Frederick NL

Frederick NL

No overwhelming cue of reactions here, but I found out the obvious way - asking someone selling an R230 in my country, on the internet. I must have been sleepwalking not thinking of that in the first place.

So he gave me the maker or brand and part number:
Burger 27R03899. At least in my Euro car, it fits in a dedicated storage compartment in the boot. Frees me from a compulsory accessory, swirling around in the trunk.

MJ50

moved to R230 forum...

alk247

It is not required in the US and not supplied with the car. So, with most users here from US, it is not surprising, that no one was able to help you.

Rudeney

Not only is it not required in the USA, but the triangle that MBZ uses does not meet our DOT requirements and therefor cannot be used. Years ago, all MBZs were shipped to the ports here with the triangles in place, and they were then removed by our customs officials before being trucked to dealers. I guess MBZ figured it was less expensive to let our government handle this job rather than deal with it at the factory. I think eventually, US customs must have threatened to fine them or charge for disposal of the triangles, because they did stop putting them into US-bound models.

Frederick NL

I know! 🤗 Thanks.

alk247

By the way, I was wondering, why is it not required in the US (neither is a bright west). Does anybody know why it is? Another interesting difference is that most if not all European designed cars have fuel door on the right side, while US designed could have it on either side. My guess is that in Europe used to be (and, possibly, are still left in some places) fuel pumps on the side of the road, where traffic goes by the car being fueled. So it is unsafe to have it on the left side. I have never seen such a pump in the US.

Frederick NL

Don’t remember any such gas station layout in The Netherlands. It wouldn’t make much sense filling up on the lift side I guess?
Jaguars used to have 2 filler caps, L+R. Running gag would be it took two pumps to keep up with the engine (‘can you switch her off? I can’t get her full’).

alk247

Unfortunately, I have never been to Holland, but I do recall such stations in small towns in Alps. Not sure if it was in Germany or Switzerland. And it was some time ago, frankly.

Rudeney

The issue with the fuel filler side is just one of convenience. There is no standard. I think it's fine that most European cars on the right, and most American and Asian makes are on the left. It make it easier for us Euro car drivers to find an empty pump, especially at stations with one-way in and one-way out driveways like Costco.

alk247

By the way, I think that British and Japanese cars have doors on the left for the same reason that European (outside of GB) cars have it on the right, Their left is our right. Subaru, though, is an exception - it has fuel door on the right, so having Subaru, BMW and MB in our stable, we do have small advantage in Costco.

Aussiesuede

Worth noting, especially for those who rent a lot of different makes of cars, the little picture on your fuel gauge will tell you what side of the car the gas filler is on. I've always been amazed with how many people don't seem to know that?

Rudeney

If the fuel gauge icon has an arrow, then yes, it tells you which side the filler is on, but absent the arrow, just because the gauge is on the left or right side of the cluster does not mean the filler is on the left or right side of the car.

Now, here's a funny gas gauge story. I jumped int he ML350 one day and glanced at the gas gauge and saw it was dead empty. So I stopped at the Chevron station a block down the road. My Amex card mag stripe was acting up, so I went inside to get the cashier to use the chop read and told him I'd put $50 in it. I went back out and it cut off at $4! At first I thought something was wrong, so I switched on the ignition and realized I was a complete idiot. The gauge read full - not empty! I am used to the gauge on the SL where it moves clockwise from full to empty. The ML's gauge moved counter-clockwise from full empty. Why would it move backward like that?! Of course it was clearly on "1" and not "0", but the position was the to the far right (3 o'clock) position which in the SL is "empty". Oh well, I went in the and the clerk processed my $46 refund.

alk247

I did almost the same thing, short of communications with the clerk. I couldn't figure out what is wrong - pump or my gauge - it showed half empty, but pump was switching off like tank was full. After some time, I realized, that I was looking at the temperature gauge.

Aussiesuede

It's not the gauge being on the left side or the right side of the cluster. There will be either an arrow, or an icon of a gas pump on the fuel guage. When there is no ajoining arrow, then that icon will show the "filler" either on the left side or the right side, and that corresponds to where the cars filler is.. On cars that don't choose to use the generic icon with the filler on the right side, the icon will have the filler on the left side if the cars filler ison the left side. (This applies to cars manufactured after 1996. Prior to '96, there is no definite correlation))

Where's the filler?

Frederick NL

When the red light comes on..

Well, not nearly as dumb as those two blokes above I still mixed up two adjacent gauges in my ‘66 SL more than once. Below the lower gauge it says ‘oel p’ (oil pressure) and the needle points right up, as it should. But ‘oel p’ hides behind the steering wheel 100% of the time. So, in oblivion, my reptile brain conveys the message that the tank is okay, because ‘tank’ proudly crowns that ever optimistic indicator. And there’s nothing above the upper gauge, obviously, to counter the misconception. All is fine, until a piercing red ligh issues it’s final warning.

Imagine Wales (UK), not a soul in sight within the beautiful encircling horizons.

Rudeney

Now that I did not know. Years ago (and it was back int he 90's) I used to travel a lot and a co-worker and I would argue about how to tell which side the filler was located on. His theory was whichever side of the cluster the gauge was located, but that was only occasionally accurate.

Personally, I like the filler being on the passenger side like MBZ does it. That way, my door doesn't swing into the pump or the its safety barriers. And speaking of refueling, the last two cars my wife has owned (a Jeep Grand Cherokee and now a Cadillac XT5) have had the "capless" tanks. I hate those! No matter how careful I am, i end up dripping fuel from the pump nozzle when done. On my car, I'll tap the nozzle on the filler mouth a few times to dislodge any remaining fuel, but you can't do that on the capless systems. If you do, you leave raw fuel outside of the tank. I mean, are we really too laze these days to screw a cap on the tank? And nowadays, most are tethered, so we don;t leave them on the pump anymore!

Frederick NL

Received my warning triangle (eBay), like new. It’s a very tight fit behind that enclosure, but it I guess things will settle a bit.
I just wonder if the American cars have that enclosure back there, and if so, what you guys do with it...

Rudeney

Yes, that space exists on USA models, too.