johnand

http://www.tintprotector.com/

johnand

Figured it was fitting to have my 2000th post be in my thread. Since I did the same at 1000: https://mbworld.org/forums/4156083-post175.html

Not much to report since last time, the Benz hasn't been driven in quite a while, due to me having to take my dog with me to work everyday. He is doing better, so it is time to get all the maintenance done to the Benz I have been putting off for months. Plus, I need to finally roll it to 100K miles. Look for pics and summary coming soon.

LILBENZ230

I won't hold my breath! Neglecting the C230 in favor of a dog, the audacity of it... lol

Not an animal person, myself. I don't ever bother trying to have a pet because I'm of the mindset that a pet should never cost more than it would cost to euthanize. Cat get sick, cost $75 for medicine or $50 to euthanize.. adios fluffy!

I'm just kidding.


(no, really, I'm not.)

mskembo

Lil, that's awful! I don't see how I could ever justify thousands of dollars of surgery for one of my dogs, but I have kids to think about too (colleges, weddings, ect). If they are your "kids" I get that.

LILBENZ230

If my C230 had been a pet, I'd have euthanized it for sure this month.

johnand

Neglect?!?! That is not neglect by letting it sit in the heated garage over the winter. Plus, it increases it's reliability

You are not a pet person, I get it, and won't hold it against you

Mike, EXACTLY. Even with my dogs $5K surgery, and all the costs of caring for ALL my dogs over their lifespan, I won't spend even a small fraction of what you will spend on just 1 or your kids My wife and I decided to not have kids, so yes, our dogs are like our kids. (Some parents get pissed when you call dogs kids )



The Benz will get a detail this weekend and finally hit the 100K mark next week if the weather holds out.

LILBENZ230

If you think that makes them mad you should see how mad they get when you call their kids dogs.

mskembo

So far it hasn't been too bad! The stepson has no interest in going to college (sucks, but I can't make him do it) so I don't have to pay for him. My oldest daughter is trying to get into the USAFA, and if she does will get paid to go to college, and if that fails she has scholarship offers coming out of the wood-work. All the rest are too young to be able to judge how it's going to go. It's the weddings that terrify me...

I could care less when people call their dogs kids, but when they start equating what their pets are doing to what someone's kids are doing I loose all respect for them. Sample conversation:

"Johnny was accepted to Harvard, and got a partial scholarship!"
"Oh! That's great! Did I tell you that Mr. Sniffles was just named best behaved at Kitty Kare? They say he's one of the best behaved cats they've ever seen. He NEVER claws the couches, or sprays the other cats."

johnand

So, my Benz finally rolled 100K this week. The bad news, is I wasn't driving so I didn't get to see it. But, since I have the coolest wife ever, she took a video of it flipping:
Here is a pic too:

LILBENZ230

Your DD now is the Tiguan, is that right?

congrats on 100k. Can't believe you were once ahead of me in mileage and now I am 35k ahead of you.

kluvsbenz

Congrats!! I am at 92k right now. Can't wait til I hit the century mark!!

tommy

Congrats, the wife's a keeper!

johnand

No, the Tiguan is just the DD for winter. Trying to relieve some wear and tear on the Benz, so I mainly drive it when the weather is good.

The Benz will see 12-15K a year now instead of 25K-30K a year. I suspect I still have the highest mileage 07 on the board, but probably not for long now.

Thanks! The odometer looks weird to me now

Thanks, that she is

LILBENZ230

Highest mileage perhaps but still one of the nicest 07s for sure. I'd buy yours over a 50k mile 07 any day.

Glyn M Ruck

Congrats! Just run in.

ecaman77

Congrats on the 100k John.

The car is looking great.

johnand

So, I have been having some slight rough idle and hesitation lately on occasion, so I decided to do some much needed maintenance. I replaced the spark plugs and finally the other 3 camshaft magnets. The plugs were 10K overdue (I am at 101K miles now), and looked as I expected. Here is a pic of the 6 plugs: (Click for hi-res original)



The gap on all the plugs was .036-.040, and they all just had typical light carbon deposits. But 2 of the plugs have me a little nervous. See the plugs on the far left and right? Those are out of the 2 cylinders closest to to firewall, and they have a coating of oil, or fuel reside on them. Not sure what is going on there?

The magnets were pretty easy to change using the box end wrench trick from the P0012 thread. Had to also remove the camshaft position sensor to get the driver's side intake magnet out because of the clearance issues with the oil cooler.

Car seems to run smoother and so far, rough idle and hesitation are gone.

BenzoBoi

Glad to hear the car is running nice and strong again! Congrats on 100K+

Glyn M Ruck

I would not loose sleep over the rear cylinders. Might just have been a slightly wet stop or plugs. 100K is a long way on a set of plugs. On the 112 my plugs were toast at 45,000Km's due to my in-town service cycle. Spluttery starts.

I'll bet if you pulled one of the new plugs after a run it would be fine.

johnand

Glyn,

After more reflection, I think it just might be just some fuel, as I moved the car out of the garage and parked in the driveway and back twice before I changed the plugs, so it had several cold starts, 1-2 minute runs, in a row.

Yes, 100K is a long time on a set of plugs, and easily more than double of any interval I have ran in any of my vehicles in the past. I was expecting them to be completely trashed, but they looked pretty damn good. Bet I could have cleaned and re-gapped them and run them for a while longer. Those Bosch Platinum/Iridium plugs are VERY durable. Should be for the cost

MW_ATL

Congrats on the 100K mark! One of the best looking sedans out there.

And a bit late to chime in on the pets/kids things. I have often looked at people and pointed out that my cats won't want to borrow my car! . (And the boy has the personality that would borrow it, race it, break something and not even win!) But the are definitely our kids.

LILBENZ230

I'll agree with that (one of the best looking sedans).

I ran 100k on my plugs, too. Thought it was average lifespan (I come from Hondas?). My plugs looked OK, but I do a lot of long distance driving on the highway.

nlpamg

+1

very nice, John!

Glyn M Ruck

Yep - The Bosch plugs are very durable now that we have no lead errosion to worry about. Just never put them anywhere near one of those old grit blasters or they are toast. Best way to clean them is a long trip but on my old banger I had no intention of changing 12 plugs to clean them when they were FOC under motorplan.

mikroehl

great updates... just took me forever and read all of them!