What Have You Done To Your Merc Today?

[MissyD]

Once it finally stopped raining, I washed Mel, now chilling watching James Bond

 

[Trickythemerc]

May I ask for a link for the Ariel you bought? What vehicle was it fitted to?

TIA.

Can't find the invoice for the fin sorry. I fitted it to my W209 coupe, had to drop the one piece head liner and remove lots of interior trim to route the cables. Did the reverse cam at the same time, bit of an expensive job at £1200.00 including the Pioneer AVIC-920 HU and the 320W speakers, never regretted doing the job though.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Whizzed back to the Midlands in very miserable weather. Thick fog for a while and very heavy rain throughout the four or so hours we were travelling.

Would have managed 22 MPG had the engine not been running whilst we stopped for dinner and whilst moving cars around at this end.

Not bad for a big old bus and the perfect car for that journey on this evening.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Had one serviced at the main dealer: A service, brake fluid and air filters.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Now added a caption:

If @Skd884 did SUVs then…​

 

[Smithy860]

My van was ‘serviced’ just before I bought it .
Anyway, it had oil filter and oil. I’ve changed out the air filter today for a hengst one , looks good quality and did well on testing in a popular Yt channel. Was a bit messy where old one had been. You’d think a 5 minute job would be part of even a crappy service. Anyway it’s done, loads of sand!
Also got a cabin filter coming, again a hengst, went with charcoal.

 

[Smithy860]

.

 

[8bit]

Snapped a bolt in the driver's side cylinder head at the weekend



Most of the rest snapped later after much Plusgas and an attempt to get it moving with Visegrips so there's only about 3mm left proud of the head. Hoping to get someone to weld a nut onto it and get it moving that way...

 

[Smithy860]

Snapped a bolt in the driver's side cylinder head at the weekend

View attachment 161033

Most of the rest snapped later after much Plusgas and an attempt to get it moving with Visegrips so there's only about 3mm left proud of the head. Hoping to get someone to weld a nut onto it and get it moving that way...

That looks an awkward one.
Whilst I have no experience of this on cars, being an old school toolmaker I’ve had experience of snapped bolts, taps, you name it lol.
The nut idea sounds good, such a pain when you end up with a small nub and restricted access.
I always remember when I worked aircraft and a fitter snapped a tap in the wing, it brought great cheers when the spark eroder guy got called in !

 

[8bit]

Yeah it's the second one from the back of the engine so not easy to get to, if it requires drilling out then the engine will have to be removed, or at least raised a foot or so.

All this was while doing the cam adjuster rebuilds - got those all done, made an error when reinstalling so the timing is out but putting that right now. Then off to a welder, hopefully...

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Yeah it's the second one from the back of the engine so not easy to get to, if it requires drilling out then the engine will have to be removed, or at least raised a foot or so.

All this was while doing the cam adjuster rebuilds - got those all done, made an error when reinstalling so the timing is out but putting that right now. Then off to a welder, hopefully...

The main dealer encountered a very similar issue with a bolt on one of my cars with the same engine (albeit in a different platform).

I had a load of preventative maintenance done when it retired from active service, including a top end refresh which is when the bolt sheared.

They removed the engine and a specialist engineer visited the dealership and removed the bolt. They said removing it in situ was to o risky.

 

[8bit]

I don't think there's enough access to drill it out with the engine in situ but I think a good welder should manage. How many hours' labour was it to get the engine out and back in?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I don't think there's enough access to drill it out with the engine in situ but I think a good welder should manage. How many hours' labour was it to get the engine out and back in?

Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea now, it was around 5 years ago. Even the invoice won’t break it down as it was a negotiated cost for the job rather than a rate per hour.

 

[HITECH]

I went to do some maintenance before a full service. DPFE sensor started to show signs of failing a few weeks ago after owning the car for 70,000 miles (total 120,000(now). So sensor arrived today. A genuine mercedes one AS ALWAYS. So i proceeded to strip off the usual airbox ecu wiring MAF etc etc etc. So when i get to the sensor. it turns out it was overtightened when it was fitted and the securing bolt side of sensor is cracked away from the sensor so that sensor never had any kind of heat dissapation. I disconnect the pipes and find the faulty sensor is moulded into the connector either fitted wrongly or because of the heat. the small clips on either side you just push together to pull the connector out of the sensor are stuck hard. I soaked the connector in switch cleaner and although the clips were toast I managed to get the sensor out. I had to file down the tabs on the new sensor for it to seat home all the way propery but got it fitted nice n tight and all the way in. I dont understand also why heatsink paste was never part of the process on the back of these sensors as the securing bolt part is metal to absorb some of the heat. I always put headsink paste on this metal part and a little on the back of the sensor. This reduces a bt more heat being absorbed thru into the sensor. I also noticed the securing connectors on the ECU were brittle and would have broken if I attempted to open them, So sprayed some switchcleaner over them and they opened nicely with no creaks or struggles. The DPFE sensor that was on the car was the wrong one and it was also a non mercedes sensor fitted by a mercedes dealership down south Ipswich area. It was a german sensor, made in germany stamped on it but NOT a mercedes one. Also not a BOSCH either. I only use mercedes genuine sensors for everything. Less of a headache in the long run. Something else I noticed is one of the airbox securing screws was completely stripped. Am guessing an electric screwdriver or impact gun was used to take it off and put put it back together. These screws are as soft as putty so my advice is dont use electric screwdriver or impact with them because they are that soft they WILL strip then you need to get a screw extractor or drill it off. What should have taken about an hour took much longer because of the lack of care on whoever attacked this job before. if the worst came to the worst with the DPFE sensor i woulda hard wired it. Thankfully if wasnt neccesary. The engine cover also has a broken plastic part thats supposed to clip onto the engine cover mounting. Ive known this since the day I bought it but having a quick moan about it now. Yeah yeah i know its not un-common but it pi**es me off the easy things that people dont take any care to do or just dont know or care about breaking things Rant over. I hear about so many people going on about DPFS and sensors and regens etc etc etc but their is never anything said about the prep required including safety precautions. people going on about injecting dpf with stuff during engine running and how great it is and how it sorts it. They dont state about the back pressure this puts on the turbo and the likely hood of the turbo blowing and the engine pulling in all this stuff including fuel. or how high the temp is the dpf gets heated in AS IN HAVE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER AND A FIRE PLAN RISK ASSESSMENT PLAN IN PLACE . The if it happens.... plan. OK the result of the job was all DPF pressure normal, no DTCs temps normal. Advice : anyone fitting a new sensor ENSURE IT SLIDES IN ALL THE WAY TIL IT CLICKS. If it doesnt then it isnt plugged in properly. and this might be the case if the connector is damaged.If you can push it in and pull it out then its not seated all the way in and locked. This advice hopefully save the hassle of somebody puting it all back together and have DPF sensor faults showing up because their not plugged in properly. I had to get this written as I was effing n blinding during this job which took much longer than should have because of others lack of care time patience and double checking everything leaving me with a longer job. Ahhhhh that feels good now . Cuppa time

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Had a maintenance detail on a few, and took out a service plan on another.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

I went to do some maintenance before a full service. DPFE sensor started to show signs of failing a few weeks ago after owning the car for 70,000 miles (total 120,000(now). So sensor arrived today. A genuine mercedes one AS ALWAYS. So i proceeded to strip off the usual airbox ecu wiring MAF etc etc etc. So when i get to the sensor. it turns out it was overtightened when it was fitted and the securing bolt side of sensor is cracked away from the sensor so that sensor never had any kind of heat dissapation. I disconnect the pipes and find the faulty sensor is moulded into the connector either fitted wrongly or because of the heat. the small clips on either side you just push together to pull the connector out of the sensor are stuck hard. I soaked the connector in switch cleaner and although the clips were toast I managed to get the sensor out. I had to file down the tabs on the new sensor for it to seat home all the way propery but got it fitted nice n tight and all the way in. I dont understand also why heatsink paste was never part of the process on the back of these sensors as the securing bolt part is metal to absorb some of the heat. I always put headsink paste on this metal part and a little on the back of the sensor. This reduces a bt more heat being absorbed thru into the sensor. I also noticed the securing connectors on the ECU were brittle and would have broken if I attempted to open them, So sprayed some switchcleaner over them and they opened nicely with no creaks or struggles. The DPFE sensor that was on the car was the wrong one and it was also a non mercedes sensor fitted by a mercedes dealership down south Ipswich area. It was a german sensor, made in germany stamped on it but NOT a mercedes one. Also not a BOSCH either. I only use mercedes genuine sensors for everything. Less of a headache in the long run. Something else I noticed is one of the airbox securing screws was completely stripped. Am guessing an electric screwdriver or impact gun was used to take it off and put put it back together. These screws are as soft as putty so my advice is dont use electric screwdriver or impact with them because they are that soft they WILL strip then you need to get a screw extractor or drill it off. What should have taken about an hour took much longer because of the lack of care on whoever attacked this job before. if the worst came to the worst with the DPFE sensor i woulda hard wired it. Thankfully if wasnt neccesary. The engine cover also has a broken plastic part thats supposed to clip onto the engine cover mounting. Ive known this since the day I bought it but having a quick moan about it now. Yeah yeah i know its not un-common but it pi**es me off the easy things that people dont take any care to do or just dont know or care about breaking things Rant over. I hear about so many people going on about DPFS and sensors and regens etc etc etc but their is never anything said about the prep required including safety precautions. people going on about injecting dpf with stuff during engine running and how great it is and how it sorts it. They dont state about the back pressure this puts on the turbo and the likely hood of the turbo blowing and the engine pulling in all this stuff including fuel. or how high the temp is the dpf gets heated in AS IN HAVE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER AND A FIRE PLAN RISK ASSESSMENT PLAN IN PLACE . The if it happens.... plan. OK the result of the job was all DPF pressure normal, no DTCs temps normal. Advice : anyone fitting a new sensor ENSURE IT SLIDES IN ALL THE WAY TIL IT CLICKS. If it doesnt then it isnt plugged in properly. and this might be the case if the connector is damaged.If you can push it in and pull it out then its not seated all the way in and locked. This advice hopefully save the hassle of somebody puting it all back together and have DPF sensor faults showing up because their not plugged in properly. I had to get this written as I was effing n blinding during this job which took much longer than should have because of others lack of care time patience and double checking everything leaving me with a longer job. Ahhhhh that feels good now . Cuppa time

Can you elaborate?

 

[Smithy860]

Nothing exciting, just changed out a pollen filter in my w447. Went with a charcoal Hengst filter. E4927C.
Debating whether to change the rear springs as someone fitted a lowering spring to one side and it’s about 15mm lower.

 

[Wagon]

Fixed the climate control's missing pixels

..

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Had one serviced, a Smart ForFour. Surprising that Smart don’t offer online quotes and online bookings for servicing like Mercedes do. I called three different Smart dealers and they all said different additional items were due.

The first dealer said B service o my and no additional items. The second dealer said B service and spark plugs. The third dealer B service and coolant change. When I pointed out that it should be B service plus coolant, two of them argued!

Also surprising that when I booked it in (by phone) I was told that the B service with coolant change for a Smart ForFour would cost more than an A service, air filters (x2) and brake fluid change for an AMG GT which he had quoted for moments before.

Madness!

Blooming love this dinky little car.

 

[OneForTheRoad]

Had this changed under warranty. No more annoying messages every 10 seconds.