My R129 500SL Progress

[MD5]

Mark, what an enjoyable thread, and thanks for posting. It's great to see the rarer colour schemes, and I love the addition of suede. Is it going to be a keeper?

I've 'replaced' my 96 500 three times now over the years, but still can't bear to part with it. You may have prompted me into giving it some tlc. The problem is, I don't have your skills or facilities! Anyway, I taxed it last month, so that's a start, and I might run a bath for the soft top liner!

 

[MarkGolf997]

Hi Mike,

Thank you! It is a keeper, I'm not a car flipper as I get a bit attached and with the time and effort, I'd certainly be running a loss. If my perfect spec low mile SL came up for a decent orice, I could be tempted but at the price that would go for, I can't see me letting go.. Its my biggest passion and hobby so that helps motivate me to get things done.

Ship it down to me and I'll gladly get it up to scratch if it's lacking it's sparkle The soft top liner made a huge difference, I thought I was going to have to give it a scrub while in place but then I noticed that it's dead easy to remove.

 

[MarkGolf997]

Boring update from the weekend, spent some time on Sunday poking around in an attempt to work out what the hell is going on with my passenger mirror.

With the engine running or just ignition on, it moves by itself constantly, in 1 direction and I have no control over any of the mirror or steering wheel when using the buttons. With just the drivers door open and key out, everything works perfectly apart from my dash warning lights lighting up gradually when using the electric miror switch up and left and same for steering column adjustment switch.

I pulled the passenger seat up (totally removed it eventuall), so that I could lift the carpet and check wiring and earths. Annoyingly, everything was perfect. I check the door loom, pretty much everything in that area wire by wire and no issues were spotted. I ended up looking in to why my headlight main beam flash doesn't work as well, I can get the main beams to illuminate when I push the stalk away but I get nothing when I pull it back.. I ended up discovering that when i pull the stalk, I only get 0.4-0.6 volts as an output, so power isn't getting here for some reason. I had to down tools at this point so TBC.

Here is what the passenger footwell looks like when the carpet and cover is removed.

That little block mounted on the left is a power distribution block.

Just some wires that I have to look through

Seat up, ended up removing incase it dropped and crushed my arm, it is REALLY heavy!

I ended up cutting the case on the N10 to investigate that and it appears I have some dead diodes on a line which does join to fuse 11, I haven't completed my investigation here but it may well be related to my main beam flash.

This is time consuming stuff but I really hope I can crack this all myself and share the info as I can't be the only one with these problems and finding out answers to certain problems online on this car is really hard.

Here are the Philips PH-17G diodes some have no continuity so I'll be replacing those.

 

[MD5]

Ship it down to me and I'll gladly get it up to scratch if it's lacking it's sparkle

Thanks for the offer, Mark, but you have actually inspired me to do it myself! I haven't used the car since September last year, so I will be getting it out of the garage soon. I wish I could throw a few suggestions your way re the door mirror, but hopefully someone else can and good luck with a solution.

Aside from that, another weak spot to check is the condition of the loom as it enters the boot lid via the hinge (on the offside, iirc). Over time, the loom casing breaks with the continuous up and down movement, exposing the wires. This has caused me a variety of problems in different cars, from dash warning lights to interior the boot light staying on etc.

Keep up the good work!

 

[MarkGolf997]

Cheers Mike! Hope it goes well sorting the car.

Door mirror is solved, someone had been playing with wires, god knows who had this car along the lines but I've found some really strange things which wouldn't have come from the factory but all ok now, just need a light module to hopefully restore the flasher!

A HUGEEEEEEEEEE thanks to Zonergem, he saw my need for the lock cover and offered to send me a spare for free, so so good of him and it really helped me out as Mercedes were unable to spot the sole part on their system without supplying me the hole rear panel.

Really happy with that!

I decided to clean the wheel bolts up a bit, paint the bodies and give the head a polish.

While wheels off, give the arches a wipe and top up protection to the plastics with Aerospace 303.

Once the weather cooled, I decided to give the car a wash and begin a through machine polish to de-swirl it, I ended up just doing the bonnet and roof as it was so damn hot out, it took an age too!

Once I washed the dust off, dried the panel, I could see a perfect mirror relfection, no swirls when just catching the light. I can't wait to finish the whole car but I think I will do this after I have the drivers wing rust spot sorted.

 

[MD5]

I decided to clean the wheel bolts up a bit, paint the bodies and give the head a polish.

Mark, looking at your wheel bolts, may I suggest you change them for the later, shorter type? There are many reports on the official owners' club forum of the longer bolts shearing with unfortunate consequences.

 

[MarkGolf997]

Thanks! I am trying to locate some replacement bolts, I'd like to find ones with extended heads rather than thicker shafts but upon an initial google search, not found them..

Glad to say that I've finally got the car booked in to Mercedes for a service!! Mercedes Guildford will be doing this. I know I could do it myself but I'd like to keep the stamped history up and have another pair of eyes go over it, also booked for an MOT this coming weekend.

 

[zipdip]

Ok so you are having a MOT,reading your thread you have done a lot of work just how many miles have you driven this car,if not a lot,might I suggest you give the car a run,or make certain you rev it and get the car free from any crude in the exhaust system,with the new MOT you need to be with the car and keep the revs around 3000 for a couple of minutes before it goes on the ramps,would hate to see it fail after all the work you have put in.

 

[MarkGolf997]

Thanks for the advice, I’d like to think it’s going to sail through. Nothing appears wrong and it goes well when need be. I think I have done around 800 miles in it now which is pretty high for me over 3 months, a mixture of commute, odd pub run and general driving.

I took it to brands hatch on Sunday which is around a 100 mile round trip and it was perfect

I just need to figure out the main beam flasher! Ekkk

 

[flowrider]

Ok so you are having a MOT,reading your thread you have done a lot of work just how many miles have you driven this car,if not a lot,might I suggest you give the car a run,or make certain you rev it and get the car free from any crude in the exhaust system,with the new MOT you need to be with the car and keep the revs around 3000 for a couple of minutes before it goes on the ramps,would hate to see it fail after all the work you have put in.

I think this good advice is more relevant to diesel cars fitted with DPF's.

 

[MarkGolf997]

Hi Guys,

Sooo, I've found a Porsche 928 which needs a bit of TLC, I have wanted one since I was a kid but was just never brave enough due to the issues they can have.. Unfortunetly, something needs to go and that would have to be the SL

I'm still deciding and the guy with the 928 needs to find the paperwork for the car so I may have time with the SL. Having a passion for Porsches, I feel I need to scratch the itch, bad timing as I would at least like to finish this car off with the service and rust repair and I was planning on taking the car to Reims for a long weekend at the end of July... Tough decision for me, I love this car and with this weather we're having, it's amazing but the 928 is a car I'd love to own and I think I would regret not getting a car of the spec and supposed provenance this one has for the money.



Ahhhh I need more time and room!!!

 

[MarkGolf997]

Not heard from the 928 guy so I'm continuing as normal with my SL.

I had planned to give it a thorough clean last night so that it's looking good for the MOT, I have a thing about taking cars for an MOT as if I was going to a show.

I had just received a new wax I wanted to try, came from Japan and there are some big claims behind it. Ultimate beading, protection, lasts 12 months etc etc. I had seen great things about it on YouTube and I'm a sucker for detailing products so had to go for it and the SL was the perfect car for it.

Firstly, I gave the car a wash and then as I had already machine polished it to an OK standard, I just used a hand cleanser to prep the surface for the wax. It was then a case of wax on, wax off. The wax goes on so smoothly anc omes off easily if you haven't left it on too long.

The results are good, it's not the glossiest wax I've seen and it doesn't claim to be but I went for this for good protection and longevity as i just dont have to time to keep re-waxing cars like I used to.

It got late but thankfully it was the longest day!

The sparkle in the paint really comes out, it is a beautiful colour when the light hits it!

Next up, MOT!! I can't see why it shouldn't sail through.

 

[MarkGolf997]

What a perfect weekend for the SL, I had a nice drive through the country, sadly with the roof on but this car is something else! Cruising along with minimal traffic along open country roads with radio off and windows down, relaxing and effortless drive, I was loving it!!

This was after a morning MOT which the car passed, no advisories!! 2 testers said they rarely see one so clean and liked the clean inner arches They said it's very dry underneath and solid. Looks as though theexahust has been off recently but can't see why other than there are some new bolts and someone has painted it, perhaps rusty bolts were changed, eitherway it's fine so no worries there.

Brake test was perfect, emissions were well within the green zone and all checks passed.

Looking forward to the service now, hopefully it will feel even better after some fresh decent oil

 

[C43AMG]

Where is it being serviced ?

 

[BTB 500]

The OP mentioned it was going to MB Guildford for the service. They would have done the MOT for £10

 

[C43AMG]

I didn't see that post Bill I would have suggested your MB because you take your SL there

 

[MarkGolf997]

Yep, MB Guildford, they failed to call me back twice but I was determined for that Mercedes main dealer invoice/stamp, eventually I got through to someone who sorted it all out and was very helpful.

I have to say, my experience with the 2 Mercedes dealers and 1 specialist has been the worst of any car brand I've owned. BMW, Ford and Porsche, main dealers and specialists, the process has always been smooth but the Mercedes experience has left a bad taste, I'm sure it's just because it's an old one but if they offer the service, the customer service should be equal across all age/value cars.

 

[BTB 500]

I've had pretty good service from MB Guildford - my 129 has been going there for nearly 14 years now. For a couple of years they collected it from my house and delivered it back again free of charge as it turned out that one of the service team leaders lived nearby. They also suggested dropping from annual servicing to every 2 years (because of the low mileage it does), and have been OK about me supplying my own oil for servicing when I've remembered to buy it in advance. I actually had a call from them asking if I'd be prepared to sell the car as one of the staff wanted to buy it!

 

[MarkGolf997]

Ohh, I was thinking about supplying my own oil. I'm not sure what these take but I have a stock of Catrol Magnatec 10/40.

What do they change when you supply your own oil?

 

[BTB 500]

Ohh, I was thinking about supplying my own oil. I'm not sure what these take but I have a stock of Catrol Magnatec 10/40.

What do they change when you supply your own oil?

I supplied Mobil 1 from Costco as that's what they used anyway. Annoyingly the 500 takes 8 litres and it came in 5 litre containers, but they always returned the remaining 2 litres!

There's not a lot else touched on an A service - many of the items are checks. My one last year was £306, that was with them supplying the oil though and doing a brake fluid change too.