Mercedes-Benz Forum banner

Hidden Talents, how many does the 140 have?

73K views 170 replies 73 participants last post by  unimoged  
#1 ·
Found out something I never knew about my car just now. You know how the new Benzes have that radar cruise control that can apply the brakes if necessary.
Well here's me, driving down the road, cruise control on, at a steady 50 in fifth. Anyway the road turns a corner and then begins a descent, (quite a steep one as it happens). As the speed rises I feel the transmission kick down a gear to try and slow the car, it's not enough and it kicks down again it's now in third and holding at the correct speed.
I tried it again and the same happened.
I was really quite surprised.

Anybody else know of any other clever tricks the 140 can do?
 
#5 ·
NZ Benz said:
It helps my mechanic's son go to private school :D
Yeah, I put a new wing on my my mechanic's house! Seriously though, in the winter, after you shut the engine off, hit the "REST" button for the climate control and the car will continue to blow hot air into the car for upto 1 hour so you can return to a warm car.
 
#7 ·
It was sunnny, hot, and very sticky at 92 F here today.... Then rained like hell for a few hours
 
#8 ·
gumsie said:
Found out something I never knew about my car just now. You know how the new Benzes have that radar cruise control that can apply the brakes if necessary.
Well here's me, driving down the road, cruise control on, at a steady 50 in fifth. Anyway the road turns a corner and then begins a descent, (quite a steep one as it happens). As the speed rises I feel the transmission kick down a gear to try and slow the car, it's not enough and it kicks down again it's now in third and holding at the correct speed.
I tried it again and the same happened.
I was really quite surprised.

Anybody else know of any other clever tricks the 140 can do?
and did you know every single car with cruise control does that?my old cars did that and my mums honda aswell:)but i think it works after certain speed i think after 60km/h
 
#9 ·
alphaa said:
and did you know every single car with cruise control does that?my old cars did that and my mums honda aswell:)but i think it works after certain speed i think after 60km/h
I'm pretty sure my Dad's old Jag did it too and when it went up a hill you could hear the car holding itself in gear rather than down shifting like it would if you were working the pedal yourself.
 
#12 ·
Benzkid27 said:
Its not a hidden secret to us,however to many its very much a hidden secret and that is the famous Kickdown that brings the beast out of our w140 and it come in handy when some punk ricer wants to mess with this 5000lbs 500!!:D
i do love that ovedrive button thing when the pedal touches the metal button on the back of the floor... I wonder how exactly does that work mechanically. All i know is that if i floored my pedal my RPM's will drop for a moment and then shoot up the red zone while my car takes off.
 
#13 ·
I thought of another hidden secret in our cars,well some of us anyhow..The Hidden armrest/door compartments in the older w140s(92-94) where the newer w140s dont have that.Its pretty nice to have, my wife uses hers for trash(lotto tickets and hostess donuts wrappers mostly) I normaly keep cds in them.
 
#14 ·
Benzkid27 said:
I thought of another hidden secret in our cars,well some of us anyhow..The Hidden armrest/door compartments in the older w140s(92-94) where the newer w140s dont have that.Its pretty nice to have, my wife uses hers for trash(lotto tickets and hostess donuts wrappers mostly) I normaly keep cds in them.
That's true, Those are pretty cool. I drove a friends '94 S500 for a week once, and found those door compartments to be pretty cool. Although, they must be a real pain to clean out....
 
#15 ·
1996_S500 said:
Although, they must be a real pain to clean out....
Thats true..they can be a pain to clean.Like I said my wife uses her side(pass door)to keep her trash when were out or on long trips.I just pull out the lotto scratchers and donut wrappers and then take a vac hose and suck up anything else in there(pennies,nickles,ect)then i take a damp cloth and wipe them down cause of the velvet covering in them and her donut crumbs and its cleaned...the other 3 dont get alot of use just carry cds.My brother borrowed the car one day to take a friend home and he was looking around playin with some of the stuff and told my bro that this car has tons of areas to hide drugs,maybe thats why Mercedes has that drug dealer link to them???haha.:D
 
#18 · (Edited)
The hidden secret that i still cant figure out is ....

How does the w140 make something malfunction immediately after i just got done fixing the previous malfunction.

When i just finished fixing my suspension, with some mysterious holly hidden secret, immediately my rear right window regulator malfunctioned. Then i fixed that, ...........and ..... yup you guessed it..... immediately...my ABS,esp lights came on..........i fixed that.....then.....yup..once again my left rear window regulator malfunctioned......


But the BIGGEST HIDDEN SECRET of all.......is ...i dont know how i end up buying yet another W140, after selling the previous one and swearing never to buy another one again. I went from s420, to S500, TO S600.....swearing after each one i am done.

Hmmm.....


:)
 
#20 ·
ghost said:
The hidden secret that i still cant figure out is ....

But the BIGGEST HIDDEN SECRET of all.......is ...i dont know how i end up buying yet another W140, after selling the previous one and swearing never to buy another one again. I went from s420, to S500, TO S600.....swearing after each one i am done.

Hmmm.....


:)
:My best Darth Vader voice:: "The Darkside is more powerful then the Force my Son"
 
#21 ·
ghost said:
The hidden secret that i still cant figure out is ....

How does the w140 make something malfunction immediately after i just got done fixing the previous malfunction.

When i just finished fixing my suspension, with some mysterious holly hidden secret, immediately my rear right window regulator malfunctioned. Then i fixed that, ...........and ..... yup you guessed it..... immediately...my ABS,esp lights came on..........i fixed that.....then.....yup..once again my left rear window regulator malfunctioned......


But the BIGGEST HIDDEN SECRET of all.......is ...i dont know how i end up buying yet another W140, after selling the previous one and swearing never to buy another one again. I went from s420, to S500, TO S600.....swearing after each one i am done.

Hmmm.....


:)
lol I bet crack is cheaper too. :D
 
#22 · (Edited)
dantefr said:
Yeah, I put a new wing on my my mechanic's house! Seriously though, in the winter, after you shut the engine off, hit the "REST" button for the climate control and the car will continue to blow hot air into the car for upto 1 hour so you can return to a warm car.
This is also an effective way to cool the motor down when sitting on the side of the road after your water pump seizes or the poly belt snaps ;)


How about, in my S600, I have a feature where the windscreen wipers stop working when I press the rear window demister button. Anyone else have that special feature? It doesn't come up in the VIN check either so I know it's really extra special :)
 
#24 ·
The best hidden talent of the old W140's is that they can talk to this little box...

Image


...built according to the instructions of Jim Forgione (K6JRF Auto Page) and within 10 minutes allowing me to read out all DTC Fault Codes of the car systems.

That's what I would really miss with a newer version where it's not so simple. This makes me quite independent from workshops and translates between us, when I ask my car, what the issues are, so that it actually talks to me... :)

Best regards
Hubert
 
#25 ·
How about the auto close window feature with your key fob. When you get out of your car and windows or roof are still open, press and hold the lock button for about 5 seconds and all the windows roll up and the roof closes.
Note that this will only work for about 30 seconds after you turn your car off.
I thought I heard somewhere that this feature works all the time (up or down) with a special package on certain cars.
 
#26 ·
Kiawah said:
How about the auto close window feature with your key fob. When you get out of your car and windows or roof are still open, press and hold the lock button for about 5 seconds and all the windows roll up and the roof closes.
Note that this will only work for about 30 seconds after you turn your car off.
I thought I heard somewhere that this feature works all the time (up or down) with a special package on certain cars.
So that's how that works, I though that mine was not working, now I see it is :)