Sometimes you have to accept that it’s not going to be as easy as you first thought and call in a pro. Enter Bruno from Unique Star Service. I’d like to say that I called him because I knew someone who referred him, but the truth is he was a mobile Mercedes-Benz specialist who services the area, and I didn’t want to pay to have it towed.
http://www.uniquestarservice.com.au
As luck would have it, Bruno know’s more about these cars than many other so called “pros”. Within an hour or so, he had it running, albeit for only a few seconds. His diagnosis:
You need to replace the fuel distributor, warm up regulator, distributor cap and rotor.
This was not the news I was hoping for. But seeing that there really was no alternative I agreed. We both went out on the hunt for parts.
A couple of weeks later and Bruno returned. This time we discussed the fuel.
Bruno: You drained the fuel?
Me: Yep. Completely drained and refilled with 30l of 98 premium unleaded.
Bruno: We really should drain it again make sure we clean all the crap out. The tank looks very rusty inside.
Me: Do whatever it takes.
A short while later:
Bruno: You really need to replace the fuel tank. I’ve disconnected the fuel line and it should be pouring out. But it’s just trickling.
Me: Are you sure? Can’t it be cleaned out?
Bruno: I’ll have a go and see how it goes.
Another short while later:
Bruno: You really need to replace the tank. It’s full of rust and it will void the warranty on the fuel distributor and warm up regulator. That’s probably why they were stuffed in the first place. Debris from the tank has jammed them up.
Me: OK. I’ll reach out to the members on the Mercedes-Benz NSW club and see if anyone has one. Hopefully it will be less costly than a wrecker.
He wasn’t wrong. Check out the inside of the tank:
As luck would have it, someone did have one and just a week later I had a new (used) tank. Incidentally, I also got a price on a new one
… You might want to sit down for this …
$8250
Ummm, yeah that second hand one sure is starting to look good.
After getting the replacement tank out of the donor car and bringing it home, I thought I’d take a better look.
Crap! It’s just as rusty as the original. I guess that’s to be expected from a 40+ year old parts car that’s been neglected to the point it’s being parted out.
Only one thing to do. Send it away for refurbishment. Enter Redi-Strip.
Check out there work!
As you can see above, that’s a whole car body they can fit in one of their tanks.
For a modest fee, that will take my tank and dip it in a bath of caustic soda. That will strip the outside to bare metal. After this, it gets dipped into a bath of acid and allowed to soak. A chemical reaction between the acid and the steel in the tank occurs and removes the rust. The tank gets pulled out on a daily basis and inspected for progress. It should be ready in 2 weeks. 3 weeks. 4 weeks. Yes definitely 4 weeks.
After the cleaning process it needs to be pressure tested to check for any pinhole leaks and possibly most likely need to be coated with an epoxy to seal it from inside and prevent it from ever rusting again. It will also need to be repainted from the outside as the caustic soda would have stripped this.
In the mean time, Bruno has been around to fit the fuel distributor and warm up regulator. Hopefully when the tank is returned, I’ll have a running engine.
