Car Chat

[cawimmer430]

Could be fuel, if he/you didn't put a stabilizer in the tank when filling it up in the Fall.

The car gets filled up before storage at the end of October. AFAIK there is no need to add anti-freeze additives to gasoline.

[FoMoJo]

The car gets filled up before storage at the end of October. AFAIK there is no need to add anti-freeze additives to gasoline.

Not anti-freeze, anti-gummy deposits.

[SJ_GTI]

The car gets filled up before storage at the end of October. AFAIK there is no need to add anti-freeze additives to gasoline.

Its not anti-freeze, just stabilizer. Gas isn't meant to last very long just sitting there. FWIW, I make a point to drive my Z3 during the winter (even if it means the top is up) whenever the temps hit mid 40's at least because I don't want to go to the trouble to winterize the car for storage.

That being said, it isn't necessarily bad gas that is your trouble. Could be something as simple as a throttle sensor or something.

[MX793]

Dad's '89 500SL can legally drive on the road on March 1st so today we connected the battery and the car started right up. She was fully fueled but we drove to a nearby gas station to reduce the tire pressure (we always overinflated the tire pressure because we put the car in storage from the end of October to March 1st).

Then, when my dad fired her up to drive home the engine kept stuttering, vibrating hard and the RPMs kept fluctuating. The V8 engine normally idles at 700 RPM, and when the needle went below 500 RPM the engine shut off automatically. Firing up the engine again produced the same results - at high RPM the engine sounded and felt normal, but take your foot off the gas and the engine began to vibrate, stutter and shut itself off once the RPMs went below 500. It felt and sounded really nasty. Ironically, this happened about 500 meters from the local Mercedes-Benz dealership so they sent a tow truck to load up the car.

No idea what the verdict is. My first thought - and this is based purely on how the engine felt and sounded - was that one cylinder bank is either misfiring or not firing at all. Another irony - the car is now 32 years old and my dad had planned to have an R129 specialist check and redo the car's entire electrical system this year.

The car is currently at the local dealer. No diagnosis yet.

Could be a stuck or gummed up EGR valve.  Bad injector.  Bad ignition coil.  Fouled spark plug.  Bad/stale fuel.  If it runs fine under load, just doesn't idle, I'd guess EGR valve.

[cawimmer430]

UPDATE!

We stopped by the dealer today and inquired about the problem. The culprit? The ignition distributor - the original 32-year-old one - has completely oxidized. A replacement part has been ordered and the car should be fixed and running correctly by tomorrow.

Thanks for all the responses and insights. 

[CaminoRacer]

https://youtu.be/RiWQUfDYX8o

[Galaxy]

https://www.issimi.com/collections/u-s-inventory/products/1995-mclaren-f1-1

I do not think I have seen a Mclaren F1 in bright red before. I wonder who the original owner was?

[CaminoRacer]

That stills holds up as an ultimate supercar, 26 years later.

[MrH]

That stills holds up as an ultimate supercar, 26 years later.

Yep.  The only thing that threatens to unseat it in my mind is Gordon Murray's T.50

[cawimmer430]

One of the best-looking EVs today. And it's fast.


Audi RS E-Tron GT Heads To The Autobahn For A Top Speed Run

With Audi recently lifting the embargo for the E-Tron GT first drive videos, we laid eyes on a clip that shows it travel at full pace on a no-speed-limit section of the German Autobahn.

This isn't the regular E-Tron GT, but the RS model, which may not pose a threat to the fastest electric sedans out there, like its cousin, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S, or the Tesla Model S Plaid, but it nevertheless does have a lot of power and supercar-rivaling performance.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUAYfoarSRo

In fact, with the overboost function enabled, it needs only 3.3 seconds for the 0 to 100 km/h (0-62 mph) sprint, according to the official spec sheet, and two tenths of a second less to hit 60 mph (96 km/h) from a standstill.

Top speed is limited to 250 km/h (155 mph), and the dual-motor set-up, powered by an 86 kWh battery in both versions of the car, generates up to 646 PS (637 HP / 475 kW) and 830 Nm (612 lb-ft) of torque in the RS E-Tron GT. The lesser model has up to 529 PS (522 HP / 395 kW) and 640 Nm (472 lb-ft), takes 3.9 seconds to hit 60 mph (96 km/h) and maxes out at 245 km/h (152 mph).

So, can the RS E-Tron GT come close to the official performance numbers in the real world? Well, actually it's quicker, with the 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) recorded on a third-party device taking 3.2 seconds, despite the car riding on winter tires, while the 100 to 200 km/h (62-124 mph) acceleration was completed in 7.1 seconds.


Link: https://www.carscoops.com/2021/03/audi-rs-e-tron-gt-heads-to-the-autobahn-for-a-top-speed-run/

[cawimmer430]

Was never a fan of the W124 but damn, in 500E guise with the proper wheels they do look kind of interesting.

[Morris Minor]

At one of the community's trailheads.
"Soul Red Crystal." vs "Something GM got on Sale at Sherwin Williams."

[veeman]

The Mazda Soul Red is spectacular.  Mazda has the best colors of all mainstreamer brands. 

[AutobahnSHO]

The Mazda Soul Red is spectacular.  Mazda has the best colors of all mainstreamer brands. 

+1

[Morris Minor]

The photo really does not capture its depth in reality. It's extraordinary.
The bad news is it has a reputation for chipping easily.  At least it did. May they fixed it in the later model years.

[CaminoRacer]

I just washed and put some spray wax on my Soul Red today. Looks wonderful

But yes it's fragile.

[shp4man]

To us boomers, it's the color of our new bicycle on Christmas morning at age 11. Or a new 1971 Honda CB350.

[Raza]

Was never a fan of the W124 but damn, in 500E guise with the proper wheels they do look kind of interesting.

Farts, that looks so good. Current Benz design doesn't have shit on it.

[cawimmer430]

There are more registered Trabants on German roads than Teslas. 

No wonder this country is steering towards socialism. Soon you guys will have to address me as Genosse (Comrade) Wimmer! 

https://t3n.de/news/deutschland-mehr-trabis-teslas-1364409/

[FoMoJo]

Was never a fan of the W124 but damn, in 500E guise with the proper wheels they do look kind of interesting.

They still looked stately back then.  No more.

[FoMoJo]

Jeep towed in 4-Lo, mechanicals obliterated in biblical fashion

Note to self: always make sure a vehicle is properly set up for towing before hitting the road. One vacationer south of the border failed to heed this advice and – quite literally – blew their Jeep apart. Thanks to the internet, video of the carnage is available for all to see.

The crux of the issue seems to be that the Wrangler was left in low range and first gear while being towed behind an RV. In case you fell asleep in off-road class, a Jeep transfer case in 4L provides a crawl ratio of about 84:1 in first gear, meaning the engine makes 84 revolutions for one complete wheel rotation. This is great for low speed technical off-road work but catastrophic at highway velocities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2d3NXp4lDk&t=31s

[FoMoJo]

This shot puzzles me...

[MX793]

This shot puzzles me...

(Disclaimer:  haven't watched the vid yet)

Looks like a shot from the bottom end up into the cylinder.  The valves and cylinder head are visible.  Top of the piston a chewed up, which isn't surprising since they probably floated the valves and crashed the piston.  Valves are probably bent.  Wouldn't be surprised if they threw a rod and blew a hole in the bottom end of the motor.

Edit:  OK, what I thought was the top of the piston is actually the broken end of the crankshaft.

Not sure if the block and bell housing shattered under torsion or if the blew out due to over-driving the motor.  Also possible that the clutch plates and flywheel blew apart from the centripetal force, which would have taken out the bell housing.

[FoMoJo]

Presumably, the pistons are still dangling off the crankshaft which could be anywhere.

[MX793]

Wonder how fast they towed the thing.  Doing some quick math, assuming a 32" tire, at 15 mph the motor would have been spinning north of 13,000 RPM.  If they actually got it close to highway speed before it let go, that would be north of 50,000 RPM.

[CaminoRacer]

LOL

[Soup DeVille]

I want to know what was towing it- how could they not tell something was wrong?

Then again, I've watched a bunch of RVers drive away over their own trailer chocks, so I shouldn't be that surprised.

[MX793]

I want to know what was towing it- how could they not tell something was wrong?

Then again, I've watched a bunch of RVers drive away over their own trailer chocks, so I shouldn't be that surprised.

I'm a little surprised it didn't just skid the tires until they got ground down the cords and went flat.

[MX793]

I want to know what was towing it- how could they not tell something was wrong?

Then again, I've watched a bunch of RVers drive away over their own trailer chocks, so I shouldn't be that surprised.

If it seems like something's hung up, just give it some more gas.

[FoMoJo]

I'm a little surprised it didn't just skid the tires until they got ground down the cords and went flat.

I was wondering that but AWD would give the tires pretty good traction.