not being able to drive to places which sell car parts to repair the car.  But the post has begun to trickle in. I now need a new cap and rotor. The old rotor was seized on the shaft and didn't come off without a fight:

New Overvoltage Protection relays are very expensive. While looking at my dismantled one, I couldn't figure out why. It looked like it contained a relatively simple circuit, and if the Chinese can knock out an excellent set of wireless earbuds for a tenner (Lenovo LP5, 🥇 Conrad's Choice 🥇) then this couldn't be beyond them. Indeed, they're available on AliExpress for next to nothing. I paid a tenner for this one, and it arrived in a week. I'll chance it for a tenner - if it works, it's a great spare to carry in the glovebox. If it doesn't, then it's a good replacement case for the one I mangled. My car has the older black top OVP with one fuse, this is the later red one with two fuses. I read one website which says the red one simply superseded the black one, and they're completely interchangeable, and another which said they're completely different and not at all compatible. 👍 THE INTERNET

Also arrived - one of my new rotor arms. It's a Lucas branded one which, although compatible, appears to be a lot thinner than the old one. Still, the old one exploded so I'm not holding it up as the standard bearer of quality. Hopefully one of the new dizzy caps arrives tomorrow. The old one looked alright when examined by torchlight in the rain, but on closer inspection it's overdue for retirement. 

This is what the contacts looked like after I tried to clean them up with a wire wheel in a Dremel:

Actually that might be a photo of my tooth, I'm too doped up on soup to tell anymore.

Another issue I'd like to address is the filthy throttle body. On this car it lives underneath the K-Jet fuel metering flap, and getting to it looks like one hell of a production. Does anyone have any suggestions for stuff that'll clean it without causing exciting new problems?

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Some photos of happier times. @alcyonecorporation took these, I hope he doesn't mind me posting. 

Being traffic rather than causing traffic. We got caught not even 10 cars behind an accident and were stuck there for over an hour. Now I think about it, the car was oddly difficult to start when we got going again. Probably nothing.

Photographic proof that I've only ever put E5 in it. Previous owner said he did too. 

Visiting Heaton Park. Good times.

[SiC]

45 minutes ago, Conrad D. Conelrad said:

K-Jet

The one technology in the automotive world that GIVES ME THE FEAR.

Because it seems that anytime someone touches or even sneezes on any part of it

causing exciting new problems

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

32 minutes ago, SiC said:

The one technology in the automotive world that GIVES ME THE FEAR.

Because it seems that anytime someone touches or even sneezes on any part of it

 

 

This has KE-Jetronic, that’s good ol’ K-Jet with modern fripperies like an ECU but unencumbered by modern nonsense like fault codes. It’s really quite simple, if you look at the following diagram of how it works:

 

…and from what I read, it’s super simple to figure out faults except for the fact that every one of the components appears to cause every conceivable symptom an engine can suffer from. 

[Asimo]

1 hour ago, Conrad D. Conelrad said:

This is what the contacts looked like after I tried to clean them up with a wire wheel in a Dremel

Point of order: not contacts, the rotor arm does not touch the electrode in the distributor cap,  just needs to be close enough for the spark to jump. 

[stuboy]

17 minutes ago, Asimo said:

close enough for the spark to jump. 

 

[alcyonecorporation]

I like this car even though it is a skittish little biyatch. I don't even like Mercs (MERC'S) all that much, so consider yourself lucky. 
 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

The new rotor arm and cap finally arrived! Except they forgot to put the rotor arm in the box!! What service. 

Thank goodness I had the Lucas one. With those fitted I drove around for half an hour with no issues, but that means nothing. Stay tuned to see if it gets me both to and from work tomorrow. 

[alcyonecorporation]

[Dave_Q]

On 13/12/2023 at 20:54, Conrad D. Conelrad said:

This has KE-Jetronic, that’s good ol’ K-Jet with modern fripperies like an ECU but unencumbered by modern nonsense like fault codes. It’s really quite simple, if you look at the following diagram of how it works:

 

…and from what I read, it’s super simple to figure out faults except for the fact that every one of the components appears to cause every conceivable symptom an engine can suffer from. 

That London is sure going to have a lot of tube lines in 2085, at least that's what this appears to be showing

[SiC]

How do you select cold air from the vents?

[captain_cal]

It's not cold air, it's small air.

[grizz]

Great thread, not so good times. 
 

I do feel and understand your pain. 
 

Caddy is also on probation. 
 

First 20 miles of real world use after new ECU were a pleasure as expected. 
 

I hope you get that sooner than later. 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

10 hours ago, SiC said:

How do you select cold air from the vents?

Turn the knob all the way to the bottom until it clicks. The car has a conventional water valve, but it’s open all the time, with the temperature governed by vacuum operated mixer flaps. The water valve only closes when you turn the knob all the way to the click. 
 

The outboard face level vents change temperature, but the centre ones are fresh air only. This is by design, an old Merc quirk which leads to countless forum threads by people who think their heater is defective.  This might have been a good idea when the cars were new (although for the life of me I can’t think why)  but these damn vents never seal properly and in this and both the 124s there always was a small stream of ice cold air leaking through them. 

[Volksy]

I'm interested to see how you get on with the cheap OVP Relay, I've ordered one from Autodoc at £79 and a couple of the cheap 'aftermarket' ones. Should be arriving today.

As mentioned mine will cut out occasionally, and doesn't seem to follow any sort of pattern, atmosphere/temperature etc. So the OVP is the last thing to change. It should* improve fuel economy too.

 

[grogee]

Ace thread and I've been lusting after a 190 or E class from this era and obviously all these 'idiosyncrasies' just make me want one more: "He doesn't know how to fix it. He doesn't treat it right. I'm the only one who could look after it and fix it in an afternoon..." 

That sort of thought process. The reality is I'd be less able to run the bastard than you and would have to rely on my classics* for actual transport. 

My only hope is that you get so fucked off with it you have to sell it to me at a pittance, then I magically fix it forever by changing a fuse. 

[320touring]

1 hour ago, Conrad D. Conelrad said:

Turn the knob all the way to the bottom until it clicks. The car has a conventional water valve, but it’s open all the time, with the temperature governed by vacuum operated mixer flaps. The water valve only closes when you turn the knob all the way to the click. 
 

The outboard face level vents change temperature, but the centre ones are fresh air only. This is by design, an old Merc quirk which leads to countless forum threads by people who think their heater is defective.  This might have been a good idea when the cars were new (although for the life of me I can’t think why)  but these damn vents never seal properly and in this and both the 124s there always was a small stream of ice cold air leaking through them. 

Fresh air only is to keep the driver awake😁

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

7 hours ago, Volksy said:

I'm interested to see how you get on with the cheap OVP Relay, I've ordered one from Autodoc at £79 and a couple of the cheap 'aftermarket' ones. Should be arriving today.

As mentioned mine will cut out occasionally, and doesn't seem to follow any sort of pattern, atmosphere/temperature etc. So the OVP is the last thing to change. It should* improve fuel economy too.

I will post my findings. Or my unintended parkings. I looked at the variety of aftermarket OVPs but I was concerned that the sub £100 ones on Autodoc were just the same £10 AliExpress one with a brand etched on. Do let us know what differences you find when they arrive. 

6 hours ago, grogee said:

Ace thread and I've been lusting after a 190 or E class from this era and obviously all these 'idiosyncrasies' just make me want one more: "He doesn't know how to fix it. He doesn't treat it right. I'm the only one who could look after it and fix it in an afternoon..." 

That sort of thought process. The reality is I'd be less able to run the bastard than you and would have to rely on my classics* for actual transport. 

My only hope is that you get so fucked off with it you have to sell it to me at a pittance, then I magically fix it forever by changing a fuse. 

A few years ago, Junkman bought a 2.8i Granada, with K-Jet. We could NOT get the fucking thing to run, despite everything individually appearing to work. I flogged the car on eBay for him. A year later I stuck the reg into the thing and it had an MOT, so I dug through my emails and asked the buyer what they did to repair it. I was terrified he'd say something like "oh yeah, the king lead wasn't pushed onto the coil properly" but he reeled off a list of replacement parts - they'd basically replaced the injection system from the tank to the injectors. 

At one point Junkman's workbench looked like a Bosch R&D lab. We had probably three K-Jet systems in bits, milk bottles with injectors squirting in them, all sorts of shite. Should've just stuck a carb on it!

[Volksy]

The £79 Autodoc one arrived today, I'll post a photo of it when I get home, as I dropped it and the car off at home earlier. 

Its interesting, as it seems to be made of a solid piece of Alloy rather than a bendy metal plate covering. It's the red top double fuse one, as with you, I had been told that it simply supersedes the single fuse one which are NLA. 

As I was tinkering with it the other day, my neighbour came out for a nosey. I know he's a semi retired Private Jet pilot, but what I didn't realise is that he also ran a Bosch Centre. He explained all the workings of the FI system, then casually mentioned that he has all the special tools etc to recalibrate the KE - Jetronic system fitted to mine. 

So I WILL be taking him up on the offer of a tune up once the OVP is fitted!

[HMC]

42 minutes ago, Conrad D. Conelrad said:

I will post my findings. Or my unintended parkings. I looked at the variety of aftermarket OVPs but I was concerned that the sub £100 ones on Autodoc were just the same £10 AliExpress one with a brand etched on. Do let us know what differences you find when they arrive. 

A few years ago, Junkman bought a 2.8i Granada, with K-Jet. We could NOT get the fucking thing to run, despite everything individually appearing to work. I flogged the car on eBay for him. A year later I stuck the reg into the thing and it had an MOT, so I dug through my emails and asked the buyer what they did to repair it. I was terrified he'd say something like "oh yeah, the king lead wasn't pushed onto the coil properly" but he reeled off a list of replacement parts - they'd basically replaced the injection system from the tank to the injectors. 

At one point Junkman's workbench looked like a Bosch R&D lab. We had probably three K-Jet systems in bits, milk bottles with injectors squirting in them, all sorts of shite. Should've just stuck a carb on it!

Enzo Ferrari was also no fan, he reconned if EFI was the norm, and someone came up with something as elegant as a carb, it would be the new big thing. Mind you he also Told Paul Frere that aero was for people who couldnt  build decent engines.

[HMC]

ps my xmas wish is for @Junkman to return 

[chaseracer]

6 minutes ago, HMC said:

ps my xmas wish is for @Junkman to return 

That would be an excellent thing.

[Surface Rust]

8 hours ago, Conrad D. Conelrad said:

Turn the knob all the way to the bottom until it clicks. The car has a conventional water valve, but it’s open all the time, with the temperature governed by vacuum operated mixer flaps. The water valve only closes when you turn the knob all the way to the click. 
 

The outboard face level vents change temperature, but the centre ones are fresh air only. This is by design, an old Merc quirk which leads to countless forum threads by people who think their heater is defective.  This might have been a good idea when the cars were new (although for the life of me I can’t think why)  but these damn vents never seal properly and in this and both the 124s there always was a small stream of ice cold air leaking through them. 

Saab had the same permanent cold air feed to the centre vents in the 900. Must have been a northern Europe 'thing' , perhaps akin to running out of a sauna and jumping in the snow.

Good luck with the K-jet, I have also done battle with it in a 900 and can offer no useful advice.