Newbie: W210 - possible to keep long term, or am I completely insane?

[mj2k]

Difficult to say why it's survived so well, it's datacard shows 'delivery date 17/04/1997', and some of the late W124s had water-based paint, so presumably it was well established by then.
And I think all the ones in the UK were made in Germany (WDB) so that doesn't explain it either.
Maybe they left out those daft bits of abrasive polystyrene on the inside of the bumpers, or maybe it simply lived a pampered life. Either way I'm rather pleased

 

[mj2k]

If nothing else I now know why the W210, W220, etc rotted so badly - the paintwork was being eaten from the inside out by bacteria. Yuk!

Guess that might also explain why some survive better than others, the paint-eating bacteria were probably not multiplying so fast on cars painted in the winter / early spring.

Below paper on the problem is in German, so you might need to use Google Translate:

OPUS: Mikrobieller Befall von Elektrotauchlack in der Automobilindustrie

Aaah, and they used thinner zinc primer on post-1998 cars which must also have added to the problems.

 

[horatio]

Is the car azurite blue? Mine was as well so all the more reason to see if the scrappy still has a few parts from my old car.

The rust seems to be quite random. I've been given a '97 W202 on 142k and it's darn near rust free, even the front wings. Just weighing up whether to replace the head gasket and use it as a runaround.

 

[mj2k]

Is the car azurite blue? Mine was as well so all the more reason to see if the scrappy still has a few parts from my old car.

The rust seems to be quite random. I've been given a '97 W202 on 142k and it's darn near rust free, even the front wings. Just weighing up whether to replace the head gasket and use it as a runaround.

Yes it is, will def have to get down there then!

Aside from post-1998 cars being more prone to paint cracks because of the thinner zinc primer coating I think it must be pretty much random on a day to day basis, depending on the temperature, humidity (presumably) and how close you are to when MB last flushed the contaminated paint from their dips.

So probably the best cars are pre-97 ones made on a cold, dry winter day just after the tanks have been refilled. Worst cars are probably 98-on cars made on a humid summer day when the paint tank's run down to it's slimy, bug-infested dregs.

 

[mj2k]

Mmm, that was a weird weekend, my other half found out about my W210 collection and I was put under pressure (thankfully not literally) to dispose of one of them so I tentatively put the S210 on Ebay to keep her happy. It flew out of the door, so I'll now be concentrating on the W210.

Not quite sure how I feel about that, but at least I know it's gone to a good home where it'll get the care and attention it deserves

 

[clk320x]

Mmm, that was a weird weekend, my other half found out about my W210 collection and I was put under pressure (thankfully not literally) to dispose of one of them so I tentatively put the S210 on Ebay to keep her happy. It flew out of the door, so I'll now be concentrating on the W210.

Not quite sure how I feel about that, but at least I know it's gone to a good home where it'll get the care and attention it deserves

Wasn't expecting that

Thought you would have kept the estate...

Keep us updated anyway

 

[mj2k]

Wasn't expecting that

Thought you would have kept the estate...

Keep us updated anyway

Yeah, I wasn't expecting that either! Personally I'd have sooner got rid of the Alfa and kept the pair of Mercs but that shows no signs of selling. I was sure an S210 estate which looked as ratty as mine was sure not to shift, so advertising it for the same price as similar S210s was more an appeasement to my other half than anything else, but 'whoosh!' and it was gone!

Still, on the bright side I did make a small profit on it even after the replacement door, winder and switch panel, and I did have fun with it

I bet I must have looked decidedly shifty to the new owner when I was handing over the keys - I kept glancing nervously over my shoulder at a rather unamused-looking lady sitting in the car behind, who was of course my other half making sure I kept my promise "not to bring home any more bl**dy cars"

 

[Richard1973]

If nothing else I now know why the W210, W220, etc rotted so badly - the paintwork was being eaten from the inside out by bacteria. Yuk!

Guess that might also explain why some survive better than others, the paint-eating bacteria were probably not multiplying so fast on cars painted in the winter / early spring.

Below paper on the problem is in German, so you might need to use Google Translate:

OPUS: Mikrobieller Befall von Elektrotauchlack in der Automobilindustrie

Aaah, and they used thinner zinc primer on post-1998 cars which must also have added to the problems.

Well, it seems they may not have learnt their lesson. I'm delivering loads of new C class at the moment and they have paint issues. Lots of scratches, imperfections and water marks within the paint. Had to wait for one this morning that was having the water marks heated out in the body shop with the infra red heaters. Check closely if you are getting one!

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[mj2k]

Well, it seems they may not have learnt their lesson. I'm delivering loads of new C class at the moment and they have paint issues. Lots of scratches, imperfections and water marks within the paint. Had to wait for one this morning that was having the water marks heated out in the body shop with the infra red heaters. Check closely if you are getting one!

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Wow, that paint'll be peeling off the car in a few years time

 

[mj2k]

Wohoo!

Blimey, that gave me a shock!

The cheapo £40 Chinese rip-off multiplexer I bought works perfectly, and besides a load of OBD errors caused by low battery faults the e320 appears to be error free!

So a full set of diags for £120 (including the value of the Dell Latitude XP laptop I'm using) and a virtually glitch free car too. Happy days :bannana:

 

[Richard1973]

Well, Geoff, as the kids have named it, has decided to not start now! 120 mile round trip with no problems and now won't fire. Looks like a day under the bonnet tomorrow!

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[mj2k]

Sounds like you may be needing to get hold of some diag software too!

Once I've got the time I'll stick a quick post in the electronics section so you can see where I got my oriental special from...

It takes around two weeks to arrive so probably no use to you now, but it's cheap enough to get just on the off-chance you'll need it if you already have a suittable old PC / laptop laying around with a 9 pin serial port and Windows XP on it.

 

[a111r]

Blimey, that gave me a shock!

The cheapo £40 Chinese rip-off multiplexer I bought works perfectly, and besides a load of OBD errors caused by low battery faults the e320 appears to be error free!

So a full set of diags for £120 (including the value of the Dell Latitude XP laptop I'm using) and a virtually glitch free car too. Happy days :bannana:

Nice! I'll be popping round often, then...

 

[mj2k]

Nice! I'll be popping round often, then...

You'd certainly be welcome, though my other half may assume you're trying to sell me yet another rusty old Merc and give you some suitably scathing looks

For the benefit of Richard1973 here's the link to my quick Carsoft post:

https://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/223101-chinese-carsoft-multiplexer-works.html

 

[mj2k]

Steering wheel and cruise control switch replacement

Just replaced the worn steering wheel and damaged cruise control switch by following the instructions in:
PeachPartsWiki: Repairing Loose Turn Signal / Cruise Stalks

However I did make a couple of observations of my own whilst doing this -

• Ignore any advice about moving the wheel to allow easy access to the Torx screws. You need to have the steering wheel set so the wheels are pointing straight ahead otherwise you'll never be able to reach the screws to remove the round black thingy
• Be extremely careful removing the two horn push spade terminals - they're a very tight fit, and the cables are easily damaged

 

[Richard1973]

You'd certainly be welcome, though my other half may assume you're trying to sell me yet another rusty old Merc and give you some suitably scathing looks

For the benefit of Richard1973 here's the link to my quick Carsoft post:

https://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/223101-chinese-carsoft-multiplexer-works.html

Thanks for the link! Had the bonnet up this morning and checked fuel supply. Fuel to rail and injectors so suspect a leaky injector or dodgy fuel pressure sensor. Small squirt of easy start and it fired straight up. Got it booked in at Mercland in Nuneaton for a STAR session on Monday morning to see what's what and will go from there.

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[Richard1973]

So , poking around today trying to get Geoff (JYF, best south African accent ), and it seems I may have no movement on the flaps in the inlet, no movement on the turbo waste gate and a problem with the EGR! Oh well, we will wait and see what the STAR session reveals!

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[mj2k]

So , poking around today trying to get Geoff (JYF, best south African accent ), and it seems I may have no movement on the flaps in the inlet, no movement on the turbo waste gate and a problem with the EGR! Oh well, we will wait and see what the STAR session reveals!

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Hmmm, I've never owned a Merc CDi but from my experience with Pug / Citroen HDis I'd guess the EGR's gunked everything up. If it's anything like them, the first stage will be trying to clean the stuck components as best you can, and then try the typical French car fix - "turn it off and turn it on again"

I.e. disconnect the battery for an hour, reconnect it, reset everything (there are guides everywhere) and see if everything returns to normal when the actuators are free to move. May or may not work, but worth a try before spending silly money on repairs.

On French cars it also helps if you swear at them in French once you've disconnected the battery, not sure if you need to do that with Mercs though

 

[Richard1973]

Hmmm, I've never owned a Merc CDi but from my experience with Pug / Citroen HDis I'd guess the EGR's gunked everything up. If it's anything like them, the first stage will be trying to clean the stuck components as best you can, and then try the typical French car fix - "turn it off and turn it on again"

I.e. disconnect the battery for an hour, reconnect it, reset everything (there are guides everywhere) and see if everything returns to normal when the actuators are free to move. May or may not work, but worth a try before spending silly money on repairs.

On French cars it also helps if you swear at them in French once you've disconnected the battery, not sure if you need to do that with Mercs though

I shall work on my German swear words! I perfected my French with my 407!


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[Richard1973]

Well, have given up with the idea of doing the EGR myself for now as the weather is crap! So looking around it a bit more today and the rust isn't too bad. Worst seems to be the o/s/r well in the boot and the o/s/f inner wing where the brake pipe comes through. Will look at sorting this in the summer. Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning dirty grey leather? Got to fix the front fog light mounts and look to see why the rear fogs aren't working at all yet they don't throw a fault!

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