c16rkc's mad house

[c16rkc]

The disappointing Mercedes S320CDi

After spending 7 months driving the Citroen C3 every day, which was now filthy from the winter, the price of Diesel was coming down, and I fancied something more regal to use once or twice a week.

I have enjoyed a lot of Mercedes models over the years, and decided the W221 S class would fit the bill. I hunted our a good example with lots of extras, yet within my price range due to it needing a bit of love... and I made the purchase. At first I felt a glowing sense of pride that I had re-entered Mercedes ownership.

Spencer helped me give it a good clean, to ready it for service.

He seemed to find the Mercedes dull and occasionally preferred to clean the driveway....

But we managed to get it to a nice presentable standard... but it's here that I found myself thinking it was hardly an elegant car, quite a clumsy looking thing in fact; those headlights are horrid looking and I obsessed over what I could do about them far too much...

A week after buying it, I had to make a 5 hour round trip for work. I decided this was a journey the Mercedes was born for, but the journey was not quite as satisfying as I expected it to be.

First of all, try as I might I could not get the seats into a comfortable position. They look like they would be nice and comfy, and there are about a thousand ways they can be adjusted, but they seem to be manufactured for the - Ahem - rather large gentleman, and they don't hug around my tiny frame at all. It's mainly the backrest that causes the issue, as it seems to be hard and flat where my shoulder blades are, which makes me fidget constantly...

Also, I realised the posh "massage" function was absolute rubbish.

But then worst of all, when I was just 30 minutes away from my destination the car engine died, and I had to steer quickly into an SOS call point. A pool of Diesel appeared under the engine bay!

After spending a couple of hours in the freezing cold wind, thanks to a traffic womble who would not let me sit in the warmth of my car, we were recovered to a garage. I left the Mercedes with them and caught the train home.

A week later a fuel hose clip was replaced, the engine was cleaned down, the car was serviced, and I went to collect it.

I spent the months that followed fettling things, and I took a few more trips in it, but early on there were signs I was not really bonding with it. Like most car enthusiasts, I wedged myself firmly in the land of denial, and kept quiet about my concerns.

I took it to work one day, and boy did it look huge to me in the car park!

But then we had more drama when I dropped the car off to have some new tyres!

In a phone call that defied belief, the garage told me to come pick my car up, because they could not get the wheels off! The wheel nuts were ceased, and they had broken my locking nut trying.

There was a sliver of the locknut key trapped in one of the locknuts too!

I phoned a few wheel nut removal experts, but when I mentioned the trapped bit of locknuts most of them said they would not be able to help. Then one proposed to use a technique of "welding" to the old nut, rather than using pressure, but quoted me wanted £150 just to remove one nut!

I decided to do it myself...!

That was not a good idea...

After the purchase of a new locknut key, I managed to get three of the wheels off with some care and elbow grease, but the 4th was absolutely adamant it was not coming off. I bought all sorts of magic potions and locknut removal tools... but they were all eaten by the beast!

Some of the wheel nuts rounded off, and had to be removed by hammering on a smaller socket.

Out came my friend the angle grinder...

The hooligans didn't enjoy the noise; it was kind of payback for what they do to Lindsey and me every day!

It took me hours and hours... but the poor wheel finally came off....

...and because of this, and my dislike for the style of the 19" wheels (I thought they were too small for the car style).... Aston and me went on a fun tour to buy some new 20" wheels.

We tried to forgive the big Mercedes and gave it a bath...

I confess I do like the new 20" wheels much more than the old 19" ones though... They suit it more.

But I think this photo illustrates those hideous looking headlights very well... yes I know I'm obsessing...

A month later... a few things happened....

I turned 42! sob

Spencer had some cake...

I revelled at becoming more distinguished...

The boys met the easter bunny...

Spencer did a poo in the bath... (Aston was not amused as you can see)

and the Mercedes DPF light came on...!

We took it to the Mercedes specialist garage in Ely for a DPF clean, and also had a service and an MOT.

During the trip Aston and Spencer discovered teenage girls when visiting Ely cathedral... Clearly neither of them are anything like their dad, as they confidently strode over for a chat in this pincer movement we see here.

With the Mercedes back home, more things were fettled... and she really started to look in fine fettle.

Then the drivers side window stopped working... when does that ever happen on modern cars!

While Lindsey's Audi was off at the garage being itself very naughty in June, the Mercedes was kind enough to take us to a Dinosaur park.... and here was me thinking they were all extinct.

Then when the Audi was being naughty AGAIN in August, the Mercedes took us to a family wedding in Birmingham... Lindsey and me were both bored with driving it, so Spencer drove us.

Then with the purchase of the Citroen C5 at the end of September, I finally decided I didn't like the Mercedes, and would sell it. Here are some of the things I dislike about it...

- It feels far too enormous to drive!

- The parking sensors are radar based, instead of normal proximity sensors, and turn off when in the vicinity of other radar equipment, such as at airports and some hospitals. They always de-activate at Addenbrookes, which is a pain when you are using the multi-storey there!

- The premium Harmon Kardon sound system is rubbish. There are even articles about it by other Mercedes owners, and it turns out the mid-bass speakers are too blame. Frustrated owners change the speakers, with some even changing the amplifier! - what a croc in a premium car!!

- The ride quality is not all that great, which is really odd for a Mercedes. Yes it is nice... but just not amazing.

- The SatNav is pointless, and the user interface of the screens is really awful.

- I think the front end looks awful. Next to Lindsey's sleek Audi it looks really dumb and clumsy.

- The interior is old fashioned, but in the awful way 70's flowery wallpaper looks old, rather than the classy way a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow interior looks old.

So Lindsey had to borrow it again recently, while her Audi was in the garage.

She also hates it...

So it's going...

More naughty cars to come....

[c16rkc]

Knuckling down

So putting aside my naughty cars for a moment, I think I have identified the "knuckle bush" that the man at the Citroen specialist said needed doing.

Some may remember (if I wrote about it... ) when the Citroen C5 was last in the garage they told me that a "knuckle bush" needed doing, accompanied with comments that the part may not be available, due to the very complicated suspension "on those cars". I certainly detected some reluctance to replace this part, and even tell me what part needed doing...

But what a croc of rubbish that's turned out to be. The bush in question is used on the C5, C6, and a few Peugeot models too. There are so many of these bushes on the market in any flavour you like, I could replace these bushes every week if I wanted.

The negativity you get from garages really winds me up... my theory is that they must only like working on the newer models??

So... after much googling, I stumbled upon a couple of links that referred to a "knuckle" in two places as follows:

https://eurofrance24.com/wheel-steering ... 65704.html

and here too...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184175683453

It appears this bush circled here is known as the "knuckle" bush by some in the trade; though sometimes it is a lower pivot arm bush, I think there are some other names for it too. There seems to be two part numbers 365704 and 365604 which look to be identical in their use, and interchangeable. I just need to order one and try fitting it!

Then best of all someone has made this fantastic Youtube video showing how to fit it.... looks like child's play!!



I am going to order the Sealey VSE4785 kit (around £70), and a pair of the Febi Bilstein 44400 bushes, and I may as well do both sides while I have the car up.

Wish me luck!

[Hell Razor5543]

I would ask on the Parts request thread first, as it may be they are of different 'resistances' to allow for different engine weights (for example).

[c16rkc]

I would ask on the Parts request thread first, as it may be they are of different 'resistances' to allow for different engine weights (for example).

Good idea!

I never thought of that...

[c16rkc]

As a minor update to the part number fiasco, the part does not seem to be available from Citroen separately, so I can only assume they want to sell the whole Pivot arm.

So that being the case, I have ordered the part that Febi Bilstein list for my car... part 44400

Really odd Citroen do not consider this a replaceable part, considering how easy they appear to be to change...

[MattBLancs]

As a minor update to the part number fiasco, the part does not seem to be available from Citroen separately, so I can only assume they want to sell the whole Pivot arm.

So that being the case, I have ordered the part that Febi Bilstein list for my car... part 44400

Really odd Citroen do not consider this a replaceable part, considering how easy they appear to be to change...

Yes, there's a few items that you would not even think to check but yet are not available separately direct from Citroen. That bush being one as you've found.
Also rear anti roll bar bushes, not available separately = buy the complete bar!?! I beg your pardon!?!
Am sure there's others. CV boot kit rings a vague bell?

[Rp0thejester]

Let's face it, the parts are available but main dealer garages will refuse to use non manufacturers parts as less profit margin. A decent garage would give you the option of original or OEM

[Armidillo]

I have had a similar issue with my (20 year old) 406. It failed this year's rego check (our MOT equivalent) because of shot LCA bushes - it was a fair cop, they were completely stuffed! I could have ordered complete lower control arms, but the freight from Europe was prohibitive, and choice of brands very limited, so I decided to just get the bushes and get a local mechanic to press them in for me (I don't have a CitroJim with his own press near at hand).

I was advised that TRW were used as original equipment by PSA, and that they were generally better quality than Febi-Bilstein bushes - got them from Spareto in Estonia. So far so good - only time will tell of course.

[c16rkc]

That lazy Mercedes...

The Mercedes CL has been skulking around in my garage for far too long... since I built the garage in fact!

It's certainly time it moved to at least a different location in our garden...

Trouble is... so far I am clueless as to why it no longer works. It seems likely it's something to do with the refurbishment I did of all the ABC valve blocks and other components, but so far I have not managed to fathom what I might have done. I find the official Mercedes diagram of the ABC hydraulics a little hard to follow, so I took their diagram and added directional arrows and labels for each component; to help me try and understand out how things work, and what might be wrong.

So... setting aside that I did all this work myself and cannot be trusted .... all the valve blocks have been refurbished, the accumulators are all brand new, as is the pulsation dampner, and the pump has been replaced too, it should be floating like a Grand sultan's magic carpet. But when I power the car up it just sits there sulking and feeling sorry for itself. The suspension does not budge one millimeter.

As I understand it, when the car is lowered, the car energises the strut valves regardless of the state of the sensor readings, and so as long as the pump is creating pressure the fluid will travel to the struts and lift the car, and it is only when the desired height is reached (or the pressure exceeds it's limit) that the car starts shutting off valves and running off excess pressure to bypass.

So for my car not to be rising it can only be two things...

1) Not enough pressure.
2) No power to the strut valves.

There is a sensor at the pulsation dampner (known as B4/5) and this gives a reading back to the car's computer as to whether there is enough pressure. The sensor requires a 5Vdc supply, and the output from it varies from 0Vdc to 5Vdc, with the higher voltage being good pressure, and a low voltage being bad pressure. This seemed like a good place to start, and previously I hacked into the wiring so that I could take some readings with my multimeter while the car was running.

There are three wires at the sensor, but at the time I did not know what they all did... I took some readings between them, and this is what I found:

Yellow to Blue = 4.96Vdc
Blue/Green to Blue = 4.36Vdc
Blue/Green to Yellow = 0.5Vdc

As I say, I had no idea which wire was which... so I did not really know what this was telling me. For sure two of these wires are the 5Vdc supply to the sensor, but I did not know which

I purchased Mercedes WIS, which has all the maintenance info, and I found to be utter garbage. It is so badly laid out and did not seem to have any diagrams, just photos and labels of what everything was. Then I stumbled upon a wiring diagram section

This diagram gave me the answers I needed!

So obviously pin 2 on the sensor is the output, so it was just a case of determining which of pins 1 and 3 were the 0V and 5V. Looking at the other components on the page, the arrows at the top of the lines seemed to show powered lines, and so I took a flier that pin 1 must be the 0Vdc, and pin 3 (with an arrow showing power going "in" to the sensor, would be the 5V supply. So that gives me the following connections:

Yellow/Green = 0Vdc
Blue/Grey = 5Vdc
Blue/Green = Pressure output signal (relative to YL/GN) 0-5Vdc signal

...and from that I can reshuffle my readings to:

YL/GN to BU/GY = 4.96Vdc (this is the 5Vdc supply; good to know it's healthy).
YL/GN to BU/GN = -0.5Vdc... (ABC hydraulic pressure, so in effect we have no pressure recorded at all!)

So I now feel pretty confident that despite my brand new pump, I have no pressure! This at least means it's not worth looking at the strut valve blocks yet, as it seems that there is no pressure at them.

So looking at the diagram again, what could be stopping the pressure from building up? The only things I can figure:

1) The new pump does not work...
2) There is an airlock in the new pump.
3) The ABC suction restrictor valve is closed.

So I think it would be the most unbelievably bad luck to have a brand new defective pump... and there is no way of determining that without buying yet another. So for the time being I'll have to leave that one to the side. It is possible for the pump to have an airlock, but I have pressurised the header tank with my airline, which is the given method for forcing out an airlock, and I have also removed the pulsation dampner and seen hydraulic fluid streaming out at pressure, so I don't think that the case.

This then leaves point 3, the ABC suction restrictor valve at the pump.

Then something came back to me... when I bought the new pump, the ABC suction restrictor valve electrical connector was damaged, so I swapped the brand new valve assembly for my existing one out of the old pump

So it is possible I refitted an already defective valve from my old pump, into the brand new pump....

I'm hoping this is the case, as I am really struggling to fathom what else can be wrong with this car!

I'm hoping to tackle this weekend, as I am really sick of having a non-running car in the corner of my garage...

[myglaren]

My son in law mentioned wanting a Mercedes the same as yours. I may caution him against it.

[bobins]

I was watching Tyrrell's Classic Workshop on Utube the other day and was surprised what he had to say about Merc spares availability. It used to be superb, along the lines of 'any part for any Merc' but you can now struggle to get bits for a 10-15 year old car.

[c16rkc]

My son in law mentioned wanting a Mercedes the same as yours. I may caution him against it.

When they work, they are an incredible car. But when they go wrong... they are the worst headache ever!!

There are many stories on the Mercedes forums of huge repair bills when the ABC goes wrong. This is often likely to be garages randomly replacing parts trying to fix it without really knowing what the actual problem is. Then there is the fact that the parts are overpriced due to that three-pointed star

If he wants one, then I'd say go for it, as the prices are incredibly low at the moment. Like any Mercedes coupe they are sure to go up in value, and while the previous generation Mercedes W140 coupe could be bought for a couple of grand four four or five years ago, they are now selling for upwards of £5K for ropey ones, with decent ones going for £10K or more. Given that the W140 coupe is hideously ugly, I feel these W215 models will be worth even more long term, as (personally speaking) I believe them to be one of the most beautiful Mercedes Coupes ever made.

But all he would want to do is bear in mind that a repair bill could easily top £1,500 from a Mercedes specialist, so unless he does not mind doing the work himself, it's best to keep a bit of cash aside for the unexpected.

...on another note... the later W216 models are much more reliable, and I had one of those years ago which I absolutely loved (this is my old one below). I don't think they are as beautiful, but the technology was vastly improved. That said there is still the potential for huge bills, and I had a couple of issues that were thankfully sorted under warranty.

[c16rkc]

I was watching Tyrrell's Classic Workshop on Utube the other day and was surprised what he had to say about Merc spares availability. It used to be superb, along the lines of 'any part for any Merc' but you can now struggle to get bits for a 10-15 year old car.

Yes the high spec Mercedes coupes use a lot of specific parts unique to those models, and getting spares can be a nightmare. I have not known that issue with these particular models, as they are still relatively modern and there are plenty of cars in circulation to take parts from, but the older W140 coupes are certainly hard to find spares for. A friend of mine spent a couple of years trying to find replacement springs for his W140 coupe, and eventually had to "settle" for the wrong springs as the specific ones his car needed were not available anywhere. He's had the same issue with lots of other parts, and even the simplest of repairs or replacements has been a complete debacle.

I am sure in 10 years time these particular cars will become troublesome for spares, and if I am honest with myself I know I am best to sell this one on when I get it up and running. With two young sons I don't really get the time to spend on cars like I used to.

[myglaren]

He has just got rid of an Audi with a sigh of relief at having avoided big bills by having it written off for a bit of a bump.

I worked for someone years ago who said that his Mercedes was expensive to buy but cheap to maintain as the parts cost next to nothing and were easily available.
Quoted the difference between a water pump for his and one for his brother's Fiat, the Fiat one being several times the cost of the Mercedes part.

I do agree that your's is a nice looking car in the current world of ugly ones.

[CitroJim]

Following this Mercedes adventure with great interest Chris