shad's Mercedes 190E

I must spread some nice locations around before asking shad where he took his pictures again.
 
Looking good!

By the way, get some brighter bulbs for those headlamps (like Philips X-Treme Power, both me and D-Fence have good experiences with them) because the amount of light coming out of those lights with normal bulbs is downright dangerous.
 
awesome lookin 190e dood! wish i had the manual option in my car
 
I must spread some nice locations around before asking shad where he took his pictures again.

Come on, you as a Borussia fan should recognize that place... :p

By the way, get some brighter bulbs for those headlamps (like Philips X-Treme Power, both me and D-Fence have good experiences with them) because the amount of light coming out of those lights with normal bulbs is downright dangerous.

That reminds me, do you know if the headlights can be opened up, or if lens and reflector are stuck together as one piece? Mine are a bit fogged up, and I wanted to try and clean them before going off to get new ones.

I also have a bit of moisture in the trunk, but I'm not sure if it's not just from a bit of water that got in when I opened it, or if one of the seals is leaky.
And two spots on the hood where there's a hole in the clearcoat. :(

Looks like I'm already forming a bit of a to-do list... installing a cold start valve (= halving the ammount of tax I pay), fluid changes, taking care of the rust on the jack supports, maybe white indicators, alloys and a slight(!) drop... :think:
 
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I also have a bit of moisture in the trunk, but I'm not sure if it's not just from a bit of water that got in when I opened it, or if one of the seals is leaky.
And two spots on the hood where there's a hole in the clearcoat. :(

well, check it!

take a flashlight and get in the trunk, than have a friend hose the rear of the car, if water is seeping in, you should see it...
 
I also have a bit of moisture in the trunk, but I'm not sure if it's not just from a bit of water that got in when I opened it, or if one of the seals is leaky.

It is leaking in from the top of the rear quarterpanels. This is a common problem with 190Es. In most cases it is because the seal behind the interior ventilation outlets is dried up and cracked. Because the water drain from the roof exists just in front of these outlets, it means wind when driving can blow water onto them, and if they don't seal properly, it will leak into the car and end up in your trunk. Re-sealing these will help. They're located behind the grilles behind the passenger door and are held in by a single parker screw visible when the door opens. Unscrew and gently pull towards you, making sure not to break the tab on the other end of the grille. Then remove any old, dried up seal and apply new sealant.
 
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take a flashlight and get in the trunk, than have a friend hose the rear of the car, if water is seeping in, you should see it...

I already wiped down the trunk and then poured some water over the bootlid, rear windscreen etc., but I didn't see any spots where water came in.

Thanks adu, I'll check that asap.
 
Ok, I just re-sealed the C-pillar vents. The old sealant was really stiff and bad looking on the right side, and I found a bit of water under the lip of that vent insert on the left side. So I hope that was the cause indeed - I'm a bit scared after all the stories I've read about moisture in 190E trunks caused by failed rear screen seals that also lead to rust around the screen. :|
 
I'm a bit scared after all the stories I've read about moisture in 190E trunks caused by failed rear screen seals that also lead to rust around the screen. :|

That's a common problem with all cars of the era and older....
 
That's a common problem with all cars of the era and older....

Yup, the Series III has an issue with that as well. So does the Pathfinder, albeit only on the front. The S3 is particularly bad about that, though.

It's a common issue with most Euro and Japanese cars designed in the 80s and prior. Rubber/plastic sealing tech wasn't all that great back then. Detroit product got around it not because of any better sealing but by providing drainage channels instead, so the water had some place to go instead of eating the bodywork. Well, that and lower carbon steel.
 
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It's been raining a lot this evening, but there's a bit of a brake at the moment. So I just went out and checked the trunk. I didn't see any water on the plastics or metal parts (contrary to this morning, where I saw water on the wheel housings), but the lower edge of that carpet between the rear seats and trunk is quite wet... :(
 
Yep, definitely still water coming in. More marks on the wheel housings and wet carpet.

I'm not sure if I really sealed the c-pillar vent 100% perfect, but I guess it's the rear screen then. The rear shelf feels absolutely dry though, which strikes me as a odd. :dunno:
Anyway, I've talked to our mechanic, and he told me to come in Thursday (earliest date he has time) so they can take out all the covers in the trunk, rear bench and shelf to get a clear look at the situation and see where exactly the water comes in. However, he already told me that if it's really the rear screen, they won't be able to do it. So I'll go by a car glass specialist asap and see what they say.
 
do it yourself! unbolting stuff isn't hard...
 
It's been raining pretty much non stop here, and I don't have a garage to put the car in and work on it.
 
If it's the rear screen and you're not lucky and by some freak occurrence it's the seal, you're in for some welding action.
 
You mean because of rust pockets around the window frame?
 
You mean because of rust pockets around the window frame?

Because of rust holes in the window frame / the part of the frame that holds the seal being gone from rust.
See this Seat Marbella for an not-even-that-bad example:
img_2207.jpg
 
I hope that being stored in a garage by the previous owner would've kept the rust at bay somewhat, assuming that the seller was telling the truth about that.
From what I've read on w201 forums this problem seems to be relatively manageable in most cases, without needing too much work on the window frame.

... all just speculation though. There's no use in worrying, I'll simply have to wait and see.
 
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:(

It's definitely the rear window that's leaking, on both corners it looks like.

Puddle on the right side under the window corner.
20_8662.jpg


The edge it drops from on the left side, looks like the water comes in through the outer side of the seal and goes straight to the trunk.
20_4813.jpg


No idea how the frame might look, but I already found a few rust spots around the trunk. They mostly look like relatively minor surface rust...


...unlike this.
20_8111.jpg


:cry:

My usual garage already said they can't/won't do anything that involves taking out the window, and the Mercedes garage as well as Carglass both want 500? just for replacing the seal.
I'll ask around for other mechanics etc., but I'm already thinking of doing it myself. But without somebody who has more experience to help me, especially with the rust, I'm not so sure... :(
 
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