From: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net (diesel-benz-digest) To: diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Subject: diesel-benz-digest V1 #962 Reply-To: diesel-benz-at-digest.net Sender: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Errors-To: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Precedence: bulk diesel-benz-digest Monday, April 14 2003 Volume 01 : Number 962 Forum for Discussion of Diesel Mercedes Benz Automobiles Derick Amburgey Digest Coordinator Contents: Re: 190 Steering Dawn Galloway Re: Dawn Galloway Re: Diesels in Seattle Smokin!! R134 conversion gone bad Cruise Control Amp Observations (things not to do) Re: Smokin!! R134 conversion gone bad Re: Cruise Control Amp Observations (things not to do) Re: Smokin!! R134 conversion gone bad Re: Cruise Control Amp Observations (things not to do) Diesel Benz Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/diesel-benz/ Send submissions to diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Send administrative requests to diesel-benz-digest-request-at-digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to stag-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 07:43:23 -0400 From: Michael Frank Subject: Re: 190 Steering Thanks, Gary. I guess I'll have to stop at Mercedes on Monday. Mike At 10:12 PM 4/12/03, gary wrote: >Having just replaced mine recently, >They are both straight, and the ball joints are perpendicular. The left >and right tie rods are the same. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 17:28:51 -0500 From: "Chuck Galloway" Subject: Dawn Galloway I want to thank all of you for your prayers for Dawn and me. She went to be with the Lord today just before 1pm. We were both deeply touched by all of the prayers and messages over the past months, some very personal and lengthy. God bless all of you. Hug your loved ones today.Chuck Galloway - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:34:05 -0700 From: john Subject: Re: Dawn Galloway Sorry to hear of your loss... but you'll be together again, and for that we can praise the Lord! :) john At 05:28 PM 4/13/2003 -0500, Chuck Galloway wrote: >I want to thank all of you for your prayers for Dawn and me. She went to >be with the Lord today just before 1pm. We were both deeply touched by >all of the prayers and messages over the past months, some very personal >and lengthy. God bless all of you. Hug your loved ones today.Chuck >Galloway >------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================= The just shall live by Faith... Der Gerechte wird aus Glauben leben... Mas El Justo vivira Por Fe... Le Juste vivra par la foi... Habakkuk 2:4b, Romans 1:17, Galations 3:11, Hebrews 10:38 ============================================================= Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 There is no other name... Acts 4:12 ============================================================= john-at-wagoneers.com http://www.wagoneers.com http://www.helpmewithbiblestudy.org/ http://www.freegift.net/ - can you pass this test? http://www.wagoneers.com/BIBLE what about persecution? see: http://www.persecution.com/about/index.cfm?action=vom ============================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 18:16:31 -0700 From: john Subject: Re: Diesels in Seattle At 05:55 PM 4/13/2003 -0500, Richard Gilbert wrote: >Hi John, >I came across your site while looking for Mercedes 300 diesel resources on >the web. > >I am in the market for a safe, clean, fuel-efficient car and wonder if you >can shed some light on the joys (and/or woes) of a diesel Mercedes? well, there are joys and there are woes... ;) the joys are a long lived engine with great fuel economy. the woes are dependent on the model and mainly in the vacuum system, and really not all that bad. >I am thinking about a late-70s to mid-80s model. both the 123 and 126 series are excellent, other then the Rube Goldberg vacuum design. If the climate control and central door locks work 90% of the issues are resolved. :) I have an '85 190D that I'm working a few bugs out of but really like it. about 31 mpg in town so far. >What should I look out for? 123/126/201 chassis any of the Diesels will be ok. Steer clear of the mid'80's 3.5L 6 cylinders, all 5 cylinder Diesels are fine. >Do you run bio-diesel? Thinking about it... too much hassle to make though. :( >Thanks in advance for your help! >Richard in Seattle Where in Seattle? I'm up in Snohomish. BTW, Phil Smart over in Seattle is a decent place to get parts from. Benz Friends also. Aurora Auto Wrecking is supposed to be a good place for parts as well. When you get ready to look or buy drop me a line... ttyl, john meister - ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... jesus, don't leave life without him, please! - ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 00:50:56 -0400 From: Robert Chase Subject: Smokin!! R134 conversion gone bad So I went ahead and did my conversion today. My system luckilly was devoid of R-12 so I went ahead and purchased the kit for the conversion. I followed the instructions and got a somewhat good result working A/C with some minor side affects :) When I started the first can Just a few seconds after I got the valve completely open I heard a relay click and my compressor start up. At first it was fine but then started squeeling. I was tempted to shut down the engine but I had a can of R134 running into it and it was not done and I had not planned for a mission abort so I continued to fill the system. After I got the first can in the compressor stopped squeeling. The squeel was more of a mechanical squeel like metal against metal rather than a squeeling belt. Second can went in and the A/C started getting cold. I was excited. We finished the 3rd can and did a parial can of the 3rd. The system takes 2.2lb so I guestimated and Im rather sure I got it close. Capped everything off and went for a drive. A/C was nice and cold especially once I got it on the interstate. I drove for about 5-7 miles and then stopped at a truck stop for some fuel. When I got into the truck stop we noticed an offensive smell but thought it was one of the trucks. When I got the car stopped we had smoke pouring out of the front grille. I went straight for the fire extinguisher in the trunk and cautiosly opened the hood. The compressor seemed to be really hot and was burning off some crustyness on the outside of it. Im not sure if perhaps the compressor shaft or the belt might need some lubrication since it probably has not been run in quite some time. It was really smoking pretty well but when I turned on the engine the smoke seemed to go away. Im guessing that the car probably has a small leak somewhere in the A/C system and sitting all those years caused the freon to leak completely out. The car seems to be holding the R-134 and the compressor (which was replaced in 1991) seems to be working. Im wondering if there is a way to lubricate the compressor clutch without greasing up the belt and causing slippage. Anybody got any ideas? Im about to put a skull and crossbones sticker on my A/C button so the unknowing does not burn my car to a crisp in the event someone else has to drive it :). ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 01:12:35 -0400 From: Robert Chase Subject: Cruise Control Amp Observations (things not to do) Whell, Its really been an exciting weekend. Not only do i have smoke pouring out of my engine compartment from a sticky compressor but I managed to do everthing wrong with the cruise control Amplifier work I did. Here are some things NOT to do when dealing with your amp. Use a good soldering iron. Ok so I used to assemble by hand high end circuits when I worked for Scientific Atlanta when I was going to Electronic's School. Of course the defacto tool was the nice $100 weller soldering iron. In my cheapness I happened to have an old radio shack iron laying around. Figuring it was going to be a piece of cake I used the radio shack iron. Not a good idea. Some of the solder joints were obviously cold especially the ones around the pins that connected to the wiring harness. The joints were close enough together so they were really easy to bridge with the cheap iron. As well they did not seem to clean the flux off of my board very well (probably part of their cold solder issues as well). It seems that during the assembly they wave soldered the board and then manually placed the plastic end piece on with a human being soldering the connector (judging by the quality of the joints and the tool marks left on the board). I soldered the end connectors and then went in and tried it (they looked that bad) I ended up having to pull the board back out and do it again this time working with the badly wave soldered joints on the board itself. I was really pleased when the amp started working and had not yet fully put it back in yet. Rather than pull the can out I just pulled loose the tabs and pulled the board down without dealing with any of the mouting screws. My phillosopy was that I was going to have to pull the tabs regardless and removing the can was just extra work. I managed to slightly crack my board in a non critical place with this philosopy. I would reccomend pulling the whole assembly. So I had the board inserted into its can and had the wiring harness connected. Worked great and since I needed to visit a friend I figured it would be ok until I had time to secure it in there better. On the way to my friends house the cruise control was not working. I had left the bottom shield out and in my trunk to be a constant grating reminder that I needed to secure the amplifier correctly. so I just reached down around the carpet and gave the board a wiggle. At that point every one of my instruments died (thank goodness im not an A/P folks). I had no speedometer. Had no oil pressure, temp, tach not a damn thing. Everything read 0 on the instruments. I managed to blow a fuse. It was kind of scary though wondering if I had fried the entire wiring harness in my car though. The Cruise control works which is good. And my harness is is fine. But if I had to do it again I would do lots of stuff differently. :) Cruise control makes a big difference though on the highway. The engine is slightly quieter because the cruise control is much better than I am at holding a constant speed. I tend to hover on the Tach rather than the spedometer for holding speed and end up doing the coast/power thing to keep it at the RPM I want. The cruise is much more subtle about this and is able to hold constant throttle pressure in order to hold the speed you want. And subsequently RPM if the road is flat :). Next project is going to be power windows and power doorlocks. God only knows what horrible mistakes I will make in there. I decided to do the power windows/locks at the same time so that I could do minimal destruction on my door panels. I mangled my rear door panel trying to get a power window that would not close closed. I should probably locate a set of new panels or at least just the arm rests and trim (my arm rests are kinda worn out) so that I can drive without metal showing in the event of breakage. Its scary when your unemployed Unix Engineer tries to fix his Mercedes :) R. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:39:47 -0700 From: john Subject: Re: Smokin!! R134 conversion gone bad I remember this happening... my belt was loose! Tighten your belt dude! ; ) john At 12:50 AM 4/14/2003 -0400, Robert Chase wrote: >So I went ahead and did my conversion today. My system luckilly was >devoid of R-12 so I went ahead and purchased the kit for the >conversion. I followed the instructions and got a somewhat good result >working A/C with some minor side affects :) > >When I started the first can Just a few seconds after I got the valve >completely open I heard a relay click and my compressor start up. At >first it was fine but then started squeeling. I was tempted to shut down >the engine but I had a can of R134 running into it and it was not done and >I had not planned for a mission abort so I continued to fill the >system. After I got the first can in the compressor stopped >squeeling. The squeel was more of a mechanical squeel like metal against >metal rather than a squeeling belt. >Second can went in and the A/C started getting cold. I was excited. We >finished the 3rd can and did a parial can of the 3rd. The system takes >2.2lb so I guestimated and Im rather sure I got it close. Capped >everything off and went for a drive. > >A/C was nice and cold especially once I got it on the interstate. I drove >for about 5-7 miles and then stopped at a truck stop for some fuel. When >I got into the truck stop we noticed an offensive smell but thought it was >one of the trucks. When I got the car stopped we had smoke pouring out of >the front grille. I went straight for the fire extinguisher in the trunk >and cautiosly opened the hood. The compressor seemed to be really hot and >was burning off some crustyness on the outside of it. Im not sure if >perhaps the compressor shaft or the belt might need some lubrication since >it probably has not been run in quite some time. It was really smoking >pretty well but when I turned on the engine the smoke seemed to go away. >Im guessing that the car probably has a small leak somewhere in the A/C >system and sitting all those years caused the freon to leak completely >out. The car seems to be holding the R-134 and the compressor (which was >replaced in 1991) seems to be working. Im wondering if there is a way to >lubricate the compressor clutch without greasing up the belt and causing >slippage. >Anybody got any ideas? Im about to put a skull and crossbones sticker on >my A/C button so the unknowing does not burn my car to a crisp in the >event someone else has to drive it :). - ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... jesus, don't leave life without him, please! - ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 22:48:48 -0700 From: john Subject: Re: Cruise Control Amp Observations (things not to do) At 01:12 AM 4/14/2003 -0400, Robert Chase wrote: >Its scary when your unemployed Unix Engineer tries to fix his Mercedes :) >R. :) I'm planning on fixing my sunroof and driveline... any suggestions on what not to do oh fellow UNIX geek? ;) BTW, I'm not "technically" unemployed, more "under"employed at this point, teaching two classes for City U and one for Everett Community College. Of course all three of those classes don't even pay the mortgage... :( Now, go tighten your A/C belt... oiling that clutch assembly is not recommended... Kind of like loading Windows on your Sparc Classic... :) Just ain't gonna work... john - ------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... jesus, don't leave life without him, please! - ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 02:58:34 -0400 From: Robert Chase Subject: Re: Smokin!! R134 conversion gone bad Hmmm, Ill take a look at that.. Its quite possible that the stench was burning rubber..... Thanks for the tip! R. john wrote: > I remember this happening... my belt was loose! > > Tighten your belt dude! ; ) > > john > > At 12:50 AM 4/14/2003 -0400, Robert Chase wrote: > >> So I went ahead and did my conversion today. My system luckilly was >> devoid of R-12 so I went ahead and purchased the kit for the >> conversion. I followed the instructions and got a somewhat good >> result working A/C with some minor side affects :) >> >> When I started the first can Just a few seconds after I got the valve >> completely open I heard a relay click and my compressor start up. At >> first it was fine but then started squeeling. I was tempted to shut >> down the engine but I had a can of R134 running into it and it was >> not done and I had not planned for a mission abort so I continued to >> fill the system. After I got the first can in the compressor stopped >> squeeling. The squeel was more of a mechanical squeel like metal >> against metal rather than a squeeling belt. >> Second can went in and the A/C started getting cold. I was excited. >> We finished the 3rd can and did a parial can of the 3rd. The system >> takes 2.2lb so I guestimated and Im rather sure I got it close. >> Capped everything off and went for a drive. >> >> A/C was nice and cold especially once I got it on the interstate. I >> drove for about 5-7 miles and then stopped at a truck stop for some >> fuel. When I got into the truck stop we noticed an offensive smell >> but thought it was one of the trucks. When I got the car stopped we >> had smoke pouring out of the front grille. I went straight for the >> fire extinguisher in the trunk and cautiosly opened the hood. The >> compressor seemed to be really hot and was burning off some >> crustyness on the outside of it. Im not sure if perhaps the >> compressor shaft or the belt might need some lubrication since it >> probably has not been run in quite some time. It was really smoking >> pretty well but when I turned on the engine the smoke seemed to go away. >> Im guessing that the car probably has a small leak somewhere in the >> A/C system and sitting all those years caused the freon to leak >> completely out. The car seems to be holding the R-134 and the >> compressor (which was replaced in 1991) seems to be working. Im >> wondering if there is a way to lubricate the compressor clutch >> without greasing up the belt and causing slippage. >> Anybody got any ideas? Im about to put a skull and crossbones >> sticker on my A/C button so the unknowing does not burn my car to a >> crisp in the event someone else has to drive it :). > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ > Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... > jesus, don't leave life without him, please! > ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 03:02:19 -0400 From: Robert Chase Subject: Re: Cruise Control Amp Observations (things not to do) john wrote: > At 01:12 AM 4/14/2003 -0400, Robert Chase wrote: > >> Its scary when your unemployed Unix Engineer tries to fix his >> Mercedes :) >> R. > > > :) I'm planning on fixing my sunroof and driveline... any suggestions > on what not to do oh fellow UNIX geek? ;) Hey John.... Did not forget about your request for photos :) Ill get you some w126 sunroof closeups. > > > BTW, I'm not "technically" unemployed, more "under"employed at this > point, > teaching two classes for City U and one for Everett Community College. Of > course all three of those classes don't even pay the mortgage... :( Not good.... I have been seeing some slight improvement in tech jobs.... The companies are still in their "cheap ass" mode though. > > > Now, go tighten your A/C belt... oiling that clutch assembly is not > recommended... Kind of like loading Windows on your Sparc Classic... :) > Just ain't gonna work... Yes...... Thats does not even sound fun :) R. > > > john > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ > Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... > jesus, don't leave life without him, please! > ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of diesel-benz-digest V1 #962 *********************************