'87 560 SEL Awakening.... how to proceed...
 

Hello,

I'll be waking an '87 560 SEL from a somewhat haphazard storage situation. It's got about 87,000 miles on it, and is in fantastic condition... It hasn't been driven for about two years...

How to proceed waking it up?

It is on a battery tender...
What is the best engine oil? tranny oil? coolant oil?
What should i check before driving it?
Should i put something in the fuel before driving it?
Mold on the leather in some bits... how best to clean off the mold from blue leather?

Thanks,

Can't wait to get into this car again.

r.

u should change all oils engine - gear - deff ETC...

and change the battery and Radatior water and drive it as a new car for 1 month later u can drive all its speeed to clean the injection or u can take it to workshop to clean the injetion


later u can see any problem but usually u will find small problems its good car really strong made

To get mold off leather, soap (mild type) and water should do the trick. Then after that a good conditioner should be good again.

87,000 on a 1987 560 is basically a barn find.

With the fuel, drain it if you can. good 91 octane seems to last a bit longer but two years for any gas is too long. it will lose a lot of it's combustable property (but will still blow you up sky high if ya light a cigarette around it).

I'm not sure what is the best oil as you'll probably get 300 different answers and each will swear by it's respective brand. My personally I use a synthetic oil. A few mechanic buddies of mine usually use that Royal Purple stuff in cars that have been sitting for long periods of time.

Once you get all the fluids changed, and maybe running an injector cleaner through it and or going to get it cleaned out.

Well you mentioned it was stored a little haphazard and things that go with storage is rubber and there is plenty of it on the front end. If you lucky and depending on climate, they might or might not be dried out. Creaking, clunking, other scrange noises from the front means those rubber things are goin out or is out. Most commonly the tie rods and upper and or lower ball joints.
You should be good after changing everything, and if the engien still runs odd or off, then check the rubber at the point where the mass air flow meets the engine intake. Sometimes that dries out over time and cause idle problems even in low milage Benzes. Just due to time.

What ever little tweaks you have to do, it will eb well worth it as you havea jewel on ya hands with that milage. Hell, the engien is practically new.

Thank for the tips...

What is the best way to drain the tank? Is there a drain plug or do i need to siphon?

Once i get the leather cleaned and fresh gas, I'm going to start it up and take it to get the oil changed. I hear also something about getting MB Radiator Fluid, should I do this right away?

Thanks again,

r.

To drain the tank... is there a drain plug or do i need to use a pump/syphon?

thanks merc people,

r.

Hey,

So i have finally changed all the fluids... and it is running pretty damn good... A few questions:

-the mechanic said that the idle was really fast, and he turned it down but that there is something that is supposed to regulate the idle which doesn't seem to be quite working... Any ideas?

-I got the radiator fluid flushed, but not with Mercedes fluid. Should I go get the merc stuff?

-the ABS light is on... A code reset or what else does the light signify?

-smaller stuff... Where do I get another rubber seal for the antenna? Is there a place I can order it online?

-the fader is all wonky, I hear there is a problem with the speaker wire... Can I easily bypass the fader and fix the problem, or do I need to replace the speaker wire?


Thanks guys, cant wait to get it on the road!

air leaks, idle control valve, idle main cpu. Air leaks can be very easy to find to a PITA to find. Idle control valve is easy to test assuming it's getting voltage. If not, then the idle control relay or idle control computer. Those are usual suspects.

you should go with the Mercedes stuff as the mercedes components in the cooling system is made of aluminum and if the fluid dont have enough anti-corrosive, it will rust things in there. Some people never used the Merc stuff since the car was new and was fine and some people had tons of trouble.

ABS light signifies that the ABS is not getting proper voltage or there is something of and error there. Sometimes the overload protection relay is culprit especially with when high idle is also a symptom.

I'm not sure how easy it is to bypass teh fader but when my aftermarket radio was placed in, it was bypassed and the fader on the radio does the fader .No problems since. Not on this 420sel and not on my prior 560.

awesome advice. it was the relay, and now it is driving like a dream.

last bit... on the front, perhaps the front left, there is a creaking when boating over bumps. not always. sometimes. and really quiet quiet.

should I get it looked at now to try to avoid it getting worse? or should I just let it go and wait Rollie becomes more consistent?

can you make this kind of creaking go away with some grease on a joint?


thanks,

r.

just get it looked at, just in case. The front end parts are basically maintance parts due to the amount of rubber and age and the weight they have to carry around. Usually about every 2-4 years for the little parts and 5 years for guide rods. But that assuming the rest of the suspension is in good condition as bad parts tend to quickly wear out the rest. I.E. rolling around with bad upper ball joints, tie rod ends and etc usually wear out guide rods in half time.


Just peek at it. and if it's somethign wrong, go ahead and fix it. If it's a part of the front end that require lots of other part removal, you can wait until the rest goes.

Grease on joint wont do anything if it is infact from a joint as all the joints are sealed and considered maintance free. But! some people retrofitted grease nipples on those things and havent had to change them since.

Idahojim
 

I have same problem on an 87 420 sel and can not see where a reply has been given addressing this issue.