Log of the E320's life with us.

Friday, December 8, 2017

I went to look at the car in the daytime. Looked fairly reasonable, given the price. It was no longer able to move under its own power, though it had been able to do so intermittently, according to the owner. It started and ran OK. The interior was very dirty.

The car was a repo, and had been fitted with a breathalyzer start interlock at some point. The owner got it at auction and had been trying to get it going again; he'd bought a new key, a replacement shifter, a replacement center console, replaced the brake light switch and MAF sensor, put on used wheels that actually fit correctly, with snow tires, and worked on the brakes. A friend with a scanner had been unable to contact the transmission computer, which could mean any number of things. A common failure point is the "conductor plate", which is fairly easy and inexpensive to replace. But, there can be a lot of other, worse problems too, such as a radiator that cracks internally and fills the transmission with coolant, destroying it.

He finally decided that it was too much for him, too many other projects, and it was getting cold outside. He had been dropping the price every few days, and was well into the losing money category by the time I came to see it.

He accepted my offer of $750, and I arranged to trailer the car home tomorrow. (There is no guarantee that this particular car is not a losing proposition, this is a definite gamble for me, too.)

Saturday, December 9, 2017

I bought the car. Unfortunately I had been short on time this day and had not had time to prepare the trailer, and it was dark before our schedules aligned and I could pick up the car. I brought the truck, a tow rope, and Daniel. The plan was to start the car and drag it home, with heat, lights, steering, and brakes all fully operable. (Just like the 190D many years earlier.)

That actually went very well, Daniel did a good job piloting the toad; there were no incidents.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

I removed the transmission control unit (TCM, EGS51) from the underhood electronics nest, and it looked a bit oily. When I turned it over it puked oil all over me, so we've definitely had the leaking O-ring and oil wicking problem going on for awhile. I'll let it drain a bit and then open it up to clean it out. Supposedly the oil doesn't really do much damage, but it can eat electrolytic capacitors, which can be replaced.

I tried to dip the radiator fluid, and I couldn't reach it. (The car's parked nose-down, which doesn't help.) Shining a strong flashlight through the tank, though, didn't show anything bad-looking. I was unable to tell if the radiator was the troublesome Valeo make, which is prone to leaking coolant into the transmission circuit. (That is deadly to the transmission.)

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

I got the oily TCM pried open, and sluiced it clean with brake cleaner. I then washed it in hot water with dishwashing liquid, rinsed, and put it in a 250°F oven to dry. (No starch, please...)

Thursday, December 14, 2017

I removed the single electrolytic capacitor from the TCM and tested it, it seems OK. My new proposed replacement tested worse, so I just put back the original. I then put the unit back in the car, using Deoxit first, and fired it up. No real change, though I could feel the car barely trying to pull in reverse, at least at first.

Friday, December 15, 2017

After moving the Frankenheap out of the way, I towed/pushed this car into its place. It left a glycol trail along the way, that's not good...

Monday, December 18, 2017

I ordered the parts today. FCPEuro.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

The parts came. Unfortunately I was not home to receive them, they'll be on the porch until the neighbor can retrieve them when feeding the cats.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

I bought an open drain pan, so I could look at what went into it. It was black, so I cut a circle of white butcher paper to lay in the bottom so it would be easier to see debris.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Cold outside, maybe 28°F. I put a radiant space heater on the transmission pan for an hour or so, then pulled the drain plug. Warm oil coursed out quickly, and was black-ish with a hint of red. Definitely not normal as I understand it, but didn't seem foul or burnt, nor frothy or scummy. The oil was far too opaque to see through it to the pan bottom for debris. I will leave it to drip for a day.

...After work I bought two rolls of those lint-free blue paper towels.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

I poured the drain oil into a jug. Just a little over a gallon of brown (with a hint of red) oil. No crud in the bottom that I could see. No burn, froth, or scum. Just... brown.

Friday, January 5, 2018

I cleaned off the workbench and put down a layer of the blue lint-free paper towels I bought. Ready?

Saturday, January 6, 2018

With Daniel's help I began the repair. I dropped the pan, and managed to slop the brown glop onto me, the first of several times. I pulled off the filter, more glop. Removing the electrical plug showed it to be thoroughly saturated with oil, which was no surprise given the amount I'd cleaned out of the transmission computer earlier. When I removed the valve body, more glop. I ended up wearing more than a little bit. I didn't really see any sign of particulate matter, the only disturbing thing is the brown-ness of the oil. We brought the valve body inside, where I removed all six solenoids and the conductor plate. We took the body back outside and used brake cleaner to clean it off, there was a thin layer of schmutz on the top of it. Back inside I installed the new conductor plate and wiped off the solenoids, and checked each one with 12V for clicking. All worked. I reinstalled all the solenoids and the covers. Many paper towels were used to clean things up and off, and to prevent dripping during transport.

The valve body was fairly easy to put back in the car, you just have to make sure the shift linkage is correctly engaged. The cavity for the valve body looked pretty clean, actually. I had Daniel clean off the pan while I put the body back, then I installed the new filter, and the pan with a new seal. The hardest part of this job is installing the new electrical plug seal, the trick seemed to be to oil the O-rings and then drive the thing into place with a small hammer and the 7mm (?) socket over the retaining bolt. Once the O-rings start to seat you can use the bolt to cinch it down. After that it was just cleanup and tightening things down.

We stopped before refilling the transmission and testing it, as it was starting to get dark and cold. Plenty of time tomorrow to finish it off. We spent about three hours on it today, plus another hour previously getting to today's starting point.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

I put the transmission oil in the car, started it, and checked for leaks. Nothing that I could see. I put the car in gear, and it was un-happy. The stability control system doesn't like free-wheeling, and got angry and started hitting brakes, etc. trying to keep all four wheels rolling together. It seemed to have at least a bit of power when I had it fight the brakes, so we lowered the car and went for a test drive. It worked great, at least at first. We went up the icy hill to start, and the traction control system was doing its thing. We went down and the ABS worked when I tested it. Off we went down the main road, and it was clear that the transmission was not shifting, so it was probably stuck in the 2&R limp-home mode. That's OK, we probably just need to clear the codes, but when we turned around to go back, slightly uphill, it decoupled, and the whine was back. If I restarted the car I could get it to go for a little bit before it got upset and decoupled again, and we'd roll to a stop. We were able to limp nearly home before even that stopped working, so Daniel and I just got the truck and the tow strap and dragged it the rest of the way. This is extremely disheartening!

If I understand correctly, this is exactly what it was doing for the previous owner.

...Later in the evening I did the adaptive transmission reset (key on, floored for 5 seconds, key off and wait quietly until the dash lights all go out, about 2 minutes) and was able to start the car and move it into its proper place. It was still whining, though. Not Good.

Monday, January 8, 2018

I dipped the fluid, and it is a bit overfull for cold. Slightly brownish, but not as bad as it was. (Torque converter was not drained.) My only hope is that the brown stuff was a filter clogger, and that another new filter (cheap, if I can save the oil) might survive. This is highly unlikely.

Friday, November 8, 2018

Some time ago I had ordered two new transmission filters, $30, for the next stage of the game.

A week or two ago I had jacked up the car again and drained the oil back into the jug. Dropping the pan, it was clear that the filter was clogged, and there was aluminum (?) dust in the pan. My hope is that these are leftovers. I cleaned out the pan, put in a new filter, put the pan back on, and poured the (browned) oil back in through a couple of shop towels. (Ugly, but this fluid is far too expensive to waste, especially on a crap shoot like this car.)

The car would then move again, and I drove it up and down the hill. No problems, other than being stuck in 2&R, and no whining.

Today I had Daniel follow me to the closest shop with the truck and a tow rope, just in case. They were to clear the transmission codes and get it out of limp-home mode. Unfortunately they said that the transmission computer never would talk to them, and appeared to be completely inoperative. That's awkward.

We drove the car back home, and it behaved as it should, given that it had only second gear. There was a bit of whining at speed, but nothing at idle (unlike before), and we never lost engagement.

Looks like the transmission computer is DOA; either there are wiring faults, or it died when I cleaned it. A replacement is not too expensive, I suppose that's next after checking the wiring.

Saturday, November 17, 2018

I located a schematic for the car, pulled the 027 545 03 32 (EGS51) TCM out of the car, and opened up its connectors. A multimeter showed that it was getting power and ground on pins 29 & 30, and that 6V was coming out on the other connector's pin 13, for the RPM sensors. After cleaning the connectors and re-installing there was no improvement in the car.

Sunday, November 18, 2018

I surfed around, and found a good used TCM, same exact part number. The few I could find in the States were outrageously expensive, but this one, in Germany, was only $21. Even with international shipping (that cost more than it did) it was still a good deal. Total: $48.58, and not too much more to invest in what might yet be a parts car.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Yesterday the replacement TCM came, and I installed it. The car drives fine!

Monday, December 17, 2018

Flush with success, I gathered my things and went off to do errands in Barney. First was the licensing office, to get the title transferred and the plates. Transfer OK ($99), plates not until it passed a smog test. Next stop was the gas station, to top it off with $50 of fresh premium fuel, to aid the stink test. Then I went to the emissions test center, where it passed ($15). On my way back to the licensing office to get the plates and tabs the transmission disengaged. Plugged filter again! Crap!!! I was able to limp to a quiet side street where I waited. I had a tow rope, Jill came to get me and we towed the car home.

The car ran many more miles than the first time the filter clogged on me, so it's possible that this is just a clear-out process.

My brother suggested getting a 5 gallon bucket of the cheapest ATF I could find, and flush the transmission with that, then put in the correct stuff. There may be a significant amount of crap hiding in the torque converter, whose periphery acts somewhat as a centrifugal debris trap. I don't like the thought of so much residual 'wrong' fluid being left in there after such a procedure, since you can't drain the torque converter. My idea at the moment is to intercept the transmission cooler line and put in a large inline spin-on filter. That should catch the bulk of the crap before it gets a chance to clog the (much smaller) transmission filter.

At that point there's only two likely outcomes:

  1. The transmission has been repaired, by virtue of new computer and conductor plate, and the shavings and other residue from improper operation will slowly filter out of the transmission. Even if there's enough to clog the big filter that's an easy side-of-the-road change, provided you carry a spare and some transmission fluid to make up for the loss in the body of the filter.

  2. The transmission has not been repaired, and shavings and other damage products will continue to be generated. The big filter will clog, perhaps more than once, and/or the transmission will begin to malfunction for real, which should become apparent in fairly short order.
Either way, the investment will be minimal.

...Further research, though, shows that the cooler circuit is thermostatically controlled, so the flow does not all go through there unless things are very hot, which means that putting a filter there would do almost no good, especially in winter.

Saturday, January 5, 2019

Daniel and I went to Pull-and-Save, they had a couple of newer cars there. From the E320 I got the glove box, which was intact though somewhat the wrong color. $12. I should be able to move just the broken/missing part, mix-and-match.

Saturday, January 12, 2019

I stole the car's pop-up cupholder to put in the other E320, for Jill.

Sunday, January 13, 2019

I jacked up the car and drained the ATF, cleaned the pan, and put in my last filter. There was a layer of black sludge on the bottom of the pan, and the fluid just didn't look that good. Research suggests that Valvoline MaxLife is a suitable fluid, and fairly inexpensive in the big jug at Walmart.

Monday, January 14, 2019

Bought 2 gallons of Valvoline Maxlife ATF at Walmart, about $18/jug. It says it's for Mercedes-Benz NAG-1, right on the jug. I poured one into the car. It moves again, but doesn't seem to engage correctly. Level?

Friday, February 15, 2019

I picked up the license plates for Jill's E320 today. (They had a 2000 E320 4WD wagon, silver with 199kmi going up for sale. Price mentioned was $3,300-ish.) They offered me a free tranny from a 2000 ML320. (It might be that it comes with a car hulk.) I know this is different than the transmission in the E, but only by one digit. I wonder if a valve body swap would take care of that difference?

Monday, March 18, 2019

I talked to the place with the ML320 transmission. They're serious about giving me the tranny, even the whole car carcass if I want it. I really need to find out if this is worth procuring.

Friday, March 29, 2019

I called Sun Valley Mercedes Transmissions, LLC ((818) 782 2300) to get a definitive answer to the question of whether the 722.664 02 774951 [type = GA] transmission in this car can be replaced by a 722.662 (?) from a 2000 ML320. They said yes, just swap and go.

I dropped by the potential donor car. Most of it is no longer there, getting the thing home promises to be... interesting.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Much time has passed, with no action on this front. I wanted to clear the driveway for tomorrow's party, so I connected the battery and gave it a whirl. The car started right up, and drove. [Later I was able to move it to longer-term parking, also no problems.] The new fluid and filter seems to have brought it back. But, for how long?

The battery disconnect I put in is clearly a good idea, if a car is subject to long periods of inactivity.

Monday, June 22, 2020

To tow the other E320 home it was easier to liberate the tow hook from this car rather than dig out its own. I noticed that it was a bit bent, and as a result had a bit of difficulty being inserted and removed, so I whaled on it with a 10# sledge to straighten it back out. Seemed to work well.

Friday, November 20, 2020

Stole the driver's seat for temporary use in the other E320. Turns out this car's seat heater is still good, bonus.

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Moved the car down below and out of sight, for political reasons.

Monday, December 20, 2021

The other E320 broke down, and we had to leave the disabled car in Montana. The belt tensioner's idler pulley seized, and burned the belt off the engine. Today Daniel and I robbed the idler off this car, to loan to that one in order to get it home tomorrow. It's very easy to do:
  1. Use E12 Torx socket to twist idler pulley on its eccentric (via the shaft) to relieve belt tension;
  2. Remove belt;
  3. Use 15mm socket to remove the concentric (with the E12 shaft) nut that holds on the pulley.
The plan is to return it to this car once a new replacement is procured. It feels good, not 'dry'. (The other idler feels dry.)

Friday, March 17, 2023

I stopped by Spalding's, and picked up a set of five five-hole 16" alloy wheels I'd identified on an earlier trip, $155 (such things have gone up substantially in recent times). Complete with center caps, but the rubber is mostly shot. These are for summer/winter tires for this car, if I ever go that way. Or, spare wheels.

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