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HA!! I *wish* it were a flying wagon. '12 MB E350 4matic wagon with 130k miles - been nothing but reliable with fluid changes and other consumables up til now.
I have a 11 MB E350 Blue tec , been a great car, got to drop the DEF tank tomorrow and replace the heater and temp sensor to pass CA smog. only work I have had to do so far was motor mount, you really feel when they fail.
Work in progress picture - been super detailing the car for the last 4 weeks. About 3 more days of work and I'll be done.
Car was pretty rough, lot's of swirls, scratches, and TONS of rock chips! The hood and bumper look pretty bad.
Well, at least the hood USED to look bad!
Here's the process:
1. Wash and clay
2. Strip everything with Chemical guys IPA spray
3. Meguiars Ultimate Compound with a 6" DA
4. Meguiars Ultimate Polish with a 6" DA
5. Dr. Color Chip to fix all the chips
6. Hand polish with Ultimate Polish
7. Wax with Meguiars NXT 2.0
Here's an after pic of the hood!!! Sorry, no before pic:
Bumper / muffler off for plugs and coils. My hands are way too big to work between the muffler and engine. I don't know how anyone does it.
All the plugs looked the same. 20K miles on plugs. They have a bi-modal pattern. One side is light gray/brown, the other side has a sharp black line on the ceramic just below the electrode. It's the first time I've seen it. The car is running fine and hasn't been throwing codes, so I figure this must be a signature of this engine. Any insight is helpful.
All the coils had cracks. I expect they are original. The engine has 95000 miles.
And while looking around, found this beauty!
Any guesses on how long before it blows? It's number 18 in the cooling diagram at Autoatlanta.(i think)
I would buy the other cooling hoses in the engine bay. Its not that hard to get to the heater hoses too. All of the hoses in that area r gonna age the same way.
Bumper / muffler off for plugs and coils. My hands are way too big to work between the muffler and engine. I don't know how anyone does it.
All the plugs looked the same. 20K miles on plugs. They have a bi-modal pattern. One side is light gray/brown, the other side has a sharp black line on the ceramic just below the electrode. It's the first time I've seen it. The car is running fine and hasn't been throwing codes, so I figure this must be a signature of this engine. Any insight is helpful.
All the coils had cracks. I expect they are original. The engine has 95000 miles.
And while looking around, found this beauty!
Any guesses on how long before it blows? It's number 18 in the cooling diagram at Autoatlanta.(i think)
I've had to replace that hose because of that plastic molded fitting. You should replace it pre-emptively because it will blow at the most inoppurtune time. If you even look at that hose funny it will break and blow.
You should replace it pre-emptively because it will blow at the most inoppurtune time. If you even look at that hose funny it will break and blow.
That's what I was afraid of. So this is the same embrittlement problem as the AOS cooling nipple on the top? Yuck! So the strategy for a 'forever' car is to change all the hoses you can find and not worry for the next 20 years. I'll go dig up De Jeepers list. Thanks.
01-08-2021, 01:44 PM
Hang in there, the fun is coming! 
So the strategy for a 'forever' car is to change all the hoses you can find and not worry for the next 20 years. I'll go dig up De Jeepers list. Thanks. 