My Mercedes-Benz 190E

[Adunaphel]

I don't think this one'll benefit from painting the black bumpers. I fear it might get too monochromatic/ bland being only white and grey all over. That's why it took me some time to decide whether or not to go for white turn signals, because i feared the car might get too colorless from the front, the orange turn signals giving it some color. The wheels are original MB alloys, and i wouldn't want any other wheels. I really love how they make the car look, and i have yet to see hem on another car, which i like, because it makes my car unique

And yes, it drives nicer than the Carisma, the suspension is sorted better, which i think is partly due to the longer wheelbase. It also handles a lot better around corners, i have yet to experience understeer in the Mercedes, although i have been trying . Oversteer i only managed in the wet thus far, too early on the throttle in a corner made the back step out a bit. And it's a lot quieter, thanks to not having a 1.6l screaming on top of it's lungs to get the car moving

As for the towbar, haven't had time yet to see if it's a removable one, but there's a hole in the rear bumper for it, so removing the tow bar means i need a new bumper. So maybe when i find a nice set of Cossie bumpers the towbar goes, but for now it stays where it it is.

[jensked]

Looks like a mint example...155 000 km's if I can read correctly? That's not too much.

[Ford Prefect]

so when are you taking this thing to the ring?

[Adunaphel]

First i need to sort a few small things out. The previous owner let it get a little bit lazy, so i need to get that out of it's system first, and a small problem with the cooling system popped up yesterday. I'm hoping it's only a small sensor/ switch that is broken and not something bigger. After that, i might take it to the ring...

[Demon_X]

man...now that's a MB

our family owns a 1998 E320

love that car...its like a freakin tank man

take good care of the 190...that car will last forever!

[justin syder]

Adunaphel, from one Mercedes owner to another, welcome to the club! Congrats on the car!

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Adunaphel

First i need to sort a few small things out. The previous owner let it get a little bit lazy, so i need to get that out of it's system first, and a small problem with the cooling system popped up yesterday. I'm hoping it's only a small sensor/ switch that is broken and not something bigger. After that, i might take it to the ring...

yeah man don´t worry about it, it´s a Benz, it won´t break that fast

no, seriously, whats wrong with the cooling? if it´s the fan that´s broken it´s gonna be a pain in the ass to fix it...

[Adunaphel]

The fan clutch won't engage, so i'm hoping it's just the thermo-switch that triggers it (the replacement arrived at the dealer this morning, so i'll know more tomorrow) and not the fan clutch assembly itself.

[Ford Prefect]

well let´s hope it´s just the switch

[LeMans GTR]

Great car Adunaphel, hope you enjoy it.

Originally Posted by SL65

My family had one of those. It saved my life when I was 4 and is the reason I started my passion with cars

Enjoy!

Care to tell us the full story?

[Adunaphel]

Turns out it wasn't the switch. Grrrrr. Now i have to take it to the garage to get it fixed, cos i don't have the time, expertise, and tools to replace the fan clutch in a reasonable amount of time.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Adunaphel

Turns out it wasn't the switch. Grrrrr. Now i have to take it to the garage to get it fixed, cos i don't have the time, expertise, and tools to replace the fan clutch in a reasonable amount of time.

I talked to a friend of mine who had the same problem on a customers´190... he said the most it should cost is about 500€ but that´s when everything has to be replaced...

[Adunaphel]

Hmmm, good thing then that i'm getting it fixed at my parent's garage, which means i only have to pay wholesale for parts

And the switch was a damn PITA to get at, with the multi-belt, waterhose from radiator to waterpump and fan itself all in the way.

[Ford Prefect]

yeah, and the fans on those things look like they came directly off a WW2 Battleship

[Adunaphel]

Well, the fan clutch is fixed once more. Now the car gets twice as loud again when the clutch engages, and when it engages at speed you can feel the car shudder slightly when it engages. And to think i almost decided to replace it with an electric fan.

Now it needs to start running a bit better, it stops accelerating above 5000rpm. I guess the old guy never let it get above 3000rpm. So it's going on a very strict V-Power diet for the coming few weeks, and i'll let it run even higher revs than normal to get the insides of the engine cleaned out.

[SL65]

Originally Posted by SL65

My family had one of those. It saved my life when I was 4 and is the reason I started my passion with cars

Originally Posted by LeMans GTR

Care to tell us the full story?

I'm a bit late in seeing your post but I'll respond nevertheless

My family got one of those Mercs in Sept 1994, just before it went out of production and got replaced by the C-Class, which, IMO, was the beginning of a decline in MB build quality. It was in the colour, "Signal Red" and was the first luxury car my family had ever had. Going to the dealership to pick it up is one of the earliest recollections of my life and I reckon it definitely contributed towards triggering my love of cars.

3-weeks after getting it, my father and I were stationary outside my school (I was in kindergarten at the time) on a main road waiting to turn in when we got clobbered from behind by a Hilux that failed to see us stopped.

Both my father and I walked away with minor injuries but had I of been in my families other car at the time, a 1982 Ford Laser rust bucket, it could have been much much worse.

I remember after the crash, I would watch the MB promo video tape for our car over and over again focusing on the safety aspect of it with great intrigue.


So yeah, theres my story. Copy it, paste it and save it on disk so I don't need to type it out again Sorry for the thread jack btw...

[SL65]

Originally Posted by Adunaphel

Now it needs to start running a bit better, it stops accelerating above 5000rpm. I guess the old guy never let it get above 3000rpm. So it's going on a very strict V-Power diet for the coming few weeks, and i'll let it run even higher revs than normal to get the insides of the engine cleaned out.

Sometimes resetting the ECU on an old car helps...just a thought

[Adunaphel]

Went out yesterday and took some proper interior pics






The original first aid kit is still in there