380 SEC various faults

[wesson]

Three months ago I bought a Mercedes 380 sec. It's a beautiful car but it does have a few problems! I was hoping somebody can assit me in the following items.
When I first picked up the car I noticed that there is a delay in the auto box when changing from 2nd to 3rd it's only a couple of seconds but I have noticed in cold weather it tends to get worse. or with no throttle will stay at highish revs for a conciderable distance before it eventually chnges gear!
Question one, As I have know idea what's causing this at a guess-timate how long will the box last out before I have to get it replaced?
Or will it last some time? As I have been told it will cost me around 1600.00 to get this sorted out :cry:
Or has anybody had this problem with theirs?

Second problem. The air conditioning does not seem to work, in the hand book it states that it should be run Once a month to keep it in good working order. If this car has not been out the country I doublt very much if it's been used?
Question two. I found the large external electric fan (I assume for the air con) had seized solid I was able to free it up but what I don't know is does the fan come on as soon as you switch on the air con? or is it all part and parcel of the Heating system electronics? :?

Thanks Wesson

 

[Francois]

Great car!

I don't know much about the autobox, but I can recommend that you have a look at the gearbox oil level. If this is either to high or to low it will cause a problem.

I am not sure about the aircon though. Mine is also acting up and especially in warm weather it would work for a while and them stop cooling. The W126's are also famous for blowind in hot air all the time since the duo valves seem to pack up after a while.

My car has 240 000 km's on the clock and is still going great.

 

[jaques2k]

Do you know if the aircon has been serviced recently? If not, it is possible that the system is out of gas, and therefore not working. To check this out, open the bonnet and with the motor running have someone to activate the aircon by switching on the button. If the compressor clutch activates (it is powered by a belt) you should be able to both see the clutch move a little and the engine sound should change a little (and also a small sound coming from the clutch). If nothing happens when you activate the aircon, the first thing to do is to try re-fill the system with proper gas and check for leaks (I guess the easiest way is to have some aircon specialist to do this procedure - it´s not that expensive). This is only my amateur-guess since we had the same prob. on our 560 SEC. Maybe you also have some other prob. with the aircon, but this is one first step to check it´s functionality I´ve been told.

 

[guydewdney]

large external fan?

do you mean the one on ther radiator? the extra cooling fan for use when stuck in traffic? the one that automatically comes on when temp goes over about 90 degrees?


autobox - deffo replace the oil first - these are prob the most reliable auto boxes made - the later electronic ones are worse

do you have a S/E button? does it go better in S than E mode? E should be smoother and slower pull off (in second) S should be a bit snappier, and pull off in first.

does the kickdown work?

if it all goes pear shaped - then george fraser in west london is good for gear boxes - he re-built my electronic one from my CL 420 for 1200 ish quid...

guy

 

[spanners]

Questions

Flaring between 2nd and 3rd is a common problem and I have never found anyone that give a conclusive cause.

It could last ages or weeks.