1994 E300 Diesel estate auto

[adrianr]

Got to work brushing off the surface rust under the rear end. very little really. then treating with hydrate 80.

the join at the fuel filler to the tank started weeping when I brushed it. so am hoping a little Granville petro patch putty that I just ordered will stop that.

 

[adrianr]

The Waeco MS50 cruise control is all installed tested and working. Took a little fabrication and needed to run some extended wires. I am pleased with the result and I do use cruise a lot on the motorways and fast A roads.

Interesting with such a big dash there did not appear to be many places to fit the control unit. I wanted somewhere I did not have to drill to make any new holes.




The control box is under the dash above the black panel that is over the pedals.

Wires for the engine bay have been run up through the bottom of the relay box and through the fuse box and out. One set of cables goes to the vacuum-powered servo unit. That unit takes its vacuum via a T connector (the Waeco kit comes with a variety of T's and all the bolts etc that you need) from the line from the vacuum pump to the brake servo. I might change the blue silicone pipe to black at some stage.




The servo unit:



The black cable from the servo unit pulls on the throttle linkage next to the existing throttle cable



The speed pickup is a pair of magnets mounted to the drive shaft with a magnetic pickup that is wired back along the underside and back to the control unit in the cabin. I used p clips and plenty of small cable ties to tie the wire to the fuel pipes along that side of the car, then up under the washer bottle and along the top of the engine bay and into the area next to the fuse box. I cut the cable there and spliced in some twin core for the run to the driveshaft. Used heat shrink after soldering and then a good wrap of black insulation tape so should be waterproof. Shame the photo is overexposed.

 

[00slk]

Thank you. It's a good car.

I have found it the cruise control works well on the motorhome and should be fine on your transports. It is not as responsive as modern systems but (the sensitivity is adjustable) is fine in the old motorhome and will be fine on this estate. Initially, there was a problem with the cruise on the motorhome. It was not working when I bought the Hymer because of two faults. One was a broken reed switch for the clutch, the other a vacuum leak which also explained the heavy brake pedal. Once I sorted those it works fine and gets used a lot when we travel.

Perhaps this copy of the installation manual will give you some more info:

Manual Waeco MagicSpeed MS 50 Cruise Control

Manual for Waeco MagicSpeed MS 50 Cruise Control. View and download the pdf, find answers to frequently asked questions and read feedback from users.

manuall.co.uk

It is taking me a while to install it. Most time is taken as I am still familiarising myself with the Mercs layout and wiring and wanting it to be a tidy neat install. Waiting on some more twin core and some speed screws and p clips to run the wiring for the magnet pickup that goes on the prop shaft. The wiring has to run back to the engine bay near the fuse box. I will be fitting the brackets and the magnet pickup to the floor near the prop shaft over the next day or so. The wiring and clips etc will be done on Monday when those bits arrive, then I can do the road testing, adjust anything and put the bottom of the dash back together. The black control box and the bulk of the wiring and inline fuse will be cable tied to the hidden top surface of the black panel under the steering column. right now the wiring and the control box is taped with masking tape just under the steering wheel that way I can get to it all if needed without having to pull the dash apart. once tested and all working I will fix the box and secure the wiring with cable ties and clips.

Many thanks for the link Adrian very helpful indeed
Excellent work too. Thank you

 

[adrianr]

Granville petro putty arrived and had applied it to the weeping fuel filler.

 

[adrianr]

Many thanks for the link Adrian very helpful indeed
Excellent work too. Thank you

Thank you and you are welcome.

 

[adrianr]

This morning got a strange whining noise from the upper right of the dash when starting (I had the brake pedal pressed) also that the warning lights were all really dim and the gauges were all reading low - temp, fuel, oil pressure and rev counter. i also noted that when pressing the brakes the instruments turned off and that whine got louder (not speedo which is a mechanical drive). I had not twigged the brake lights were not working - that became clear a little later when the cruise control did not cancel when I touched the brakes as I was exiting a dual carriageway. A quick touch on the on-off button sorted that.

I pulled out the big multi-function relay (I think it is called N10) and had a good look inside. I re-soldered what looked like a dry joint and cleaned up a few of the tracks that looked like there were getting a little corroded. I will order a used spare in any case.

The fix came with changing a fuse. Fuse 5 looked ok but clearly was not. When I replaced that fuse everything is back to working as it should, and no noise from the big relay so a nice cheap and easy fix.

 

[adrianr]

Noticed some slack in the timing chain on Friday when I was trying to track down the rattle II can hear. Replaced the tensioner this morning and that solved the problem with the timing chain. The rattle is still present so I shall keep on looking for that. I'll get it up on a ramp at a friend's garage so i can have a good root around with the engine running.

 

[adrianr]

Stripped and rebuilt the heater duo valves this morning.