Log of Jill's 560 SL's life with us.

December 2004–January 2005

Monday, January 17, 2005

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Thursday, January 20, 2005

I pulled the nasty dash mat off, and peeled loose most of the velcro. The dash is cracked, but not as badly as her 450's had been. I'll clean off the glue later. I want to try filling the crack with Leatherique crack filler, and painting the dash black. It'll have to come out to do this right. Someday.

I had a look at the fuse panel, and found two nasty clip-on connections in there. Either for the stereo or the cell phone, probably the latter. I'll be removing them at some time. No sign of bad fuses, though, will have to look elsewhere for causes of non-functionitis. The driver's door light problem turned out to be the switch. I pulled it out and gave it some good shots of contact cleaner. That restored its function.

The trunk light fixture had no bulb in it. I put one in, but still nothing. The switch plunger was very sticky. I removed the fixture and tried the contact cleaner, but no dice. The plunger might have been a bit deformed, so I disassembled the switch and reamed the plunger's bore out with a drill bit. That fixed it, and now the trunk light works properly.

I got out the Arctic White touch-up paint (for the SDL), and fixed a few rock chips I found. Same year, same color! While I was at it I glued back down a piece of door weatherstrip that was starting to come loose.

Friday, January 21, 2005

To keep the battery charged, and as the car sits outside for the time being, I bought an inexpensive (on sale!) solar panel for the car. I hope this'll keep the battery charged.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

The car does leak ATF (I think.) There's quite a puddle under it. I shoveled some dirt over it to soak it up. Nice.

Once the car was parked in the garage, I popped the hood and used Super Trim Adhesive spray to re-glue the parts of the hood pad that were coming loose.

I put the battery charger back on, and it took a heavy charge for hours. I left the charger on overnight, it'll shut off automatically when it's done charging.

Monday, March 21, 2005

On the way to work the fan was quiet. Success! (At least for now.)

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

With that fixed, I took a look at the soft top, advertised as being in good shape. It appears to be, but there is a tear in one of the corner windows. It's blue. Next up was to use weatherstrip cement to fix the small tears in the sealing strip for the top stowage compartment. That was easy. Then I was able to actually tackle the wind leak at the three-way joint of the window, top, and body. The weatherstrip had started to tear there, and it had shrunk enough to open up a gap. I glued the tear back shut, and cut some pieces of old EPDM rubber weatherstripping to shim the gap. These attach to the bottom of the hardtop.

With this addressed, the next-most irritating problem was the occasionally-spastic ACC system. It seems to work, but has the symptoms of a rotted foam hose. (I didn't get that far today.) It also sometimes made a screeching relay noise behind the PB array, which can signify that the PB array is in need of a resoldering.

So I pulled the PB array out, and opened it up. No severe solder cracking was visible, but the joints for the relays themselves didn't look good. Using a very hot iron I was able to re-make these connections so that they looked better. I also used a regular iron to touch up all other joints, and I sprayed contact cleaner into the switch array and cycled it a bunch. While reassembling the panel, I checked the lamps and found the one that sources the fiber optics to be out. I replaced that while I was there.

Putting the top back on, I noticed that the sunvisors moved too stiffly, so I loosened their hinge screws slightly to make it possible to (using both hands) get the visors all the way against the ceiling. (Too loose and they'll fall down on bumps, too stiff and you can't push them up all the way due to their double-jointedness. So it's a fiddly little adjustment.)

On the way to work the wind noise was much reduced, and there was no sign of the screeching relay noise. (More time is required to be sure that's been fixed.) But I still think the foam hose is rotted. I'll look at that tomorrow. The center vents also blow heat, as do the defroster vents even when set on EC. A vacuum problem, probably torn actuator diaphragms.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Anyway, she noticed a few of the items I'd already noticed. Nothing serious except she also thinks it handles a bit squirrelly. (She's the first to drive it on the freeway.) I'll have to look into that, it's probably out of alignment or something.

What I noticed after she got back is that the antenna was stuck partially up. So this morning I removed the mast and found it somewhat bent and binding. And gummy. So I did an elaborate cleaning, involving sluicing it out with a succession of acetone, Simple Green, Tide liquid laundry soap, and waterless hand cleaner. A lot of dirt and grease came out in all these steps, but it finally cleaned out. I used a final acetone wash to get out all the water, did some (I hope) corrective bending to get it straighter, lubed it with spray silicone, and re-installed it. That took a lot of time, but now it seems to work right. I think it was the usual tired old story: PO finds the antenna getting sticky (actually due to dirt), starts lubing it inappropriately, finds the problem getting worse, and eventually gives up with the antenna sticking out a lot, whereupon it gets bent in a parking lot—Game Over.

Next up was to examine the foam ACC hose. It's easy to pull the glove box liner to see. And it was rotted! (It's nice when a diagnosis pans out.) I already had the necessary pipe insulation from previous car repairs, so it was an easy matter to cut another length and install it. Then I put the glove box liner back. That should cure its cabin temperature regulation anomalies.

Still with some time left, I unscrewed the cell phone mount from the console tray. It's a big old analog cell phone, and took up the whole tray. My wife requires only two things of a car beyond the basics: that it have a working radio, and that it have a useful cupholder. We have a very useful (though homely) sit-in-the-SL-console weighted cupholder from her 450 SL, but it had no place to sit with the cell phone there. I disconnected the handset from the mount, then I unscrewed the mount from the floor of the tray and found the tray carpet pretty well mashed and gummed up underneath. So I pried out the carpet and gave it a good wash. That nearly eliminated any signs of there ever having been a phone screwed to it. The cupholder sits nicely on a cloth in the tray now, and the cell phone mount is draped behind the seat for now. Actually removing the mount completely will require removing the console itself. This will wait until the dashboard comes out (as it's a necessary precursor) for crack repair and vent pod replacement. That might be awhile!

To finish off the morning, I reinstalled the chrome seat hinge cover piece that I found in the glove box, and pushed back into place one of the plastic hinge trim pieces of the armrest. Tomorrow I think I'll pull the steering wheel and the instrument cluster, to tackle the clock and intermittent wiper problems.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Next up was to address the front lighting situation a bit. I found that one headlight fuse (that also runs the nonexistent fog lights) was blown, so I replaced that. I also found that one turn signal bulb was in backwards, and that the other wasn't fully seated. (These lamp housings are badly damaged, I think due to a curb incident that also took out the fog lights.) With this put right, all the lamps on the car now worked properly, and the lamp-out indicator stayed extinguished. I also adjusted the high beams upwards a bit, as they were lighting the road surface too much last night.

Finally I got to pulling the steering wheel and instrument cluster. This went just fine. I accidentally flashed the clock power lead against ground, and it sparked and blew the fuse so I know the defunct clock was getting power. When I removed the tach/clock pod from the cluster, I could see some burn on the circuit board of the clock. The clock is fairly easy to remove, you just have to remove its hands, all the relevant screws, and the faceplate of the instrument. The faceplate then pivots around the tach needle shaft enough to give you room to remove the clock. Then you apply heat to the ground pin with the soldering iron and the clock pulls out of the pod. Unfortunately, while setting the clockless pod aside I heard a clatter, and looked to see that the tach needle and faceplate had fallen off. No problem, except that some of the tach's shaft was still in the needle! Oh crap, the tachometer shaft broke in half!

Sigh.

Ignoring that for the moment I looked at the clock. There is a resistor in series with the clock's power line that had overheated and burned itself and the circuit board underneath it. I pulled the two 100 µF/16 V electrolytic capacitors, and found them both shorted. This is an unusual failure mode for these, usually they open up, drop in capacitance, and/or develop a lot of series resistance. Because both parts were shorted, clock power through the resistor was shunted directly to ground. This was too much heat to sustain, and it cooked. (Good design would dictate that a larger-wattage resistor be used in case there was such a short. Not enough current to blow the fuse, but too much to dissipate safely. Bad!) Some scrabbling around in the junk box yielded a couple of replacement capacitors that tested out OK on the bridge and the leakage testers. I soldered them back in place. I couldn't read the burned resistor's color code anymore, but I measured it and found that it was still 200 Ω, a reasonable value. So I grabbed a junkbox 220 Ω resistor and put it in place. (Some extra work was required to bypass all the burned traces.)

Applying +12 V power (current-limited to 100 mA for safety) resulted in a small current draw, and the sight of the gears moving in pulses. It worked!

Clock reassembly was uneventful. And now for that $#@*! tachometer.

My spare parts pile included a spare instrument cluster from a 116 gasser of some sort. (Bought because it's the same thing as a 107 cluster, and even has a 107 part number.) Looking at it showed that its tachometer was constructed similarly, but was 10 years older and had a slightly different part number and frequency rating. (I think it was from a 280 6-cylinder car.) Figuring that I really had very little to lose (except my spare $20 cluster), I popped the needle off of this tach (using two spoons as pry bars) and unsoldered the circuit boards from both meter movements. Then I swapped the meter movements and resoldered the boards back in place. Then it was just a matter of reassembling the pods and clusters. While I was there I cherry-picked the best looking meter needles for the car.

While looking at the other cluster, I also checked the resistor in its clock. Turns out it should be a 120 Ω resistor, but the 220 Ω I used seemed to be working and I was running short on time.

Reassembly went fairly well, though it's tedious. With the car back together I replaced the fuse and found that the clock was now working. I started the car and the tachometer seemed to be behaving itself. On the way to work in the car I noticed no tachometer anomalies, so maybe I was able to recover from my mistake. Whew, that could have been expensive!

I checked the SRS lamp bulb, and it was OK. But there's still no power-on indication, perhaps the SRS brain has been unplugged? They may have had an always-on SRS lamp, and disabled it that way. Will bear checking out, it may be that the same thing that was wrong with my SL is wrong here: dead accumulator capacitors in the little box in the wall cavity behind the driver's seat. An easy fix, if it is.

Except for the vent control problem, the ACC system is working fine. It's now set-and-forget, as it should be.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Upon installation back into the socket, the wipers then functioned perfectly. Success!

With the under-dash panels all removed, I was able to liberate the little fiberboard side kick panel, which has a vinyl skin glued to it. The glue had failed, and the vinyl was all wadded up and torn. Using spray glue, I was able to glue it back more or less in place, which from a distance makes it look good again.

A similar repair was conducted on the fiber panel that is closest to the firewall. This had been installed improperly at one time, and one end was folded over and half torn loose. Some super glue and a crimped-on metal splint restored it to normal form.

I checked the two red airbag connectors, and with either one unplugged (or restored) the SRS lamp still refused to light. The SRS system may or may not be working, all I know is that the lamp bulb is good but doesn't light. I'm going to have to check out the two boxes in the side wall behind the driver's seat, and probably the main SRS box inside the console. That'll wait until the console comes out sometime.

With nothing left to do in there, I then reinstalled all the under-dash covers.

Monday, March 28, 2005

While I was there I noticed that the brake bleed screws were missing their rubber caps, so I put some on. (The front, I haven't looked in back yet.)

During the day I managed to find (on-line) a manual for the wretched Sony CDX CA-400 CD player that's in there, only to find there's no way to turn off the stinking beeping! The CD player beeps after key-off, to alert you to the necessity (not!) of removing the detachable faceplate. This has sealed its fate, it's coming out! (Someday.)

In the evening I noticed that the headlights still are out of adjustment, so I tweaked on them some. This will be a gradual process, I think.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Friday, April 22, 2005

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Monday, April 25, 2005

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

The "560 SL" badge on the trunk lid started to peel off the car, so I carefully pulled it off the rest of the way, and when I got home I washed the trunk lid area and the back of the emblem with acetone. Then I used weatherstrip cement to put the badge back on, and a bunch of spring clamps to hold it in place until it dried.

Saturday, June 4, 2005

Thursday, June 9, 2005

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Next I removed the AC compressor. Easy to say, not so easy to do. I had to jack up the front of the car and remove the fan, clutch, and shroud to make room. You also have to (temporarily in this case) remove the hose manifold from the rear of the compressor in order to get the compressor out. The compressor is held in with four long bolts. There is one bolt holding the manifold to the compressor, and a bolt and a stud holding the manifold to the engine. I then disconnected the two hoses at the car side, leaving 1–2 foot pigtails on the compressor end, put the now-free hose manifold back on the compressor, and corked off all four open pipe holes (using rubber stoppers) to prevent moisture entering the system. (It's handy to keep an assortment of stoppers in various sizes around.) The low-side fitting is on this pigtail, so I then submerged the entire compressor in a tub of water and pressurized the assembly with propane through the fitting. The leaks weren't small, they boiled the water! Some examination showed them to be coming from the joints where the manifold adapter bolts to the compressor body, and not the shaft seal as I had feared. Removing this adapter revealed four more O-rings (besides the two on the hose manifold), two of which looked badly chewed. This didn't look like chemical degradation, more like mechanical damage, but I'm told that this is a classic sign of R134a eating R12 rings. I will purchase six new O-rings, perhaps tomorrow. The existing O-rings are all black, and not the newer green or blue ones. Obviously the R134a conversion was a cheap and nasty one.

Next I used gasoline to flush out the R134a conversion's nasty Ester (so saith the tag) oil from the compressor. This is only the first-stage flush, more steps will be required. Also present was green dye, presumably from a leak-hunting session. I don't know how I'll get all the Ester oil out of the system but I intend to: this system is going back to R12 (or compatible), if only for the benign (and highly functional) lubricating oil associated with it. Ester oil doesn't lubricate too well, and breaks down easily.

The first step in removing the compressor was to remove the idler pulley, and I found it to be a bit 'dry'. Not bad yet, but definitely in need of lubrication. I took this opportunity to try an experiment I'd been meaning to conduct. I took my vacuum oil sucker and wrapped a wad of tape around the end of the hose that would wedge in the spout of a plastic funnel. Then I put a rubber stopper in the center hole of the pulley. Next I fired up the vacuum pump and dropped the pulley into the funnel, and pressed down on it to get a good seal. The pulley seated firmly and the vacuum pump started to draw down. Then I just squirted ATF around the bearing, and watched it get sucked into the bearing. A few sessions of this, alternated with removing the pulley and spinning it, resulted in a quiet, smooth bearing. That should extend its life!

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Friday, June 17, 2005

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

On the other hand, there's a completely unused (in the summertime at least) high-current connector in the back of an SL: the window defroster socket. So what I did was to take a two-conductor connector pair from a boneyard 123's sunroof motor (it's the same connector) and connect the two sets of wires together. This made an extension cord of sorts for this socket, which then in turn plugs straight into the back of a boneyard 115's lighter socket (which also uses the same connector). After cleaning (Dremel wire brush) the inside of the lighter socket and dressing the wires, the result is a nice little foot-long extension cord that hangs out of the side wall of the SL, looks decent, and supplies +12 V power to a standard lighter socket on demand. Into which we plug in the cooler.

It works fine. Of course, we'll have to keep an eye on the defroster switch lamp: since the thing is on a 20-minute timer we'll have to periodically turn it back on during our trip. A small price to pay for less clutter in the car, methinks. If it doesn't work out, we're not out any money, all these parts were free, or next to it. And we can always plug the cooler in up front in a pinch.

I also removed the intermittent passenger door light switch, and drilled out the rivets holding it together. I found that one of the two contacts inside was deformed, probably during manufacture, so I cleaned and reshaped the contacts and put it back together with screws. The interior lamps now work correctly every time. Semi-significant because this also drives the factory car alarm.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

The pin holding the rear of the shifter surround into the console had been broken off and glued before. The glue failed, so I re-glued the pin back on with Shoe Goo.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Interestingly enough the bad horn was a Hella, while the other one was a Bosch. Looks like one of these was a replacement already.

Anyway, what's the point of having parts cars if not to rob? I removed the low-tone horn (Bosch) from the 124 300TD in the woods, and tested it. It worked. So I installed it in place of the bad horn, using the old mounting bracket (which is not straight on a 107, unlike the 124's). Success! The missing low-tone horn is the louder of the two, so its loss was pretty significant.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

While drying it I noticed that there was a quarter lodged in the defroster grille, so I tried to lift it out with a forked stick (you can't reach in there with your fingers), and promptly knocked it down into the duct!

Crap. At least I could still see the thing lying on the floor of the duct, it hadn't gone down into the guts (yet).

I then got a section of tecalan vacuum piping (stiff, flexible, and non-scratching), and found that I could just fish it in and touch the quarter with it. I then put a small blob of weatherstrip cement on the end, and guided it back down to touch the quarter near its edge. I then waited for a minute, and then lifted slowly. The quarter came out! I was really sweating that one, but it worked out fine.

Still having a little trouble with the passenger-side window switch, so I removed it and cleaned the contacts again. That seems to have cured it.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Friday, August 5, 2005

Since I was there in the garage, I got out the NOS fog lights I got on eBay recently ($58 for two, a screaming deal!) and had a close look. The lights are new, but the lenses looked somewhat used. No big deal, just dirty/fogged. (One looks like a lamp burned up in it.) Not pitted or anything, and the reflectors and lamp bodies looked good. I took the lenses off and put them in the dishwasher!

...The dishwasher didn't touch the fogging, so I put them in the laundry sink and put in a strong lye solution (drain cleaner) to sit overnight.

Saturday, August 6, 2005

Monday, August 8, 2005

So, I was left with mechanical means. I used some fine wet-and-dry sandpaper, and a small screwdriver to sand/scrape off the worst of it. You can still see it, but only if you look closely. Standing in front of the car it's now invisible. I did scratch the inside of the glass a bit, but it's much less noticeable than the original spiderweb appearance of the fogging.

Then I put the two new lights on the car. They look nice!

While I was under the bumper, I had a look at the cracked air dam. (Probably from the same curb incident I theorize took out all the lights.) The original glue on the back side had cracked and was falling off. Probably epoxy, or something equally brittle, not good for fixing fiberglass anyway. I took some acetone and cleaned out the crack as best I could, then used some good gap-filling cyanoacrylate glue to stick it back together. Then I used Shoe Goo to pot the whole backside of the crack, as this is where any strength of the repair will come from. The cyanoacrylate glue is just to hold it together in place while the other glue sets up, and to fill the crack. With that in hand I used touch-up paint to cover the crack. It doesn't show anymore, unless you're looking for it.

If this doesn't hold up the next try will involve actual fiberglass. I hope I don't need to go there, it's messy, and I'd need to get more as I'm out of that.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Thursday, September 8, 2005

While making the lamps brighter is likely not possible, at least without the risk of melting plastic, the clacker is susceptible to modification. I took a look at the ETM's schematic, and decided that it would be very easy to tap the required signal at the hazard flasher switch, which is quite easy to get to on the 107. So, I removed the shifter surround and raided the junkbox for a small 12 V relay. This I glued (Shoe Goo!) to the bottom of the wooden surround panel, right between the hazard switch and one of the window switches. The panel should serve as a sounding board. Then I ran the two relay coil wires to small loops of stripped wire that were lassoed around the 31 and 49a pins of the hazard switch. Voila! A louder turn signal clacker. We'll have to see if it's now loud enough to satisfy my wife. If not, I'm sure I can do better, such as with a larger relay (a standard Bosch automotive relay, probably).

...According to my wife, the enhanced clacker works just right. At first the extra noise disconcerted her, due to its slight time delay and spatial separation, but she says it is adequate to notice when they've been left on, even on the freeway—which was the purpose of the exercise.

Saturday, October 1, 2005

Looking at the car's schematic again, Plan B is to place the clacker relay between the R and L terminals of the hazard switch, using the unlit side as the relay's virtual ground. (The operating current of the relay shouldn't be enough to cause any wrong-side lamps to light.) This operation is simple, and only requires moving the wire lassos on the hazard switch.

If that doesn't work, Plan C is to use diodes to combine the R and L terminals (in conjunction with the real ground at pin 31). Plan D reverts to Plan A's wiring, but uses a transistor or two to amplify the signal so that the load on the turn signal relay is reduced. (Switched power is also available at the hazard switch.) If that doesn't work, Plan E involves modifying the turn signal 'relay' itself, probably by putting the clacker in parallel with the real internal relay. (Plan F is just to rip all the crap out and call it a bad idea.)

Plenty of plans, one of them ought to work!

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Monday, December 12, 2005

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Monday, January 16, 2006

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

I put one on the car in place of the ugly aftermarket plastic sheet. The POS was held on with the original screws, so I transferred them to the eBay lens that didn't come with screws, and put the other one on the shelf as a spare. Looking good!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

I installed the new hardtop front mount washers. (That's always surprisingly difficult.) I also put a piece of plastic sheet into the loose sunvisor socket, that should tighten it up a bit. When I got out the spare fobs and the instructions for reprogramming the keyless system it started working again. Weird. The car's all ready for Jill to drive.

... Out at lunch I was buying a battery for the 190D at Les Schwab and picked up a used (dead) inner tube. That should supply some rubber for a protective band around the alloy wheel's inner surface.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Next I found I had to cut out a hole in the band for the valve stem. I also found that my new inner tube had a shank much too large to fit through the wheel's hole, so, as the wheel was essentially ruined anyway, I drilled out the hole with a 9/16" bit so that the shank would protrude a usable distance once inserted. The hole's still not really large enough, but that's about as big a hole as I can drill there easily.

Then I remounted the tire. (PITA!) I used Simple Green as a spray-on mounting lubricant, and put on the one side. Then I tucked the inner tube into the carcass, pushing it well out of the way of the rim and making sure the valve stem was in the wheel's hole. Then I put on the other side. (PITA! Have I said that lately?) I found that my air chuck wouldn't reach the poorly-fit valve stem, but that another one I had for doing truck tires would. I inflated the tire until the beads popped into place, then removed the valve core and deflated the tire fully. Interestingly, once the inner tube had deflated the tire started making air noises. I think there was air trapped between the inner tube and the tire that was then able to get out. Finally, I inflated the tire to spec. I put it aside where I plan to monitor its pressure for a few days. If it holds air I'll swap it into the car.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Anyway, with the seat out I found that there was one (only) of its eight glides missing. I got out one of the new ones (I'd bought a dozen!) and put it in place, cleaned out the tracks and re-greased everything with my old can of Lubriplate. At that point the track was still a bit loose, unlike the other one. I pulled the other one back off and found that half of its glides, the upper ones, had rubber spacer strips inside them, whereas the loose track had none. I cut some strips of inner tube rubber to tuck into the glides, and after that they fit snugly in the track.

With the seat out I also noticed that the metal spine through the leather that the hog rings holding the back of the bottom in place tie to had slipped sideways far enough to release one set of hog rings to pull directly on the leather. Fortunately the leather had not yet torn and I was able to get the spine slipped back into place. I then reinstalled the seat. This, apparently typical for 560 SL's, is not all that easy. But I persevered and got it back into place without noticable incident. It feels a lot nicer than it did, and slides easily. No more rocking.

Then, because it's a rainy day, I put on the hardtop for my wife.

...We met for lunch and I noticed that one of the front tires had tread separation all around the outside! We knew it was time for tires, but not that it needed them that badly. Later she stopped off at Les Schwab and put on a set of unidirectional Toyo Turezas, 80 kmi warrantee. About $570. Three of the four tires were crap, but one didn't look too bad. I had her keep that one, we may find a use for it on some car or another. Probably for a spare.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

So, what I ended up with is a plug for the defroster switch that has pins sticking out the back onto which I can plug the car's connector, no surgery to the car's wiring harness required. (Unlike on the 450 SL's prototype.) The opener is then tucked into some tidy under-dash place. Unfortunately I ran out of time to install it, but I did test it out. Worked fine.

...At lunch today we went to the park, and as it was warm when we were leaving I tried the AC. It works! Apparently it doesn't have a bad leak anymore.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

There is an access hatch in the rear of the glove box, I put the opener behind that so that it might be possible one day to fish it back out without removing the glove box liner. Perhaps we'll see. Or not.

Anyway, once installed it worked perfectly and I took the roof off the car in celebration. (It's looking like a nice day today.) I even found 25 more cents under the floor mat! I removed the loose garage door opener so that my wife will have to test it. I mean, 'retrain'.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

...At lunch I bought some gray floormats at Costco, to replace the tan (taupe?) ones that were from the 450 SL.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Friday, June 8, 2007

Unfortunately I believe this leaker is the E.H.A. valve, and is a $300 item on Rusty's site. Yikes!

She also reported that her window switch had stopped working, so I tore that open and cleaned it. It works again.

...Later at lunch with me, on her way out of town, my wife reported that it was running rough. I took a quick test drive, and it indeed wasn't running too smoothly at idle. (Though the gas leaks were cured.) It smoothed out as it warmed up, so I'm guessing that there may have been a bit of dirt that got into the system when it was opened up, or that the replacement EHA requires a different adjustment setting on the fuel distributor. We'll see how it's doing when she gets back on Monday. A couple of nice long cross-state freeway drives ought to blow out the cobwebs, if anything will.

I did some more surfing, and it seems that Bosch used this particular EHA on most gasoline Mercedes in the 80's-early 90's, though apparently on nothing else. Used supplies will be relatively limited if I can't also shop Audi/VW/BMW wrecks of the era. Some parts sites seem to imply that the 190E uses a different EHA, so they could be out. (This is not particularly clear in my on-line research.) At home I hit my copy of the US EPC for this SL, and came up with a part number and a where-used (application index): This shows the 190E uses the same part, so I have contradictory stories, unless there are other 190E's. The service manual I have indicates that some 190E 2.3's before '87 use 102.961 engines, and some use 102.985, great! The 2.3-16 is also off my list, if I can believe this chart.

A 000 070 39 62 Governor 102 .985 190E 2.3    116 .965 420SEL 103 .940 300E 2.6    117 .964 500SL .942 190E 2.6    .965 500SE(L)(C) .981 300SE(L)    .967 560SL .983 300(T)E    .968 560SE(L)(C) .985 300(T)E    119 .960 500SL 104 .980 300CE .981 300SL

That's not too short a list of wrecked cars to shop from, though some of them are a bit new to stumble across in the low places I frequent. The 190E's are likely to be the most fruitful source.

It's just that I balk at spending $300 for a new one. It's so small!

Friday, June 15, 2007

Saturday, July 21, 2007

The car desperately needs a new muffler, the bad one on the car is peeling apart and is extremely rattly. If it rattles while removing a wheel you know it's bad!

Jill called from the road and said the sound was gone, and was quite happy about it. The sunvisors are still falling down, however, and she is happy about that, not. She says that she has again received a number of compliments from her orchestra buddies on her nice car, I think she is pleased about that. (As am I.)

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Monday, September 10, 2007

Since I was in the area I tackled the surface rust that was beginning on the crossbrace in front of the fan, and on the vertical wall behind the auxiliary fan dropping resistor. I brushed off the rust, chipped off any loose paint adjacent to it, and spray-painted it. First with primer, then color coat. (Rattle cans, of course.) This has been the only sign of rust on this car, I definitely don't want to let it gain a foothold.

Also, last night I noticed that the LR brake was scraping, so I jacked it up and checked the pads, one was down to the metal on the edge. I replaced it with a good used pad I had, the other one is good for some few thousand miles more. Next time I need to just replace the full set. It's sure easy if pads are all you are doing, jacking up the car and pulling the wheel is the most time-consuming part.

Oil. I finally checked and I've never changed the oil on this car, and we've driven it in excess of 10,000 miles! Oops. I sucked the oil out and put in new. I didn't have time to do the filter too, I'll get that next time. (I usually do the filter every other time anyway.)

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Friday, September 14, 2007

We'd gone to see Seussical, and Jill commented that she thought the headlights were cutting out at times. I didn't notice anything, but we've seen this before with the SDL. (It was the combination switch going bad and cutting out the low beams on right turns.)

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Monday, September 17, 2007

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Y'know, I'd always thought that a waterlogged monovalve plunger was a sign of failure, but having taken it apart (and another one from the spares pile) it seems more to me like it's supposed to be full of water. There's a weep hole from behind the screen into the plunger area, through the plane of the diaphragm. If the intent is that the plunger fill with (screened) water resulting in water on both sides of the diaphragm, the passage of water through this hole as the plunger moves back and forth could serve to damp the physical motion of the plunger. It may be that the slow-scale PWM signal from the ACC system actually results in a fairly steady physical position of the valve rather than an on-off modulation of water flow. This would actually make some sense in that it would dramatically cut down on diaphragm wear, but then I have no explanation for why a torn diaphragm results in loss of control of the valve. It ought only result in a leak. I guess we'll see if the cleanout has done anything helpful.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Friday, October 26, 2007

Sunday, October 28, 2007

A big PITA, but it works nicely now. Quiet. Had I bought new seals and bolts it would have gone a lot smoother. Incidentally, my wife still has reported no further heating anomalies, so cleaning out the monovalve last month seems to have done the trick.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Saturday, November 3, 2007

I also topped off the brake fluid and engine oil. It seems to be using a bit of both of these.

I had a setback on my heated seats plan. I removed the seat cover from one of my heated 126 seats, only to find that the heating elements are sewn into the covers, they're not separate pads under the covers. Oops! Now I've got two sets of front 126 seats, and one rear seat, that aren't going to be of much use.

...I shouldn't work tired. After lunch and a nap I had another look, and the pads are merely long fingers (like a coarse comb) tucked snugly into the sewn channels. Getting them out will be hard, and into another seat harder yet, but shouldn't be impossible. I'm going to do my experimentation on the dead pad. Who knows, I may even be able to repair it.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Friday, December 7, 2007

Saturday, January 5, 2008

The brake fluid was again low, and I had to refill the reservoir. Where is it all going? There were no spots on the floor.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Saturday, April 26, 2008

...Wretched POS! The battery was stone cold dead again. There's something wrong with the car, if not being driven for two weeks can (but doesn't always) kill the battery. I had to take the other convertible, which had not been prepped for the trip, so we were late. I put the battery tender on the car to bring it back up, the charger was busy doing de-rusting duty on the boat trailer's leaf springs.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Monday, April 28, 2008

...After I got home I put the charger back on, Jill had taken the car out. Still drawing heavily!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Monday, July 14, 2008

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Jill also reports that the headlights spontaneously go out sometimes. That's not good, and it keeps her from wanting to drive the car. Combination switch? I've seen that before, though usually only when applying a turn signal.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

So I pulled the fuse block. There are two ring terminals screwed to #12: one a clump of small reds with a red/yellow in it, and another clump of small reds with a red/white in it. The culprit is in the red/white clump, though I ran out of time to chase it further than that. The red/white wire itself goes to the diagnostic socket, and nothing's plugged into it. The car now looks a right mess, and it's probably going to get worse before I'm done.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Saturday, August 16, 2008

It seems like I had this exact trouble spot flare up before on one of the other SL's, but I just can't remember which one nor can I find any record of it. (That bugs me.)

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Then I started putting the fuse box back together. Since I was there I took the opportunity to restore the separate (from low beams) function of the fog lights. (I do this on every car I can as you can actually see better without the main headlights under extreme fog conditions.) That involved moving the gray/yellow/green wire from Fuse 19 back to Fuse 15. I also had to scrape up another fuse box screw from the junk box, relabel the fuse panel's card, and swap an 8 A fuse for the original 16 A that was in Fuse 19. That took a bit of time, especially the scavenger hunt. Unfortunately I was again out of time to do more.

...After church I pulled the combination switch out, and for the first time tried to open one up. (I've replaced a few now, and they're expensive enough that I've wanted to dive into them to see if they can be cleaned up but hitherto I haven't really had the time. Also, it's a critical enough component that I didn't want to mess around if there was any risk of malfunction, but as I learn more about these things I realize that there's actually little risk of that if one is careful and if one is always prepared to get another one if things do go wrong.) If you're careful you can release the plastic snap clips and it swings open, exposing the contacts. Which in my case were quite dirty. I think this can be cleaned up to good effect, but it's too hot out to enjoy working on the car right now, so I won't.

Monday, August 18, 2008

I then cleaned the switch contacts and snapped the switch back together. The date code on the switch indicates that it is probably the original unit. Reinstalling the switch was surprisingly difficult, and it wasn't the usual problem of getting the connectors threaded back through the steering column. The knot of the main wiring harness was sufficiently in the way of the big connector that I couldn't get them mated again, I had to remove the female connector from its chassis mount in order to mate them, then I could snap them back into the slot in the bracket. At that point it was easy to put the rest back together. From appearances the turn signal release tab on the steering column is physically centered, so I don't think I need to do anything there. I did plug the warning module back in and I should start putting everything back together, but I was (again) out of time this morning. Tomorrow I won't be able to do anything.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Thursday, August 21, 2008

While I was there I re-routed the speaker wires to go through an open channel rather than be pinched against the chassis by the side panel.

I then had a peek at what it might take to add the rear fog light. The rear taillight assembly is just like the 450 SL's, there's room for an auxiliary brake lamp to be secured behind the parking light bulb. I didn't have any suitable sockets in the junk box, I'll look for one at the store. I still haven't decided whether or not I'll actually do this, but at this point in the car's disassembly it couldn't get any easier.

...Today after work I picked up a single-filament lamp socket that can be adapted to be surface-mount. About $3. (I got one for the 380 SL too, just in case I get ambitious.)

Friday, August 22, 2008

The 'new' wire (actually recycled yellow wire from the cell phone installation I just removed) is threaded down the side of the kick panel and through the wiring channel on the sill, thence up and over the wheel well. It's too short, so I'll splice another length on and run it through the wiring grommet with the radio antenna wire and into the trunk. (I was out of time again.)

Saturday, August 23, 2008

I then started putting the car back together. As I had all morning, and some help, I was able to finish by 2:00 PM. Reassembly went smoothly, except for getting the kick panels in properly; those are tough. Getting the front seat back in and on track was also a bit difficult.

On the road the car behaved well, but the SRS light is on and the engine temperature read low. (It always has.) I'll look into those things next. My plan is to drive the car myself for a few days while I finish the sorting out, then swap with Jill and take the 190D she's been driving down for maintenance. I managed to get the steering wheel back on one notch off.

...While driving at night I noticed that the battery light was on faintly, it may be time for new brushes. But the SRS light was off. The transmission probably needs oil, too, as it shifted oddly at times. And the thermostat definitely needs checking out, the engine temperature was reading low, around 60 °C at times. Things to do!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Anyway, I jacked up the car, drained the radiator into a bucket, removed the upper radiator hose, and finally removed the existing thermostat. I could see that it was partially open, hence the low operating temperatures. When I checked my bag of (2) forced-open flushing thermostats I found that this car didn't take either one! So I cut another piece of .38 shell casing and used it to hold the thermostat fully open. I installed this, hooked up the flush hose and a water source, turned on the water and started the car. I put the heater on MAX. I let it run for about a half an hour, until there were no signs of green coming out. (This amount of time was excessive because I'd noticed a green pocket in the reservoir and spent some time removing the low-coolant-level sender to drain that pocket.) I then removed the flushing thermostat and installed the new one, jiggle valve up. (The jiggle valve had been at the 3 o'clock position on the old one, which is wrong.) I used the new O-ring gasket from the thermostat kit. (There was another choice that was clearly wrong.) Before I put back the housing bolts I chased the threads with a die and painted anti-seize on them. The inside of the thermostat housing was free of corrosion, I don't think things had been let go too far. The new flushing thermostat went into the bag with the others.

While I was working on the car I noticed that apparently I neglected to hook the alternator back up to the car. That might explain the dimly-glowing battery light! I put it back and put the battery on charge. (It was thirsty because of the night babysitter run on Saturday.)

As I don't have quite enough G-05 for a complete change and I don't want to risk it anyway until I'm sure there are no leaks, I just refilled the car with water. (Back-filled through the head hose to eliminate head air bubbles.) The drain bucket holds about 6 l, so just draining the radiator and refilling with coolant (once I have some more) ought to get the mixture pretty close. I'll try to pick up some more today.

Since the car was up on jacks I started on the steering wheel centering. I wanted the turn signal cancellation to be centered as Jill had reported that this acted odd, so that's what I used to decide where the wheel went on the shaft. If the wheel isn't centered in use I'll have to adjust the tie rods (equally on both sides) to get the wheel perfectly centered. That might take a few attempts.

While the flush was progressing I checked the transmission fluid level. I'm never any good at this, but I decided that it was low (also corroborated by its shifting behavior) so I added half a quart or so. It's easiest to just pour it down along the partially-removed dipstick as that keeps it from splashing around. I threw the IR thermometer into the trunk just in case I still have engine temperature problems. (I don't expect any, the visibly-bad thermostat is enough to have caused them.) I put in the G-05 too, though I don't expect to do the coolant fill on the road. (It'd be OK, all I'm draining at this point is pure water.)

...I bought two more gallons of G-05 at NAPA, nearly $30 even with the AAA discount! Sheesh. That should give me enough to do both this car and Ethelred the 380 SL. I also bought a Harbor Freight bench brush for removing rain-borne dirt and dust from the soft top. $2, on sale.

The steering wheel is indeed off center, I'll need to adjust the tie rods to bring it back to where it should be.

The temperature gauge now reads normally, something right around 85 °C. The transmission's shifting was also much improved.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

I then loosened both tie rods and rotated them one full turn each in the direction that would make them steer towards the right. (To match the direction the steering wheel is offset. This meant the car's left side rod needed to get longer, and the right side's shorter. To do this the vise-grip, when clamped to the rod body with the handle facing rearwards and the slack out of the ball joints, has its handle go up and forward over the top, the same action on both sides.) We'll see today if that was the right amount. (I expect it to take a few sessions to get the steering wheel perfectly centered.)

...After work I checked the coolant level, and though it did come down some it's still a bit high. Oh well. If it persists I may let out a little some time, I could put it in another car! (Perhaps Ethelred, it's next up for cooling system service.)

The transmission, though much happier now, still seems a bit anomalous sometimes so I checked the transmission fluid. Near as I could tell it was still off the bottom of the dipstick, so I put in the rest of the quart. Will check it again tomorrow. The tie rod adjustment worked well, I think perhaps another 1/2 turn will do it. After tomorrow's session (and test drive) I expect to be able to turn this back over to Jill, then I can begin to tackle the 190D's most pressing problems.

Driving it, I can again say that this is an awfully nice car. Going back to Ethelred in a day or two is going to be something of a letdown.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Got a nice compliment from one of the guys at work on its appearance in the parking lot yesterday. Yes, it is a nice-looking car. (At least, much purtier than Ethelred! The guy did a bit of a double-take as it was the same model in the same spot, but suddenly white and shiny.)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

I overshot on the tie rod adjustment, I think I need to come back about 3/16 of a turn. (It's not as far off to the left as it was to the right, so 1/2 of the last 1/2-turn correction isn't right, so we'll go halfway in between that.)

...After work I got another compliment on the car. Nice.

When I got back home I checked the transmission fluid again and it was still low, about halfway to the optimum level from where it was this morning, so I put the rest of the quart in. I threw a quart into the trunk for emergency on-the-road topping off. That's a good thing on a car with such an apparent appetite for oil.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Sunday, September 14, 2008

For extra fun some looky-loos got clipped, so there was an additional accident right there with people standing around. It was all gone by the time I got there, I don't know much more about that. (So far as the original incident goes I suspect mutual culpability. Jill was probably inattentive as to where is or is not a good place to change lanes, and our Masked Driver was probably speeding and not paying proper attention to the lane-merging procedure.)

When the Idaho State trooper got there she noticed a fluid running out of the car back by the exhaust pipe, the deduction (not sure whose) was gasoline and that the car shouldn't be driven. That's when Jill called me, and I told her to call AAA. I then went out and hooked up the car trailer to the truck and headed out with Daniel. AAA only covers 5 miles free, I figured maybe we could transfer the car to our trailer in a safe quiet place. I called from the road and Jill was a lot calmer by then. We determined that since the trooper said it was OK for us to just load the car on the trailer ourselves right there in the median that we would try to do so. So Jill called AAA again and cancelled the tow (which was still some 40 minutes away coming from the North side [idiots, who sends a Northside tow for an Eastside incident anyway?]) shortly before I drove by the two cars in the median, turned around at that next exit, and joined them. (That was hard, crossing the freeway from that same semi-blind onramp without getting hit. I think I got flipped off a few times.)

I've never seen a dirtier car, it was just filled with dust and dirt, like sombody'd tossed a bucketful over it. The wheels all had dry grass stems sticking out from around the rims, wedged in during the spin. I went around the car, there were no signs of damage. I couldn't see or smell any gas. I popped the filler cap and heard a 'whoosh'. I started the car, it ran fine. I went around and crawled under, and couldn't see any gas leak with the car running. There was a drip from the bumper, that's what the trooper had been seeing, but I tested it and it was water. After some head-scratching I couldn't see any reason not to, so we thanked the trooper and Jill drove off in a big cloud of dirt, most of that coming off and out of Jill's car. I followed her to keep an eye on how the car drove. (It was fine.)

There was no ticket, nor a police report since there was no apparent damage. We went to our favorite fuel stop, it was close by and I needed fuel anyway. I figured I'd give it a more careful look there.

I went around again. I couldn't see any damage except a rock hole in one headlight, and that could well have been there from before. I noticed that the drain plug from the spare tire well was wet so I opened the trunk. Wet. The gallon of water that had been riding around back there since the July 14 overheating incident had burst. It was a heavy polyethylene, much thicker than the milk jug that it resembled. Mystery explained! There must have been some significant forces involved in order to pop the jug, though obviously nothing really traumatic. The car is low, wide and heavy, so it just went into a flat spin instead of digging in and flipping as an SUV or mommyvan probably would have done. (Or for that matter our truck, but we only drive that when we need it so our exposure [so to speak] is limited.)

We went on for ice cream which gave Jill some time to clean up and calm down. When we got home she parked in the lawn and we gave the car a thorough cleaning, or as thorough as one can be in the dark. Sucked out the dirt, wiped down the interior with a damp rag, and washed the car. I left the trunk open to dry out, parked outside in the breeze.

By tomorrow it "won't have happened", except that she lost her hat. Too bad, it was a cute cowgirl number she got recently at Goodwill. It was fun to see her roaring along in the convertible in her fancy hat. I'm not sure she'll be able to replace it anytime soon, considering the source.

Monday, September 15, 2008

...It was fine. We traded cars at lunch. I do believe she prefers hers to Ethelred!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sunday, September 21, 2008

I got out the touch-up paint and fixed a couple of small chips in the paint that I found while dusting off the car.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

...No, driving it today I could still hear the rattle. Sounds more like loose bits inside the dash. Heavy bits.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Monday, November 10, 2008

I hate waste, even to the point of repairing a stupid cheap USDOT headlamp!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Monday, June 1, 2009

Friday, June 12, 2009

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Friday, September 18, 2009

Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Theory of Operation for the new circuit is that while the STOP signal is asserted the new capacitor C3 charges up slowly to a threshold set by Q3 and the 6 V Zener diode D7. When Q3 fires it trips (through R10) the latch formed by Q4 and Q5, which supplies power to the original timer relay circuit, engaging it (via D8) and feeding voltage into its timing capacitor (via D9) to prevent its normal timeout. C3 then discharges through Q3's base-collector junction and Q5, ensuring that Q3 won't be hovering near activation and perhaps interfering with attempts to disengage the latch. While STOP is unasserted C4 develops a considerable differential voltage across it through the agencies of Q4, R1, and R2. Whenever STOP is first asserted this voltage pumps the base of Q4 sufficiently positive to ensure the Q4/Q5 latch disengages, and so long as STOP is released before Q3 fires the disengagement will hold. The circuit exhibits the desired behavior, a toggle ON-OFF action, with a delay before ON. However, there are a couple of lingering concerns:

1. Can Q4 supply enough current through D9 to actually trip the original defogger timer? There is the relay coil itself to power, and also the lamp in the dashboard switch.

   This can be addressed by beefing up Q4, perhaps in a Darlington configuration with a bigger PNP transistor (as Q6).

2. While STOP is asserted can the original timer circuit engage at all?

   This might require another diode (D10) from the collector of Q5 to the base of Q1, which will hold it ON while the latch is engaged, thus allowing the relay to be powered. When the latch is released (via C4), Q1 should be able to process the normal STOP signal that it will then be seeing.

3. Will C4's initial discharged state cause the latch to trip upon power-on as it attempts to charge itself through R1 and R2, and pulls current through Q4?

   I sure hope not! This can be tested with the prototype circuit merely by putting a 4700 ohm resistor between the STOP signal and ground.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I added a diode (D10) to prevent C4 from drawing charging current through Q4, and gave it its own weak charging resistor (R13) instead. That restored normal toggling behavior, even with the R1/R2 analog in place.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

It's cold now, I put the hardtop back on the car.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Friday, April 2, 2010

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Jill says that the car's factory-supplied alarm has been going off at times. (It's probably not being properly disabled by the door's key switch, said door switch is likely dirty.) Today I had a chance to look into it. These things are widely considered useless, and annoying, the usual (and least expensive/troublesome) solution is to disable the alarm entirely by unplugging the alarm's brain. According to the ETM (second half, page 128) it (N26) has two connectors, an 8-pin and a 14-pin. The schematic shows nothing that looks like it's in series with anything important, so unplugging it (both connectors) looks like the right thing to do. The component location guide's page 202 shows it located behind the glove box. The photograph (page 218-1) shows it to the upper left of the junk back there, somewhat towards the front and with its plugs facing forward.

Glovebox? I can do that. A few minutes later I had the plastic buttons popped out (with my trusty antique carbon-steel butter knife) and the liner out. Detailed examination showed the black plastic Becker Autoradio unit to be screwed to the top of the plastic air duct, connectors forward. I unplugged it.

For extra credit I removed it to have a more detailed look. Two stickers, one bearing:

(M)	MERCEDES-BENZ
	126 820 08 26
72	BAW 845 Z 0000
	GEPRÜFT: 2086

and the other bearing:

	BECKER
	AUTORADIO
Brand	EDW-Steuergerät
Typ Model-No.	0845 509.485
Geräte-Nr. Serial-No.	T 20132306

After releasing the two plastic snap-hooks I could slide the board out of the shell, and I found about what I expected. Many 4000-series CMOS IC's: Two 4013's, two 40106's, two 4001's, and one each 4060, 4069, 4002, and 4012. Also about 35 signal diodes, 6 zener diodes, three rectifier diodes, two transistors, four relays, one large (troublesome) Frako electrolytic capacitor, two smaller electrolytics, and the usual handful of resistors and capacitors. All jellybean logic, in other words. Should be very easy to repair, if one were ever inclined to do so. (And I suspect that this car's problem is in the key switch, not the alarm brain.)

Qty	Type	Description
(2)	4001	Quad 2-input NOR gate
(1)	4002	Dual 4-input NOR gate
(1)	4012	Dual 4-input NAND gate
(2)	4013	Dual D-type flip-flop
(1)	4060	14-bit ripple counter, with RC oscillator
(1)	4069	Hex inverter
(2)	40106	Hex Schmitt trigger inverter

4000-series CMOS logic is ideal for this purpose because it has very low quiescent current draw, and can run directly off of the car's battery voltage so there's also no power-wasting voltage regulator. As a rough guess, the various Sense and Arm/Disarm inputs from the car go through the Schmitt inverting buffers and are massaged by the gates down to three signals Arm, Disarm, and Trigger. The flip-flops probably keep the Armed/Disarmed and Triggered states. The ripple counter generates the honking/flashing pattern when Triggered, and drives the relays through inverting buffers and the transistors. (The relays drive the horn and lights.) The ripple counter is also probably responsible for the Triggered timeout, so that it won't run forever once Triggered. My guess is that the RC oscillator is disabled except when the circuit is Triggered, and so there is no power consumed but for the circuit's DC static requirements while Disarmed, or Armed and un-Triggered.

I snapped it back together and put it back in the car. (Unplugged, of course.) I buttoned the car back up and called it good. (I bolstered the positive terminal insulation of the glove box light with heat-shrink tubing. It was, as is so often the case, coming loose.)

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Jill also had noted that the AC didn't work so I checked, and the charge had leaked away. I replenished it, and using a watering can against the condenser and having Daniel keep the RPM's at 2000 I was able to get it down to 37 °F, which is plenty good enough. Ambient temperature was about 80 °F

I topped off the windshield washer fluid with water and checked the brake fluid level, which was OK.

Friday, June 25, 2010

While I have already disconnected the factory car alarm, the aftermarket keyless entry system also has a built-in alarm function, and that was going apeshit when the battery was low. I only have the alarm horn connected because it's required in order to be able to train the key fob, and it normally doesn't beep the way I have it programmed, nor are the alarm sensing wires even connected. But when it went nuts it sure made noise! Repeatedly.

I got out the soldering iron, and a slide switch I'd gotten at a yard sale. (In a baggie with several other switches, all for $1.) I cleaned the switch with brake cleaner and put it in the alarm's horn wire, that should cure that little problem. I labeled it with a Sharpie, and made sure it was in the OFF position.

The battery box lid was all broken up, and filthy, so I pulled it out and washed it, and started gluing it back together with Shoe Goo. I note that the battery is sitting on a piece of plywood inside the box, that makes it protrude a bit more than normal, and which might be responsible for why the battery cover got so badly broken. I'll have a look at that, when it's time to put the cover back on. I think only a couple of small coin-sized pieces of the cover are missing, the rest seems to be there.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Sunday, June 27, 2010

I pulled the battery and battery box out, which required removing the ground cable from the chassis. The NAPA 75 Group 49 battery has a June "2" date code, probably 2002. The box itself is cracked in a few places, which I'll want to repair. The battery was sitting on a perfectly-fitting board of some kind of dense red plastic, not plywood, perhaps this is factory original? More research is required. I found one of the two missing chunks of the battery box cover, and a tiny piece of the other one, the rest of it seems to be gone. The area is very dirty, and a good vacuuming is in order.

I washed and dried the battery box, and began gluing it too. It won't need much repair, unlike its lid.

Monday, June 28, 2010

I then moved out to the car, and removed the alternator. To do so it's easiest to first shift the windshield washer tank out of the way, then it's just one 13mm and two 17mm bolts and unplug it. With it out of the car I could then get at the two screws that hold in the combination regulator/brush pack, and with that out it was obvious that it was worn out: one brush was much shorter than the other, and its corresponding slip ring was a bit chewed from arcing. I'll need a new brush pack, and to dress that ring. It's a 70 A unit. (Marked 14V 28/70A, I wonder what the "28" is?)

...I checked at Schuck's, and they now want $61, plus a week and $6 shipping, for a brush pack. A front bearing is now $30, same deal. No thanks! Rusty's price for the brush pack is more like half that. I checked at Ace hardware for individual brushes, and it appears that they've stopped carrying those. Jerks. I need to assess the state of the bearings before I can decide my best course of action.

I bought more Shoe Goo at Ace, while I was there. ($5) When I got home I glued on the last piece of the lid. Later, after it had set up, I started bolstering the weak points. I also pulled off some glue that had started to come loose due to overexuberant clamping, and perhaps a bit of poor surface preparation. I'll finish by putting that back.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

When spinning the alternator by hand it sounds 'dry', I'd say that it really could use a new bearing or two. Checking my records I find I've done this before, three years ago on the 190D, and the place to take the alternator is Spokane Auto Electric & Repair (1407 E. Sprague). They carry everything, and can turn slip rings too. I just need to take it apart and re-assemble it.

Not an issue. Step one: use a Sharpie to mark the phasing of the two housings. As before, I then put two screwdrivers into the fan and set them against bolts through the alternator mounting holes. A 22mm box-end wrench went over the nut, and then a hammer striking the wrench removed the nut easily. (Rotor inertia, rather than the screwdrivers against the fan, was the main counterforce.) The pulley, fan, and all the spacers just drop off the front then. I strung them on a piece of wire to keep them in order. A hammer and a screwdriver removed the shaft key. Removal of the fan exposed the four screws that held the body together, those came out easily enough. (Don't slip and bugger the screw slots, or you'll really have a problem!) A brass hammer tapped around the rear housing caused it to drop away from the front housing and rotor, the rear bearing stayed with the rotor. The rear bearing was very dry, it's close to failure. Most of the grease appears to have worked out of both bearings. I removed the four little screws that released the front bearing clamping plate, and with the nut on the shaft the brass hammer drove the front bearing out of the front housing.

Checking the tool box I found a recently-acquired New Britain puller (50¢ at a garage sale) that is a perfect fit to the rear bearing. It clipped over it and with a twist and a little pop it came right off the shaft, the flat end of the puller's bolt slipped perfectly through the bearing. (It was sweet, I love using good tools!) The front bearing is the hard one, but I have found that I can use a clamp-together flat plate bearing puller in conjunction with a 2-jaw puller to pull them off their shafts. I kept the front nut half-on the shaft in order to constrain the point of the 2-jaw puller. It took quite a bit of force, but the bearing pulled off pretty easily, and the procedure didn't seem to deform the bearing clamping plate too much. Disassembly complete; it didn't even take very long.

I put the rotor, bearings, and brush pack into a box in the trunk of the car.

...Today out at lunch I stopped by Brown Bearing, and unlike last time they had both alternator bearings. $15 for the pair. I stopped by Spokane Auto Electric & Repair, and they did not have any solder-in brushes, but they did have the brush pack for $30, which is an OK (but not great) price as these things go. (They did say that it was made in the USA. Marked 71-40007 and USI 00838.) I bought it so that I can finish (?) tomorrow. They didn't think the slip rings needed turning, but they did recommend that I chuck it in a lathe and use emery paper to take off the black. I think I may be able to rig something, we'll see.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The original front bearing was marked FAG 6303.R.10.18, and also A.Q and ITALY; one dust cover is marked 6303 S 457, the other 6303 S 478. The replacement is also FAG, labeled on the box 6303.2RSR.C3 but marked on itself 6303.C3 and E275-0331 HB; one dust cover has 6303RSR and W263 on it, the other has 6303RSR and W243 on it.

The original rear bearing was marked SKF 6201-2RS1/C3HT228VU035 (a bit sketchily, as it's on the outside of the race and has some scuffing that somewhat obscures the legend), and also B (or 8) and ITALY, the dust covers appear to be unmarked. The replacement is Koyo, labeled on the box 62012RDC3 but marked on itself only C3; the dust covers have 6201RD, KOYO, and JAPAN on them, once side also has 555 and the other has 519.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

I checked the fit of the battery in the box, and I found that with the red plastic spacer board in place the lid didn't even come close to fitting down over the sealing lip of the box, which explains how it had gotten so broken up: they'd tried to buckle down the lid but it wouldn't go, and they tried forcing it. I imagine that what had happened is that at some point someone had put in an incorrect battery, a small cheap one rather than the correct (and rather large) Group 49, and that the cables didn't reach the posts so they'd put the board in to lift the battery up a bit to reach the cables. Later, when the correct battery was installed the board was not removed, and thus began the destruction. With that all figured out I then wiped the battery compartment clean with a damp rag and reinstalled the newly-repaired battery box, then the battery. As I've found before, the hardest part was getting the positive grommet back in the box. I touched up the paint on the buckles, etc., and reinstalled the hatch cover and the buckles. I brushed off the end of the negative cable and put it back, using some anti-sieze on the bolt.

To maintain the clocks, etc. the car's been on the battery charger this whole time, but set at 6 V to keep the voltage peaks down since the battery wasn't there to serve as a filter. Seems to have worked, anyhow.

I was going to put the used front bearing into the junk alternator that's been underfoot for quite some time now, only to find that it's not the front bearing that's loose! The bearing socket in the front housing is what is loose, the bearing probably got tight and spun in the housing at some time and chewed it out. It's possible that some shimming would restore it, but it's not like I really need it at this point.

I then fired up the car and checked the running voltage, it was 14.3 V which is right in the pocket. Done! I tested the keyless entry fob and it was working fine, once I tried it a few times. (The keyless system sits loose in the battery compartment, all the messing around back there doesn't seem to have hurt it any.)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Friday, July 9, 2010

...Jill called me at lunch from the library parking lot, and said that the battery (that went through Hell with the alternator incident) made a big 'pop' noise when she went to start the car, and fluid started dripping out of the back. (It also wouldn't start, and had been getting difficult to start recently, and could sometimes barely turn over though the voltage and charge state always seemed OK.) Sheesh! I got there and opened it up, and the newly-repaired battery box had contained all the acid from the 8-year-old NAPA battery's case blowing open! It had cracks and fractures all over the place, and had leaked thoroughly. We got a pan of water and sluiced it off before lifting it out onto the ground, and diluted the acid stream that was running away from the car. I put the battery on one of the rubber winter floor mats in the trunk of my car, and we went off to Les Schwab where we bought another Group 49 battery for $108. (I washed off the floor mat with their hose.) It installed easily enough into the car, but the cables didn't reach well and I didn't have time to fuss with it. (It's possible that the new battery is a bit shorter than the old one.) It got her home, anyway, but the car wouldn't start again there because the positive cable had popped off sometime along the way. The battery box and the lid have some new cracks in them, so I'll have to do some more gluing too. Before she drove off with the new battery I checked the charging voltage, and it was steady at just over 14 V, which is good. This implies that it was not the rebuilt alternator that killed the battery.

Exploding battery, that's another first for me.

The current theory is that one of the internal bus bars broke a while ago, isolating a substantial part of one cell. That would have put extra stress on the part that was left in circuit: both the heavy starting discharge and the later recharging current would have been forced into a too-small area, eventually causing hydrogen-oxygen dissociation. The working part of the broken cell could possibly even have been driven into reverse polarity during starting by the power of the remaining five cells, and they really hate that. The starting current ability of the battery would have been severely compromised (as it appeared to be) yet the resting terminal voltage would have been fine (as it was). She hit the starter, the diminished cell's voltage dropped precipitously, and minute vibration and/or thermal effects induced the bad connection to re-connect at that moment in an explosive atmosphere of the freed hydrogen and oxygen; the isolated parts of the cell were (let's say) fully charged and so there was plenty of voltage difference and thus current flow and thus a spark... Check, check, and check! Works for me.

The jouncing the car took during Jill's off-road adventure was probably ultimately responsible for this, though it was only yesterday that I noticed anything odd about the battery. That battery had had a hard life, what with the parasitic drain issues, the eventual alternator strike, and the bouncing around.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

...In the afternoon I finished the gluing.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Monday, October 18, 2010

Monday, November 8, 2010

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

The motor mounts are most definitely in need of replacement, the 'frame-on-rails' sounds from up front are getting more prominent.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Mirror, visors, top-rail trim, A-pillar trim. Glove box liner, console surround, ACC panel, stereo. (The secret to the Sony stereo is two sheet-metal release clips that nestle inside the bezel, they have to be pulled inwards to release from the mounting cage.) One of the ACC panel's mounting ears was tearing off again, I used cyanoacrylate glue to re-secure it. We'll see. The console surround's rear locating pin was tearing off again, more glue there. Pull off light switch knob, 24mm wrench for light switch hex nut, unscrew parking brake knob. The parking brake knob split, as is so common with age. I pulled out the metal insert and wiped on a bit of Shoe Goo and re-inserted it, then used a small MB hose clamp to squeeze it back together as it dried. We'll see, I've generally had poor luck repairing these.

10mm socket on long extension for the two knee bolster bolts, T27 torx screwdriver for the airbag, large Allen socket for the steering wheel. Three screws hold in the driver's-side under-dash panel, I removed it and the light so I could put it in the trunk. Three tiny Philips screws removed the plastic retainer for the steering wheel brushes, then I could pull out the instrument cluster. It unplugs readily, just beware of flashing the clock power lead against ground! (I do it nearly every time and usually blow the fuse. I did it this time too, but the fuse somehow survived.)

With the instrument cluster out I grabbed the wiper and wiggled it, I could see that the intermediate pivot point between the motor and the arms was coming loose from the car body. A missing bolt? Not sure, and I was out of time to continue. I suspect that this wiper problem could be dealt with without removing the dash, but there are other problems under there too. I plan to continue with dash removal. But another day, now it's time for breakfast...

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Saturday, July 2, 2011

With the dash out I could then get at the wiper linkage. The broken-off mounting ear was very clean and there was room on both sides to splint it with washers, so I cleaned it off with carb cleaner, got two suitable 3/16" flat washers, and mixed up some JB Weld epoxy. I glued washers on each side of the ear and coated the break with glue too. I then doused the bolt in oil and, using a spare nut, bolted the splint together finger-tight to set up. With any luck the oil will keep the bolt from being glued in place, yet will not poison the glue joint. I also scared up a replacement for the missing bolt; Lock-tite will be a feature of the reinstallation so this doesn't happen again.

...A couple of hours later I removed the bolt and nut to prevent them getting glued into place, I'll let the glue set up the rest of the way by itself.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Friday, July 8, 2011

...After work I removed the bolt and nut, cut off the glue stalactites, and cleaned the glue off of the bolt. It looks good, we'll leave it alone for awhile to finish curing.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Next was to dig into the AC venting. The service manual's Job 83.9-665 seemed the most relevant. Ugly! I got out the MityVac and tested the four vacuum circuits. The center vent and both sides of the defrost vent actuators were dead, big surprise. The footwell and recirculation actuators were fine, which is also fairly typical.

Monday, July 11, 2011

The center vent acutator had torn itself loose from the heater box. I've seen that before, and after I glue (or perhaps weld) it back together I'll bolster the front with a piece of sheet metal to spread the load. (The actuator mounting bracket serves that purpose on the back side.) I drilled out the bracket mounting rivets to free the torn-out chunk of box plastic, I'll replace them with bolts. With the plastic box material sandwiched between two large pieces of metal and secured with bolts it should be very strong.

The box bottom was full of crap that had fallen down into the heater over the years. The box pieces look like they were sealed with something like rope caulk, which I will try to use upon replacement. If you don't get the sealing right then cold water (condensate) tends to drip on your inboard foot, which is surprisingly unpleasant.

I then ordered parts (buymbparts.biz). Both vacuum pods and a black dash cap.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Sunday, July 17, 2011

So I went out to try to install these things. The 'direct replacement' center vent actuator is not the same thing at all. The mounting plate is similar, but does not line up with the holes in the plastic, nor is the actuating arm the same. (The original is long, and pins to the plastic flap with a plastic expansion pin. The replacement is short, and has a metal pin protruding from it.) The defrost actuator looks OK, but there is nothing to pin the replacement arm to it, the E-clip doesn't go anywhere. I hit the EPC, a truly miserable piece of Windows-only software, and found the defrost actuator's replacement callout wants a 007338 004205, whatever that is [this DIN number calls out a rivet, sayeth my parts guy], not the E-clip. I also found that the EPC only knows about three vacuum element types, not the four that the car has, and that the other actuator I got is the one for the footwell flaps. (I checked, and it is indeed that one.) There is no sign in the EPC of the center vent actuator, that's because it believes that there is only a manual center vent lever. Great. Officially I can't replace either of the old vent pods, though I'm sure that if I wanted to go on a fabrication binge I could.

Monday, July 18, 2011

...Today the dash cap came, but I'm not ready for that part of the project yet!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The irritating part of all this is that the Behr diaphragm itself is fairly easy to replace, and would be a cheap part if you could get it. If only the diaphragms were separately available!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

Monday, August 22, 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Friday, August 26, 2011

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Monday, April 23, 2012

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Monday, May 7, 2012

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Friday, May 18, 2012

...Found the cement, it was exactly where I would have put it. Not sure why I looked right at it and didn't see it the first time.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Anyway, I opened both doors and fetched the dash from its ersatz workbench (the nose of the Chicken Wagon) and carried it into the car. I put back the left-hand air duct, and the center mounting bolt. I washed the rubber center air duct, it had a lot of oil and dirt on it. I used a small screwdriver wedged into the air box in the car to hold the defroster flaps closed. (That's one of the secrets to this!) Then, contorted so I could both support the dash well and control it, I was able to start worming the dash into place. The left side goes on first, you have to snake it over the steering column, being careful not to scar anything against the various sharp bits of the column and the window frame, the right side of the dash has to be somewhat 'down' as you work it in on the left side. Then the right side is worked into place, there's a lot of gentle back and forth and wiggling in order to get things to mate. You have to watch for wires getting out of place, the side air ducts and control cables, and the defroster ducts. With luck and a bit of care you can then get the three mounting bolts to go into place, and then shimmy the dash into final position. I decided to stop there and clean up as I was nearly out of time, and this was a good point to take a step back and have a good look at everything before beginning to hook everything back up.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

I then was able to snap in the headlight switch bezel lamp, and then attach the headlight switch itself to the dash with its big nut. I then re-attached the left-hand speaker's wires, which had pulled off the speaker. Their spade clips were loose so I re-crimped them to fit tighter, then I connected the speaker plug to the wiring harness. The turn signal switch was next, one of the horn wires had pulled out so I reattached it first. The switch then nestles back in place in the column, two screws secure it. The rubber cover then clips over its retaining ears on the column. I then reattached the steering column to the cross-brace under the dash, two large 13mm bolts from above do the job. I was then out of time.

...After work another session, and time for that other evil part of the left-hand vent: attaching the control cable to the shutoff flap. (This has always been a difficult task. This time I had Daniel for company, and help.) When I tried to connect the cable to the duct I found that I had again managed to get it on the wrong side of the parking brake release mechanism. (I do this a lot!) I was able to undo my brake work of this morning, and with the mechanism all the way retracted I could manage to get the cable moved to the wall side where it belongs. I then put back the parking brake mechanism. The cable was easy enough to lay in its bracket, but the retaining clip is very tough to snap into place. Fingers won't quite do it, and you can't get regular pliers in there. I wasted a fair bit of time trying. I then remembered that I had once made some fanged pliers for exactly this task. I dug them out, and almost immediately "snick", and it was done. It's sure nice to use the right tool for a job, even Daniel was impressed! Regular needlenose pliers took care of putting the loop on the flap control. The duct itself was easy, except that it had gotten deformed and one part of the lip kept wanting to fold into the duct instead of going on right.

Daniel and I then slipped the rubber center vent duct into place, two more hands made that essentially trivial. It then seemed like it was finally time to attach the three dash mounting nuts and bolts. This went well. I then went to hook up the cabin air temperature sensor, and decided I had mounted it backwards since it didn't want to stay flush with the dash. (The grid should be oriented to prevent sunlight from getting into the sensor.) This necessitated cutting another guide notch in the new dash cap with a razor blade so that it could be rotated 180°. In the correct orientation the retaining collar underneath was now just able snap on its last notch when right-side-up, with the wide edge against the dash, instead of upside down as before. The foam hose was next, and went on uneventfully. It was then dinnertime, but first I had Daniel pull the screwdriver that had been holding the defroster flaps closed.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Moving to the center of the car I began by putting back the brace between the heater box bottom and the floor of the car. This brace also carries the fiber-optic light source. With that in place the airbag controller can be bolted down to the hump using its two Torx screws.

There's more to getting this car ready than just the interior, it was time to take care of that leaking LR tire. I jacked up the car and put a jack stand under the rear sway bar mount. (I needed the jack elsewhere too.) I put the tire in the trunk of the SEL, which I have been driving lately. I dropped it off at Les Schwab.

...After work I picked up the tire. It was rim corrosion, of course. (No charge, especially for a loose flat.)

Friday, May 25, 2012

That was not fun. I ended up tearing the front mounting tab off of the left-hand side carpet too, to match the right, because it just grips too tightly. I needed to be able to slip the carpets in and out. Anyway, after trial-fitting the console once I convinced myself that the recirculation vacuum hoses would get in the way of the radio, so I removed the console and re-threaded the hoses behind the crosspiece, against the heater box. I tried it again and it seemed like they'd be too short to attach to the switch when putting the control panel back again, so I did it all again, this time threading them through the wiring lashed to the bottom of the crosspiece to get a little more slack. That finally looked plausible. I got the console slipped into place, carpets attached, and all the wiring and hoses in their respective cubbies. The console's not attached yet, though, as I was out of time. The car's starting to look a little like a car now!

...After work another session with Daniel. We started by screwing down the console, side carpets and all. We then pushed in the radio frame, then the radio. (Replacing that Sony with something more likeable will have to wait.) I left off the original Becker's security ground slider. We then moved down a space to the HVAC control panel, which went in fairly easily. There is a 2-pin connector, of the small variety much like the one that is on the evaporator temperature sensor, that is unconnected, and I'm mystified. It's part of the HVAC cable harness, and can't really reach that far, but I just don't see where it could go. (No time to fool around, so I made this note of it and moved on.) The connections to the recirculation switch, both electrical and vacuum, were tight. Nonetheless it went together OK. Next up was the shifter surround, the connectors to the switches went on, then we slipped the surround into place and screwed it down. Then it was the ashtray surround and ashtray, and the console was done.

The window trim was next, you must start with the A-pillar pieces, I started on the left. I used a bit of weatherstrip cement to fix the anti-squeak felt on the bottom of the lefthand piece. With the A pillar cover on you can then put on the sunvisor, two screws, and also connecting the electrics, and then the top trim. Repeat on the other side. Then we put in the mirror socket, then the mirror. This thing is starting to look a lot more like a car! We then installed the instrument cluster, then the plastic trim ring on the steering column, and then I set the steering wheel in place, though I did not tighten it down. Last thing before we broke for dinner was the main light switch knob and rear fog indicator lamp, and then I put the car battery on charge. I checked the dash lights, and the light in the temperature wheel was out, but everything else looked good.

...Time is running short, so after dinner I had one more session. I dug out the key and programmed some channels into the radio, just to prove it was working, and I set the dash clock. I replaced the one dead bulb behind the temperature wheel, and then figured out where that loose Becker mounting bracket belonged, it was easy to see the site next to the glove box once the light was on in there. I also tucked the Becker's loose security ground slider into a corner there so it wouldn't get lost. I then got out the passenger-side underdash panel assembly and threaded the lamp back into it. I got it pushed into place and then secured it with its five screws. The one difficult one is inside, tying it to the HVAC duct through a small brace. With the face panel in place the foot-side panel was easy to clip into place. (This was much easier with the false floor removed, but I'd say even better would be to clip them together before installing them as a set.) I checked the area to make sure things were secure, then cleaned out the footwell and put the false floor back, and the floor mats. The final step was to reinstall the glove box, the passenger side is done!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

...A busy day, and I didn't get back to the car after 9PM, whereas I had planned on needing most of the day to get the car ready to go. This afternoon it came to me: the mystery plug behind the HVAC panel was for the cabin temperature sensor, which I had plumbed but not connected electrically! Doh! Even worse, the unattached plug didn't reach to the sensor, what I had done was connect that sensor's cable to the evaporator temperature sensor down below, which the mystery plug could reach easily. I removed the HVAC panel, glovebox, and radio, and after I disconnected one of the rubber tubes to the lefthand center vent I could then reach everything I needed to put things right. It only took about 20 minutes to do this and put it all back together, I guess practice helps.

The seat was next, and it was as crappy a job as always. There is a large stepped washer that goes in the front hump bolt hole that you have to remember, but the real problem is getting the seat tracks to connect to the jack. You put the entire seat in place to the rear of its normal position and slide the tracks forward into their sockets on the jack. It takes a few tries. You then put in the front hump bolt, that has to be first or you'll never get it in. Then the other front bolt, then check the action of the slides and the jack. If that's right you can then connect the rear track guides, making sure to put back any spacers that had been there originally. With that done only the seat belt bolt remained, which took mere seconds. The car was then assembled. Finally!

I grabbed the keys and started the car. It made some absolutely horrid noises, a weird thumping and not something I associate with a leaked-down chain tensioner, nor anything else I could recognize. The indicators were all wonky and dim, perhaps the belts were slipping? I think I have a cluster grounding problem too, the way all the cluster lights and gauges were interacting. I stopped the car and popped the hood, and didn't see anything wrong. When I started it again it sounded right, and looked fine. Huh. The indicators were still kind of weird, but the brake light was on solidly so I checked the reservoir. Empty. I filled it, it took a lot. This car definitely has a slow leak somewhere. When I put it in gear it wouldn't move at first, eventually it started creeping, but it shuddered a lot and didn't really want to move. I think the transmission fluid has also leaked down since it was last driven.

None of this is particularly disturbing, nor all that unexpected, nor likely even very hard to deal with, but this car is supposed to hit the road tomorrow! I really needed today to finish the job and road-test the car, but I didn't get it. I hope I can get up early tomorrow and finish.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

I checked the car's schematic and found that the only instrument cluster ground is X1-1, which is a 3-pin connector on the speedometer. I hit the emergency flashers and the indicators lit normally, but the fuel gauge pegged every time they came on. Yes, I think the ground is blown. I recall that if you, let's say, flash the clock power against the instrument cluster case (which I did when I first took the car apart this time) you can blow a ground trace inside the cluster. (The preventative is that this clock power line should be first-connected and last-removed.) This is an easy remedy, and I've even done it before.

I removed the airbag and steering wheel again, and the black plastic trim ring on the steering column. (The airbag is easiest done with a 1/4" socket wrench driving the correct Torx-30 bit.) I was able to pick at the lower-left corner of the cluster with my fingers and get it to start to come out, whereupon I could pinch and pull it out of the opening sufficient to reach the connectors. I used the Fluke to check the ground continuity to the tachometer's metal shell, and it was bad, so I removed the cluster from the car. The speedometer is easy to remove from the cluster, four 1/4" screws and two Philips and pull out the lamp harness. There are four more screws holding the speedometer in its plastic shell, and once the shell was removed the blown trace was easy to see on the PCB. I soldered a piece of wire across the breach. Since I was there I brushed a coat of Tangerine paint on the yellowed needle, restoring its original color. I then reassembled the cluster and put it back in the car. The flashers then behaved normally. Since the SRS light has been stuck on I removed the bulb, no sense causing unnecessary consternation. I plan to check out the airbag power supply backup accumulator that's located in the wall of the storage well when I get a chance, this had gone bad on my convertible causing this lamp to stay on. (It doesn't disable the system, it only reduces its ability to function if power is cut early in a crash.) I then replaced the steering wheel and airbag, and we're back to normal. Again. This time for sure!

I backed the car out into the lawn and washed it, it was filthy. I filled the washer tank with water, diluting the blue that was in it, and refilled the coolant tank, it needed quite a bit. I used G-05, with a water chaser. The steering was groaning, when I checked it was foamy and low, so I filled it. Every fluid except engine oil was low, that's annoying. Time for a test drive! I drove a couple of miles and back, and the car worked fine. The heat behaved properly, so far as I could tell, and when I put it on AC/MAX it cooled off and the compressor cycled. (It's a cold day, so it won't/can't run continuously.) When I got back I let it idle and turned the heat to normal. I checked the transmission fluid and it was low, so I put in a half quart I had. That didn't do it. I noticed the windows were fogging so I turned on the AC compressor. I put in another quart of ATF, which put the level to slightly high, which is probably good if it does have a leak. The windows had cleared by then, so that works right, and I turned the AC compressor back off. I noticed that the air intake snorkel pipe was torn in half so I smeared Shoe Goo on the tear and put it back.

Ready to go! I gave the keys to Jill, along with the first wild rose of the season.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

1. Burning oil smell;
2. Occasional flashes from the low-oil light;
3. One dash light out;
4. Headlights cut out intermittently, cycling the combination switch restored them. I cleaned this once, but I didn't use Caig De-ox-it (which I didn't have at the time). Maybe I'll try again, with that stuff, as a new switch is pretty expensive;
5. Pesky creaking sound from the right of the dash. A-pillar cover?

Other than that the car did well.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Friday, June 1, 2012

The oil was down to the fill mark on the dipstick, so that would explain the low-oil light. The car is overdue for an oil change, however, so I will not top it off. I loosened and re-tightened the RH valve cover, it looks like it might have been leaking. The transmission was quite full, cold and not running, so I can't really determine if the burning oil is coming from the transmission or the engine. Certainly the engine lost some oil somewhere on this trip, it was probably the cover leaking. (I believe I have a spare new gasket if I should need it.) I'll keep an eye on it.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Friday, June 29, 2012

Friday, August 3, 2012

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Friday, May 3, 2013

Monday, May 6, 2013

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Friday, August 30, 2013

Friday, January 31, 2014

Monday, November 17, 2014

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Sunday, May 31, 2015

It needs the AC recharged again. It's been four years, that's not too bad.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Having put maybe 150 miles on the car now, the steering is definitely tighter than it was.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Anyway, I used two black zip ties to secure it instead of wire. Nylon is a bit tougher than thin wire, we'll see if it holds up.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Friday, November 3, 2017

Good replacement monovalve inserts are NLA, what seems to be out there is a nasty MTC one, of which I already have some experience.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Thursday, August 2, 2018

We took the top off and went to the company picnic, in style.

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Thursday, July 30, 2020

I believe that a taller vehicle, like the ubiquitous SUV, would have probably rolled under these circumstances. This is the second time (see here) that I believe this car's low center of gravity has prevented a worse accident. (Though to be fair, if the convertible did roll that would be very bad.)

Monday, August 3, 2020

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

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