10/13/2009 - scored an early undertray for the drivers side to cover up the wires and stuff. what I thought was going to be a bolt-in job isn't quite... I'll need to grind off a little bit on the sides where the console and left kick panel are slightly different shapes. Overall it's pretty much a drop-in though. The black plastic is a slightly different color and texture than the rest of the interior, but at least now the underside of there will be protected. Pictures to follow as I'm sure that others will want to know about how to install this thing into a late model car.

9/4/2009 - switched out the front spring pads from #2 to #1. The frontend of the car is now about 7mm lower than it was. I want it down more. Thank goodness I purchased a Klann style spring compressor as It makes this job pretty straightforward. A recent article about a 190E built with a bluetec engine by mercedes benz shows a car that has the perfect ride height. I am considering how to accomplish this.

8/27/2009 - located ignition retard resistor and removed per this article. We'll see if it makes any change in performance and/or economy. I always run 92 octane in the car so it shouldn't be an issue.

8/25/2009 - 125,000 mile oil change. still running like a watch. window switches and console wood issues becoming an irritant. I'll be pulling this apart to figure out a solution.

8/6/2009 - annnd, moved it back

6/4/2009 - imported this site into frontpage and migrated to a free web hosting service. we'll see how this goes.

Not much to report on the car front... it's at 122k. switched the 16s for 15s to gain fuel economy and lost performance back. First couple of tanks promising. The real test will be when it goes to sacramento this summer. I'd like to see the average economy swing north of 20mpg.

threw 2 CELs for the O2 sensor, which, at 122k miles seems about right. Priced it out at Halsey and they can replace it for $125. This will happen soon.

So, one year later, how do I like it still? Great. Its a wonderful drivers car. I can do most of the maintenance. It looks good on the road and drives wonderfully. It's cheap to insure, gets horrible fuel economy, but then again in one year it gets 7000 miles which it seems to be content with.

2/12/2009 - high-idle pushed me over the edge. we hadn't been driving the car much, so it wasnt too big a deal. Pulled the air cleaner again right after the car was fired up from cold and while it was running. Waited a bit, no change. Revved the engine, same. Reached down and pushed on the microswitch and the idle instantly settled down. So, it appears that the arm on the switch is bent or worn with age, or the contacts require more depth to push. I gently tweaked the arm to see if this helps out. I'm gonna purchase a new switch or have MBI install one when it's in for service. Full front-engine service happening shortly. stay tuned.

12/31/2008 - high-idle becoming more annoying. I'm convinced it's the ICV. I'm going to pull the air filter housing today and fiddle with it.

12/30/2008 - 120,000 mile oil change. Coolant still continutes to drip out of the front of the engine at a very slow rate. I called MBI and they said it'd be about $1000 to do a full front-engine service including water pump, serp belt, pullies, the works. This will happen this spring. Observed gunk on sump and front of engine, presumably some previous owner put stop-leak in the radiator. I hope this is not going to be a problem.

10/12/2008 - replaced the struts and shocks with Bilstein TC. What a difference. I did a writeup for a 190 forum, here's the content, condensed.

the tools you'll need

· good quality floor jack
· two decent quality, stable jackstands
· 1/2" drive ratchet handle
· 1/2" drive breaker bar [optional, a cheater bar on above ratchet will work]
· 1/2" drive torque wrench [optional, for reinstalling wheels]
· 1/2" drive short extension [optional, makes reach easier in spots]
· 7mm 3/8" drive allen wrench [you could do with a key but a pain]
· 13mm 3/8" drive socket [deep preferred]
· 17mm 1/2" drive socket [to remove wheels]
· 19mm 1/2" drive socket
· 19mm combination wrench
· 22mm combination wrench
· WD-40 or other penetrating oil [makes things easier to take apart]
· a shoplight make things much easier to see

1 - with the car on the ground, loosen the lugnuts on both front wheels
2 - using the box end of the 22mm combination wrench, and the 7mm allen wrench, loosen the top nut on each strut
3 - using the 13mm deep socket, loosen the 3 nuts on each strut mount
4 - raise the car with the floor jack on the front crossmember and support the car on each side using the jackstands under the jack points
5 - after lowering the car onto the stands and ensuring it's safe and stable, proceed to remove the wheels and set them aside
6 - carefully pop the abs sensor and brake wear sensor wires out of the plastic clip that retains them to the strut
7 - position the floor jack under the ball joint [at the end of the control arm] and raise the control arm ever so slightly
8 - remove the two lower bolts then, proceed to the nut/bolt combination on the top of the strut by removing the nut and washer
9 - swing the strut away from the front suspension
10 - finish off removing the top nut on the strut and the whole thing will drop free
11 - extract the plastic clip for the sensor wires and replace onto new strut
12 - remove and replace the bump stop and boot onto the new strut
13 - slide the assembly up into the tower, and hand-tighten the nut and washer onto the top to hold the whole thing in place
14 - install the lower 3 bolts/nuts
15 - go back up top and torque down the 3 13mm and the 22mm/7mm bolts
16 - go back down to the lower part and torque the 19mm fasteners down
17 - reattach the sensor wires to the plastic bit you retrofit onto the new strut
18 - reinstall the roadwheels, doublecheck the torques up top, then go for a test drive

           

10/5/2008 - things have been 'fairly' quiet, not much time to update. Some things of note lately:

• purhcased a set of Bilstein Touring struts and shocks, yet to be installed
• took off the air cleaner, cleaned and adjusted the throttle linkage after replacing the pedal pivot. this made a nice difference in how the throttle feels, but that 'off throttle' lurch related to the ICV microswitch is not gone. some say it never will be.

debating on what to do next... i can either do the 'ghetto' strut swap procedure or spend the cash on a Klann type spring compressor

here's what a 190E 2.6 throttle linkage looks like when it's somewhat clean. the 3rd pic shows the gap in the bellcrank against the roller that creates some of the lag on throttle response. i dont know what to do to fix this at this point.

     

8/24/2008 - maybe I like this look better? =)

8/21/2008 - painted the grille black. the car looks so good and is all sorted out I have to post up a nice picture of it before something bad happens and I change my mind. =)

8/20/2008 - central locking and other issues resolved! - it was related to the circuit on Fuse #12. This was a crazy problem that I'm glad is now resolved. I'll be ebaying a few items that I purchased during the diagnostics. Woohoo!!!

8/14/2008 - so I'd been watching this poorly written ad on ebay advertising 'w201 glass euro headlite assemblies' and a tiny picture, at $99.50. so I sniped 'em. guess what? they arrived and they turned out to be OEM Bosch in mint condition. Needless to say, I installed them. :D

8/12/2008 - throttle cable adjustment made a world of difference in the car's driveability. unfortunately i left the AC switch on overnight, so the aux fans turned on this AM. i made sure to turn it off so we'll see if they kick on when i start the car at lunch today. got a delay notice from the seller of the replacement buzzer relay, so it'll be a week or so until this is in hand.

8/11/2008 - removed drivers knee bolster and kick panel. located domelight/buzzer relay and removed. i wonder if that goo is supposed to be there? Also, my replacement tempmatic headunit arrived. this one is in better physical condition than the existing unit, so that's a start. It's a straightforward installation... remove 2 screws at bottom of wood trim, carefully extract away from the fan switch. use a pointy thing to lift the tabs on the headunit, slide out. swap wires, reinstall. easy. it does look better, the illumination works right. ill know more about the aux cooling fan situation as i drive the car around tomorrow. while i had the bolster off, i adjusted the throttle cable, too.

8/10/2008 - buttoned up the passenger side, opened up the drivers. repeated speaker install and test. all in-door electrics seem to be in order. now its time to start looking at the interior light/door position circuits. this is not fun. on the stereo front, i found the dead amp in the trunk, bypassed it and got the door speakers working. it's better already. more to come, including a writeup.

8/9/2008 - the passenger side door is apart. cls actuator tested, everything is in order. while i was in there, i replaced the oem speaker in the box with something of better quality. this door checks out. the saga continues.

7/24/2008 - aftermarket $50 replacement window regulator arrived. read up on how to R&R. discovered a couple of broken clips on drivers rear door. removed old bad regulator. installed new. reinstalled new correctly. re-reinstalled new correctly correct. once you get the hang of the tricks, this job is pretty straightforward. left rear window now functional again. woot.

7/20/2008 - I've started a filter fitment/cross-reference chart. This will continue to grow with other service items. See it here

7/13/2008 - so, my ignition cylinder is sticking. this is a huge deal because if it gets stuck with the key at "0", you have to cut the column apart. this thread at mercedesshop.com helped me figure out exactly what to do. I decided to do a writeup on this as this can be a catastrophic issue with your car if not managed properly.

7/9/2008 - re-de-badged the trunk lid. It looks like crap. on a positive note, I found a great link that has wiring diagrams. I'm gonna try to get the damn power locks working again.

6/29/2008 - The AC is still blowing cold. Reports are the car is 'down on power uphill' - dad's gonna take a look-see at the car this week. The long drive back home lies just ahead.

6/10/2008 - Got the call, no leak at the condensor (whew!) the damage to do it up right including a new switchover and receiver/drier, fill, test, etc will be $625. Ouch.

6/9/2008 - Sent the car to German Auto in Roseville. This is the shop that used to work on the 280TE. They're gonna get it working right.

6/8/2008 - Filled the AC with a "r134a retrofit kit". Chilled for about 6 hrs then just slowly faded away. :(

6/7/2008 - Bolted on the new wheels 2 weeks ago. The 16x8s were simply too wide for the front. There were rubbing issues on the front fenders. So, I headed to the dismantler and picked up a pair of 16x7.5 et40s for the front, had the tires swapped and POW that did it up just right. The look is exactly what I wanted.

6/6/2008 - Lots to talk about, haven't had access to my system to do any updates. Stay tuned.

5/9/2008 - Purchased a set of 16x8 ET34 500E wheels for $450. Preparing to order a set of 215/50-16 tires to go on them. Selection is limited, I've settled on the BFGoodrich Traction TA for its blend of all season and summer performance. This setup should make it onto the car by the end of May. Woot!

5/3/2008 - Paid Yudie a visit, and sure enough the lid is mint. I pay him for the lid, pack it in the car and head home. I then install the lid. It looks great. However, during the install, I did *something* that shorted out *something* in the system and now the power locks are malfunctioning. More on this later. Meanwhile, I'll drive the car a bit and forget about the incident

4/30/2008 - I put out a plea on craigslist for a 'mint' black trunk lid. i get a simple email from a nice guy named Yudie, and he says "I have what you need". I call him, he owns a sportline. He's an enthusiast.

4/28/2008 - after scrounging yards all weekend, no luck. found one in sac at silverstar. the say it's "a grade" and want $90 for it. nobody calls me back with a condition. find another one at another yard in sac, weathered, black, $50. i pay for it.

4/25/2008 - 1PM. car rolls out of garage, across street and into neighbor's garage. I don't know what else to say. =(

The damage is unbelievably localised to the trunk lid. The search is on.

4/25/2008 - 9AM. drivers door lock replaced. this was surprisingly easy. another testament to the engineering quality of this car. map pocket to replace cassette holder arrived too.

4/21/2008 - continued to clay and antiswirl the paint. it's getting super shiny.

4/20/2008 - the car is running great. it's got a nice long linear pull all the way to redline. no more bogging when cold. it's going to be a challenge to keep my throttle foot under control. this is one fantastic car. i am 110% in love.

4/19/2008 - buzzed over to MB of Portland and picked up the 2 sensors that send temperature readings to the CIS. $40 each including a new washer. Installation took about 15 minutes. Hit the key, fires right up, twists to redline. I think the problem has been resolved. I'll post more tomorrow.

4/18/2008 - received my OVP relay. this model has 2 fuses, not one. I cross referenced it and it's a superceded part. minimal improvement.

4/13/2008 - still running a bit bitchy when cold, warm is improving. Next up will be to replace the OVP relay.
Debadged the trunk, claybar'd the trunklid and hood. the paint cleans up pretty nice.

4/7/2008 - removed dist cap, rotor, wires, plugs, air filter. removed battery. cleaned out battery box [its super clean] preparing for the tuneup and resurrection. even if its not running quite right, this car is absolutely pristine.

4/8/2008 - called MBI to talk about the running crappy when cold situation. they concur with doing a tuneup first. they will be calling me back with a P&A list of what I need.

4/6/2008 - I drive to Yreka, CA and swap the 240D for the 190E. Nice car, but runs like hell.
here are the first pix, parked with my 240D

4/3/2008 - answered an ad on craigslist for a 1993 190e 2.6 5-speed. Had my dad go look at it. We buy it.