[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I wouldn't say there is something VERY wrong if you are getting at least 12
volts.
12 volts will not fully charge a 12 volt battery. A float charge,
one that can be applied continuously without damaging the battery, is
generally around 13.5 volts. (This is more
http://tinyurl.com/9bccd
How was I supposed to know the reserve light burned out?
Christopher McCann wrote:
LMAO
A burnt out reserve light has left me stranded twice - once in the SD and once in my friends 300Dt.
I *almost* found out the hard way that 1/4 on my Benz's fuel gauge
actually means empty. Fortunately I saw a good deal on diesel and
stopped. The gauge
Anyone else have this problem? Every morning there's a ton of
condensation on the inside of the trunk lid. It runs down the hinges
into the trunk when I open the lid, and rains down on the contents from
the rear lip where it's collected. Last week I took the carpet out and
found it had
andrew strasfogel wrote:
You see a dozen Smart car crashes a day??
They're so cute, people think they're bumper cars. All they need is
that pole on the roof.
David Brodbeck wrote:
Anyone else have this problem? Every morning there's a ton of
condensation on the inside of the trunk lid. It runs down the hinges
into the trunk when I open the lid, and rains down on the contents from
the rear lip where it's collected. Last week I took the carpet out
Mitch Haley wrote:
David Brodbeck wrote:
I can't tell if it's all coming from condensation, or if the condensation is a
symptom of a leak elsewhere.
I vote for the latter, like maybe rear window seal.
Could be. I've never found any wetness on the rear parcel tray, but I
do get
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I had a similar problem with my '78 240D W123 - I believe if was coming in
thru the drain lines in the roof - for water entering via my sunroof - don't
know if you have a SR -
Yeah, I do have a sunroof. I'll add that to my list of stuff to check.
It's hard to
Are you *sure* there isn't a leak? I had one on my Volvo that only
leaked when the engine was running, and it was in an area where the fuel
could pool and evaporate instead of dripping to the ground. It took
running the car while it was on the rack to find it. After repairing
it, the fuel
Mike Canfield wrote:
Probably seeing the electric vehicles Ford sells to all of the state parks
around here.
Not even close to a Smart. Mike
Or those GM neighborhood vehicles. Glorified golf carts. I wouldn't
want to be in a crash in one.
Kaleb C. Striplin wrote:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevrolet-LOW-MILES-Chevy-Luv-Diesel-Isuzu-Diesel_W0QQitemZ4590006310QQcategoryZ6173QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
The Isuzu diesels in them have a reputation for running just about
forever, often outliving the body. (Just like our Mercedes Benzes.)
LT Don wrote:
But here is my question. Is there any significant damage done by leaving a
normal battery charger on overnight, where it might get to zero amps but
stay attached for a few hours? This is not a fancy battery charger that
shuts off or kicks into trickle mode or such.
On a typical
1999 Chevy Malibu. About one time out of every four that you try to
start it, it fails to start and the THEFT SYSTEM light in the instrument
cluster starts blinking. The only solution is to wait about ten minutes
for the anti-theft system to reset. After that it starts right up every
time.
OK Don wrote:
http://autos.msn.com/advice/CRArt.aspx?contentid=4023544src=LP%20Passenger
Least reliable:
SEDANS: Jaguar S-Type, Lincoln LS, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Saab 9-3,
Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 5-Series (V8), Audi A8, Chrysler 300 (V8)*,
BMW 7 series
I've never been entirely sure
Smith, Todd wrote:
I have read about adjusting boost on the of the few articles still left on
mbz.com page but I heard of people talking about ALDA but I don't know what
that is?
Look for a little square metal device on the injector pump. It will
have a thin hose connected to it, via a
Bumper sticker: IN THE EVENT OF RAPTURE, CAN I HAVE YOUR CAR?
andrew strasfogel wrote:
When I say the fuel economy s*cks, this means that whereas I used to drive
up to 380 miles before the reserve light came on, now it's exactly 100 miles
LOWER when I hit reserve (under 300 miles). This translates to 18 or 19 mpg.
I am beginning to feel ashamed that my
Another thought: VDO odometers have a tendency to develop cracks in the
gears that make them stick or slip at certain points in the rotation.
(I had one in a VW that would stick briefly every time three tenths came
around, for example.) This isn't always very noticeable if you aren't
Fmiser wrote:
That's why the 14L Cummins engines have a thumbscrew to force the
solenoid to the on position - even with no electron flow.
I'm told on the VWs you can make an always on dummy solenoid by
snapping the plunger off an old one.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
My brother's SDL should go almost 800 miles.
He has a two gallon bladder, then?
Maybe *this* is why Mercedes cars don't have cup holders! If you let
yourself become dehydrated, you can drive farther without stopping.
TimothyPilgrim wrote:
Yeah, my bro does that. But then, he's bought $0.50 of gas in a paper
cup before too.
A friend once saw a group of guys try to fill up a styrofoam cooler with
gas so they could take it back to their car. He said the stream of
gasoline from the nozzle hit the bottom
Lee Levitt wrote:
I just realized that my trunk *should* be locking/unlocking with the
driver's door. Well, it's not.
Other locks operate as expected.
What should I be looking at? Disconnected line or broken mechanism?
Most likely it's a bad or disconnected vacuum pod. This is by far the
Marshall Booth wrote:
If the water is dripping off of the hinges, the water probably isn't
likely coming in around the truck seals (and certainly NOT the tail
light seals or the filler pipe seal), but from above - like around the
rear window.
To be honest, I'm not sure if it's dripping down
TimothyPilgrim wrote:
My door locks, tailgate included, all work once the car powers up, but
won't after the car has sat for a while without the engine running. I
figure there's a leak in the system somewhere, but don't relish the
though of finding out where.
Mine's the same way. It's got
Gabriel S. wrote:
it is way overprice...read the blue book value...shit, you can even double
that and it STILL isn't what it sold for.
The Blue Book is meant to help dealers gauge the value of trade-ins, and
greatly underestimates the value of cars that are at all rare or
unusual. (For
Rich Thomas wrote:
They are going to push for that, and for the US (maybe Canadian too,
wouldn't be surprised) taxpayer to pick up all their pension obligations
too, whether by bankrupty or otherwise.
I've been saying that for a while. United Airlines proved that it
works. Mark my words:
Peter Frederick wrote:
Most likely a defective brake booster. It should hold vac indefinitely.
Sometimes the brake booster and master cylinder fail together. What
sometimes happens is the M/C rear seal fails and fills the brake booster
with brake fluid. The brake fluid eats a hole
Kaleb C. Striplin wrote:
I thought luther said his brakes were spongy. If he didnt have power
assist they would be hard.
Yeah, I don't think what I described is Luther's problem. If the brakes
are spongy he's either got air in the system or a bum master cylinder.
Sometimes they leak
Rick Knoble wrote:
Nope. The younger you start, the more you accumulate. Compound interest and
time are your friends.
And a little luck. I have a 401(k), but I consider it a form of
gambling, albeit one where the odds are pretty good. In my (admittedly
cynical) view, insiders still hold
Rich Thomas wrote:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200511\NAT20051122a.html
Keep in mind that CNS is a right-wing news site, much like Newsmax. Not
to say they don't have some merit, but you need mentally apply some
windage to compensate for their bias.
B Dike wrote:
It's not beautiful if the expansion of palm oil production for biodiesel is one
of the leading causes of rainforest destruction in south-east Asia.
Before biodiesel, it was beef. If biodiesel goes away, it'll be
something else. I think the driving force here isn't demand
B Dike wrote:
Isn't that the 'everybody does it' excuse?
No, not exactly. I'm arguing the problem is economics of agriculture in
those countries, and the lack of any environmental protection. You
can't lay the problem at the feet of a specific cash crop, like
biodiesel, because it's
Mitch Haley wrote:
Kaleb C. Striplin wrote:
strip her down for paint? Do tell more about this project.
He needs 7 gallons of Benjamin-Moore exterior latex to refinish his house,
and figures he can part out Gump for enough cash to pay for it all.
But then what will he do with
Loren Faeth wrote:
...the trees cleansed the air...
Wait, I thought Ronald Reagan said that trees cause pollution. Now
they're cleansing the air?
Zeitgeist wrote:
Yes, clearly concern for the environment and the human impact on its
various and sundry ecosystems is a silly waste of time. Nothing to
see here...as you were.
Yeah. They told us lead was harmless, a little nuclear radiation would
never hurt anyone, and tobacco couldn't
Loren Faeth wrote:
Junk science is still junk!
And shill science is still shill science. It's instructive to look at
the global warming skeptics and see who's paying them to reach those
conclusions.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
In the early 80s CD builtup a W123 wagon for the editor David E Davis.
They painted the upper part silver and dark from the body line down and
added custom wheel, a sound system with multiple speakers in each door,
along with some other modes I don;t recall. It looked
Kaleb C. Striplin wrote:
one of these days Im going to learn and attempt a paint job here at
home. surely cant be that hard.
There's a really thorough and well-written article on the process, and
what it takes to do a really good-looking job, here:
http://www.thebugshop.org/bsfqpnt.htm
Loren Faeth wrote:
They can also only pressurize the radiator.
Soot floating in the coolant is another symptom of a bad head gasket on
diesels, but it can be hard to distinguish soot from normal cooling
system debris.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
very few airplanes compare to the
Connie in the looks dept! IMHO if course.
I think it's the most gorgeous airliner ever built. The curvy fuselage
profile reminds me of a dolphin.
Jim Cathey wrote:
For the curious, I added a couple of pictures of the engine
reinstallation
process to the website. It's up to date as of yesterday's activities.
http://cathey.dogear.com/genset.html
Looks like quite a project, but an interesting one. Thanks for posting it.
I'm
Marshall Booth wrote:
Intake valves USUALLY end up with decreased clearance
as they wear (I know, that's counterintuitive).
Is this because the valve seats recess and/or pound into the head? The
valves on my VWs always got tighter as they aged. The valves on my
Honda didn't really change
Tom Hargrave wrote:
It's an article about a proposal to levee an additional tax on hybrid
vehicles because they burn less fuel pay less than their share if road
tax.
Oregon tried that for a while. They charged twice the normal
registration fee on hybrids. I think they eventually backed
Steve MacSween wrote:
I understand your point, but the answer there is that no one with proper
training 'whips it out' while the robbery is in progress. The resulting
firestorm would be like using dynamite to fish in your backyard pool, and
inevitably you'd probably kill more innocents than
Christopher McCann wrote:
You will go to jail for murder if you do that. Can't shoot a guy running away!
No matter WHAT he did!
I think in Florida it's now legal to shoot anyone as long as you shout
he's headed right for us! first. ;)
Bob DuPuy wrote:
The fact is that crime goes down in shall issue states because the would
be criminal can never know who may or may not be armed.
But does the murder rate go down? I'm not interested in a lower chance
of having my stuff stolen if it means a higher chance of being shot,
frankly.
Royce Engler wrote:
In Texas, the castle doctrine goes a step further. If you reasonably
believe that deadly force is necessary to prevent the commission of arson,
burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime or
criminal mischief during the nighttime or to prevent somebody
Mitch Haley wrote:
TimothyPilgrim wrote:
Today there was a Mythbusters marathon on Discovery. They investigated
the myth that Jimmy Hoffa is buries at Giant's Stadium.
I thought he was processed into sausage.
There was a guy recently that claimed he's buried under a building in
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
The total article can be found at:
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID=126
You may be tempted to dismiss the info as being from the NRA, but I assure
you the facts are correct - if the NRA were caught offering incorrect info
such as this, the media
andrew strasfogel wrote:
My son's 1985 300D is presentable, though the driver's seat lists slightly
to one side (left, of course). I'm sure he'd be willing to take any amount
so long as it was more than the car is worth...
My hillbilly fix for a rather severe list to the left, on the
Rich Thomas wrote:
I think he might need to put Rush on the radio to cure that leaning
problem if I understand the problem correctly.
I've got FOX News Radio on preset button 0A and Air America on 7A, to
ensure proper weight distribution. ;)
David Brodbeck (talk radio fan)
'83 300D Turbo
OK Don wrote:
Why is it that it's always the bad guys who are driving the Mercedes?
The bad guys are usually the ones who have the money.
Mitch Haley wrote:
David Brodbeck wrote:
OK Don wrote:
Why is it that it's always the bad guys who are driving the Mercedes?
The bad guys are usually the ones who have the money.
I just remembered another one, about a college student that gets seduced
by a CIA agent and she uses him
LT Don wrote:
Lose the 0A.
Eh, FOX News has its uses. The important thing is to not think of it as
a news source in the traditional sense. What it is is an extremely
efficient way of finding out what the Bush Administration's current
talking points are. FOX is always the first to
Nick Gough wrote:
MIB II had a new black E500 to replace the old Ford sedan.
Did they? Somehow in my memory it became a Cadillac CTS or something.
You're probably right, though.
I used to have a Crown Victoria very much like the one in the original
movie, but without the special
Donald Snook wrote:
It has become fashionable to bash GM lately. I recognize that there are
a lot of problems at GM right now and certainly GM made some really
lousy cars in the 70's and 80's.
GM ain't what they used to be, and that's a GOOD thing. I drove my
roommate's '99 Chevy Malibu
Harry Watkins wrote:
Is there a Mercedes of duct tape out there (used to be Cadillac of duct tape)
;).
The stuff I have now doesn't seem to stack up like in past years. I thought
maybe someone has done some leg work to find a good brand. If so, please share.
I find, for most automotive
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/29/mercedes_brake_test_fiasco/
The goal was to demonstrate radar-assisted braking for a TV program.
This was being done inside a steel warehouse, which interfered with the
radar system, so the journalist and Mercedes engineers conspired to fake
the test.
R A Bennell wrote:
I had a 74 Vega brand new. The sheetmetal was recycled and rusted and it was
noisy but it was a cheap fuel efficient car and served me well for the
roughly 3 years that I drove it. I'm in Canada so the prices may be out of
whack for you but I paid $2850 for it brand new and
BillR wrote:
A Malaysian businessman has lost a finger to car thieves impatient to get
around his Mercedes' fingerprint security system.
This reminds me of a comment I heard once -- that theft protection
improvements in luxury cars, introduced mostly at the demands of
insurance companies,
Kaleb C. Striplin wrote:
speaking of GM products from the 80's thru early 90's, especially the
front wheel drive cars, there is this dude I know locally that has a
MANY FWD GM cars, buick etc. He takes the time to swap trannies on
them, replace cracked heads, whatever. I was telling him just
John Robbins wrote:
96- Ford trucks I like, and the 96+ are super bloated and plasticy
looking to me. The new new ones scream I'm compensating for
something!
To me the proportions of the new ones look off...that huge tall
tailgate, mostly. I guess I still haven't gotten used to the
John Ervine wrote:
When I purchased my 280S back in August, I took the adventurous route. I packed
a large bag with about 50lbs of tools in it, threw a combination lock on it so
it couldn't easily be opened, and purchased a one-way ticket to DC.
Unfortunately, travel by air with tools has
Loren Faeth wrote:
My first car was a rusted out 56 Karmann Ghia. I took it up to the
courthouse to change the title, and get the license. They told me it
didn't exist. I told them it did, and they could go outside and look at
it. In the end, they licensed it as a 56 bug.
I think my
kevin kraly wrote:
http://portland.craigslist.org/car/114791054.html
It's a 1981 VW diesel rabbit pickup (caddy) for $1K. Owner says air gets
into the fuel line because there's a bad seal on the IP. Any of you
resident VW diesel guys have any ideas on this?
The cure is a rebuilt pump,
Peter Frederick wrote:
There is a plug in the center of the distributor that is removed to set
the timing. Any dial indicator with a long stem will work so long as
you can secure it, but the sleeve that screws in to hold the indicator
is very nice
This place sells the sleeve and stem
Rory wrote:
Interesting, since there's no word limitation in an Auto Trader ad (or a
very generous limitation, anyway). This guy writes like its for a newspaper
ad from the Fargo Forum, paying by the space!
Last time I bought an Auto Trader ad, there was a pretty strict
character limit.
Ed Booher wrote:
You want your daughter to make it *home*, Don. Without the need to
take the Sprinter to get her *and* the Yugo.
A Fiero's no good, then. Although when you see the fire engine go by,
you'll know which direction to drive in to pick her up.
Dave M. wrote:
http://www.classic-roadster.de/albums/Filme-amg/AMG_E55_The_Monster_Adve
rtise.mov
I remember that ad. I also liked the one they did a while back with the
old Mercedes being loaded into the crusher, and its life flashing before
its eyes as we watched through the windshield.
Mike Canfield wrote:
KIDS TOO FUCKING PICKY! Who gives a fuck what color it is.What
other kids get a Benz given to them? They should be grateful and ask how
much extra they need to work to earn a new paintjob in the color of THIER
choice, even if that color IS terrible.
DAMN
I don't WANT to get used to that styling trend. It's terrible for
visibility and headroom.
That's my complaint, too. Apparently, market research shows that most
people like it, though -- it supposedly makes them feel safer and more
secure.
I may have partly solved this, today. I picked up my toolbox, which
sits in the right hand junk well (behind the wheel well), and found I
had my own private swimming pool in there. The left well was dry. I
peered under that part of the car and saw what looked suspiciously like
a drain
Loren Faeth wrote:
THat is what i liked ( and still like) about the 108-112 (inclusive)
cars GREAT visibility! 123s are not bad.
Agreed...you sit low in a 123, but the visibility all around is pretty
good. My only real complaint is the mirrors, which are kind of skimpy.
In particular,
Jim Cathey wrote:
The cheapest shipping I've seen with any of them is $20.
Makes that $12 used car battery in the trunk awfully attractive!
The advantage of the jump packs is they're usually sealed, so they won't
spill acid in your trunk.
My experience with them is they work
Christopher McCann wrote:
But I certainly did not expect to get any car for free.
The deal in my family was I got free use of a family car (but had to pay
for my own gas) as long as I was in college. Once I graduated and moved
out I was expected to buy my own car.
Jim Cathey wrote:
harder, and water started gushing out. Is this a sunroof drain, or
does
it just drain water that's already leaked into the trunk?
B.
Okay. So I'm only treating the symptom, and I've still got to find the
leak.
eric peterson wrote:
anybody got any ideas on how to
handle this??
You need to gather up a list of cars like yours and what they sold for.
Calling around to people who have recently sold them is one way of doing
this. Ebay listings might also help. Basically you have to build up a
case
Jim Cathey wrote:
So does the weight of the connecting rod on the crankshaft not matter?
Or does it balance itself out across all cylinders if they weigh the
same?
Speculation here, that it is of less importance in an I6 (or any I3N)
configuration, for the same reason that three-phase power
Kaleb C. Striplin wrote:
why would a set of rods cost $2500?
Because it's a Mercedes. Heck, a front license plate bracket is $50.
Marshall Booth wrote:
In Pittsburgh, the average life of the 722.3 series transmissions is
about 250kmi. Stu Ritter says that in Denver is closer to 150kmi. I
don't know why there should be such a difference, but I'm sure neither
Stu or I is lying.
Driving up long, steep mountain grades,
Marshall Booth wrote:
David Brodbeck wrote:
Driving up long, steep mountain grades, like they have around Denver,
has to be harder on the transmission than driving around relatively flat
land, I would think. The fluid temperatures would be much higher.
Pittsburgh is HARDLY flat.
Yeah
Kaleb C. Striplin wrote:
Im not sure or not but I think its legal to make a backup copy of
something for your own use, but you cant give it to your friends. Then
again, I may be wrong on that.
Also, fair use is not a defense against being charged with a DMCA
violation. If you have to
Mitch Haley wrote:
Peter Frederick wrote:
Running so rich it blows black smoke is a stuck regulator or a bad fuel
distributor, alas. I've seen enough of them in my friend's shop
Not uncommon for a warm-up regulator to get stuck on a K-Jetronic Saab
if you parked it too long.
OK Don wrote:
I would just keep burning up Dremel tool disks till I got through it -- --
Or rent an angle grinder, if there's enough room. I cut some hardened
bolts with one, once, and it went through like a knife through butter.
(I was sawing the heads off VW cylinder head bolts to make
Mitch Haley wrote:
I wonder how hard it would be to cut a rack from a Geo Metro down to
lawnmower width?
It seems like, in a world that contains riding lawnmowers, golf carts,
ATVs, and go carts, *someone* must make a rack in a size close to what
you need. Granted, most lawnmowers I've seen
Lee Einer wrote:
Yes, many Linux distros do have a DVD player app, normally Xine.
They will not, in my experience, play a commercial, copy protected DVD
unless one installs DeCSS.
That's SUSE's and RedHat's policies, at least. In fact, SUSE's copy of
Xine is crippled so it won't work
andrew strasfogel wrote:
I rented a movie DVD and wanted to transfer it to videotape for later
veiwing but couldn't because DVDs are now copy protected. So much for fair
use - they didn't even give me a chance to be honest or fair!
DVDs have two layers of copy protection. The first is a
Curt Raymond wrote:
There are actually 2 pieces of professional gear that I have that will get
around macrovision, 1 is a TBC (Time Base Corrector) and the other is a
distribution amp. Neither were hard to get, in fact the TBC is built into one
of my decks. Distribution amps are as common as
Ed Booher wrote:
No, they won't. I have a huge amount of paperwork about immigration to
Canada. It appears to be very difficult from what I was sent. Though,
I imagine it's not much harder than a full immigration into the U.S.
(vs. being an illegal alien)
I've looked at it, too. They make
Tom Reynolds wrote:
Don't know the official terminology, but gravel pits? Big heavy machinery,
etc. As I type this I'm trying to remember why they do it, though...
Because it makes it more likely that the driver will survive a collision
between two of those huge haul trucks.
OK Don wrote:
Kaleb's car has Bosch CIS injection - it's not the same as current
injection systems. Don't know what the difference would be, other than
lower operating pressures in the fuel lines.
CIS actually runs *higher* operating pressures than most modern
injection systems. The
OK Don wrote:
Learn something new every day. I thought the newer systems had over
100psi in the rail --
Maybe the new direct-injection ones do. I have no knowledge of any new
developments past about the early 90s...
Peter Frederick wrote:
Better than a VE pump, they die fairly often as there is NO engine oil
in them.
I dunno if I'd say fairly often. They seem to usually get to 200,000
miles before the seals start to wear out, as long as they're not abused
by running fryer grease through them. I've
Kevin wrote:
I have a CB, and use it on some four wheeling trips. CBs suck for caravans,
though - they tend to overload each other if you are too close.
The easy fix for that is reducing transmit power, if your radio allows
it. If not, use a crappier antenna. Most CB 'rubber duck'
are quite compact and, with a decent antenna, will
give you five miles or so of range to another car, or considerably more
to a well-situated repeater. At those frequencies increasing the
transmitter power only helps you so much, because the earth's curvature
eventually gets in the way.
David
dave walton wrote:
Do they still require you to know Morse Code to get a license?
No Morse Code test is required for using amateur bands above 50 MHz --
which is all you really need for talking from car to car. The shortwave
bands still have a 5 wpm requirement, mostly because it's
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
OK Don wrote: Learn something new every day. I thought the newer systems
had over 100psi in the rail
You might say that. Common rail diesel fuel pressures range from 1350 BAR to
1600 BAR. Nearly 24000 psi.
My old '78 300D's injectors popped at 1750 psi and
John Robbins wrote:
No clue on their inverters... but they make VERY nice 1.5kW programmable
DC supplies. We use them all over the place at work. 1.5kW in 1U by
the way...
It continues to amaze me what can be done with modern switching
supplies. I've seen linear supplies with a quarter of
Mike Canfield wrote:
And the clatter of evry valve and injector is OH SO LUXURIOUS to my
ears...Just depends on how you look at it.
I think someone on this list once described it as the sound of serious
work getting done. I agree that it's a nice sound, once you've gotten
used to it.
I
Craig McCluskey wrote:
On Sat, 10 Dec 2005 09:21:03 -0700 Dave M. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
No automatic tranny on that puppy, not even a paddle-shift manual.
Watch his right hand closely - that's a good ol'-fashioned stick
shift.
I'll admit that there are many times when his right hand
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