One of the attractions of this trip was to be able to tick off a few bucket list items. A big part of this was doing the Great Ocean Road in our own cars. Part of the design of our route was to ensure we did the Great Ocean Road in daylight – hence its position as the first item on our third day. ...
Day two dawned on our trip to the Mercedes Clubs national rally with the situation that while the 280CE now had a full battery thanks to the trickle charger, it had no way of charging it while driving. Unless we did something, the car was going to run out of electricity. There has been a recent trend to electrify classic cars, particular in Europe. ...
Today was the first day of our epic drive to the Mercedes-Benz clubs national rally in Glenelg, South Australia. I am going with a group of friends on a road trip to and from the rally which I have detailed in a previous post. Our route took us from the meeting point at McDonalds Heathcote to Orbost, Vic and covered around 620km....
My wife owns a 2007 E350 wagon. This car has been in the shop the last couple of weeks having the balancer shaft replacement done. This car was outside the known affected engine numbers, but still required a balancer shaft. We’ve had a 2005 W164 ML350 W164 as our loaner for the last few weeks. Its an interesting comparison as the ML...
This is part three of a series where I am trying to diagnose poor cold starts on my 1979 280SE. Please click here for part 1 and here for part 2. In the last part, the fuel pressure tests had pointed to high control pressure. This would most likely be cause by the Warm Up Regulator (WUR). However, after a while the pump became...
In Australia, each state (and territory) has their own Mercedes-Benz Club. Most countries have a central club with regional chapters. This isn’t really all that surprising given the states could not even agree on basic stuff like a common railway gauge. Every two years one of the clubs hold a “National Rally” event on a rotating basis. The idea is members from all the...
This year I plan to attend the Mercedes-Benz clubs of Australia national rally. The event is being held in Adelaide in April this year. I’ve done plenty of road trips while living in the USA, but not really in Australia. In addition, I am joining a group of friends from the club in an extended drive that will take us the scenic route to...
Yesterday I was in Canberra to attend Wheels 2022 with the Mercedes Club ACT. I found out that this weekend was also the Rolls Royce Club Federal Rally. Not sure if it was a coincidence, but the public display was about a 10 minute walk from Queanbeyan showground. Based on that proximity, it would have been almost criminal not to go along and see...
Today I attended the Wheels 2022 event in Queanbeyan. This is a large car show open to car clubs affiliated with the ACT Council of Motor Clubs. In some ways it is quite similar in concept to the Eastern Creek event I attend in Sydney. The Mercedes-Benz club ACT planned to put on a special display – and invited members of the NSW club...
Earlier in the week I attempted to run a fuel pressure test on my 1979 280SE. On further examination, I was pretty sure I had it connected up wrong. The instructions call for the pressure gauge to be attached to the larger fitting on the warm up regulator. The warm up regulator is hidden down to the side of the engine on the...
I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of the running issues on my 1979 280SE. The last thing I tried was draining all the fuel and replacing the fuel filter and tank strainer. Once the car warmed up, it actually ran reasonably well. I took it for a drive for about 40 kilometers and it was running better and better. ...
I recently purchased a W116 280SE. On arrival, it wasn’t running too well, and the symptoms pointed to the car not getting enough fuel. A few weeks ago, I drained all the fuel in the tank and checked the main fuel filter and strainer. After doing all this, the fuel filter and strainer were all that bad. They certainly didn’t look bad...
The C107 is a bit of an anomaly in the classic Mercedes-Benz range. On one hand it occupies the spot usually reserved for the S Class Coupe. On the other, it was created by lengthening the SL and turning it into a 2+2. This is probably why values were low for years and its only in the last 5-10 that people have started to...
In 1968 the new mid-size Mercedes-Benz range made its debut. This was a pretty important model from Mercedes-Benz – it would set the basic platform for their model range for the next twenty years. While stylistically it took cues from the old W108/W109 range, underneath was a far more modern car. The 107, 116, 123 & 126 models would all share an ancestry from...
The W108 and W109 series were produced from 1965 to 1972. While its replacement, the W116 was the first model called the S-Class, the W108 and W109 models occupied that spot in the model range. When drivers new to this range first experience these cars, they often comment how high the engines are revving at motorway speeds. This is not like the cars...
My recently purchased 280SE is not running well. The symptoms feel like it is not getting enough fuel. Strangely enough, performance picked up with more petrol in the tank. Based on that, I wanted to eliminate two fairly obvious things before I started troubleshooting the fuel injection system. Namely, I wanted to make sure the various fuel filters installed on the car...
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