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Ive mostly been driving my car, honestly I'm struggling what to replace it with, I would love a w211 estate however the brake problems are scary.
You mean because of the "brake-by-wire" SBC system? I have it in my SL and it works just fine. It will need to have the control unit (pump motor) replaced eventually, but it's just a maintenance part. Only the very early version had "problems" and there was a recall and warranty replacement for those.
Taking the wife's car to have 4 rims straightened & refinished. 3 of the 4 are badly (I'm told) out of true. Wife loves them potholes. While there, I'll get her winter rim set checked as well. I'm sure she whacked them out too
And since I'll be driving the car, I'm sure I'll find more things that need mending. I'm hearing the suspension groaning loudly too.
Got my AC recharged. In the recent hot (28 plus) weather the AC had been struggling to keep up especially if Id left it parking in the sun. Despite a massive file of service history from the previous owners I could see not proof of the AC having ever been serviced. MB UK recommend every 24 months! So I took it to one of my customers who has the correct machine and ran through the full test...so that's evacuate , 15 minute vacuum test, 10 minute pressure test and recharge. Both tests passed with no issues. Over the past 14 years and 152,000 miles she had lost a surprising amount of R134a.....but having done a little research it appears that up to 10% loss per years is within tolerances.....surprizing. There was supposed to be 5ml of PAG oil...and that's exactly what the machine recovered...so that's good. There should also have been 750 gram of R134a....machine recovered just 190....not so good!! Wont leave it so long next time! My car ac is really freezing now...I used to pretty much keep the dials on minimum just to keep cool.....way too cold to do that now. £40 well spent!!
Finished installing a Curt trailer hitch. No big problems, but it took a lot longer than expected. The hardware took two hours instead of one and the electrical installation took 3 hours.
Installation was simplified by using fuse slot 11 in the trunk to supply un-switched 12V to the controller. The biggest challenge was figuring out what wires to sensor. I finally took the bulb holders out and traced the connections to the bulbs.
Finally, there was a lot fiddling cleaning up the wire routes and reinstalling the panels.
Ive mostly been driving my car, honestly I'm struggling what to replace it with, I would love a w211 estate however the brake problems are scary.
I had an 05 E500 Estate, and it was great until the high miles hit. No SBC problems, but air suspension failure, 2 batteries, sensors went every week, etc. Finally I gave up, but I miss the car and the power!
If you get one, get the best tires you can afford and make sure they are rated for the weight of the car. I cheaped on tires once, and ate the rears in 10,000 miles.
Very practical, fast, handled well, was an absolute tank in the snow. If you're seriously looking, find one that's had the air suspension replaced, or go with the coil spring conversion.
Thanks, the hubs are next, after I repaint the front wheels.
Jim, when you paint your rotor hubs make sure you (1.) prep and use a primer before painting and (2.) ensure you allow the paint to cure before driving (48 hours or 24 hours with the use of a blow dryer of space heater). If you don't, under heavy brake usage (several usages at high speed) the paint will separate from the rotor, get between the pads and rotor and prematurely wear both the rotor and the pads.... The same will happen with the calipers but the rotor and pad wear will not be as dramatic...
I changed the rear engine mount/transmission mount and oh what a difference! The car feels and drives brand new again. It's amazing what a $20 part can do to the driving experience.
I changed the rear engine mount/transmission mount and oh what a difference! The car feels and drives brand new again. It's amazing what a $20 part can do to the driving experience.
I changed the rear engine mount/transmission mount and oh what a difference! The car feels and drives brand new again. It's amazing what a $20 part can do to the driving experience.
Yes very easy. 6 bolts to remove the bracket holding the mount and 2 bolts for the mount itself. 20 minutes max total. The difference is unbelievable. I'm still smiling from how smooth the car became.
Yes very easy. 6 bolts to remove the bracket holding the mount and 2 bolts for the mount itself. 20 minutes max total. The difference is unbelievable. I'm still smiling from how smooth the car became.
Good to know. That's definitely on my list of things to do.
Replaced both front (2 piston) calipers with rebuilt ones to correct vibration and uneven braking. NO problems, other than discovering that MB uses odd sized bolts in a couple of places. The caliper bolts are 18mm, whereas most spanner and socket sets go from 17 mm to 19 mm. The bleeder valves also use an odd size, but I used an adjustable for them.
At the test drive afterwards the problem seems to have gone away, which is great.
I missed my white CLK after totalling it couple years back. Last year I got a black one in pristine condition with less than 28k miles, but it was a color I didnt like: black.
I just got the car wrapped last week and it looks so much cleaner now.
05-10-2017, 04:04 PM
