General Discussions

Not for a 124 -sorry

Mike,

Now you're making me feel bad!

:-)

By the way, you wouldn't happen to have a spare instrument cluster, would you?

Regards,
Jim

1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Not much more -it was too cheap to pass up --which is always the hook --I have a yard and basement full of cars that were 'too cheap to pass up'.

mpm

Mike,

Yeah, but I'll bet you paid more than $300 for it!

Project cars are such fun!

:-)

Regards,
Jim

1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Hello Jim --thought you would see the humor here --a '92 300TE fell into my lap-- like you, wasn't looking for one but the price was right with 190k miles and well maintained --have put a thousand miles on it thus far-- A sewing machine.

mpmorris

Why don't you try testing them before taking them apart? The speedo should work on the principal of magnetic induction, and maybe the tach is the same way.


Francis E. Abate

Hello folks!

Well, while still looking for an instrument cluster, I decided to take matters into my own hands, so to speak. I washed all the pieces in an ultrasonic cleaner, which made a real improvement in appearance, but I still have repairs to do.

That leads me to my big question: Both the speedo and the tach have a dial indicator that is attached to a very tiny shaft. I've tried pulling on them, thinking they might simply be a press fit, but there is a limit to how much pulling I'm willing to do while being ignorant of how things are supposed to happen.

Does anybody know how you get those little pointers off the shaft they are attached to? If so, please share your wisdom. Thanks!

Best Regards,
Jim


1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Not sure why you cannot e-mail me, but my address is jim at radio design dot com (of course without the spaces).

Send me pictures, front and back, and I'll be able to tell right away. Thanks!

Regards,
Jim


1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

hmm, I'd send you a private message on that, but I don't see that option here. Is that a forum choice or yours?

Basically I was going to ask which numbers you were expecting?  I am sure I have a cluster here in the parts pile, no clue if it came from a 300TE, 300SE or 300E, as they've all passed through my fingers over the years.

-CTH

On to the next hurdle!

The instrument cluster is pretty trashed with water damage, schmutz and other issues. I've seen at least one for sale on the Internet that looks right, but the tach number is different, even though it says it's for an '88 TE. So:

1) Anyone know how important that is?
2) Anybody got a cluster you want to sell?

Your thoughts, please...

Regards,
Jim


1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

silicone isn't much of a lubricant, especially for steel parts.

White grease should work, as would classic "brake paste" (which is a kind of white grease these days).  After a couple of decades, it will loose most of its good properties. But until then, you should be fine.

-CTH

Well I'm stoked...

I was able to get the entire brake pedal assembly out with one bolt and four nuts. Way easier than I expected. I got the pedal off the assembly, and was able to get everything cleaned up nicely, and now it's smooth as silk.

However, before I put it back, and also the parking brake pedal assembly, I have an important question: As I mentioned in a previous posting, these pedals have a sleeve of some kind as part of the "bearing" that lets them turn freely. I'm not sure if this is soft metal, or some kind of plastic. The question is, what kind of lubricant, if any, should I put on these sleeves?

I don't want to put something on there that ultimately ruins the operation of the assembly, but I do want to put something on there if it's supposed to be there, to reduce wear and make the operation smoother. I have many, many options available to me, from light silicone, to heavy silicone, to lubriplate, to "liquid bearings" to who knows what...

Is there an official lubricant for these things? If someone has knowledge, please share. Thanks!

Best Regards,
Jim


1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Hello all, here's an update!

It's not fixed, but I found it...

The water leak I've since fixed got into the main sleeve bearing of the brake pedal and has gunked it up, making the pedal action stiff. The spring simply doesn't have enough strength to make the pedal return all the way. I unhooked the braked servo from the pedal, and all of that became immediately apparent.

Now I have the wonderful task of getting all that stuff out, cleaning it up and re-lubing the assembly. What fun! Not...

Regards,
Jim


1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Greetings!

Well, some progress, some congress...

Got the parking brake pedal assembly freed up. Penetrating oil, a torch and some freeze spray. Cleaned it up, and now everything moves freely.

I wish I could say the same for the main brakes. Here are the symptoms:

1) The ABS indicator is on all the time.
2) If I stop hard, the ABS does, indeed, work (brakes pulse).
3) When I step on the brake, the brakes work, and work well (as would be indicated by #2).
4) The vacuum servo seems fine. Undue pressure is not needed to stop.
5) The problem: Once I step on the brake pedal, it stays down, not hard, but hard enough that I have to pull it up with my foot to make the car go.
6) It's hard enough that if I have the car in gear, it won't move at idle.
7) The pedal return spring seems OK.
8) I've tried lubricating all of the interior pedal bearings and sleeves, no change.
9) I've checked all the wheels, and when the brake pedal is pulled up, all spin freely, so no stuck calipers.

Anybody have any ideas? Thanks!

Regards,
Jim

1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Hello all,

Spent an hour or so over the weekend futzing with the dog. Put the little rubber ring in the distributor assembly, hooked up the battery, and turned they key, expecting little, if any, improvement.

Gratifyingly, the dog started right up; incredible!

Also, I've had some water intrusion into the front of the cab, and I found some plugged drains. Cleared those, and the problem seems to have been fixed (it's been raining heavily here ever since).

Progress on two fronts...

Next, some brake issues. The water intrusion has made some stuff freeze up a bit, so I've got some WD-40 soaking into some key areas, and we'll see how that works. At least I can drive it, more or less, so I can get it into the garage to work on it more, even when raining. Yay!

Regards,
Jim


1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Have you checked the OVP? This seems to be failing regularly on 80-90s cars, and producing mysterious faults.

Chris,

I took the rotor off to check it. It was originally installed correctly, but I'm waiting to put it back on until I understand the wear I'm seeing a bit better.

Thanks,
Jim


1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)
and now, 1988 300TE (White/Tan)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Umm, where is the rotor?

Chris

New developments in the dog saga...

After reading some of the advice here on the forum, I decided to pull the distributor. The rotor looks fine, as does the cap (sort of). There is, however, a round disk behind the rotor which looks damaged, and there is dust from that part coating the cap.

The pictures show the issue.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Jim











1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)
and now, 1988 300TE (White/Tan)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!

Hello all (again),

I had a few minutes between weather fronts this past weekend to do some sleuthing on the dog (AKA the 300TE). Since I realized the "clicking" module was the alarm system, I simply left that unplugged, thinking it might be messing with the engine, since it obviously thought that someone was trying to steal the car.

At first, no change. Then, after a few attempts, the engine fired and ran at idle quite nicely. However, when I tried revving the engine, it got rough, and revving it two or three times, it died, and I was back where I started.

This leads me to believe there is something intermittent, like the previously mentioned rotor bracket, or bad coil ground wire. I will check into both items when I get the next opportunity. I started loosening the distributor, but the weather was closing in, so that will have to wait until next time. The car is parked outside, and moving into the garage is not practical without a running motor, so that is the first order of business.

I will update as things progress! If anyone has more ideas, by all means post them! Thanks to all for the suggestions so far.

Best Regards,
Jim


1979 450SEL 6.9 (Black/Safran)
1987 560SL (Red/Palomino)
and now, 1988 300TE (White/Tan)

Driven with "old man" sheepskin covers!