So after two years of owning this rolling disaster(only six months of those two years were when the car was NOT in a repair garage)I have trashed the wanting to restore me a Mercedes. Why is the 1996 W210 e320 sedan specifically such an oddball car? I am glad it has the older straight six(W124 is the engine code???)as there is much more room under the hood to work that and it is just much simpler to work on.
I have so far spent an easy close to $4,000 replacing completely neglected parts and I still cannot drive the darn thing without worrying it will burst into flames. I had been working with a veteran ASE Master mechanic that owns a little shop because his labor rates are the lowest I have seen. Always have to wait a really long time for work to get done any other normal repair shop would only take a day or two in order to save money.
Today Mercedes friends I am in need of the part numbers for my ignition switch assembly. From the lock tumbler to the sleeve to the black plastic part on the back of the assembly with the connection points(?). My now ex mechanic has fabricated up the old lock tumbler to where I only need to insert 1/8th of the key to get it to turn and start. The steering lock bolt locked into place which the mechanic had to spend an awful lot of time cutting out to get the wheel to turn again. In its place he has fabricated a normal bolt to work in its place.
My nearest Mercedes dealer wants all the part numbers of which I have submitted two. One for the tumbler and the other for the steering lock. The way the ignition has been rigged so I can start the car leaves the "remove key" prompt and buzzing sound on when the key is taken out and only stops when all the doors are totally shut.
Having crawled through and over every bit of information I can find on this oddball W210 I found the transmission fluid checking method for the car. According to this manual you start the car leaving it in park. Let it run for two minutes for it to get to temperature THEN turn off the engine and check the trans fluid level. The manual I found this in also has an illustration of what the trans dip stick is supposed to look like with the proper amount of fluid in it. There are high and low fluid stampings on both sides of the bottom of the dip stick. The manual stresses pretty strongly that the ATF fluid must be exactly measuring from the low end to the high stamped end of the stick EXACTLY or the transmission will run wrong, very wrong, and cause damage.
I double checked how to do the ATF level check carefully then did it twice. Instead of the ATF fluid showing properly between the stamped marks there is so much ATF fluid in the car that the level is almost 5 times past the high end stamped limit. I checked very carefully. Used a lint free towel etc. My now ex mechanic has had to fix the trans twice in the last 7 months. Reverse went out both times. When I drove the car out of his shop for the last time back to my house the shifts were so hard they threw me forward and back in my seat.
Been follwing Bergsma for awhile and will likely order his larger fluid pump to get the ATF to its proper level.
So that is it for now friends. Not trying to write book so I will sum up with my original request for help getting the right part numbers for my ignition assembly.
Thank You
I have so far spent an easy close to $4,000 replacing completely neglected parts and I still cannot drive the darn thing without worrying it will burst into flames. I had been working with a veteran ASE Master mechanic that owns a little shop because his labor rates are the lowest I have seen. Always have to wait a really long time for work to get done any other normal repair shop would only take a day or two in order to save money.
Today Mercedes friends I am in need of the part numbers for my ignition switch assembly. From the lock tumbler to the sleeve to the black plastic part on the back of the assembly with the connection points(?). My now ex mechanic has fabricated up the old lock tumbler to where I only need to insert 1/8th of the key to get it to turn and start. The steering lock bolt locked into place which the mechanic had to spend an awful lot of time cutting out to get the wheel to turn again. In its place he has fabricated a normal bolt to work in its place.
My nearest Mercedes dealer wants all the part numbers of which I have submitted two. One for the tumbler and the other for the steering lock. The way the ignition has been rigged so I can start the car leaves the "remove key" prompt and buzzing sound on when the key is taken out and only stops when all the doors are totally shut.
Having crawled through and over every bit of information I can find on this oddball W210 I found the transmission fluid checking method for the car. According to this manual you start the car leaving it in park. Let it run for two minutes for it to get to temperature THEN turn off the engine and check the trans fluid level. The manual I found this in also has an illustration of what the trans dip stick is supposed to look like with the proper amount of fluid in it. There are high and low fluid stampings on both sides of the bottom of the dip stick. The manual stresses pretty strongly that the ATF fluid must be exactly measuring from the low end to the high stamped end of the stick EXACTLY or the transmission will run wrong, very wrong, and cause damage.
I double checked how to do the ATF level check carefully then did it twice. Instead of the ATF fluid showing properly between the stamped marks there is so much ATF fluid in the car that the level is almost 5 times past the high end stamped limit. I checked very carefully. Used a lint free towel etc. My now ex mechanic has had to fix the trans twice in the last 7 months. Reverse went out both times. When I drove the car out of his shop for the last time back to my house the shifts were so hard they threw me forward and back in my seat.
Been follwing Bergsma for awhile and will likely order his larger fluid pump to get the ATF to its proper level.
So that is it for now friends. Not trying to write book so I will sum up with my original request for help getting the right part numbers for my ignition assembly.
Thank You