Project : W210 - Front Passenger Door Latch Replaced

Here is another defective part I had it replaced recently.  This particular part is called the door latch as you can see the picture below.  The part are made of  part plastic and metal.  As many W210 owner will tell you, the entire plastic parts of W210 are prone to break easily.  And this is what happen to my car.  

While I was working on the front passenger door panel,  the door latch was jammed in a position where I have to use brute force to unjam the door handle.  I had learned from this experience to never use force on plastic parts especially on a old Merz.  The plastic part of the door latch broke into a few pieces and I have to tow my car to JATI Transport to have the door open professional! 

When it was returned back to me I quickly order the parts from eBay for around BND$150.00 and quickly got it replaced when it arrived!  Lucikly this door latch is easily available or else it would cost be BND$600 to have it replaced with OEM and labour charges. 

The broken door latch went straight to the bin!

 I never would thought this kind of part will break so easily especially given its a German car.   Hopefully the other 3 doors is going to last longer then the front passenger door!

Project : W210 - Side Indicators Replacement

Here is another update on the exterior of my W210.  Back in early 2018 I bought a set of side indicators to replaced the worn OEM side indicators.  I finally got both replaced!  Check out the two pictures below.  I think the tinted black looks really good on silver car.  Hopefully it will looks good on the new color scheme I have plan for this car!

Remember the worn side indicator that was broken?  Well I got a set of original replacement kit from JATI Transports for BND$20.00  I have them replaced by myself as it is a simple task to do by anyone.

I am so glad the side indicator works when I turn on the emergency blinker!  Another need-to-do list ticked!

Am enjoying doing this project car but I have to apologise as it is very slow in progress. 

Project : W210 - Newly Restore Headlamps

Woohoo!  Finally got all the headlamp cables problem fixed and repaired!  Even the headlamps get a new leash of life!  All the bulbs for both headlamps and spot lamps had been replaced with the bulbs I bought online!  I let you guys be the judge from the pictures below

Yes there are some bluish tint on the bulbs.  I think it looks just fine.  Not too much and perfect for old car like this W210.  Both the orange indicators got a new set of bulbs I bought from HUAHO for BND$1.50 each.

Soon this car will be heading to the paint booth.  Hopefully before the end of 2019!

Project : W210 - Headlamp Restoration

 Since the headlamp had been disassembled it is also the right time to have those headlamp properly polish to bring back its original clear looks.  I bought this DIY headlight restoration kit a while back and finally can put into good use.

I do not have a polisher so I used my drill as a polisher!  LOL!

The task is pretty simple, it require the usual sanding, polishing and buffing.  It took me around 1 hour to have these two headlamp cover properly restored. And yes the kit came with all the necessary sand paper, buffer and liquid to do the job.

After the sanding, polishing and buffing, I had to applied a special liquid that came with the kit.  I had them baked under our hot sun for a few hours.

So here are the final result for both the headlamps.  What do you guys think?

The restoration kit cost me around BND$20.00 online.  And it is highly recommended by many user.  I will update again in my next post on the car newly restored headlamps!

Project W210 - Defective Front Headlamps Cables Pt.1

I was supposed to preview the looks of the white halogen lights on my W210 till I encounter fuse problems.  Each time I turn on the lights the fuses are blown.  I checked the fuse box and noticed the headlamp and spot lights fuses had blown. 

It puzzled me because it shouldn't be that way as I already repair the exposed cables.  So I removed both headlamps to have it properly checked.  As you can see from the below picture you can see live wire exposed!

The live wires were touching each other hence with the blown fuses.  I then opened the headlamps and took my sweet time repairing the wires by covering it using electrical tape.   There are several cables inside each headlamp and it took around 2 hours for me to have those safely taped.

It was not an easy task but I am glad I spotted this problem before it got worst.  Next post I will show you guys how the car looks like during the night!

Project W210 - Replacing the White Halogen Bulbs

Finally took the step to replace the old bulbs with the white halogen bulbs that I purchased online. I replaced all the bulbs including main beam, high beam and spot lights.It should be a straight up job till I notice some wire connecting the bulbs were exposing from the cable.  I used the electrical tapes (blue color) and have all the cable properly taped. 

Project : W210 - White Halogen Bulbs

Just bought a bunch of white halogen bulbs for my W210.  You can say this is my first small mods for my E240.  The bulbs here are pretty cheap, about BND$1.50 a piece.  I bought 4 sets of H7 and 2 sets of H11.  H7 will be fitted for the low beams and high beams.  The H11 will be fitted to the spot lights in the front.  The bulbs are tinted blue so when its turn on it will project white beam thru the lamp.

The 9006 bulbs were supposed to be fitted to the Dodge Journey but sadly I bought the wrong size.  I will get these fitted to my W210 this week and will show you guys the result.

H11 bulbs for the spot lights

H7 for both low and high beams

This is 9006 size and doesn't fit in any of my cars. LOL

Project W210 - Boot Handle Replaced!

Remember my boot handle?  Well the driver's side is missing a piece and the handle is showing its age and cracks can be seen and it is breaking apart.

I paid around BND40 to get this item from eBay UK. This part is an easy fix and it took me less then 5mins to replace.  I bought this part used because it came with the same color as my car, so I do not have to worry about painting.  Brand new this part cost around BND$200.00.

The condition of the boot handle is pretty good. No scratch or damage!

This new part came off from a E-Class wagon from UK that will be scraped.  And the car shared the same boot handle part numbers.

Done!!!

Project : W210 - Trouble Shoot The Parktronic

Today I will be removing the front bumper so that I can check the conditions of the Parking Sensor or as Mercedes Benz called it, Parktronic.  As mentioned in many of my earlier W210 post, the front bumper of my W210 had a minor accident and the bumper was torn apart by a truck during a corner of a street.  That incident damaged my baffle plates and also one parktronic sensor.   

 The Parktronic had been disabled for more then 10 years because it will not function even if one sensor is not working. I need to make sure all the Parktronic sensors and harnesses are in working order before sending this car for respray.

So to check, first I need to remove the front bumper and the body under panels.  It's a straight forward job by just removing all the bolts and screws

Once the under panel is out as shown above I can begin removing the bumper.  There are only 4 bolts holding the bumper with the car body.

First bolt as shown here

Second bolt as shown here

Third bolt as shown here and forth on the other side

Then you slowly pull the bumper out and here it is!

The top picture is one of the harness connector for one of the Parktronic.  There are 6 in the front and 4 at the back.  And thank god all of the harness are in working order.  How do I know?  Well, I had been doing a lot of research on these Parktronic online. To know whether the Parktronic or harness is functioning or not all you need to do is switch on your engine and put your finger on the Parktronic sensors and feel for vibration.  Because the Parktronic uses ultra-sonic wave you can actually feel the wave vibrating! Another way to check is to put your ear on the Parktronic sensors and listen for vibration or knocking.  I tried both methods and it works!  

So here is what I found. I took a working Parktronic sensor and tried it on all the 6 harness connectors at the front bumper. As mentioned earlier all the harness connectors are working just fine. I also tried all 6 Parktronic sensors on the harness connector and found out 3 of the Parktronic sensors in the front are no longer working.  One of Parktronic sensor is a purchases I bought online at Aliexpress.  So now I need to get 3 units of Parktronic sensors for the front.  

As for the rear bumper, I have to engage to reverse gear to engage the Parktronic. Again using feel for the vibration and I am glad all four are vibrating!  So it means the harness connector and Parktronic are working fine!

The three broken Parktronic sensors