W124 wiring loom query

[Imbigboned]

Morning all

I picked up a lovely e320 sportline with the dreaded knackered loom last week. (Factored in to the purchase price, so knew exactly what I was getting myself into.)

I've got a new one on the way from MB, but started to question my decision.....

Does anyone know of anyone having success in claiming the wiring loom cost back from MB for such a serious manufacturing defect?

I was thinking of complaining to MB, but only if there has been some measure of success, and not a waste of my time.

 

[Druk]

Total waste of your time. Perhaps not surprisingly they're in denial of any such problem. There was talk some time ago of the Yanks starting a class action. I've no idea if that came to anything.

Welcome to the forum BTW. If you've already factored in the price why question it now? Just fit your new loom and enjoy your car for what it is.

 

[BillyW124]

welcome bigboned!

post some pics of your 124!

As above don't worry about the loom, you've got a new one now so just enjoy.

 

[Imbigboned]

Thanks for the replies.

Wiring loom being fitted on Thursday, and then sorting out an issue with 5th gear. The 'mechanic' I bought it from kept telling me that it was a four speed auto and not a five when I mentioned that it wasn't changing into 5th! Hopefully that's going to be something minor and not the hub!

Druk. Thanks I will enjoy, and no I don't grudge paying out the money, but a part of me is saying nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Will post pics once I've got it back and had it mopped.

 

[grober]

They were last made in 1996 making them almost 18 years old now. Unfortunately even the best built machinery wears out eventually. [ ENTROPY!!] Many non Mercedes cars of that age are now rusting quietly away in scrapyards round the country. Be thankful Mercedes built them so well back then. I don't see today's complex electronic laden cars lasting as well.
ps 5th gear is effectively an electrical overdrive so problems can often be traced to the electrical actuation. http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/other/tranny_722_Mitchell.pdf

 

[Imbigboned]

Grober

Thanks. I have an 'Uncle Ronny', who is an ex MB gearbox specialist, so not too concerned about this problem.

It tickled me though to have a mechanic tell me that the car didn't have 5th fear fitted.

Needless to say, I didn't take his MOT at face value and got my own done.

At last, the sportline family is complete! Just a 6.9 to look out for now.

 

[mattc]

It tickled me though to have a mechanic tell me that the car didn't have 5th fear fitted.

Because the gearbox selector only goes up to 4 I bet

 

[kth286]

Don't let your Uncle touch the mechanical bits of the gearbox, as it is not that.

It's the electronic module for the 5th overdrive as was eluded in previous post.

There is a fault code sequence from the diagnostic socket in engine bay.

 

[Imbigboned]

Don't worry, Uncle Ronny will know what to do...

My 'Uncle Ronny' as he is affectionately called worked for Mercedes for over 40 years eventually ending up at Milton Keynes as a specialist trainer before he retired a few years ago. His specialty is gearboxes, so I'm sure he will know what to do.

Other than my trusted mechanic, my Uncle Ronny is the only man who is allowed to touch the Grosser; faith is implicit!

I call him 'Uncle Ronny' but we aren't related or anything, it's just something that stuck many years ago.

 

[Imbigboned]

Because the gearbox selector only goes up to 4 I bet

I kept on telling him, but he would listen, I chuckled all the way home, even though I was driving in 4th gear!

 

[Imbigboned]

Getting back to the original topic of this thread though....

Has anyone threatened to take MB to court over the wiring loom. I did see a story on the internet once of MB reluctantly giving in and authorise a replacement loom....

 

[jaymanek]

Would be interested to learn more about your grosser!?

 

[Imbigboned]

Alas work on the grosser is still ongoing....

Technically its not mine, it belongs to my Father who bought it in the late 80's. Quite a sad story behind it. My dad's best friend was a mechanic and they used to have one upmanship competitions with classic cars, to the point that at one stage, my dad had 7 classic mercs, all of them very rare indeed. The grosser was restored and on the road up until 1993, when my dads friend went to Mercedes in Brentford to pick up a bumper section one morning and never came back. He got a phone call in the evening from his wife saying that his friend had suffered a massive heart attack and died on his way to Mercedes. After that he sold everything apart from the grosser and lost all interest in cars. I took on the car in 2005, and have been very slowly restoring it ever since.

Uncle Ronny and I used to meet up one day a month and work on it, up until work commitments got the better of me. I would say it's got another year to 2 years worth of work on it, before it will seen on the road again.

 

[jaymanek]

I would join the M100 forum If were you.. some invaluable advice and tips on there.... there are a lot of people who have restored the 600 models.. Mostly Americans as they got most of them back in the 60's...

Its good you have Uncle Ronny as most specialists charge a fortune to work on these when in reality they are quite simple to work on, just the vast number of different systems they have blinds most mechanics...

Only a handful of specific items require specialist tooling to repair them and you have to be very careful who you use... A lot of money grabbers out there... Many tales of people sending off valuable and rare parts and either they never see them again or they come back worse than when they started..

Good luck and would love to see some pics if you are so inclined.

 

[Imbigboned]

Thanks Jay.

I know what you mean with parts. Luckily, I'm plugged in to Karl Middlehauve in the US, for spares as and when I need them. Fortunately for me, the grosser is complete and isnt that bad, it's just that time isnt on my side when it comes to devoting enough of it!

The trick is, that when sending stuff away, you dont tell them which model it's for. For instance, I got both rear calipers prepped for full refurbishment for £100.00 each, from a restoration house in Poole, instead of £800.00 each from an MB specialist in Bucks.

I'll see if I can dig out some pics, and post up when I get a chance.

On another issue, I've just had a work related enquiry that requires some advice. Does anybody on the forum have a body shop, and if so, what type of lights are installed. I sell LED lighting, and have been asked if I can supply LED equivalents, but have had no luck on the internet, with regards to specifications. If anyone could point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it.

 

[jaymanek]

Do you mean lights for inside the spray booth? If so they are usually standard fluorescent tubes

 

[Imbigboned]

Yes, I do mean these lights.

I had a phone call from a clients customer who has just purchased a body shop. He said that BMW, and Audi were specifying 'daylight' lights in the spray booths.

However....After doing a bit of research on the internet, the only decent article I found related to lux levels in specific areas of a body shop, not colour temperatures or Cri rating, which is what I would be looking at to do a like for like comparison.

My understanding is that the lights need to have a Cri rating as close to 100 as possible, and a colour temperature of around 5000-5300k, but there is not one mention of spread pattern or reflective properties from the light fitting, which I believe would be relevant (prevention of shadow, glare etc.) and this is what is causing me some concern. It would be nice to talk to someone who had a body shop, for advice really. Its a large concern, and potentially a nice sale for me. (The commission would pay for a respray to the rear of my 190!)

 

[grober]

HOW ABOUT THESE? High CRI LED Lighting Supplier | Beijing Yuji International

High CRI LED Lights ? Beijing Yuji Webstore

Color rendering index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Says ordinary LEDS are typically 80+
but note the caveat about high CR LED lighting from the entertainment industry quote:-
Problems have been encountered attempting to use otherwise high CRI LED lighting on film and video sets. The color spectra of LED lighting primary colors does not match the expected color wavelength bandpasses of film emulsions and digital sensors. As a result, color rendition can be completely unpredictable in optical prints, transfers to digital media from film (DI's), and video camera recordings. This phenomenon with respect to motion picture film has been documented in an LED lighting evaluation series of tests produced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences scientific staff.

 

[Imbigboned]

The problem is spectrum and glare. Cri ratings of 80 are too low. 92-93 is achievable, but not with a Chinese manufactured chip, no matter what the factory claim.You would have to look at Citizen, Samsung or Sharp LED's, along with an equally capable control driver. (Again, not Chinese manufactured.)

The ideal scenario for me would be to try and locate current specifications for body shops now, that allow them to be approved by the big boys, so that I can send it to my agent in Taiwan and get something in production for testing and approval.

It's the absence of these specs on the internet that are causing me to think twice.

 

[Imbigboned]

Talk about going off topic!