W126 - Tarwin's Aeroplane

This is a non-Rhino-related post, but for the love of Merc, here is a quick entry on a W126 300SE.

So Tarwin is a relative who has had the pleasure of driving Mercedes for a few years and he is very fond of the W126. He calls his present W126 The Aeroplane.

Tarwin needed some help to get his car check, it was making lots of noise on bumps and even straight roads, he also wanted an assessment of the car to be done. For that reason, I get to sample his W126 for a bit.

I took it to City Cycle to have the car checked. There were a few issues with it but they were all minor. The observations were
  1. wheel alignment was off
  2. castor ball joint on both sides was busted
  3. the upper arm was loose
  4. a leak was seen at the oil level sender which leads to the under-engine cover being stained with oil
  5. And a day finale was the driver power window mechanism was faulty
We were only able to address the upper arm by tightening it and that made some difference. The drive back has improved and while the knocking noises were still there, they were significantly reduced. The leak on the oil level sender was asked to be fixed during the next oil change to reduce the mess from oil spills.

To have this fixed, some shopping for replacement parts is needed, and below is the repair plan:
  1. Drop the engine oil and old filter
  2. Remove the engine oil float and have it replaced
  3. Refresh the engine with new engine oil and a new oil filter. The oil of choice is the Revenol 10w40 semi-synthetic oil that comes in a 5 lit. container
  4. Castor ball joints from Lemforder to be installed with the Castor bush kit from Meyle
The installation took a few hours and upon completion, the car was tested. Observations of the completed work are that the car runs much smoother now. Earlier Tarwin was thinking that the long shaft was the culprit, while that is still an issue, it is a minor one. The castor balljoint replacement smoothens the car drive significantly. The engine oil change made the engine purr nicely. The oil sump float was also replaced to fix the leak observed.

On the following day, The Aeroplane is admitted again to the garage to have a few things further checked, what was found was the belt tensioner bearing has worn out making rough noise while the engine runs, the radiator had a small leak and the car would not start on the first crank. 

The tensioner has been replaced and the radiator has been fixed, but more work is being done to assess why the car would not start on the first crank. This is a work in progress and should be resolved soon.

All in all, Tarwin is a happy camper, there is still more work he would like to do, but these little fixes ignited his passion for his Aeroplane. There is more work with The Aeroplane in the near future that will be reported accordingly.

Pictures:
Castor ball joint that was lose needing replacement

A sign of a leak that lead to the discovery of the oil sump sender leaking

Oil sump sender that was leaking

Oil leak surrounding the oil sump and AC compressor


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