A (not so) quick update...
I have to apologise it's been such a long time since I posted an update - but I have no good excuses... I have just been so busy working and trying to spend as much time as I can with the family. The other thing is that the cars have up until very recently been very well behaved, so there has been little to post on the car front.
So... I certainly need to post an update
Back to normality
So with the C5 running smoothly, and Lindsey's DS5 running smoothly too, life moved away from cars and back to the normal things in life (well normal when you have kids...)
In February we said goodbye to the C3, and I was actually quite tearful. They boys affectionately called it the bean car and Aston was very sad when we said it was going.
The saddest thing is that it will probably be torn apart for spares...
Aston had a "book day" in March and went to School as Robin Hood, or Peter Pan or something like that.... I should really listen to my wife more....
Easter egg hunt in the garden for my growing monsters...
But best of all, we managed to move on from my failed property venture, and my stress levels returned to something approaching normal.
I started saving like crazy to pay things off, and then in March I told Lindsey I had enough put aside that we could perhaps go on a little holiday. I was thinking a little trip; a few days in Bath or something...
Lindsey completely misunderstood. We went to Tunisia for 2 weeks in April
Packed the car!
Stopped for a drink on the way, I could not resist taking this as I think it shows how barmy the world is.... Cold coffee and hot milkshake... eh?
Then we arrived at the Tunisian Airport after Spencer's first flight ever!
...and we had a great time!
Spencer got used to having Cake for breakfast fast!
It was an amazing trip, some incredible memories... worth every single last penny.
The DS5 decides to come over all emotional
In May we visited something called "Truck fest"
We had a great time, but the real reason I mention this was because I drove in Lindsey's car, and I noticed the gearbox doing something odd. When you first engaged "drive" the car shuddered as you lifted your foot off the brake, almost as though the gear did not engage until your foot had almost completely left the pedal. But if you left the car in drive, you could come to a complete stop and pull away absolutely fine.... it was very odd.
The work involved was certainly way, way out of my comfort zone... and to my surprise every garage I spoke to did not want to touch it either, because it was gearbox related. I was told each time to speak to a gearbox specialist.
I booked the car in to a gearbox specialist, and we awaited the verdict.
Spencer learn the love of guns from a family friend... oh dear...
When the garage came back to me with their verdict, it was not good. They said the gearbox needs a rebuild to the tune of at least £2,500, or if its not repairable, possibly up to £4,000 (including fitting) for a replacement one!
So... that was that then. The Citroen DS5 dropped in value dramatically over night!... I smell sabotage by my crafty wife, so she could have a new car, but she denies it of course!
Lindsey started car shopping, I was thinking Toyota, Ford, Vauxhall... granted we agreed a petrol hybrid might suit Lindsey best, as she does very little miles now since starting a job down the road at our kid's school.
But, what she chose completely caught me off guard.
We looked at it, test drove it, she loved it, and we picked it up at the start of June.
So this was the "sensible" hybrid that Lindsey found!... this COMPLETELY emptied my bank account... again!

I had never actually seen one of these on the road, and I confess it is awesome. A V6 engine paired with an electric motor - it takes your breath away when you put the pedal down. The specification inside is incredible, but I'll get to that in a future post.
In stunning condition inside and out, and with an impeccable service history, in the end I could not find a reason to say no. It rides like a Rolls Royce, and the sound from the engine is incredible.
But I would never have in a million years even considered one of these had Lindsey not pointed it out. The luckiest thing is there is a garage just the other side of our town that services Infiniti cars.
So that's Lindsey back in a posh car...
I pray it does not go wrong, as I am not sure I'll dare venture into the engine bay of a Japanese Hybrid!!
I really have no idea what I'll be doing with the DS5... for the moment it's parked on our drive out of the way.
A "proper" car
So with all these shenanigans and Lindsey giving herself an upgrade, it was high time I did some work on the "proper" car in the household.
My last investigations on the CL500, using the YouCANIC scanner I purchased, suggested that the rear valve block needed looking at. I did not relish removing it, because it meant jacking up the car and accessing lots of difficult bolts, which is not a 2 minute job, but a few weeks ago, on Saturday 8th June, I managed to get a bit of time to look at it.
I jacked the CL up to I could remove the block.
All those hydraulic connections had to be released and all those awkward screws had to come off, to release the block. Then out it came!
My brother in law Adrian had fitted this one, and I was a bit shocked to see he had cross threaded this... naughty naughty...
It was stiff as you like, I could not understand why until I got it off. How on earth he did not realise he had cross threaded this I will never know...
While I dismantled the Mercedes, Aston borrowed some of my tools and dismantled Spencer's bike... I was not sure whether to be annoyed or impressed!!?
I went over the valve block, and found one valve that did not seem to be seated in properly. I took it apart and put it back together. Then I refitted it to the car, and refitted the valve block.
But then I realised the battery was flat... so I put it on charge.
The next day I bounded out to the garage to give it a try!
I started the car, and...
The car rose up!
But now the suspension pressure dropped like a stone - the pump had stolen all the fluid from the header tank, and ran it dry!
I put in more fluid, and restarted the car, by pressurising the header tank with my breath (blowing into it) I got the pump bled through again, and slowly got things working again. The pressure settled on a healthy 193 bar. This is absolutely perfect!
I could raise the car all the way to it's highest setting:
The Spencer and Aston joined me in the car, and we took it out of the garage for the first time in
over 2 years!!

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This was a high I have not felt in ages!
The garage certainly looked bare without it... and I have some cleaning of fluids to do...
Spencer has already tried to claim the CL as his own, but I'm having none of that!


We tucked the CL back in the garage, and I cleared the ABC codes. I am pleased to see thet stayed off...
But if you look behind Spencer, you will see there is a trail of Hydraulic fluid, and there seems to be a leak from the pressure sensor location.
I tightened up all the connections there, and one did move a little. I cleaned all the oil up so I can check later and see if it leaks.
I also resoldered the "hack" I did at the sensor, and heatshrinked it back up.
So that was me with a CL that moves again!! - I just needed to do the other 20,000,000 things that needed doing on it!
Getting deeper out of my comfort zone!
So with the suspension sorted (I think) I turned to the next bottle neck. When the car ran, there would be a burnt oil smell from the engine bay, and small puffs of smoke would rise either side of the engine.
This is a common fault on M112 and M113 Mercedes engines, and the likely cause is the valve cover gasket failing. Oil seeps out, and drips down to the exhaust manifold, then when the exhaust heats up it burns the oil.
I have watched a tonne of Youtube videos on changing these gaskets, and last Saturday was my time to do mine! I have never opened up an engine before, but I was feeling adventurous, and why get a garage to do it and charge me hundreds maybe even over a thousand pounds, when I can do it for the price of a gasket and some minor materials... and a day or two of my time
First I removed the engine covers, and air box. I was shocked at how pitted and corroded the engine looks...
These bits are very pitted!
It certainly is a tired old engine...

I removed the coil packs...
The gently with a rubber hammer I loosened and removed the secondary valve cover.
Needs a clean for sure.
Then I removed the main valve cover.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning, and then a lot of yesterday too.

Then I cleaned both parts up with alcohol and a microfibre cloth.
I used Mercedes liquid gasket to refit the secondary cover to the main cover.
Then I put the gasket in place and refitted the main cover.
What a pain in the backside the gasket was, it was not the right shape and kept popping out. Next time I will go for a genuine Mercedes gasket hoping it's a better fit!
So that was one side ever so nearly done!
Stolen time on Friday afternoon
On Friday afternoon, when I arrived home at 3:30ish, I found myself in an empty house... Lindsey and the kids were still out!
Yes sure I had my office shoes, light blue shirt and smart trousers on... but was that going stop me going in the garage and picking up oil covered engine parts...?
Nope - not at all....
First of all I rolled my shirt sleeves up, because of course that would prevent any oil getting on my nice clean shirt
I started with some "clean" activities, first I assembled the new valve cover pipes, in preparation for fitting my new mass airflow sensor.
Then I fitted the thicker lower pipe; the black one you can see connecting to the valve cover on the left. As my hands went into the bowels of the engine bay I may have got a smidgen of dirt on my clean shirt...
Next I fitted the new upper pipes in place.
Then lastly my brand new Bosch mass airflow sensor... the white cover will keep dirt out until I fit the airbox.
So that was all the airway/breather pipework back in place (on the left side of the engine). I also gave the valve cover a good clean at this point, but it still looks awful... I guess it's too stained from years of muck and oil....
Then I refitted the coil packs.
Gave the coil packs a jolly good clean!
Cleaned the oil filler cap...
So that was everything I could do on the engine until I remove the right hand side valve covers and reseal them in the same way as I have done on the left side.
So now I turned to the air box. I have brand new air filters to fit, so I decided I could do that too.
Mucky airbox/cover...
A quick spruce up.
Then I removed the air filters, but to my surprise they look brand new! So I will keep my new ones aside and leave these ones in.
So that's a nice clean airbox, dressed in plastic restorer, and I put that aside for when I have finished the rest of the engine valve covers.
Then Lindsey, Aston, and Spencer returned and we had a nice Chinese dinner....
Best of all I did not spot even a spec of dirty on my light blue office shirt, and how wonderful to get a bit of unexpected work done on the CL!
The other side
I never thought I'd get time to do the other side of the engine this weekend, but yesterday Lindsey and Spencer were both feeling tired and unmotivated, and so Aston and me went outside to get some stuff done. I cut the grass and did a bit of tidying, then I decided it was time to plough on with the Mercedes.
First cracked off the secondary valve cover by (gently) whacking it in every possible direction with the rubber hammer then dislodging carefully with help from a block of wood.


Then I noticed these two oil runs on the exhaust manifold, it seems pretty obvious where the oil leaks are
Then it was off with the main valve cover, and I was dismayed to see the whitened oil in a couple of places... I hope that's just condensation from the engine sitting for a couple of years...
So I'll have to keep an eye on that - I cleaned all this off, and I'll be doing an oil/filter change when the car is back up and running.
There is something really cool about the engine being open

- or at least to me there is... it's perhaps because I never in a million years thought I'd ever have the confidence to do stuff like this. The internet really is a wonderful thing

Thats both parts off, ready for cleaning. These covers from the drivers side were MUCH MUCH dirtier than the passenger side; I wonder if that's because the gasket was leaking?
Incidentally, I only clean one at a time, so make sure I do not crash the two pieces when washing - so the smaller part came straight back out of the tub after this photo.



Started cleaning... Meguiars super degreaser and very hot water.
So then I got carried away and forgot to take any more photos... but I did the same as the other cover - cleaned both parts as much as I could, re-sealed the secondary cover to the primary cover, then fitted the new gasket, and then fitted the valve cover back on.
I then refitted all of the coil packs, and then removed the mass airflow sensor cover - before fitting the airbox.
I've been saving these lovely new air pipes for nearly two years
They are only cheap pattern parts, but I did not see the sense on buying Genuine Mercedes parts as all they do is direct the air into the air box, and even the originals do not seal very well. On inspection these seemed to be absolutely identical to the originals - so I am pleased with my decision.
...and they look great, it's just a shame about the engine cover scratches - but people don't tend to treat engine covers very well. I once visited a very popular garage in my local town, and was lucky enough to be walked into the workshop so they could show me an issue. I was shocked to see my engine cover sat on someone else's car bonnet... it is shocking what some garages do. That owner probably always wondered where the scratches came from...
I have not started the car yet, that can wait until the secondary valve cover sealant has dried. I am thinking it can wait until next weekend.
So that brings us back up to date.... phew.
Anyone who read all that... I salute your dedication - if you just looked at all the pictures... well done that's exactly what I'd have done too
