I recently sold my 1979 Mercedes 280SE at the Shannons May 2023 auction. I’ve bought a couple of cars at auction, but never sold one before. This article covers my experience selling the car, why I chose and auction and why I chose Shannons. Originally I started by trying to sell my 280SE privately. However, I had the issue that I have a...
The sunroof on my 280SE has not worked properly since I bought the car. It would sometimes move a bit, if I played with the switch, but not often. Since I didn’t want the roof stuck open, I didn’t use it. Based on that, I figured my issue was the W116 sunroof switch. The car is booked in for the Shannons auction in...
For sale: 1979 Mercedes-Benz 280SE. Australian Delivered. Update model with the nicer velour carpet and full wood trim. Original Becker Mexico radio. Well optioned including alloy wheels, sunroof etc. 906 Grey Blue with cream MB-Tex interior, both in great shape. Original books, data card, and service history for the first half of the cars life. A lot of work in the last twelve months...
I’ve ben grappling with a stuck ignition key on my 280SE W116 for some time. In part 1 I finally managed to move the key to position 1, but could not unscrew the collar to remove the tumbler. In part 2, I tried a special tool, and then attempted to remove the whole steering lock. As the collar and tumbler was still on the...
Previously I had a stuck ignition barrel in my 280SE. After 5 hours of trying, I finally got it to move, allowing me to get the car out of the way. At the time, I was feeling pretty confident that the right tool would get the ignition tumbler out no problem. As it turns out, my optimism was misplaced. The first issue was...
I was quite keen to start using the 280SE more now I have sorted out the steering, exhaust and drivers seat. I don’t have a modern car, so I rotate the various historic registered cars I own to keep them inside their 60 day logbook. The 280SE obviously has a lot of entries available. I was also looking forward to driving it more...
Now I had the 280SE at the point where I could drive it more, I wanted to attend to the drivers seat. Like most of these cars, years of driving had caused at least some of the springs to break, causing it to feel collapsed and lopsided. The first Mercedes I ever owned, my 1985 230E already had this issue on purchase. It...
The final things preventing me from turning the 280SE from a garage queen to a rolling restoration was getting the exhaust sorted out. It really was a mess. The rear muffler had been changed about 20 years ago (I have the receipt), but the rest was original. It really showed. Not only that, but the 280SE W116 exhaust for right hand drive cars is...
My next job on the 280SE project was replacing the drag link and tie rod ends. Of the six ball joins in the steering, two were really bad, and the others were all quite old. In addition, I planned to replace the idler arm while I was there. The rubber was old and cracking so it was definitely due for it. I already...
2022 is 50 years since the introduction of the W116 S-Class in 1972. The W116 S-Class was the first one that Mercedes-Benz actually referred to as the S-Class. Previous models had filled the same slot in the line-up and even had S in the model designation, but it was the W116 where the S-Class name started. To commemorate this, the Mercedes Benz Club...
I’ve been trying to narrow down poor running on my 79 280SE when cold. Previously, I had two issues I was trying to narrow down, high control pressure when cold, and after a while both system and control pressure dropping and fluctuating. I had replaced the fuel pump, which made no difference to the fluctuation issue. I had also sent off my warm...
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...
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...
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...
More Posts
