OWNER jlaa (500E & w210 E320)

[Jlaa]

Generally there shouldn't be any lubricant needed on the headrest rails. The couple of plastic parts tend to break, if yours are all intact you can leave them alone.

Of more concern are all the cream-colored plastic trims at the sides of the seat hinges; some are NLA and the retaining clips tend to snap during removal. When re-installing, go nuts with the 10-15mm factory felt strips anywhere the plastic pieces touch metal or leather, to help prevent squeaks. Easy to do with the seats apart out of the car. The 70mm stuff is used under the spare tire, in case you were wondering.

Hah thanks --- Wouldn't you know --- I used that same exact diagram to order all 4 felt sizes on Thursday!

 

[Jlaa]

I've been busy collecting parts / painting brakes for the next phase now that the upholstery work is nearing completion. This is part of the OCD in the brain - I always seem to end up taking a car, no matter how nice on purchase, to a level that is somewhere between "super nice driver" and "garage queen".

The resources on this forum are incredible --- the depth of tribal knowledge here is unlike anywhere else in automotive-dom ---- This forums really helps folks know what they are getting themselves into. Thanks everyone for contributing all this knowledge.

 

[gsxr]

jlaa, it is SO nice to see this! Makes me feel slightly less insane, lol.

A few random comments from the photos: I can't read the p/n on the thermostat but make sure it's a 116-prefix, not 119-. I didn't see a new coolant level sensor, if the one in the car is original, get one of those too (if you get OEM Hella sensor, buy an OE/MB O-ring, it's a better material). If the ATF cooler hoses at the radiator are original, this would be a good time to replace them while the radiator is out. While the radiator is out, use a soft brush and compressed air to blow debris from the engine side forward and out the front of the condenser. There is often an amazing amount of debris in there.

A word of caution on the spring pads, you will likely need to adjust the rear SLS turnbuckle to drop the rear measurably. And even then, it may not drop enough to look "right" with 1-pt pads up front. Unfortunately it's a trial-and-error thing. If it doesn't look right you either need to raise the front a bit, or lower the rear by either cutting a 1/4 or 1/2 coil from the stock rear springs, or installing the Limited rear springs (which are a tick shorter/softer). Try to get the ride height finalized (springs, pads, SLS adjust) BEFORE the alignment.

 

[Jlaa]

Jlaa, it is SO nice to see this! Makes me feel slightly less insane, lol.

A few random comments from the photos: I can't read the p/n on the thermostat but make sure it's a 116-prefix, not 119-. I didn't see a new coolant level sensor, if the one in the car is original, get one of those too (if you get OEM Hella sensor, buy an OE/MB O-ring, it's a better material). If the ATF cooler hoses at the radiator are original, this would be a good time to replace them while the radiator is out. While the radiator is out, use a soft brush and compressed air to blow debris from the engine side forward and out the front of the condenser. There is often an amazing amount of debris in there.

A word of caution on the spring pads, you will likely need to adjust the rear SLS turnbuckle to drop the rear measurably. And even then, it may not drop enough to look "right" with 1-pt pads up front. Unfortunately it's a trial-and-error thing. If it doesn't look right you either need to raise the front a bit, or lower the rear by either cutting a 1/4 or 1/2 coil from the stock rear springs, or installing the Limited rear springs (which are a tick shorter/softer). Try to get the ride height finalized (springs, pads, SLS adjust) BEFORE the alignment.

Ahh thanks for the advice - hey - we are here all to make each other feel a bit more normal You can see in my picture below that the rear of my volvo wagon has now been relegated to 500E parts storage. It is a rolling closet.

Yes, the thermostat is a 116 prefix (see attached) I have a Hella coolant level sensor on order from AutohausAZ but I didn't know about the OE MB O-ring - I'll do that. As well, I will get the ATF cooler hoses. I also attached a picture of the 20 HVAC rubber elbows that I got after ready Gerry's warnings on this board about 1000x.

Here is the right height as it stands ---- I believe the car currently has 1 pt spring pads front/rear (looking through old receipts) ---- from what I read this is about as low as is possible on stock springs / SLS adjustment --- right?

Thanks.

 

[Jlaa]

BTW --- these are where the hoses go for ATF, right?

Thanks.

 

[gsxr]

Here is the right height as it stands ---- I believe the car currently has 1 pt spring pads front/rear (looking through old receipts) ---- from what I read this is about as low as is possible on stock springs / SLS adjustment --- right?

If I'm reading those numbers properly, and it's from fender lip to wheel center... yep, 13.50-13.75 is about as low as you get with stock springs and SLS adjustment.

BTW --- these are where the hoses go for ATF, right?

Yes. The upper one actually connects to a metal pipe which goes along the bottom of the radiator, and the hose connects at the opposite corner. The hoses are common leakers after 10+ years, another item I end up having to replace on pretty much all my cars. Thankfully they are inexpensive!

 

[8899]

Yea, nice collection of parts. You are going to love the results of your suspension mini-refresh. I think the spend on new suspension parts gives one of the highest ROIs on our cars.

 

[maw1124]

jlaa, it is SO nice to see this! Makes me feel slightly less insane, lol.

A few random comments from the photos: I can't read the p/n on the thermostat but make sure it's a 116-prefix, not 119-. I didn't see a new coolant level sensor, if the one in the car is original, get one of those too (if you get OEM Hella sensor, buy an OE/MB O-ring, it's a better material). If the ATF cooler hoses at the radiator are original, this would be a good time to replace them while the radiator is out. While the radiator is out, use a soft brush and compressed air to blow debris from the engine side forward and out the front of the condenser. There is often an amazing amount of debris in there.

A word of caution on the spring pads, you will likely need to adjust the rear SLS turnbuckle to drop the rear measurably. And even then, it may not drop enough to look "right" with 1-pt pads up front. Unfortunately it's a trial-and-error thing. If it doesn't look right you either need to raise the front a bit, or lower the rear by either cutting a 1/4 or 1/2 coil from the stock rear springs, or installing the Limited rear springs (which are a tick shorter/softer). Try to get the ride height finalized (springs, pads, SLS adjust) BEFORE the alignment.

Makes me think I should have taken more pictures, or done stuff all at once. More the former than the latter, as I always seem to end up doing plenty on this car. Last time I looked for Limited rear springs, they couldn't be found. Are they still available?

maw

 

[gsxr]

Makes me think I should have taken more pictures, or done stuff all at once. More the former than the latter, as I always seem to end up doing plenty on this car. Last time I looked for Limited rear springs, they couldn't be found. Are they still available?

I believe so, MB Classic Germany says 'available', but you'd need to have a dealer check Paragon to confirm that!
http://partssearch.mercedes-benz-classic.com/parts/A1243243804

 

[sheward]

Appreciate all the part numbers with your comprehensive pictures. I'm about to order some of the same items.

drew

 

[Jlaa]

Appreciate all the part numbers with your comprehensive pictures. I'm about to order some of the same items.
drew

Happy to be of service in any way I can.

A couple of more parts arrived --- some notes from me:

• The Hella coolant level sender arrived.

• ACM Aftermarket Fan clutch also arrived. I couldn't bring myself to spend 6X the price of the ACM clutch for an MB OE clutch. I read all the threads on the board, and the threads all mentioned that the ACM clutch was consistent in that it would engage at the right (low) RPM and then consistently disengage at a high RPM (higher than stock). This was opposed to the findings that the OE clutch, as installed at the factory, seemingly was very inconsistent in its operation

• The ACM Fan clutch came packaged in a Borg Warner box. Interesting. As well, the bearings are made in China. This does not concern me at all as long as the brand (Borg Warner? ACM?) applies the right quality metrics. In my professional capacity, my company purchases products from China (some through Taiwan ODMs and some from Chinese companies directly) all the time. Some show truly fantastic quality and some leave a lot to be desired --- it all depends on how much effort my own company takes in monitoring the quality and what we allow to be sold under our own brand. As well, I have noticed a strong correlation to the price that my own company pays and the quality of the product that we receive. After all, some of the finest products in the world (think iPhone7, MacBooks, etc.) are manufactured in China. It is the brand / metrics / process that matters, not the country that the factory is located in.

• Finally, I received two plastic gears from www.brossautoparts.net via ebay. These were cheap - $6 each. They are supposed to replace the often stripped plastic gear inside the w124 rear sunshade. Apologies for referencing a banzworld thread but this thread is truly excellent in understanding how the gear mechanism works - http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w140-s-class/1492486-rear-electric-sunshade-issues.html . I have included two of the photos from banzworld -- the two photos with "2010" stamped in red are from banzworld. Anyways, my own curtain works fairly well --- up and down both work but at the very end of the downward travel, clicking starts and the sunshade kind of flops there on the rear deck, as if the spring is not strong enough to pull it back into the housing. One of these days I will get the motivation to take it all apart and see what is going on. The gears I got from brossautoparts came to me from Turkey via DHL. They don't look like they are the best things to ever be manufactured, but hey, it might be better than whatever is in there now. I just want the thing to work flawlessly and then I will never touch the button again.

 

[Jlaa]

I thought I'd give an update on the interior refurbishment process. On my driver's door handle you can see what appeared to be dirt on the door handle (picture 1). No amount of scrubbing, though, would get it clean. Picture 2 is actually a closeup of the dirt.

What was actually happening, according to a local recolorant expert that I use, is that there were tiny little holes in the surface of the door handle due to molding flaws when the part was new. Somehow air/gas was trapped in the mold when the handle was made, and those tiny little holes, over the years, trap dirt from the driver's hands and can never really be cleaned out. Picture 3 shows the thousands of little tiny little holes in the door handle after the door handle was re-dyed. Those holes will eventually trap dirt again, even after the re-dye, so the recolorant expert had to fill in all the tiny little holes and re-dye the handle yet again, for a durable, lasting repair (picture 4).

I'm not sure if anyone has ever run into this phenomenon, but I thought I would post it here --- hope it helps someone in the future.

 

[Jlaa]

I had new cream-beige GAHH leather upholstery installed on the front seats. The first two pictures are "Before." The third picture is a GAHH picture after installation on the seat frame/cushion but BEFORE heating/steaming. The fourth and fifth pictures are the GAHH covers after heating/steaming.

In my experience, leather upholstery installation is one of those things that professionals often can do much better than amateurs (or perhaps just much better than myself.....I gave up work involving hog ring pliers 2 decades ago..... ). Part of that is knowing how / where to apply heat / steam to the leather and how to stretch the leather so that non-factory upholstery looks as "tight" as possible. Non-OE leather will always be a little bit loose in some areas, but a professional can really make a non-OE cover looks darn good.

The difference between picture 3 and picture 4/5 represents that level of professional care.

Also note --- old leather will always appear shinier/smoother because leather shrinks over time and the heat from the sun conspires to "Bake" leather smooth.

 

[nocfn]

I had GAHH covers for my c126 as my first purchase over 5 years ago. They look as good as they did back then. Yours look very nice, I treat them every year with Rejuvenator and they respond quite nicely.

 

[Jlaa]

I had GAHH covers for my c126 as my first purchase over 5 years ago. They look as good as they did back then. Yours look very nice, I treat them every year with Rejuvenator and they respond quite nicely.

This rejuvenator? I am also a fan. I used Lexol for years but was never particularly happy with the extreme tackiness or the smell. I find this to be much better.

 

[sheward]

I'm about to have the same thing performed on cream-beige seats also. I'm hoping for results like yours. It's a great interior when it's in good condition. I was going to try it myself but no longer see the benefit after understanding the process, other than a really physical workout I'm sure. Thanks!

drew

 

[sheward]

I have their "leather care" product on recommendation by Gerry and others. I have not used it yet. Have either of you used it?

drew

 

[Jlaa]

I have their "leather care" product on recommendation by Gerry and others. I have not used it yet. Have either of you used it?

drew

It might be a case of "different strokes for different folks" but I have "leather care" on my shelf as well, but I prefer "leather rejuvenator". LC is too tacky for my tastes, similar to Lexol. LR is not tacky at all. As well, LR smells great. LC smell is "not bad."

LC does have a little bit of cleaner in there whereas LR does not ---- but if you can clean your seats with a mild soap before hand and are only looking to condition the seats, my pick is LR.

 

[nocfn]

I have used both leatherique rejuvenator and griots with great success. This is on new leathers replaced by GAHH. I did not have any dye loss I. Old leather, and specifically the tops of seat backs of the C126. They were cardboard and are now soft after multiple treatments. Clean leathers with warm damp water and mild detergents help. This is a hands on process, you should have a soft brush to get in there very well. Treat this like skin, massage it, gently wiping with soft cloth to clean off dirt. Once the seats are clean of any residue, a process of several damp soft cloths, progressively cleaning, then "liberally" apply rejuvenator of choice. I use bare hands until I ache. Once you are done, it's best to let the product soak into damp skins with the car in the bright sun with windows up, for 24 hours. If you cannot naturally have a hot moist natural sun environment, then cover the seats in plastic bags, turn on your heat and let the car get uncomfortably hot inside. The humid, sauna (I know sauna is dry heat but you get the jist) like conditions with the natural lanolins in the product will do its work. Next day, barely damp cloth used to wipe away (be gentle) any residue. You are now wiping the soft skin of a baby, so don't rub with pressure. Several clean damp cloths will be needed as the grime will wipe away, rinsing often. Let dry to a matte finish, have a scotch on the rocks!

 

[sheward]

I've been concerned about products leaving the leather tacky or too shiny (began in the days of seeing cars slathered in Armourall) and the leather in the silver car is clean. I clean it as described using mild soap and water however I do not want it to become dry. I think i'll pick up a bottle of the rejuvenator.

drew

 

[Jlaa]

Well ...... this sucks ...... but not unexpected. The OE center resonator gave up the ghost and one of the two pipes to it from the catalytic converter broke off. Rust from the inside out --- shaking it, you hear a lot of internal rust. My hopes of being able to powder coat it all aren't going work out.

 

[Jlaa]

On the other hand, the SL600 rotors / Powder coated front calipers / VHT painted rear calipers by moi are going nicely.

 

[Ntrepid]

The calipers look great. You may want to consider nickel-plating the rotors to prevent any rust as the cast iron yearns to find moisture in order to corrode.

You'll have a completely corrosion resistant rotor where any rust that forms will only be on the braking surface after you wash the car and will immediately disappear when you apply the brakes.


Robert

 

[gsxr]

Well ...... this sucks ...... but not unexpected. The OE center resonator gave up the ghost and one of the two pipes to it from the catalytic converter broke off. Rust from the inside out --- shaking it, you hear a lot of internal rust. My hopes of being able to powder coat it all aren't going work out.

D'OH!! If you are considering a Timevalve Y-pipe, please let me know what you find out about price / availability. They had been NLA for years but a recent post indicated Timevalve may be willing to produce another batch... see post #19 in this thread.

 

[Jlaa]

The calipers look great. You may want to consider nickel-plating the rotors to prevent any rust as the cast iron yearns to find moisture in order to corrode.

You'll have a completely corrosion resistant rotor where any rust that forms will only be on the braking surface after you wash the car and will immediately disappear when you apply the brakes.


Robert

Thanks! The first time I saw nickel plated rotors up close was in captruff's garage. I admired all the beautiful hardware he has in there, and the nickel plated rotors were so well presented - especially as the nickel plated rotor hats have the same sheen as the iron friction surfaces.

I'm just using regular painted rotors - Zimmerman's ZCOAT line ... the hats and friction surfaces are coated with grey paint (as you can see) and the paint wears off the friction surfaces upon first brake application.

 

[Jlaa]

D'OH!! If you are considering a Timevalve Y-pipe, please let me know what you find out about price / availability. They had been NLA for years but a recent post indicated Timevalve may be willing to produce another batch... see post #19 in this thread.

Indeed - appreciate the clue to look up "timevalve". I am going to keep the exhaust as OE as possible (but when the cats go I may elect to fit aftermarket replacement for budgetary reasons) and put in another OE center resonator. Both Mrs. jlaa and I, especially the Mrs., appreciate the super quiet nature of the 500E.

My other toy car has an aftermarket exhaust fitted. I love the aircooled flat six sound but the Mrs. complains rhat she can hear me coming from two blocks away.

 

[gsxr]

Removal of the resonator only (with straight pipes) adds very, very little rumble with a stock muffler. But it does drop something like 15 pounds! You get noise issues when you remove both cats and the resonator.

 

[sprnova]

My resonator is shot also so I have been researching a replacement. Cost of new factory resonator is ridiculous at $500 to $700+ so I am going the Time Valve y-pipe route (I hope).

Indeed - appreciate the clue to look up "timevalve". I am going to keep the exhaust as OE as possible (but when the cats go I may elect to fit aftermarket replacement for budgetary reasons) and put in another OE center resonator. Both Mrs. jlaa and I, especially the Mrs., appreciate the super quiet nature of the 500E.

My other toy car has an aftermarket exhaust fitted. I love the aircooled flat six sound but the Mrs. complains rhat she can hear me coming from two blocks away.

 

[Dario]

I removed resonator and have straight pipes now on my 500E

 

[Jlaa]

I got these back from the powdercoater today - 4 springs, front anti-roll bar, and various hardware that holds the hard fluid lines to the underneath of the car. I went non-stock color with these just to have a little fun ---- rear anti-roll bar was nice and clean with the stock OE black finish so I didn't see the need to go full-bore OCD on that. Only 1/2 bore OCD.

 

[Jlaa]

As well, good fortune has smiled upon me and I was able to procure a super rare MX3192 for an absurd price. These units allow a Becker 1432 to communicate with an Alpine mBus CD changer of mid/early nineties vintage. This opens up a whole new world of options because it means Im not locked into using the original POS sony sourced Becker 980 changer which has a 99 pc failure rate.

my ultimate goal is not necessarily to hook up an Alpine changer, but to emulate an Alpine changer and actually feed the sound system with Bluetooth sourced audio .... and my goal will be to do this without hacking up the original OE audio equipment. I want to keep the Becker 1432 in the dash for that vintage feel. And my Howard Jones and Genesis casettes.

 

[Ntrepid]

To use a lyric from a Howard Jones song, "Things can only get better"...


Robert

 

[jeff0093]

I just installed a new BlitzBlueG2R in my winter Rover, threw the CD input with no hacking of the stock system and it sounds great, plus I think they are made in the USA.

https://www.blitzsafe.com/catalog/blitzblue-g2r.html

 

[Jlaa]

I just installed a new BlitzBlueG2R in my winter Rover, threw the CD input with no hacking of the stock system and it sounds great, plus I think they are made in the USA.

https://www.blitzsafe.com/catalog/blitzblue-g2r.html

Hi Jeff! Hah - We're thinking along the same lines. The blitzsafe can inject RCA-level audio to the headunit but only if the headunit "thinks" that CD-changer is present and is a valid source input. So with MX-3192 one can either -

a) get an Alpine changer and bypass the RCA out of the changer and use a blitzsafe / equivalnet
OR
b) get an Alpine changer emulator that can output Bluetooth over RCA (like this - https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...r-Digital-CD-Changer/1091423_32601169199.html) and not even bother with a CD changer. I'm not sure if Blitz has a unit that emulates the Alpine Mbus.

I did this before (in a needless complex fashion --- I intend to simplify this time around) with a Porsche Becker unit before. http://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...etooth-on-a-becker-headunit.html#post11552117

 

[Jlaa]

Well ...... this sucks ...... but not unexpected. The OE center resonator gave up the ghost and one of the two pipes to it from the catalytic converter broke off. Rust from the inside out --- shaking it, you hear a lot of internal rust. My hopes of being able to powder coat it all aren't going work out.

Christmas came a little early. Modern supply chain logistics are amazing to me. The new center resonator was sitting in Germany a week ago. The new muffler was sitting in one of MB's warehouses in the USA as well.

One week later, at Christmas time no less, I have a new center resonator and exhaust here in California.

 

[gsxr]

 

[Jlaa]

Hi gang,

I went moderately nuclear and now the car has many new parts underneath ---
The car feels nearly new!!!

Further, the brake pedal squeak is gone. On the Internet I read about clutch pedal squeaks with low-viscosity ATE fluid on some manual transmission cars, so I figured flushing the system with a normal-viscosity fluid wouldn't hurt --- well --- no more brake pedal farting.

Frankly speaking, though, I don't know if this is because of a change in fluid or if this is because the weather is colder now (it is in the high 40s / 50s F here now ---- I got the squeak when it was warmer in the 60s and 70s F).

The car promptly rewarded my by launching the two orange front blinker lights (Depo) into oblivion when I took it on an 80mph cruise. Lesson learned - OE only. Those aftermarket lenses don't have enough tension on the spring clips. [ I read about this on the forums AFTER this happened. grrr. ]

When the weather gets warmer in the spring, I'm going to jack up the car outside my house and give it a full scrubbing / bath underneath ---- the underside pictures have me cringing.


- Front brakes / calipers (silver arrow) and rotors and pads (akebono)
- Rear brakes / calipers (silver arrow) and rotors and pads (akebono)
- Brake Lines - Deerfield precision
- Fabric covered brake fluid hose under brake fluid reservoir
- Flushed brake system from Pentosin LV (wrong viscocity) with Pentosin Super DOT 4 (higher viscosity)
- front struts
- front control arms (with new bushings & balljoints)
- front idler arm bushing
- front drag link
- front steering damper
- front sway bar bushings inner/outer
- rear sway bar bushings
- rear wheel carrier joint bushings
- Powdercoated front sway bar
- Powdercoated springs front/rear
- 1 point spring pads front/rear
- Replaced lower wiring harness with new - wasn't causing problems yet but the insulation on individual wires inside the outer jacket was toast
- radiator / cleaned fan
- radiator cap
- thermostat
- coolant expansion tank
- coolant level sender in expansion tank
- Auxiliary Coolant Pump
- ATF hoses that go to radiator
- viscous fan clutch (ACM + shorter bolt)
- windshield washer thermostat
- center resonator and muffler

 

[Jlaa]

Small victories..... yesterday I drove the car for 150 miles - sort of a mini shakedown cruise. This must have been what the car feels like when new. Definitely a freeway car - I can see why everyone piles up the miles on these. This is that classic MB feeling - a little marshmallowy ride with tons of reserve power .... definitely the trans is a bit basic .... even with the fgs vb ... .... compared to modern hardware which is more tied down to the road and shifts shifts shifts like crazy through 6/7/8/9 speed gearboxes.

i rent cars from hertz 48 weeks out of the year for work so I have driven nearly everything out there.

There was a bit of creaking from the steering column .... detracting from the experience. A bit of felt cleared that up.

 

[Jlaa]

I had all the center-console wood front/rear redone by Madera. By all accounts the wood in the car was in excellent condition. There was a super small crack in the clear coat near the rear-view mirror selection switch, a small crack in the front piece of the rear center console, some inconsistency in the gaps in the front roll-top tambour door, and in general some wear/waviness to the wood finish that is to be expected for a car with 23 years of service and 63K+ miles. Further, upon disassembly, I found chunks of clear-coat missing from edges of the leading piece of the front roll top tambour door --- this was not visible until I disassembled it. A normal soul would have left the wood alone and enjoyed it. My OCD tendencies got to me.

I took all the wood apart and sent it to Jeff Wayco @ Madera Concepts :

 

[Jlaa]

BTW - thanks everyone for the recommendations of Jeff Wayco at Madera concepts. His company's work is peerless! He came in on budget and ahead of schedule by 2 days. Now I have a project to work on this morning. This will be one of those immensely gratifying projects --- I can take my time, in the warmth house, reassembling all the wood on my kitchen table, slowly, carefully, and lubricating all the slides with just the right about of grease.

I'm very impressed with the consistency and uniformity of Madera's work - they refinished all the pieces except one, which they re-veneered.

Oh, and I swapped out the gear level/knob in anticipation of wood-reassembly. I prefer the knob without the "v8" logo - a plain start will do nicely --- and I also appreciate the length of the OE shaft - I didn't want to use a shorter shaft.

 

[sheward]

There has been much good said about Madera's work here. Looks great! Where did you get the replacement gear lever and how did you remove the knob? I recently swapped in a lever from a E320 diesel that was in better shape and that shaft was longer. I refurbished and reinstalled the original not caring for the added length. I like the plain stock knob as well.

drew

 

[Jlaa]

There has been much good said about Madera's work here. Looks great! Where did you get the replacement gear lever and how did you remove the knob? I recently swapped in a lever from a E320 diesel that was in better shape and that shaft was longer. I refurbished and reinstalled the original not caring for the added length. I like the plain stock knob as well.

drew

Thanks! The replacement gear knob I got from http://www.formymercedes.com/mb_results.asp?model=W124&class=e-class&category=Shift+Knobs They sell a threaded lever that can accept any of their knobs and is very close to the OE lever in terms of length / angle. I used their lever. I have attached another picture of their knob/lever below, and, as well, included some closeups of Madera's work, which I find to be superlative.

 

[Jlaa]

Performed a bunch of various service items in the past few weeks --- none were critical but all added up to my OCD-desire of having a close-to-new 500E to enjoy on the weekends.

• Replaced front/rear driveshaft flex discs - these were from AutoHausAZ. Marked as "OEM" brand in the website, they came in Febi/Bilstein boxes --- but the actual parts are MB branded SGF parts with the star and P/N ground off. Excellent Score! Part number 1294100115.

• Replaced Driveshaft Center Bearing and Rubber Support - MB OE parts --- everything is silky smooth at speed
  • 008-981-43-25 - Driveshaft Center bearing
  • 124-410-08-81 - Rubber Mounting for driveshaft
• Replaced the original aluminum fuses, which were slightly corroded and sticking to the contacts (required twisting to free up) with copper ones.

• I had my indy shop re-align the car --- this time they used a spreader bar --- finally the steering wheels is dead nuts straight. It took them two tries, but now finally it is straight. I see conventional wisdom is to take the car to a dealer for alignments --- indeed I try to avoid that as much as possible.

• Replace the two under-hood rubbers that sit longitudinally on the front section of the fenders. The driver's side rubber was fossilized and the passenger's side was missing. Part number - 2x201-889-05-98

• Front passenger door had a slight plastic creak when pulling on the interior door handle to shut the door. Super minor, really, but these kinds of irritants add up. This ended up being the same problem which seems to happen to all the front door panels --- the plastic tabs from the arm rest to the door pocket in the inside of the door panel had broken off. I effected the same fix that I did to the driver's side one month ago - sunk some 1.5" screws w/ washers in there. Everything is all solid now, no plastic creak.

• Replaced passenger's side mirror boot. No more fossilized crap!
• I replaced the front corner blinkers --- AGAIN. Last time I replaced them with European-Specification orange ones from DEPO, thinking I could save a buck. They promptly fell out on the freeway both of them. I thought they had clicked in there but I guess not. This time I used OE MB ones ---- The MB Hella ones are cheaper than the MB Bosch ones --- not sure why.

 

[Jlaa]

Now that I've got some seat time under my belt, I have a well formed impression of this car. The best part about this car is its lack of drama. Because the cruises in 4th with a 1.000 ratio, hitting the accelerator at 80+ mph results in fantastic acceleration without the drama that modern cars display via downshifting. It just goes ----- and the engine is so quiet at 4000 rpm! Now I understand everyone's impression of this car being a straight line cruiser ---- I feel it wants to go 120+ mph all day long, but I do my best to keep it under 80 mph to avoid tickets.....

I did do a couple things lately. First, I added bluetooth to the Becker 1432. Details can be found here: http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4758&p=137962&viewfull=1#post137962

By using an MX3192 and a Yatour Alpine MBUS CD Changer emulator, I was able to preserve the look of the stock head unit. Hallelujah!



Secondly, I installed a 1992 LH Module --- part number 012-545-62-32. I lucked out and picked it up for $85 on ebay in October 2016. It was advertised as a w140 ECU. I didn't get around to installing it until today....

I had to clear two codes - code #4 (Voltage at hot wire MAF sensor (B2/2) insufficient or too high, or open circuit in ground wire at hot wire MAF sensor) and code #27 (Injectors (Y62), open/short circuit). I also reset the adaptation.

I was a little apprehensive (as the LH module was used w/ no warranty) that the capacitors in the LH module might be bad and result in driveability problems along with the infamous fuel pump relay clicking problem, but I lucked out and the LH module works fine.

In fact I may have been even luckier that originally than originally thought ---- upon installation I found that the car shifts now at 6400 rpm (up from factory 6000 rpm) and the cold start upshift delay has been eliminated! Perhaps there is an aftermarket chip in there? Before I installed the LH module I didn't think of popping off the plastic cover to the main chip to look at the label --- I had assumed that it was all stock.

Well, I was NOT able to check if the speed limiter has been eliminated.

 

[gsxr]

If the cold upshift delay is gone, the chip may be aftermarket. However, the chip does not affect shift points, as the LH module does not control WOT upshifts. More likely is that either the tach is optimistic at the top of the range (one of my cars has this quirk). Another possibility is the trans may have an intermittent 'late' WOT upshift, again one of my cars was doing this, although only when the trans was not fully hot. Unfortunately there's no way to accurately measure upshift RPM without a digital memory tach connected temporarily. If you go through the effort of opening up the LH module again, if you post or email me a pic of the chip with cover removed, I can tell you what it is...

 

[makemann]

Jlaa, sometimes I can be a little slow. I've been following your improvements on the 500E, while not making the connection that you're also the "Jlaa" on RL. What you've done to your 993 is probably one of my favorite interiors next to a Singer. Absolutely top-notch attention to detail.

I was tempted to break up the monochromatic Midnight Blue interior in mine by adding a three-color basketweave leather pattern to the seat inserts, a la Singer, but I couldn't justify the cost and the drive time lost in an already short driving season here in Michigan. I did finally find a nearly perfect match to Porsche Midnight Blue leather and am reupholstering the seats, along with covering the door pulls and armrests like you have.

Thank you for posting your detailed info on adding Bluetooth to your Becker! Very helpful! That'll be my next addition.

 

[TerryA]

Jlaa,

You do nice work. I was out of touch w/ the 500eboard for December. So I caught up with your "OCDness" this AM. I must say I have read from mid Dec and your posts kept me interested right up to the last one. I spent at least an hour reading this stuff.

i appreciate your invested time and $$$ to make your car whole again.

Your car looks great!! Now "Get your motor running and Get it out on the Highway"

Take Care

 

[sheward]

The torque available at speed, without drama, is one of the qualities that makes them a joy to drive. If you haven't already done so, put the pedal all the way down and call up 3rd gear at 80 and you'll get plenty of drama. The good kind.

drew

 

[Jlaa]

Thanks for all the compliments guys.

Makemann --- I look forward to seeing your completed result --- especially the coverings for the door pulls, arm rests, and upper door panels (993).
As well TerryA, Sheward, I am glad that to provide an entertaining read.

I did a super simple thing today and replaced the trunk light pin switch the the grey kind that can pull out / push in --- a la Gerry VZ (thanks!).

The pictures show why I adore this car ---- the trunk liner is held in by no less than TWENTY snap in plastic clips (part # 0009905792) and an additional TWO push/pull plastic pins. (Luckily I had extras because a few inevitably break)
TWENTY TWO FASTENERS. For a trunk lid lining. That's completely excessive. Absurdly excessive. Excess upon excess - let's turn that dial up to eleven.

The only way they could made it even better would have been to use twenty-two screws with blind / captive nuts in the rear (BTW the beauty of working on Porsches whose interior were designed in the 60s is that everything is fastened together with screws and metal ..... but I digress....and Porsche wouldn't have used twenty, they would have used less.....)

 

[Jlaa]

≈I'm executing on the most trivial of details now ----- last it was the grey pin switch for the trunk. Now it is the gas piston in the center armrest. Luckily my black plastic limit straps are not broken.

I followed the instructions by GVZ here: http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7515

I used a Taiwanese-sourced aftermarket gas piston from Ivanned --- thank you Ivanned!

One Note -

GVZ - your notes were excellent, thank you. I did realize those that the inner black plastic tray requires one to remove, in addition to the 8 philips screws mentioned, two more torx screws that secure the base that the phone snaps into. These torx screws can be found if one pops off their rubber caps. (See first picture)

Note in the sixth picture I got a little too aggressive in grinding down the aftermarket gas-piston ends ---- I just slapped in a bunch of thread locker and called it a day. Seems to hold well.

One question ---

I don't really understand how the rear most end of the gas piston supposed to work --- is it supposed to secure on to some kind of pin or something? Mine doesn't. Or perhaps mine has some broken stuff there and is missing a pin? (see the last picture with the circle). It works well enough just floating there. The front end (the end hidden by the black plastic shell of the armrest) is indeed, though, secured by a metal pin.