Thanks Tiger :-)

Hello again Tiger,

I am just in the final stage of preparing my MBZ 240 D for a required test. I bought the Bosch headlamps from a man in Glasgow, Scotland. They came from an MBZ 230E and were exact fits for my car. Not surprising because the MBZ manuals show both the Bosch lights and the ones I had in USA (Sylvania). I finally discovered that the rumors about removing the front blinkers were nonsense. I also finally got all the wiring corrected and everything seems to be working now.

To test the Bosch headlights I followed your instructions but I found the beam to be a bit scattered, even at 5'. However, the lights seemed reasonably ok. If the test station finds them off a little, I'll ask the testers to help me get it more accurately. It should take only a few minutes to turn a few screws.

Thanks again for your great support :-)

Reply to
Seum
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You are welcome.

Inspect the headlamp glass... if it is really pitted, you should consider buying new glass. Scattering of the light is usually because of the pits. You can do temporary fix by spraying some sort of clear coating on the glass to eliminate the pits... I don't know the name of this product.

The Euro headlamp is not the same as US headlamp... Euro headlamp are 3x better than USA headlight. There is the typical front oval light pattern, then there is also a pencil beam for farther down the road and angle toward up to side of the road light... all just by turning on the low beam.

Installing a new H4 bulb will guarantee the candle power... make sure the headlamp reflector is very clean.. clean it very carefully as they can scratch easily. The glass is the most important of all. Considering the age of the vehicle, it is recommended to buy new glass.

Reply to
Tiger

Thanks Tiger.

As usual, you have great ideas. Will look for the spray and the H4s. I'm sure the H4s are readily available.

Reply to
Seum

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This company is in NY and here is what should help me, but the price and cost of shipping it are not small:

Diamondite® Shield

Seal and protect your glass for long-lasting clarity.

Diamondite Shield was developed to clarify aircraft canopies and prevent ice, pollution, water, and debris build-up so pilots could see clearly. Now that technology is available for your automotive glass.

Diamondite Shield seals the microscopic pits in glass so it is totally smooth. The benefits of this are two-fold: dirt and oils cannot penetrate the sealed glass, and wiper blades will not skip over the smooth surface. Your glass remains sealed for up to 6 months and your wipers last longer.

Because the tiny valleys are filled, even etched glass appears crystal clear. Water spots disappear and new spots are less likely. The treated surface repels chips, scratches, water, UV rays, pollution, and dust.

A windshield treated with Diamondite Shield is easier to clean. Because the texture of the glass is smoother, dirt, oils, and film have nothing to grip. Even ice loses its grip on the glass. Contaminants sit on the surface of the glass so they wipe off easily.

Diamondite Shield works best as part of the Diamondite Glass Cleaning Kit.

Directions:

1.First, clean your glass with Diamondite Glass & Surface Cleaner. 2.Then apply Spray Clay to the included sponge and lightly scrub the glass. 3.Allow it to dry to a haze and then use Glass & Surface Cleaner to wipe it off. 4.After your glass has been thoroughly cleaned, apply Diamondite Shield and allow it to dry to a haze. 5.Remove the haze with a clean, soft cloth. Your glass will be protected for up to 6 months!
Reply to
Seum

Yes, that is the product you are looking for. Now look for similar product in your country.

I actually know Caswell... just bought a kit for polish> Tiger wrote:

formatting link
This company is in NY and here is what should help me, but the price and cost of shipping it are not small:

Diamondite® Shield

Seal and protect your glass for long-lasting clarity.

Diamondite Shield was developed to clarify aircraft canopies and prevent ice, pollution, water, and debris build-up so pilots could see clearly. Now that technology is available for your automotive glass.

Diamondite Shield seals the microscopic pits in glass so it is totally smooth. The benefits of this are two-fold: dirt and oils cannot penetrate the sealed glass, and wiper blades will not skip over the smooth surface. Your glass remains sealed for up to 6 months and your wipers last longer.

Because the tiny valleys are filled, even etched glass appears crystal clear. Water spots disappear and new spots are less likely. The treated surface repels chips, scratches, water, UV rays, pollution, and dust.

A windshield treated with Diamondite Shield is easier to clean. Because the texture of the glass is smoother, dirt, oils, and film have nothing to grip. Even ice loses its grip on the glass. Contaminants sit on the surface of the glass so they wipe off easily.

Diamondite Shield works best as part of the Diamondite Glass Cleaning Kit.

Directions:

1.First, clean your glass with Diamondite Glass & Surface Cleaner. 2.Then apply Spray Clay to the included sponge and lightly scrub the glass. 3.Allow it to dry to a haze and then use Glass & Surface Cleaner to wipe it off. 4.After your glass has been thoroughly cleaned, apply Diamondite Shield and allow it to dry to a haze. 5.Remove the haze with a clean, soft cloth. Your glass will be protected for up to 6 months!
Reply to
Tiger

Mmm... Caswell does have UK division.

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Reply to
Tiger

Thanks Tiger - that makes it much easier. Today I replaced the old H-4 bulbs in the headlamps and Monday morning at 10.40am my MBZ car will be tested. Fingers crossed :-)

Have a great weekend :-)

Reply to
Seum

They have a PDF for their activities and there is no mention of Diamondite Shield there.

Reply to
Seum

The UK branch is looking for tax- and shipping- costs.

Hello again Tiger,

This morning I visited the car testing center and the results were not so bad.

1 One safety belt missing. The car was rated at 5 persons and only 4 existed. It should not be difficult to add another. 2 The battery mounting is insecure. The tester did not try to get that battery out from where it was. I really had to struggle to get it out last week when the battery needed charging. Anyway, not a big deal, I'll be able to strap it down. 3 Windshield washers need fixing - no problem. The motor and wipers are working ok 3 My really good quality tires now have to be dumped and replaced with tires that carry a European e-mark, most likely with the very high taxes. My phone bills carry a 21% tax - phew!

That's all and I am satisfied. This time next week it should be ok.

The government has an interesting Classic car category here - when the car reaches 30 years, no taxes need be paid (at present the taxes are about ?900/year) and no more testing needs to be done on it. This really floored me.

Reply to
Seum

At the least, your inspection station is very thorough. It is a good thing if you paid that much tax.

You could buy a set of okay tires/wheel from junk yard just pass the inspection and then switch back to your tires.

I watch Wheeler Dealer... UK show... I am amazed how cheap used parts can be had over there. that doesn't exist in USA.

Reply to
Tiger

It is very thorough.

It seems that the police here are alert for those Euro-codes on the tires and there is a big fine if they are wrong or missing. Most likely an even bigger fine if I have an accident and I am caught without the codes. My present tires have USA-Canada codes. Because I have had so few problems with the car I don't mind buying the new tires. I'll use the old ones to grow some plants. The tires I have at present have 4-5mm of tread left - probably 2 years of driving. They are 10 years old - great Michelin tires.

Used, or even new parts, can be very cheap at eBay or Amazon but often people get screwed because the part is not what they had expected. I was offered a Windows XP CD and I ordered it. What arrived was a Recovery CD and it was completely useless unless one had XP already. Recovery CDs can't install XP. I complained to Amazon and, to their credit, they have refunded my £37.28.

I also bought a USB floppy disk drive, this time through eBay. It arrived ok but after the removing the 6th disk, the ejector tab shot out of the case. I had a close look and it was incredibly flimsy. I could have returned it but I opened up the case and was able to attach the tab with some good glue. It has worked fine since. I think most of the computer components that come through companies like eBay and Amazon are far from high class.

Back to the car:

Yesterday I checked the windshield washer and found that it really does not work. I removed the tank from the engine compartment to clean it up. Then I looked through those 3 massive MBZ manuals and I could find nothing about it, except the windshield wipers. There is no index for the manuals and the very sparse lists at the front of each manual are slightly more than nothing. I should have bought CDs instead, then I would be able to search for everything.

The wipers are working and this evening I pulled out the pump and attached it to the battery. It ran ok, so I guess the blockage is at the nozzles that point at the windshield. Do you know if the nozzles screw off to allow cleaning? I'll probably find out that tomorrow.

Do you know if there is any coverage of that washer system in those manuals that I may have missed?

Have a great Sunday :-)

Reply to
Seum

Tires more than 6 years old is unsafe and should be replaced. Period. You are definitely better off with new tires since yours is already 10 years old.

Washer pump is cheap and you should replace it if you never done it before. You need certain number of pressure before it will squirt out of the nozzle... Again, nozzles is affordable too so you should change them out as they do wear out. Washer system is no brainer. simple and just change them out...

Reply to
Tiger

Il Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:47:57 -0400, Tiger ha scritto:

Michelin officially says 10 years. I don't find the link anymore (but it's in Italian... :) ), but it's an official statement published on their web site.

I'd say it's a matter of the "quality" of the 6-10 years: always in the street or in a closed (conditioned?) place is one of the differences that might dramatically impact on the status of tyres. Just as an example...

Do you want to delete the "Period." at the end of your statement? :)

Reply to
Cordy

10 years is when properly stored. If they have been exposed to daylight and weather, the rubber will have lost its flexibilty and thereby grip after 6 years. Typically that can also be seen as cracks in the rubber. If there is no cracks and the rubber is still soft/ flexible, they should be reasonable safe (no guarantee, and new ones will always be safer).
Reply to
Jens

Hello there :-)

Yes, I have had those tyres for 10 years and the car - a 27 year old MBZ - has spent at least 90% of its life in a garage. I have lived a very long time in USA and there was no law that fixed the end stage of the tyres. I made the decision when I needed to get new tyres - and I have never made a bad decision. Being an engineer is a great help when such decisions are being made.

Reply to
Seum
6 years is for most people who use the car regularly. Rubber hardens from day one of manufacture. It is just the nature of the rubber. When exposed to environment... air, ozone, sunlight, chemical and heat... they get cooked up. When you drive it on the road, tire heats up... disc brake spreads heat around tires.

The traction deteriorates slowly and is not dramatic change until you buy new tires... even same brand and model if they were still making it. Aside from the argument of when you should dispose the tire or not... the question is how much you value the safety of you and your family on old tires... is $400 or even $600 worth the life of your family or loved one? Or even an accident that could have been prevented with a new set of tires?

I own a tire changer. I have changed out some tires that are 'old' and a lot of 'new' tires. The 'softness' of the rubber is huge. Even 6 years old tires are a real pain to dismount and remount especially if they sre super low profile tire. The rubber is just so stiff and hard.

Reply to
Tiger

I would agree with all that Tiger. Rubber starts oxidizing as soon at it smells oxygen in the air :-) That's is the reason why rubber bands, rubber gloves, tires, etc. harden and eventually crack up.

My car has had an average of 3,300 miles per year over the 27 years of its life. In the last 10 years I have traveled much less - more like

1,000-1,500 miles on average. That would make a total of about 11,000 - 15,000 miles on the tires. No wonder they still look good.

Back to the windshield washer. I used a needle to poke the holes in the nozzles and ease out what looked like chalk (calcium from the water probably). And after about 5 mins, my washer was running as good as it did when I bought the car. One curious thing, I never noticed that inside of the nozzles had a ball shape and that I could use the needle to move the jet around until it was in the correct place. Imagine, it took me 27 years to learn that :-) I allws new that i wuz a slo lrnr.

Reply to
Seum

I've bought a number old (16y+) low mileage MB's and they often had old but great looking tires. The first old MB I bought (~40 kmiles) had tires that were 13 years old. They looked great, no cracks or anything. The spare was even 18 years old, looked like new! After a few months the car started to wobble and I noticed a big bulge on the inside of one of the rear tires. Since then I've always replaced 10 year old tires, whether they looked good or not.

It helps being an engineer, I guess. ;) I think I learned the ball and needle trick when I was 16 or so. But then perhaps the balls are more obvious on a Renault.

X.

Reply to
Ximinez

Have you changed any in? ...

DAS

Reply to
DAS

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