OWNER JC220

[JC220]

Looks primo! Is that car Spruce green?

drew

It's not spruce - from Vin decoder its - MALACHITE GREEN METALLIC (249U) I guess it's been a while since I was working on this coupe sohere are some pics of it to refresh memories;







It is actaully a fine example of a C140 - only 73k odd miles with full service history and every MOT old certifcate to back the low miles up. Which is why I was very surprised when the m119 was seized in it! But that is now in it's rearview hopefully - when the "new" motor gets up and running.

The original Eltanin 18 alloys will be staying for sure and refurbished. If it starts up with no issues I might go right ahead and replace the brakes etc to get this old girl on the road again as soon as possible this spring. From records it was last on the road in 2009 - a long time coming for it

 

[gsxr]

Malachite is the European name for 249... here in the colonies, the same color is referred to as Spruce Green.

 

[JC220]

Does this mean I am in the Spruce Mafia?

 

[Hakie]

Welcome!

 

[sheward]

Yes, membership granted seeing it IS a V8. We frown on showing up for a hit in a 6 banger.

drew

 

[gerryvz]

Malachite = Spruce Green
Graublau Metallik = Pearl Black
Champignon = Mushroom

 

[JC220]

Malachite is the European name for 249... here in the colonies, the same color is referred to as Spruce Green.

Malachite = Spruce Green
Graublau Metallik = Pearl Black
Champignon = Mushroom

Is Spruce a nickname of sorts for this colour? Or, in USA Datacards is it actually called Spruce Green?

 

[JC220]

Quoting myself now - since the thread went onto the next page it might be missed- this was the update today.

The Green Goddess has a motor again!!

View attachment 91934 View attachment 91935

View attachment 91936

The engine bay requires more tidying up so far I've only done the subframe and side rails at the motor area. All minor rust scabs will be repaired and restored In the rest of the engine bay and all connections will be made during the next 10 days or so. Then it will be time to see if this car will run and move under it's own power for the first time since 2009

 

[ace10]

Graublau Metallik = Pearl Black

Blauschwarz, no?

 

[gerryvz]

Blauschwarz, no?

You're right -- Freudian slip. I was thinking of the color of my former 300SEL 6.3 (DB906).

 

[gerryvz]

Is Spruce a nickname of sorts for this colour? Or, in USA Datacards is it actually called Spruce Green?

US datacards didn't specify a color name. Only a color code, which @gsxr mentioned.

However, for stealership brochures in the US describing colors, "Spruce Green" was used as the US-market name for this color (DB249).

And somehow the folks who own the Spruce cars created some sort of unofficial "Mafia" club. I think it's borne out of that parenting concept in the US, that is come into vogue over the past 20 years, where "everyone" wins a trophy and is made to feel special. So even if you are in a contest and come in last place, you still get a big trophy. That's sort of how it is with the Spruce guys.

Especially when compared with us DB199 ("Blauschwarz") guys.

 

[TerryA]

The Green Goddess has a motor again!!

View attachment 91934 View attachment 91935

View attachment 91936

The engine bay requires more tidying up so far I've only done the subframe and side rails at the motor area. All minor rust scabs will be repaired and restored In the rest of the engine bay and all connections will be made during the next 10 days or so. Then it will be time to see if this car will run and move under it's own power for the first time since 2009

Joe,

You do quality work. That “Gold Plated M119” looks great setting back in the “Green Goddess”.

This is close to precision rocket science from what I can tell. I am looking forward to your next steps to “LIFTOFF”

Good Luck

 

[nocfn]

What oil do you use?

 

[JC220]

What oil do you use?

 

[JC220]

Joe,

You do quality work. That “Gold Plated M119” looks great setting back in the “Green Goddess”.

This is close to precision rocket science from what I can tell. I am looking forward to your next steps to “LIFTOFF”

Good Luck

Thanks Terry! glad you like the progress so far! I will do up a "To do" list and get on it looking forward to this thing starting up

 

[gsxr]

Is Spruce a nickname of sorts for this colour? Or, in USA Datacards is it actually called Spruce Green?

As Gerry said, it's not in datacards... and any datacard mention of color names will be region/language-specific.

 

[JC220]

I used my professional ultrasonic injector cleaning and testing machine and verified all injectors were flowing equally with nice spray patterns and no leaks.

Fuel rail and upper wiring harness back in tonight- getting a little closer

 

[JC220]

I have some work left prior to test startup on the S500. So far I have discovered the rewired ETA that came with it appears faulty as is the oil pressure gauge.

This is an example of one part that needed alot of TLC!! But amazingly still appears functional






It's this sort of thing that takes 4 hours in itself to clean and restore before bolting on.

The new exhaust fitted perfectly - its actually cool looking up from below at the shining new parts and restored engine!

 

[gerryvz]

JC,

How/what do you use to clean aluminum/metal like that?

 

[JC220]

JC,

How/what do you use to clean aluminum/metal like that?

Hi Gerry,

This was done with a new product I have just tried. Raceglaze alubright metal deoxidiser

AluBright Deoxidiser - Race Glaze

race glaze alubright metal deoxidiser for restoring brightness to alloy components in cars, motorcycles, trailers, engines, gearboxes

www.raceglaze.co.uk

First degrease then spritz on and work with a detail brush. Leave and repeat as needed. This sea crustacean took about 6 applications to clean up!



Amazing product and highly recommended. A little goes far and it restores the original aluminium very nicely. It also did not damage the old decals in any way.

I wish I discovered this product sooner! Vapour blasting is good but the abrasive media residue is a concern

 

[JC220]

There was a storm tonight so I couldn't really go near the S500 until just before midnight. I just wanted to check again what the ETA is doing exactly.

I did check resistance of the coil via the plug and it was about 4.5ohms. That is within spec. The motor wires are also not showing open circuit.

What the car is doing is as soon as you turn the igntion key on, the eta clicks for a moment and the butterfly twitches then dead. Nada. The ASR light comes on and stays on. It would be in limp mode if it were running.

I now wonder if the Egas itself is bad.... but still wouldn't mind a spare ETA to swap in. This video of Victor's shows a working ETA which then gets a bad Egas slotted in and does exactly what my S500 appears to be doing. A brief flutter from the ETA, silence and then ASR lamp lit.

I guess I need to order a spare W140 Egas too. I have a 500E spare Egas but perhaps not compatible.

I'll work more at it each night. I guess I need to clear and pull all codes. But within 48 hours it should be ready for a test fire up. Even in limp mode I want to hear if the car wants to run or what other electrical fun may await.

 

[JC220]

I have Oil Pressure!! but no fuel pressure

First I decided to use a cleaner 2 prong approach to verify oil pressure whilst cranking over and no spark plugs in. By using a multimeter and reading the OHMS on the new sender at the filter housing. After a couple seconds cranking the reading went from 20 odd to 180 and open circuit. Meaning 3+ bar. And I watched it bleed back slowly on the gauge a couple times to be sure they were not false readings.

I could then see oil starting to pump out at the camshafts - this is very good news (pink is the red line engine assembly lube - golden oil was mixing with it and pooling up)



Gapped the plugs to 1mm, torqued in to 28nm and bar'd the engine over by hand making compression a full 720 degrees to be sure to be sure- all felt great. Turned it on the starter - again sounds good.

Connected the wire back on the fuel pump. Fitted the new filter- went to the key and nothing. I decided to unplug the fuel pump and jumper it. Dead as a door nail. Fortunately I have a new boxed fuel pump the exact type on the shelf so tomorrow when I get home from work I'll fit that and see do I at least have fuel pressure.

A known good E Gas is coming in a day or two also to test in the car. (ASR ETA issues)

Getting close - real close. That is - unless there are more and more electrical gremlins but whatever they are I'll endeavour to get this thing running.

 

[JC220]

At long last - most likely since 2008 / early 09 (when the MOT expired) this Coupe is alive!

More work still to do this was just a brief test fire up, with no fan or exhuast silencers etc. ASR fault remains despite a replacement EGAS but none of that bothers me in the slightest - its alive at last!!

 

[TimL]

Congratulations JC220- that took a lot of tenacity and grit! Well worth it in my opinion; this is one beautiful SEC you resuscitated!

 

[TerryA]

Joe,

Wow! That motor sounds great. Smooooth to.

Congrats

 

[gerryvz]

Aye....very inspirational. And well-documented too !!

 

[JC220]

Congratulations JC220- that took a lot of tenacity and grit! Well worth it in my opinion; this is one beautiful SEC you resuscitated!

Thanks for the kind comments! Yes it should be a nice car when complete - hopefully that will be this spring

Joe,

Wow! That motor sounds great. Smooooth to.

Congrats

Thanks Terry - funny thing is the ETA is dead so it has no idle control at all but still somehow runs well at idle

Aye....very inspirational. And well-documented too !!

Thanks Gerry!

 

[JC220]

Tonight I will start reading codes and checking data with Star on the ASR error. I will clear old codes first and see what new one(s) appear when starting it up.

I may create a new thread on ASR fault finding

 

[outrbnks]

Great Job with the coupe, I got a kick out of the Victor video in your post # 1321. As soon as that video moved to the interior, clues started popping up right away; Black interior, Wood Leather steering wheel, Kilometer speedometer with familiar odo numbers, and a Exh Temp light instead of Check Engine in the cluster. The clincher was the video pullout back to the exterior with a quick shot of the right front wheel.. yup a OZ 3 piece Aero I.. That's Ms Bornite..! Interesting enough, the eGas that was working in the video, really had an intermittent fail. It would go a long time with no problems, then simply go into ASR fault. Some time simply restarting the engine would correct the issue, sometimes not. It was the wrong P/N anyway, matching a Euro 500E P/N in EPC, All fixed now with a factory new eGas module that matches a Japan build eGas per EPC, (different P/N).

Best luck with this coupe project..O

 

[JC220]

Great Job with the coupe, I got a kick out of the Victor video in your post # 1321. As soon as that video moved to the interior, clues started popping up right away; Black interior, Wood Leather steering wheel, Kilometer speedometer with familiar odo numbers, and a Exh Temp light instead of Check Engine in the cluster. The clincher was the video pullout back to the exterior with a quick shot of the right front wheel.. yup a OZ 3 piece Aero I.. That's Ms Bornite..! Interesting enough, the eGas that was working in the video, really had an intermittent fail. It would go a long time with no problems, then simply go into ASR fault. Some time simply restarting the engine would correct the issue, sometimes not. It was the wrong P/N anyway, matching a USA 500E P/N in EPC, All fixed now with a factory new eGas module that matches a Japan build eGas per EPC, (different P/N).

Best luck with this coupe project..O

Hi Oscar, That's cool it was your Bornite in Victor's video! You are lucky to be able to take it to someone like him with all the gear to test and repair these old benz electrical systems, ETAs etc! I recall the video series on your other 500E and really enjoyed watching them

I have just been out and hooked my star onto the Coupe. After deleting the old historic codes and going into each module again I found a few new ones - new thread coming for maximum exposure to figure out WTF is going on. Suspect bad ETA still

Overall it actually appears in good electrical health - Star easily got into every system and many had no faults at all. Wasn't really expecting that!

 

[JC220]

SOLVED!

I thought about this one all day.... and came up with my own testing theory on an m119 ETA. I used the spare ETA I have, a 9v battery and multimeter and determined how to test one of these and the potentiometers in about 5 mins. Works a charm. With that dialled in I had a hunch about that rebuilt ETA in my S500 but had to take it out of the car to see if I was onto something.

Bingo!

View attachment 92373

OK not obvious but the little fork potentiometer arm is in the wrong place. The re-builder was not careful enough to make sure this was located correctly. Thus why the value on M16/1r1 was pegged. I checked my JC220 ETA test procedure and it checked out the same OHM specs on both pots.

Plugged it back in, did the re-learn procedure and it was working very well then except if I paused – at any position. My foot was on the throttle – limp mode should not be happening..... Tried the throttle pedal a few more times and got it to where the ETA did not go into limp mode when I paused the butterfly. Worked perfectly for 3 – 5 mins of sitting waggling the arm at the side and watching the butterfly follow with zest.

I strongly suspect my throttle pedal switch is flaky and needs inspection, removal and cleaning or new replacement. Then I will re-test and actually start the car up to see that it is happy. Fingers crossed!

So far when turning the ignition on and all hooked up Star is showing ZERO fault codes now in the car. Live data also shows the ASR Can Bus is online again.

View attachment 92372

Strange as heck but there you have it.

This is a short demo video of the previously dead ETA working on the car.

Note that for this test you must have the throttle pedal depressed whilst moving lever or limp mode will trigger and shut it down. Secondly the butterfly will not fully open - this is normal and is due to the ECU not seeing an RPM signal from the engine.

Quoting myself but this is where I had found a mistake inside the pro rebuilt ETA that came on my S500. It is back to life now unlike before.

But when testing it – found that limp mode was being triggered quite alot. I believe this is related to the throttle pedal switch and how the ECU expects to see both switches opening at once.

The next thing I will try is lubricating and re-sealing this ETA, re-install and check the throttle linkage adjustment. I may have had this set too perfectly. What I mean is I had it so a fraction of movement on the throttle cable pulled on the ETA. Maybe that was too precise. I will need to re-install with the linkage hooked up and view the live data to see if I can get the ETA to work properly in the car and make further adjustments as needed. The FSM is pretty hard to understand at a glance so ill follow each step in order and set it exactly as needed. Fingers crossed!

 

[gsxr]

Joe, you want to set up the throttle linkage so the tip of the throttle cable (with the tiny spring) has just a hair of movement, so when the cable is pulled, there is almost zero slack. Any tighter, and it may cause problems.

 

[JC220]

Joe, you want to set up the throttle linkage so the tip of the throttle cable (with the tiny spring) has just a hair of movement, so when the cable is pulled, there is almost zero slack. Any tighter, and it may cause problems.

Thanks Dave, just got the ETA installed and adjusted the throttle linkage. With the ignition on and from inside the car I can move the throttle back and forth, hold it and push hard then release etc repeatedly for 10 mins (like a drive) and its happy now!

ETA does not lock out and no ASR fault triggered.

It is not back together enough to start up and run for any amount of time but so far that seems very promising. I do want to obtain another updated spare ETA anyway to have it on the shelf incase any of this comes back.

But thus far it seems the assembly error on the rebuilt ETA was the cause of the previous troubles.

 

[JC220]

Still waiting on that new switch above. Today I thought I might take a look as to why the soft close doors and trunk have never been working on this coupe.

Oh yeah that will do it - pump is gone! Aka removed in the past. Fortunately they did not break any connectors at all so I just need to get a good used pump, slot it in and see what happens. This is a great link on these systems http://v12uberalles.org/Closing_Assist_Pump/Closing_Assist_Pump.html?i=1

I bought a very nice clean looking soft close pump from USA which is also tested



That will take 2 to 3 weeks so I also ordered another one in the UK, a little cheaper and in average condition. No broken nipples on either of these pumps so thats good. I need to have the trunk closing tightly in order to keep rain out and be able to wash + drive the car.

I will be working towards the end of Feb for MOT so need to start getting stuff done and back together on this coupe. Lots of updates to come in the next few weeks.

 

[JC220]

Both of my W220s need to get painted before july for a wedding. So I am planning to move my project 320CE out of the garage space it takes up and get started on welding the S430 soon. Going to take a Looonnnngggg time as I do all the prep myself. Best get started asap. Meeting with painter this saturday to get a game plan underway and let him know at least 2x S classes are coming for a full repaint. Hopefully the 220CE too if I get working hard all year and puch these projects along which I want to do big time.

Have thought about getting a Go Pro and starting a you tube series on the motley benz fleet......

 

[a777fan]

Have thought about getting a Go Pro and starting a you tube series on the motley benz fleet......

Yaaaaaaaaaasssss

 

[JC220]

Still waiting on that new switch above. Today I thought I might take a look as to why the soft close doors and trunk have never been working on this coupe.

Oh yeah that will do it - pump is gone! Aka removed in the past. Fortunately they did not break any connectors at all so I just need to get a good used pump, slot it in and see what happens. This is a great link on these systems http://v12uberalles.org/Closing_Assist_Pump/Closing_Assist_Pump.html?i=1

I bought a very nice clean looking soft close pump from USA which is also tested

View attachment 92719

That will take 2 to 3 weeks so I also ordered another one in the UK, a little cheaper and in average condition. No broken nipples on either of these pumps so thats good. I need to have the trunk closing tightly in order to keep rain out and be able to wash + drive the car.

I will be working towards the end of Feb for MOT so need to start getting stuff done and back together on this coupe. Lots of updates to come in the next few weeks.

The UK close assist pump arrived for the S500 Coupe and was installed. To my surprise right away both doors operated correctly. Soft close working well. And to my utter disbelief the key fob seemingly came back to life too and it is now working properly to lock & unlock the car. when I got this Coupe not 1 thing was working on it. Totally dead. Power windows dead, soft close dead, key fob dead and taped together. Now all windows + convenience functions work correctly and soft close on the doors.

Need to remove the soft close latch and test / inspect all wiring. The Trunk handle also does not pop out so I need to check the PSE pump again. I did revive the original pump with a new motor. Now I have sourced another spare w140 PSE which is supposed to have a dead motor also. So tonight I will solder in a replacement new motor (I have about a dozen brand new W140 PSE motors in my hoard) and try the second unit in the car. And besides all that since I have 2x other w140 saloons with fully working PSE pumps I could also test with one of those.

Getting there! Don't mind learning about these systems - quite interesting how they operate and its a real testament to the quality of these cars that it can sit disused for 10+ years with the pump missing and come right back to life in terms of all the hoses, microswitches and levers involved in that system.

The only item in the S500 left to get working again is the trunk soft close function. I suspect there is a wiring issue

 

[JC220]

Tonight when I got home from work I used the only real few hours I had free in a long time to install the new waterpump on the S500.

Started her up, filled it with water as a temporary measure and let it run fully up to temperature. It ran very nicely and got up to temp without a steam bath or anything bad happening. Infact it ran amazingly well for an engine that also hasn't seen action in years! All appears good- to give the new head gaskets the best possible bed in I removed the coolant cap to take the pressure off the water jackets as it cools off now overnight. (New m119 head gaskets need a heat cycle to activate the factory applied sealant on the HGs)

I will sleep well tonight!! Wanted to see it running up to temp and now I can see all is good

 

[JC220]

Parts hunting season got off to a great start today

I picked up quite alot of parts today including 3x w220 PSE pumps and removed a wiring harness from a m104 w124 for the spare 3.2 m104 I have.

But the best find of all was an original set of Penta mercedes 15 inch wheels on a 190E. Penta wheels are sought after and rare. (These are the real Penta Made In Britain wheels!) Refurbished sets bring £800 -£1000 on Ebay. The yard didnt have any interest in them at all so sold me the set for just over £10 a wheel these will join my hoard for sure never to be re-sold! One day I will get them refurbished. They are in dire need of a refurb someone hand painted them But.... Pentas

 

[JC220]

Tonight was a milestone for the S500 Coupe

There is a storm coming (literal not figuratively) so I wanted it out of the super rain that is to come in the next couple of days. It has a £180 outdoor "stormforce" cover but somehow water is making it's way into the trunk. (There is work to do on the trunk but it's just weird how water was able to get through the new cover)

Anyway - last night I had jacked it up and installed the front prop flex disc and hooked up + adjusted the transmission shift linkage. I started it up on the stands and it wasnt happy for some reason. Long story short I diagnosed a bad fuel pressure regulator but since I had a new Bosch unit on the shelf it was easy to get that fixed.

Tonight I cleared 7 or 8 months of crap from around the back of it and started it up. I put the gearbox through the motions and no grinding or smoke - this is good! Gave it some throttle and off it went. Finally after many years dead it is moving under it's own power dammit!!



Transmission appears healthy abeit I could only move it around my house as it's still far from road legal. The m119 is breathing through the new cats only until the full exhaust is re-installed and boy does it sound healthy! Running silky smooth and blips of throttle sound like thunder. My GF was inside the house and sent me a message to ask "WTF was that - thunder!?" Nope the V8

So it is now in the carport out of the rain forecast then the final push to rebuild the brakes and MOT prep will begin next week. #Makethecoupegreatagain

 

[JC220]

I have been thinking about the wheels on the S500 Coupe. They are the original 18 Eltanin wheels. But looking very tired.

So like usual my pro dude will properly refurbish them. And I am thinking of full diamond cut faces like I have seen some online. They should really look great then. 4x new tyres will be fitted at the same time. He will diamond cut and clear powder coat the whole wheel. I will maintain the finish with ceramic coating also.

The S500 coupe will be looking great pretty soon all being well – and running! Waiting on the engine parts to come back still. Valve seals replacement continuing today in the interim.

View attachment 86846 View attachment 86847 View attachment 86848

Cant wait to see how the wheels in full diamond cut will "pop" on the S500

View attachment 86849 (Dealer pic of my coupe for ref)

Thinking of final things to get done on the S500 coupe - the wheels and tyres are next to think about. As above I had strongly considered diamond cut BUT the set I had reconditioned last year is already deteriorating on the lacquered finish Not even had been on the road yet. So that sucks.

So for longevity I have decided to go with a fully painted finish which should look good for years even in the Irish climate. Found pics of ones done the same:



I think they will still look good. Anyway those wheels will be sent off and new tyres ordered as soon as it gets MOT hopefully soon in a few weeks. I will borrow the wheels from the S320 w140 (New Michelin tyres on those) to get me through MOT. New number plates ordered, final bits and bobs too. The brakes are actually working just fine.... So I may have the discs shot blasted and paint the bells along with new seals in the calipers + paint. All new pads and stainless hoses to finish. Getting excited now to be in the final straight with this resto

 

[JC220]

Here is a short video of it moving around my house - no exhaust yet. ASR is old code need to clear it (pedal switch is new now)

 

[JC220]

Your owner's thread is like "War and Piece" by Tolstoy. Should be read cover to cover by secluding one's self for a week in a remote cabin out in the woods, with rain and thunder outside . Very inspiring

Thankyou!

It is a great shame though that many of the posts had went bad text wise. What I normally do is write text on word or similar and paste them in since the forum software doesn't spell check all the time. And I post on a couple of forums at times.

This did not present any issues on my posts in other forums that slso coverted the software like BW but on the board my owners thread is still faulty. Whilst on the old software all those posts were fine too.

Could this be fixed please? @gerryvz

 

[gerryvz]

Thankyou!

It is a great shame though that many of the posts had went bad text wise. What I normally do is write text on word or similar and paste them in since the forum software doesn't spell check all the time. And I post on a couple of forums at times.

This did not present any issues on my posts in other forums that slso coverted the software like BW but on the board my owners thread is still faulty. Whilst on the old software all those posts were fine too.

Could this be fixed please? @gerryvz

I cannot fix the problem with your posts, simply because I don't know WHAT to fix. I see the gibberish and codes, but I do not know what the original posts looked like, so I cannot restore them. Furthermore, with all of my other forum maintenance and operational responsibilities, I simply do not have the time to do this.

Just in the past month, I have spent more than 45 hours doing the following software upgrades of SEVEN of this forum's TWELVE major software subsystems, to keep things secure and running smoothly:

1. XenForo -- updated 2.1.6 to 2.1.7
2. php -- updated four separate times 7.3.14-1 to 7.4.3-4
3. elasticsearch -- major upgrade 7.5.2 to 7.6.0
4. cURL -- first ever upgrade 7.58.0 to 7.68.0
5. Java -- first ever & major upgrade Java 8 Update 201 to Java 11.0.6
6. phpMyAdmin -- update 5.0.0 rc1 to 5.0.1
7. VaultWiki -- updated four separate times 4.1.0 Beta 4 Build 5 to 4.1.0 RC 1 Build 3

Just a single example: you can see the extent I've been working with the developer of the Wiki software to report and remedy bugs over the past few weeks, here and here. This all takes time and effort ... hours and hours ..... no-one on this forum sees the extent of this type of work that I do behind the scenes.

Over the past few days, I created and added new code to change how attachments are displayed, so that the attachment lists in posts are more vBulletin-like. This alone, took me around 5-6 hours over several days to create, test, debug and implement!!

That is exactly the issue -- when you use a word processor (as opposed to a straight text editor) to create a document, it inserts all kinds of "hidden" codes when you save the document. Normally this is not a problem, but when you paste this text containing all of the hidden codes into a setup that is not designed to accommodate it, then it reveals all of the hidden codes and formatting. If the forum was set up to display HTML codes in the postings, then it likely would not be an issue. But, allowing HTML is a MAJOR security risk, and this is why that forum software typically uses what is called "bbcode" as the standard, rather than HTML coding. BBcode is [b ] to bold something, as opposed to HTML <b >.

If you use a straight text editor, and save the file as a TXT file, it will not save all kinds of extraneous, BS "hidden" codes like word processors do (note: even if you save a file as a TXT or HTML file in Microsoft Word, it will embed hidden codes that are proprietary to Microsoft software).

Best best is to go through all of your old posts, one by one, and fix them according to how only you know the information was originally presented. Unfortuantely I do not have this knowledge as I didn't make the posts.

Trust me, I've spent many dozens (if not hundreds) of hours already on this forum, in the year since the migration, reformatting, recreating and re-doing all kinds of posts, including each and every Wiki entry, each and every photo album in the "Media" subcategory, and so on and so forth. But at least with those, I knew how they were laid out, so I was able to recreate and edit them to make them readable again.

 

[JC220]

I cannot fix the problem with your posts, simply because I don't know WHAT to fix. I see the gibberish and codes, but I do not know what the original posts looked like, so I cannot restore them. Furthermore, with all of my other forum maintenance and operational responsibilities, I simply do not have the time to do this.

Just in the past month, I have spent more than 45 hours doing the following software upgrades of SEVEN of this forum's TWELVE major software subsystems, to keep things secure and running smoothly:

1. XenForo -- updated 2.1.6 to 2.1.7
2. php -- updated four separate times 7.3.14-1 to 7.4.3-4
3. elasticsearch -- major upgrade 7.5.2 to 7.6.0
4. cURL -- first ever upgrade 7.58.0 to 7.68.0
5. Java -- first ever & major upgrade Java 8 Update 201 to Java 11.0.6
6. phpMyAdmin -- update 5.0.0 rc1 to 5.0.1
7. VaultWiki -- updated four separate times 4.1.0 Beta 4 Build 5 to 4.1.0 RC 1 Build 3

That is exactly the issue -- when you use a word processor (as opposed to a straight text editor) to create a document, it inserts all kinds of "hidden" codes when you save the document. Normally this is not a problem, but when you paste this text containing all of the hidden codes into a setup that is not designed to accommodate it, then it reveals all of the hidden codes and formatting. If the forum was set up to display HTML codes in the postings, then it likely would not be an issue. But, allowing HTML is a MAJOR security risk, and this is why that forum software typically uses what is called "bbcode" as the standard, rather than HTML coding. BBcode is [b ] to bold something, as opposed to HTML <b >.

If you use a straight text editor, and save the file as a TXT file, it will not save all kinds of extraneous, BS "hidden" codes like word processors do (note: even if you save a file as a TXT or HTML file in Microsoft Word, it will embed hidden codes that are proprietary to Microsoft software).

Best best is to go through all of your old posts, one by one, and fix them according to how only you know the information was originally presented. Unfortuantely I do not have this knowledge as I didn't make the posts.

Trust me, I've spent many dozens (if not hundreds) of hours already on this forum, in the year since the migration, reformatting, recreating and re-doing all kinds of posts, including each and every Wiki entry, each and every photo album in the "Media" subcategory, and so on and so forth. But at least with those, I knew how they were laid out, so I was able to recreate and edit them to make them readable again.

Yes that's all good Gerry and thanks for responding. I understand and it's no problem at all

Keep on with the great work on the board! It is appreciated by all

 

[gerryvz]

Yes that's all good Gerry and thanks for responding. I understand and it's no problem at all

Keep on with the great work on the board! It is appreciated by all

OK, pages 17 through 27 of your OWNER thread have been edited and cleaned up.

Took exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes to do that task.

16 more pages to go........ so probably another 1.5-2 hours of work.....

 

[JC220]

OK, pages 17 through 27 of your OWNER thread have been edited and cleaned up.

Took exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes to do that task.

16 more pages to go........ so probably another 1.5-2 hours of work.....

Sorry for the troubles Gerry and I really appreciate you taking time to look at that. I owe you a beer via PayPal Sir!

 

[gsxr]

What I normally do is write text on word or similar and paste them in since the forum software doesn't spell check all the time. And I post on a couple of forums at times.

AH! I always wondered why many of your older posts had an insane amount of code before & after the text. Often it was several times larger than the small amount of text you authored!

Tip: Author in Word, or other word processor, for spell check purposes. Then copy/paste the final content into a generic text editor (Notepad, Wordpad, etc). When pasting, the code will all be stripped away (note - this will also remove 'rich' content like bold or italic text, or embedded images). Now copy from the text editor and past into the forums. This will ensure only plain text is uploaded to the forum.

I use the same method when copying/pasting text from formatted web pages (news articles, forums) into an email editor that normally accepts rich text or HTML, like Gmail or Outlook.

 

[gerryvz]

The removal of the extraneous text in pages 15 through 27 of @JC220's OWNER thread has resulted in an approximate 15% reduction in the overall size of the forum database.

I am looking forward to completing the text removal process in the next day or two, and the additional storage space that will open back up for us.

 

[JC220]

AH! I always wondered why many of your older posts had an insane amount of code before & after the text. Often it was several times larger than the small amount of text you authored!

Tip: Author in Word, or other word processor, for spell check purposes. Then copy/paste the final content into a generic text editor (Notepad, Wordpad, etc). When pasting, the code will all be stripped away (note - this will also remove 'rich' content like bold or italic text, or embedded images). Now copy from the text editor and past into the forums. This will ensure only plain text is uploaded to the forum.

I use the same method when copying/pasting text from formatted web pages (news articles, forums) into an email editor that normally accepts rich text or HTML, like Gmail or Outlook.

Gotcha thanks for the tips Dave I'll do that from now on

The removal of the extraneous text in pages 15 through 27 of @JC220's OWNER thread has resulted in an approximate 15% reduction in the overall size of the forum database.

I am looking forward to completing the text removal process in the next day or two, and the additional storage space that will open back up for us.

Omg I had to chuckle at that 15%!

My owners thread has exponentially grown as my MB disease has worsened in recent years I am now beyond the point of salvage and have to accept my condition