Kevin here coming at you from the metro Detroit area of Michigan ,
I'm here needing assistance with my recently aquired 560SL.
With the pictures comes a story,
This car was previously owned by a very close and dear friend to myself and my old man. He recently passed away from a heart attack he revived while taking a shower. named Alvin lived in Detroit city 85year old. He had the car for at least 10 years and 9 years ago my father completely did the interior work. His family needed help with funeral arrangements and the burial and asked if my father would be able to pay 5k for it all and in return take the car.
My father assured them he had well over 80k stashed someplace at home and there was no need for them to sell the car. The money was never located by the family members including my father who helped search the house.
My father purchased the car and gifted me Alvins car.
As to what brings me here is the guages, they seem to have some dust behind them and I was wondering if there is a way I can reach and possibly clean it off.
Much thank you for this website and I hope to hear and read a lot of what it has to offer!
Put 300 miles on her , rides perfect.
Sounds like a giant fan getting louder with more RPM under the hood ? Is this normal ?
What's the hottest this motor gets before raising any red flags.
I've seen mine as high as 100c when I was stuck in stop and go traffic leaving the tigers game.
I recently had the same concerns about the operating temperature. Running up to 100C I have come to find is not unusual. Mine was actually exceeding that while warming up. It has stopped that now that I have changed the thermostat.
Giant fan? With the engine off (of course) try moving the fan by hand. It should move with a little resistance. If it doesn't it means the clutch fan mechanism is locked up and needs to be replaced.
Welcome to the cult. Yep. For some of us owning Mercedes is an incurable addiction.
Looks like a great buy and a nice 560SL.
My 1986 560SL gets hot in traffic. Normally around 80C and then will
rise up around 100C in city traffic. If you got any issues with that nice 560SL,
post them here - there are a lot of folks here who can help. BTW, post some
photos of your fathers interior handiwork.
BTW, $5K for a funeral is much lower than what I see here in the deep South.
The ones I have been close to were like just over $10K. In fact my mothers
funeral 18 years ago was over $10K. I've always wondered why we have such
high funeral costs when I hear that the average nationally is $5-$7K. But,
we do have pretty nice Funeral Homes here
As to what brings me here is the guages, they seem to have some dust behind them and I was wondering if there is a way I can reach and possibly clean it off.
Welcome to the forum. Seems like a steal at $5K. But don't tell them.
The engine compartment has been heavily detailed and polished up to beyond factory standards. Your call if you want to keep it shiny, or let it oxidize naturally. Don't be tempted to pressure wash the engine compartment to keep in shiny. Use water sparingly, or not at all. A good engine detailing spray and dry cleaning will prevent drying out all the rubber and destroying the electronics (yes, there's some boxes there that are vital.
If I were stashing $80K, I'd at least consider putting some of it in the spare wheel of my SL.
On more serious note. Older gentlemen who owned this car quite possibly was in decline for some time, so unless you have records assume that no maintenance was done to the car. This means - change all fluids and filters before you start driving it. Also, be aware that this car has flat tappet engine and requires high ash or zinc additive or it will chew up cams. Last but not least - timing chain guides are problematic, so don't ignore chain slap and make sure chain tensioner working well as it is very weak spot on this car.
As to what brings me here is the guages, they seem to have some dust behind them and I was wondering if there is a way I can reach and possibly clean it off.
Yes this bugged me on both my 450SL and 560SL, for some reason the back of the gauges gets dusty. As noted in the EGV107 link posted by isthisdave, remove the steering wheel and then the entire instrument cluster can be pulled out, it is just friction fit.
Once out you will be tempted to dissemble the entire cluster and clean or Armor-All everything. don't let anything touch those delicate needles. I used Meguiar's plastic cleaner followed by Meguiar's plastic polish and the lens became invisible. I painted the triangular light reflectors (shown below bottom, still attached to the clear lens) with high reflective white and it made the instruments brighter at night. May as well buy some fresh bulbs as the old lights slightly dim with age. You could try LEDs but I find the OEM bulbs to work well.
If you get that far you could consider painting the needles orange (they fade)- I used model paint . Make sure you cover the faces with tissue to prevent drips hitting the face.
Great looking car to say the least. I agree that records should be checked, and if missing the usual fluid changes at the least. Given the temps this summer, I don't think a bump to 100c is excessive in traffic, but should cool to 90c or so at highway speeds.
Where in Metro "D"? There are a few of us around, and we really should meet up and put faces with names sometime. I live in Bloomfield, but my car/work is in Rochester.
Congrats on the car, and have fun with it, it's a real "looker".
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