The first night drive of the year was held a bit earlier than usual to avoid the Australia Day Holiday. This was actually a drive we planned for the second half of last year, but it was postponed due to the COVID lockdowns. This month, while we are no longer in lockdown, COVID cases are up in Sydney and tests are not available...
Premature failure of the Balance shaft on the Mercedes M272 engine is a known problem. Apparently the balance shafts were too soft and so they wear out quickly. This was the subject of a class action lawsuit in the United States. Over there, the shafts in affected cars were replaced by the dealer out of warranty. This wasn’t the case here in Australia,...
Citroen / Jaguar / Mercedes / Misc
by admin · Published December 23, 2021 · Last modified September 22, 2024
With the year coming to a close it felt like a good idea to do a 2021 fleet update. A bit of a summary of any issues I had with each car, how much I used it and any future plans. I don’t own a modern car, so these cars not only get used as a hobby, but as everyday transport – regardless...
Last night was the final night drive (and last official drive overall) for the Mercedes Club in 2021. Since the lockdown was lifted, we’ve really struggled with the weather for these night drives. Finally, the weather held up and we had a great turn out of 17 cars on the night. It started out hot and humid but cooled off and proved to...
My 1987 560SEL is in very nice cosmetic condition for its age and mileage. The only thing that really let it down was the condition of the alloy wheels. It was clear that they had been cleaned with harsh wheel cleaners many times over the years. The paint was badly discolored. I had some spare Gullideckel wheels that I could have sent...
One of the things I noticed right away when I got my new 280SE was that it wasn’t running well. It was very hard to start and keep running. Eventually, if I warmed it up a bit it would idle, but giving it much throttle would have it stutter and die. I was able to get it off the tow truck and into...
Machines and Macchiatos is another local cars and coffee event I’ve been meaning to check out. I finally made it today, at their new location in Belrose. This location is very convenient to for me. Its on the second sunday of the month from 7am to 9am. Between the St Ives event, Eastern Suburbs and this event I could be going to an event...
Last night was the first of two planned December night drives with the Mercedes Club. This was now the 3rd time we’ve run the drive to Bilpin. We did the route in May 2021 and November 2020. The drive is pretty simple. We meet at Windsor McDonalds and drive up to the Apple Pie Cottage at Bilpin. The Apple Pie Cottage is run by...
The second generation W126 controls ignition timing from the EZL. In most countries, Mercedes-Benz provided a knob to adjust the timing based on the petrol that was available in your area. This knob is present on my UK delivery 560SEC. I immediately turned the knob up to 98 octane petrol, as that is what I use in the car. In markets like Australia and...
I took the risky move of buying my 1979 280SE sight unseen. This isn’t something I particularly recommend, but you can get a good sense of a car by looking at detailed photos very carefully. The thing that attracted me to this car was the condition of the body and interior. I assumed a couple of mechanical issues in my buy price. ...
I’ve been thinking about selling my 1986 300SE for a few months and replacing it with something different. I bought that car five years ago when I needed to be able to drive it every day to drop my daughter off at daycare then to the park and ride to get to work. I no longer work in the office every day, so...
The Mercedes Benz 107 series uses a separate front subframe. The engine and front suspension attach to the subframe, and then the subframe attaches to the body. The subframe uses rubber mounts (very similar to motor mounts) to isolate noise, vibration and other harshness from the driver. The subframe itself was basically lifted from the W114 series. It wasn’t really up to...
2021 was fifty years since the introduction of the R107 and C107 models. The R107 would go on to be particularly long lived model, finally getting the axe in 1989. Despite being obviously old by then, it was still selling well right through the 80s. As part of the celebrations for the model, the Mercedes Benz Club decided to attempt driving 107 107’s across...
Today was the MBCNSW Youngtimer Sacco Day 2021 – The second annual event. The day is to commemorate the cars of Bruno Sacco, head of design at Mercedes-Benz from 1975-1999. As with last year, the event was held at the HARS aviation museum. This event has become one of the biggest on the MBCNSW calendar. Unfortunately we had heavy rain most of the day. ...
My one owner 560SEL still has its original Becker CD player. Australian delivered 560SELs and SECs came standard with the CD player, which also has a control box in the boot. Mine is still working well. My goal was to find a good W126 handsfree solution with the original Becker. While a modern radio and speakers would probably sound better, the Becker is a...
I’ve had the AMG Aero I wheels ready to go for a couple of months. I couldn’t fit them until the Penta wheels were on the 450SLC. The reason was that I wanted to use the lug bolts from the SLC on the 560SEC. I do have another set of the long style lug bolts, but they are not nearly as nice as the...
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