Depreciation Road Racer - Mercedes E350

Did a drive-and-drive on Sunday, 900 mile round trip to pick up this 2009 Mercedes E350, for a semi-daily driver and a future racing event.  Made the trip well, even in some really heavy rainfall.  Much nicer place to be sitting for seven hours than most anything else I've owned.  Really hoping this is just a maintenance and preparation thread, instead of any heavy work, but it is a Mercedes and this is the GRM build forum, so, we'll see what happens.

To meander off on a side track, in my younger days, I read an article in Car and Driver about the Silver State Classic, and decided I had to compete in it someday.  The readers digest version is, it is an event held each September in rural Nevada on a 90 mile closed off section of highway, where you select a speed in increments between 95 MPH to 180 MPH (and unlimited), and try to average that exact speed over the course, with minimum and maximum speeds you are not allowed to go below or exceed.  Novices are only allowed to run up to 110 MPH, and I will likely run in the 100 MPH class. 

Back on topic.  While I was looking at a variety of cars (I figure most modern cars can handle 100 MPH for an hour without blowing up), I thought maybe something built for the autobahn would be a good choice.  Plus, they tend to drop in value a lot faster than American or Japanese cars.   I don't need a ton of power, just the ability to cruise along at high speeds without breaking a sweat.  While my initial search was for V8 models, this one was too good of a deal to pass up, and I calculated it would only be turning 3000-3300 RPM at my target speed.

A few things need to be dealt with, some I knew ahead of time, and some I discovered during the test drive and the drive home.

• Tires - one of the fronts is 9 years old, and one of the rears is 8 years old.  This has the AMG staggered width 18" wheels, so I'll need a full set of tires.  I may punt on this for a while, as a local seller on FB has a set of 17" wheels with tires that look like they came off a non-sport W211 E-class.  If they won't work out for now, I'll just order new tires. 
• Vibration at speed - just a little bit, and it got better the longer I drove it.  I strongly suspect tires, but if it persists after new tires, I'll start looking into the suspension.
• Service "F" is coming up soon.  That appears to be a general look over, plus all the various filters, an oil change, and a transmission fluid and filter service.  I will try to do this myself, likely with plenty of help from wae.
• The driver's visor won't fold all the way up.  This wouldn't be a problem, except I tend to sit pretty far forward in a car, so i bump my head a on it occasionally, especially when wearing a hat.  There is a W211 in a local junkyard, so I may be able to get one from it.
• Crayola smell - seems strongest when the car has been in the sun.  I am guessing Mercedes used some of the same plastics VW used in their Mk4s.   Maybe a new cabin air filter will do a good enough job.  If not, I may have to give in and use some sort of air freshener, just need to find something that is not too strong.
• Slight clunk in the rear if I start moving then stop abruptly.  Could just be the exhaust moving, or maybe a bad bushing.  Does not seem to be affecting performance, but I'd like to get to the bottom of it, just in case.
• A couple times during the return trip, I picked up a very faint oil burning smell, and again after it was parked in the driveway at night.  If there is a leak, it is likely a small one, as I didn't see anything on the ground.  I'll want to get it on a lift and take a look, though, as I remember reading there is at least one sensor that has a tendency to allow leaks into the wiring, and if left too long, destroys the engine harness.  Would rather not have that happen.
• Driver side washer nozzle is not very powerful.  This is really minor, but if it is easy for me to fix, I'll do it.

I was able to get a temporary tag for it today, so I took eastsideWife out in it.  After just a few miles, she was asking if this is the new road trip car, so I think she likes it.  All in all, I'm really liking it after only a day of ownership.  It's also nice to have a comfy sedan after having the Mazda5 as my main car for the last 2.5 years.

Was this the car a GRM guy was selling for his parents?  I was impressed with it if it was.  

Datsun310Guy said:

Was this the car a GRM guy was selling for his parents?  I was impressed with it if it was.  

Yup, selling for his in-laws, here's the for sale thread.

Woot!  

Sweet!

Very minor update - transferred the title and got a regular license plate for it over the weekend, and am starting to accumulate the parts/fluids needed for the "F" service.  The 17" wheels/tires I had hoped to pick up were no longer available, so I probably just need to give in and order new tires for the current wheels. 

Also been reading up about the rear end clunk I hm hearing, and it sounds like it could be one of many things.  Once I get it in the air, I hope it will not be too difficult to find out.  I'm going on a road trip in October, and there is a chance this will be the chosen vehicle if I can't get my Mazda5 squared away soon.

Mobile upholstery service came out and fixed the tear in the driver's seat.  It's not perfect, but I don't think I'd notice it if I wasn't looking for it:

Now that I have seen it done, I may be willing to tackle it myself in the future.  He did say that black seats are a lot easier to color match than grey or tan.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Mobile upholstery repair, you say?  Tell me more?

wae said:

In reply to eastsideTim :

Mobile upholstery repair, you say?  Tell me more?

I think it was called We Can Fix it.  Cost was $125, so not cheap, but I really did not want to screw this up.  There is also a one year garuantee.  I'm now willing to tackle it on my own now that I saw the technique they were using.

What did they do and how?

In reply to jfryjfry :

I think this is the order of operations:

1. Heated up the seat vinyl with a heat gun
2. Taped off the seating surface next to the damaged panel.
3. Applied a translucent paste to the torn area, including a spot that was just cracked
4. Heated it a bit more.
5. Pressed down with a pad with graining in it that was close to the existing vinyl grain.
6. Repeated steps 3-5 one more time, as it appears it needed a bit more material to build up.
7. Lightly sprayed a dye on the area.
8. Repeated the steps 3-5 again, as with the color, it was more obvious it needed some more material build up.
9. Sprayed the dye more thickly on the panel that he had fixed, not just the small area fixed.
10. Did a quick clean up of the seating surface, and a moderate spray of the dye on the seating surface to blend it so the repaired panel wouldn't be so obvious.
11. Used the heat gun quickly to dry the dye out.
12. Sprayed a light clearcoat over the dyed areas.
13. Another quick pass with the heat gun.

I think I captured the steps.  One difference I think between this and the home kits I've seen is the home kits, the dye gets mixed in with the paste, then applied, which I think I could still do.  The big difference though, I think was using the heat gun, and multiple applications in a short time to build the material up. 

He said it was safe to use immediately, and would not stain clothes, but that I needed to wait at least 7 days before using a cleaning product on it.  He said some of the dye might lift initially when cleaned.

Oh yeah, here's a before picture 

Wow, that's a pretty good job!  There's some cracking of the color on the driver's seat of der Scheißwagen that I wouldn't mind getting fixed.

186 MPH-rated tires acquired.  Probably overkill, but that just means they should be perfectly happy at 100-110.  

Now just need to find some time to get them installed.

Those are some nice new shoes!

Oooh Conti's!  You fancy...

Watching... I think I remember reading that C&D article too.

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

Watching... I think I remember reading that C&D article too.

I dug around and found text from one article where they ran it in a Pontiac GTO, but I could swear I had read about it well before then.  Either they or Autoweek must have had an article about it earlier, as those are the two magazines I consistently subscribed to back in the 90s.

The car is now trapped on wae's lift.  I appear to have improperly installed the transmission pan gasket, and as soon as it got 2-3 liters in, it started leaking at the back.  It is probably because I had to kind of squeeze it in place to get it around an exhaust bracket.  And of course, the aluminum bolts holding it are one time use.  I'm going to order two sets of bolts, a gasket, some extra fluid, and a bit of other hardware tonight, and hope it shows up soon, so it can be back on the road.  Next time around, we'll drop the exhaust bracket.

Also, turns out the vibration is likely the front driver's wheel bearing.  Since I don't know how long it has been loose, I didn't feel like tightening it up was a good idea, especially on a car that'll be driven on long trips.  And, I'm feeling a bit lazy (and scared of damaging something else) about removing and reinstalling bearing races that I think I will order a hub kit and install it.

Oh, and of course, shortly after we got on the highway, I realized it would have made sense to pull the wheels and throw them in wae's SUV, to get the new tires installed while waiting for other parts.  Well, will just deal with it later.

Having owned an 2006 E350, I can assure you it will be quite comfortable moving at 100 MPH, or even at 110, should you so choose.  I'm probably wrong, but I thought the European version was speed restricted at 155 MPH. That little V6 will just not stop pulling.

Edit: If you take it near a Merc dealership expect 4 figure quotes. Like, high quotes. A shame for such a sweet car.

I've always had a hankering for red Mercedes with a manual trans.  Like this but red with a black interior.

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

That looks nice.  I had been very open to a manual for this endeavor, but, yeah, they are rare in Mercedes, and I don't think you could even get anything as big as an E-class with a manual in the US.  C-class was on my list, though.

In reply to Shadeux :

There is no way this going to the dealer regularly.  Even with my screw up, I am sure I am quite ahead dollarwise.  Just hate tying up a friend's shop space.  Parts are ordered, though, so maybe this coming week, or next weekend at the latest, we should be able to get it back together.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Don't sweat it.  I got the oil changed in der Scheißwagen on Friday night so it's no big deal!  In retrospect, I should have taken the tires back with me and I could have taken them up the road to have them mounted.

I know you took a big box back, but did you leave the oil change stuff?  I could do that in the meantime.  I could also go ahead and try to recover the fluid in the pan and pull that exhaust bracket to get it out of the way.  It's probably better to leave it sealed up until you've got the new bolts, otherwise I'd go ahead and drop the pan and get it ready.

Just let me know when you're ready and I'll come back out and pick you up.  Or if the wife wants to sip on a little brown liquor while laughing at a couple of fools trying to do basic maintenance on an overengineeredmobile, that's cool too, of course.

The thing that makes these cars such a pain to maintain is that the procedures are finicky and the hard parts and fluids aren't just a 5 minute jaunt to FLAPS.  It's the dealer or having it ordered and shipped.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Manual swap next? 

I'm hoping to swap in that same 3.5 motor into my w108 but will be doing a m014 intake manifold swap to get rid of the swirl motors. 

In reply to yupididit :

Oh no!  No major mods to be done to this car, it needs to stay pretty stock-ish.  I already have enough big projects

We did manage to get the transmission fluid changed, and the oil changed yesterday.  The directions for the transmission do not say anything about the exhaust bracket behind it, but when we pulled it, the isolator on it had an impression of the pan ridge in it, so yeah, the gasket probably got pinched there.  Dropping that bracket assembly should really be in the directions.

The car is in my garage today, and after it warms up, I'll see about getting it on stands and pulling the wheels.  Will try to make a run out in the next day or so to get the new tires mounted, and I'd also like to replace the wheel hub today, if nothing complicates that too much.