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Posts in "Maintenance"

Monday, March 18th, 2013

Well, the good news is that the re-education of the 500 Benz's transmission is proceeding apace, and I also sprang for some new rear brake pads that thankfully (1) do not incessantly spew dust on the wheels like the old ones, and (2) seem to have fixed the low-speed squealing that I used to hear.

But I'm still chasing the root cause of another issue that I had the guys at MB Elite check out—a most un-Mercedes-like hard ride on bad roads—and as I'm suddenly in full-on maintenance mode here, I figured I'd go ahead and itemize my maintenance costs since buying the car nine months and about 8,000 miles ago.

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posted in: Maintenance  Videos  

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

Got not one, but two black German drop-tops in the stable this week, I am pleased to report—and naturally, this '50s Edition Beetle with 170 horsepower costs about twice as much as the 500 Benz.

In other news, the latter is about to receive its first real mechanical repair since I bought it nine months ago.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Maintenance  

Sunday, January 20th, 2013

As noted, the plan yesterday was to go sailing with my friend Captain Nick, a man of mystery who grew up with me in the woods of Maine and now makes his home here in L.A.

The sailing part went off without a hitch, but the 500 Benz decided to throw a CEL (check-engine light) en route from Hollywood to Captain Nick's fine vessel in Marina Del Rey—so let's take a deep dive into both topics.

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posted in: 500Benzlife  Maintenance  Videos  

Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

Who says winter driving in LA isn't dangerous?

High winds have strewn the streets with palm fronds as of late, and things got real when I inadvertently ran over one in the 500 Benz while ogling a neat house.

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posted in: Maintenance  

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

I have long sung the praises of German Motor Car, an independent Benz-only shop in Santa Monica.

I have a lot of respect for Herbert, the guy who runs the place, and evidently some of his customers with budgets a bit higher than my $12,000 feel the same way.

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posted in: Maintenance  

Sunday, December 30th, 2012

Near as I can tell, the 500 Benz's M119 V8 doesn't use a damn drop of oil.

At first I would check every time I got gas—exact same spot on the dipstick, without fail.

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posted in: Maintenance  

Friday, December 28th, 2012

I initially intended to publish a monthly fuel log like my former colleagues and I used to do over at the dearly departed Long-Term Road Test Blog, but then I realized that the 500 Benz firmly insists on averaging 18 miles per gallon.

Nonetheless, I got some numbers for ya.

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posted in: Maintenance  

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