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

[mj2k]

The W210 once again 'insisted' I did a job on it a couple of nights ago - the boot lock plunger didn't work so I'd been using the electronic release on the centre console instead. I put my spanners, etc in the boot, closed the boot lid, and then found I couldn't open it!

Several panicked resets later I had it open, but then had to spend several hours removing the lock, dismantling it entirely, freeing bits with WD40 and carefully swapping / filing plungers so the car's current keys worked with the lock.

Talk about bossy...

 

[mj2k]

Ergh, I got a bit of a surprise earlier today when I found out we're moving next week, so I've spent this evening reassembling the 210's rear end without welding up the sills or fixing the wheelarches!

Still, I've cleaned out the muck and put fresh paint / underseal on the rear subframe mounts (the iffy paintwork on them gave me visions of W124-esque rot problems if they didn't get some preventitive maintenance soon), and it's now sitting on 4 new springs so it looks quite nice, rust aside

I'll post some pics once I've got the time, which will probably be sometime next week.

I fully expect 'madam' to throw some kind of strop because of my lack of attention...

 

[mj2k]

...And sure enough, the aircon started blowing out hot air yesterday

Still, if that's the only fault it develops before I have time to patch the sills I'll be quite happy.

If anyone's wondering why I'm going to so much bother for a non-AMG W210 it's because I love the colour, prefer the looks of it's non-AMG interior, rather like the looks of it's factory fitted AMG bodykit / wheels, and reckon it must be one of the better handling W210s since it has that 3.2 v6 set well back in the engine bay (it certainly corners better than the estate anyway).

...Also there aren't many cars around with this much 'character', though whether it's a good or bad character is entirely a different matter

 

[mj2k]

Hmmm, the e320's carrying on with it's 'character' traits - I gave it a bit of welly round the corners earlier to see if anything broke, and it handled surprisingly well for such a huge car. "Mmm, impressive" said I, and the electric headrest suddenly started working

Oh well, as promised, a few more pics:

New panel welded in beneath headlight (with lots of Hammerite, later followed with underseal):

Spring hanger plus a shedload of patching:

New springs fitted:

Wheels back on:

Final result (must get a better pic in the daytime)

Must get some decent shocks and maybe some Goodyear Eagle Asymmetrics when funds allow, it might handle as well as my Pug once that's done

 

[nick73]

I had a 320CDi a few years back- the most comfortable car I had driven. It had earlier had some kind of oil leak, which had completely covered the sub-frame- so there was zero rust there! A bit on the front arches, apart from that- a lovely car which I miss

 

[mj2k]

I had a 320CDi a few years back- the most comfortable car I had driven. It had earlier had some kind of oil leak, which had completely covered the sub-frame- so there was zero rust there! A bit on the front arches, apart from that- a lovely car which I miss

ha ha, nothing like an oil leak for keeping the rust at bay, think that's why so many Morris Minors survived

 

[mj2k]

I'm now in my new house, lovely large garage and unfortunately very posh neighbors so my grinding is going to be very limited from now on.

To try and mitigate this I've ordered a set of pattern rear wheelarches so I can just cut the arches out and weld new ones in, since this should be quicker and quieter than patching the ends of the sills and then grinding down the arches to bare metal.

Also since they're galavanized I should save myself having to repeat this procedure too many times.

 

[Smart320]

You can always hope that your posh neighbor is a Mercedes fan and is happy to escape to your garage to assist you with your renovation

 

[mj2k]

You can always hope that your posh neighbor is a Mercedes fan and is happy to escape to your garage to assist you with your renovation

Ahh, that'd be nice. But one side is a housemistress in a public school, and the other side is a 70+ year old couple with very plummy accents so unless the posh teacher's got a secret liking for rolling around on the ground covered in oil I think my chances are pretty small

 

[Smart320]

Am 70 and would be happy to help if I lived next door. Unfortunately I don't

 

[Richard1973]

Well, mine is about to get some much needed work. Inlet manifold and egr ordered to clean up ready to fit. Ordered a set of rear suspension spheres to do also. Just got to order the fuel line not yet replaced that goes to the fuel rail.

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[mj2k]

Back again at last, after much fiddling with the home internet connection, wrangling with the garage which currently has my Alfa, and eventually the sale of my much loved Pug 306 cabriolet to make room for the not-so-much-loved Alfa in my garage.

The W210 is a dream car for round where I live - the V6 is comparatively light and fitted well back in the engine bay, and that combines with my stiffened / lowered springs and the big AMG wheels to give it unexpectedly nifty handling through the twisty country roads. And the decent standing quarter time for the e320 means I can pull out of an inadequate junction near where I live onto a psycho-infested dual carriageway during the rush hour without fearing for my life, like I did in my Pug cabrio...

Even better, despite all the bumps and twists the front suspension's showing no signs of collapse, though I am going to need to buy new droplinks / bushes to stop it clonking when it hits potholes.

Work-wise I haven't had the chance to look at the rear arches yet (I need to have the Alfa in a usable state before I can take the 210 off the road) but I have done a couple of other tasks:

1) Fix the broken driver's headrest and electric adjustment - check
2) Sort out the weird buzzing noise from the interior lights and fix the rear light - check
3) Sort out the stuck rear electric windows - check
4) Fix interior boot release - check
5) Work out why aircon / ventilation is so poor - identified fault with heater controls, waiting for 2nd hand part
6) Fix iffy brake light - waiting for new pattern-part o/s/r light cluster to arrive

 

[mj2k]

Aircon is now fixed, I replaced the heater controls and could hear the fan going nice and fast, but there still wasn't anything much coming out of the vents. So I removed the cover under the engine bay, cleaned out the accumulated grot and checked the control flap opens and closes as it should do - no difference.

So I then started to get ready to strip down the heater, and noticed the W210's got a pollen filter. I dropped this out, and it looks like it's never been replaced - it was black and covered in bits of old leaves. So I pulled it out, ordered a new one and looosely put it back together for the time being, and got a howling gale through the vents. Result!

So the moral there is - if your blower's working fine but nothing much is coming through the vents, drop the plastic panel from under the glovebox and checkout the pollen filter before doing anything else.

Rear light fault warning isn't permanently fixed yet - I fitted a brand new cluster, but still get intermittent bulb failure warnings, so will need to do some more investigation.

Also I ordered the W210 some nice new front and rear ARB links, and ordered a full set of fast-road Polyflex (well, strongflex actually) bushes for the princely sum of £149, so another good result :bannana:

 

[Richard1973]

Parts arrived today and absolute bonus, the spheres are brand new! Never been fitted, and only £50 for the pair. New manifold is good and have started cleaning out the crap , even though it is probably not as bad as mine. Also ordered the remaining fuel pipes required, Inchcape Mercedes in Derby were really helpful and are open on Saturday until 4pm for parts, always handy to know.

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[mj2k]

My Alfa's back now (tbh it's too close to call which one I prefer to drive fast, even though the W210's worth 1/10 the price of the GTA) so the W210's coming offroad tomorrow, unless anything big drops off the Alfa in the meantime...

The polybushes arrived on Thurs, I've got uprated arb links on back-order and rear wheelarch repair panels sitting in the garage, so it'll be 'all systems go' as soon as I can get a few minutes to myself in the garage. Angle grinding will have to wait for next Sat morning at the earliest though, so as not to disturb the neighbours.

 

[Richard1973]

Everything ready for a busy day tomorrow!

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[Richard1973]

All done apart from the spheres. What a difference it's made! Car now pulls hard and goes like a train! No smoke either. Only issue is an EPC fault which keeps popping up and spoiling the new found performance. Will have to get that diagnosed. Anyone thinking of doing the EGR, it's time we'll spent. It's a wonder it ran as well as it did looking how gummed up it was, and the swirl flaps were stuck shut!

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[Richard1973]

Mot passed today! Only advisories were n / s / f wheel bearing adjustment, slight corrosion to fuel pipes, steering rack end slight play and exhaust silencer surface corrosion. Other jobs that came to light were the front shocks could do with replacing and there is corrosion to the o / s / f inner wing which will require attention before the salt gets on the roads again.

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[mj2k]

Nice one

I haven't even started looking at the E320 yet, as usual the Alfa developed an expensive fault as soon as I drove it more than 5 miles, so I'll have to fix that before I take the W210 off the road properly.

 

[Richard1973]

Got it going for the injectors to be sorted on Friday as the starting lucky dip is becoming a nuisance!

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