[SocalSam]

Stacking posts because I have been at it again. Tried to do rear pads and rotors this morning but my E430 has 1 pin pads. I bought 2 pin. That's a fail. I'm looking into 2 pin caliper swap. I noticed at the junkyard that 1 pin pads wear unevenly in the direction of rotation while 2 pin pads wear evenly. I'm thinking 2 pin has better control of the pad. Looking for an easy victory, I completed front seat swap. Cleaned out decades of muck and found a handful of change. Fore/aft adjustment was jammed but luckily, all four bolts were accessible. I was prepared to cut the seat out. My cleaning efforts released old food smell which is slowly dissipating. I might take the seats out and do a proper cleaning if the smell does not go away.

 

[SocalSam]

Everyday chipping away. Rear brake pads replaced. Rotors are OK for one more cycle.

 

[EKM111]

Everyday chipping away...

Wish I could do the same! The check-strap really drives me insane. Weather has been too cold here for the last few days plus rain. Wanting to tear-down the driver side panel to see if the check-strap is simply misaligned and needing the top mount centered and pushed toward the bolt-hole. Maybe this weekend if all is well with weather.

 

[SocalSam]

Wish I could do the same! The check-strap really drives me insane. Weather has been too cold here for the last few days plus rain. Wanting to tear-down the driver side panel to see if the check-strap is simply misaligned and needing the top mount centered and pushed toward the bolt-hole. Maybe this weekend if all is well with weather.

I replaced my check strap when I didn't need to. The two bolts in the jam and one bolt inside the panel can back out to the point of falling out. The strap itself is very well built and IMO not likely to wear out. My original driver's door strap showed zero wear. It needed lubricant and bolt tightening and could have gone back into service.

In other news, facelift tail light swap is progressing slowly. Body side lights went right in. Trunk lights are the problem. I got my dremel out today and started grinding the flat side of the lamp housing. I re-fitted and ground some more. Poked a large hole in the backside housing but I don't think that matters. Getting closer but not done.

 

[wlb50]

Perfectly true, but it also depends on the culture pushed by the owner or director of that particular dealership. If the owner/director is pushing everyone to sell, sell, sell, then everyone has to conform on the pain of being fired from a cannon.

There are two dealers near me, MB of Long Beach and MB of Beverly Hills whose service papers aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Lately I've seen many cars that came misdiagnosed, or had parts shotgun on customer dime, or just flat out go on a wild goose chase going after issues that makes me feel very cynical about it. There's the quick and proper way to fix an issue, and then there is the profitable way....and I have a feeling that they are looking at the other one.

Corporate culture and/or overall directive pushed from the top shows.

To be sure, all dealers aren't created equal. Some I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Never will forget years ago while attending a wedding in San Diego it was obvious my rear wheel bearing was going on my W124. The wheel was even wobbling! To the car's credit (and perhaps my stupidity) I kept using the car to ferry people from function to function. On the way back home (it certainly wasn't going to make 500 miles back and I didn't want the wheel to fall off in Buttonwillow) I asked a local MBCA member where to go and he recommended MB-Escondido.
Had a great experience - in, out, no upselling.

Had a similar experience at an indie in Las Cruces, NM (recommended by a local member).

This local dealership (owner recently sold it to an LA company) but he had 3 dealerships in the area. Mercedes has a biannual competiton among techs world wide for a "diagnostic competition) among the 20,000 or so who start around the world, it is filtered to 7 man teams each representinkg a country at Stuttgart.

This dealership had 2 of the 7 for Team USA which ended up winning the worldwide competition...

 

[bluerooster]

worked on getting a driveability problem sussed. And also cleaned up the headlights.

 

[wlb50]

Changed the oil, and since the Topsider I have used for 20+ years developed a crimp in the extraction hose from years of hot oil, put a new one on I got at the Hardware store.

And to those of over the years claim the suction method "doesn't get all of the oil" (on non Mercedes it may be true but on every Mercedes I have had (W124, W210, R129, W212) it does, as the factory always seems to design the deepest point of the oil pan right below the dipstick tube).

Put in the proscribed 8 liters and measured it about an hour later. Dipstick showed halfway between add and full.

Added another half liter and it is almost at the top.

Which means the specifications stating it is an 8 liter capacity is an approximation?

It is a mystery but I will leave it at 8.5 liters.

And yes, I said liters, being in the US. I use the "Mercedes" 5w-40 synthetic (a Mobil 1 version I was told) and it is in liter bottles.

 

[SocalSam]

Changed the oil, and since the Topsider I have used for 20+ years developed a crimp in the extraction hose from years of hot oil, put a new one on I got at the Hardware store.

And to those of over the years claim the suction method "doesn't get all of the oil" (on non Mercedes it may be true but on every Mercedes I have had (W124, W210, R129, W212) it does, as the factory always seems to design the deepest point of the oil pan right below the dipstick tube).

Put in the proscribed 8 liters and measured it about an hour later. Dipstick showed halfway between add and full.

Added another half liter and it is almost at the top.

Which means the specifications stating it is an 8 liter capacity is an approximation?

It is a mystery but I will leave it at 8.5 liters.

And yes, I said liters, being in the US. I use the "Mercedes" 5w-40 synthetic (a Mobil 1 version I was told) and it is in liter bottles.

Thanks for mentioning Topsider. I was about to go under car.

 

[wlb50]

Thanks for mentioning Topsider. I was about to go under car.

I have used mine for 20+ years. Over the years when the subject is mentioned in most forums, nobody seems neutral. All I can say is that if I don't have to crawl under the car and if a device does just as good a job topside I use it

 

[SocalSam]

I have used mine for 20+ years. Over the years when the subject is mentioned in most forums, nobody seems neutral. All I can say is that if I don't have to crawl under the car and if a device does just as good a job topside I use it

Just ordered a Topsider from ebay. Looking forward to changing oil with white gloves, lol.

 

[wlb50]

A couple of hints that I learned - the dipstick tube is a hard plastic - just push it down the tube until you feel it stop - you don't want to keep pushing and possibly winding the tube at the bottom (the end may go up and then would leave some oil)

They say to use it when the engine is warm - true enough - if you use it on a cold engine it will take seemingly forever to draw the oil - but I wait an hour after the engine has reached op temp - in the meantime you can replace the oil filter. It takes me about 20 minutes for all of the oil to be drawn out and when it is, you will hear a gurgling sound when the oil is gone in the pan and the tube is sucking air.

And no matter how tight those gaskets are you will have to recharge it 2x-3x by pumping a couple of times.

I have used it so long I can't imagine having the hassle of running it up on ramps (my cars always seem to slide on the ramps and I end up jacking the car up on the ramps!) - or putting jackstands on - and draining from below.

 

[260e crusier]

When changing the motor oil with the extractor, I also change the fluid in the power steering reservoir. It only takes an extra 2-3 minutes. The power steering fluid in all of my vehicles are nice and clear.

 

[SocalSam]

Thank you gentlemen. New to Merc, keep the tips coming!

 

[gqmagic]

Just ordered a Topsider from ebay. Looking forward to changing oil with white gloves, lol.

Was the eBay price less than Amazon's $62? It was $50 at Amazon in 2014 when I got mine.

Airpower America FloTool 5060TSMI Topsider Extractor Multi-Purpose Vacuum Oil Change Pump for 4-Cycle Engine, ATV, Boat, Large Vehicle

Buy Airpower America FloTool 5060TSMI Topsider Extractor Multi-Purpose Vacuum Oil Change Pump for 4-Cycle Engine, ATV, Boat, Large Vehicle at Amazon. Customer reviews and photos may be available to help you make the right purchase decision!

www.amazon.com

 

[SocalSam]

Was the eBay price less than Amazon's $62? It was $50 at Amazon in 2014 when I got mine.

Airpower America FloTool 5060TSMI Topsider Extractor Multi-Purpose Vacuum Oil Change Pump for 4-Cycle Engine, ATV, Boat, Large Vehicle

Buy Airpower America FloTool 5060TSMI Topsider Extractor Multi-Purpose Vacuum Oil Change Pump for 4-Cycle Engine, ATV, Boat, Large Vehicle at Amazon. Customer reviews and photos may be available to help you make the right purchase decision!

www.amazon.com

Don't have Amazon. Data is not getting my money. I bought the used one for $60 shipped.

 

[260e crusier]

Here's something interesting (post #4):
I'm going to try an make an "interface" adapter for my extractor.

Oil Change- - Vacuum or Drain?

Some shops want to vacuum the oil out of the engine rather than drain it. Is it that hard or time conusuming to remove the pan under the engine compartment? I have never heard of vacuuming the oil out of a engine unless it was in a boat. I just picture pockets of oil left in the engine that...

www.benzworld.org

 

[SocalSam]

Couldn't wait for Topsider so I went under the car today. Drain plug broke a normal socket so I had to get my impact socket and breaker bar. Not ideal for the alloy oil pan but the plug came out. Damn the previous mechanics who worked on the car. I can't wait to see what they did with the spark plugs. Anyways, car got 8 liters of Mobile 1 Euro and new filter and gaskets.

 

[wlb50]

Couldn't wait for Topsider so I went under the car today. Drain plug broke a normal socket so I had to get my impact socket and breaker bar. Not ideal for the alloy oil pan but the plug came out. Damn the previous mechanics who worked on the car. I can't wait to see what they did with the spark plugs. Anyways, car got 8 liters of Mobile 1 Euro and new filter and gaskets.

Considering the gorilla who last worked on it, be thankful he didn't cross thread it.

 

[SocalSam]

Considering the gorilla who last worked on it, be thankful he didn't cross thread it.

It was the same story with fan clutch nut. The previous monkey applied about 200 lp-ft. to the nut which took a cheater pipe to break. Anyways, first plug change on a new to me car is always nerve racking. Don't want to pull threads out of alloy head.

 

[SocalSam]

More tinkering today. Been chasing P0170 that keeps coming back. Found a vacuum leak and fixed it with $2 black tube. Also replaced zip tube to oil breather tube. Zip tube to throttle body gasket looked OK. Read somewhere that this gasket was the subject of a service bulletin. Cleaned up what I could get to while there was access.