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Red Pxl Thread


stickman007

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So finally able to take Red Pxl on its 1st trip back to BC!

 

Turbo is holding up well after 3k of driving. Hit max 18.4psi for a sec or so on SG2. Sustained 17.4psi up the Coquihalla.

 

Alternator on the other hand is acting up. Idles at 13.0v and sometime drops to 12.8v. When driving, it varies from 13.2-13.5v. When it was raining, it went up to 13.6v...I think it might be corrosion at the alternator terminal that’s the issue.

 

Soon after crossing the B.C. border, got a huge rock chip that broke through both layers of the glass...not repairable, put tape over it until we get back to AB. I wonder how much MB will charge for an OEM windshield as I have not been impressed with the last glass shop I was at in Edmonton.

 

Finally made it to Hope, BC...will post pics when I get home. Will post pics when I figure out how to shrink the file size.

 

 

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On 2019-08-18 at 11:57 AM, MikeT said:

Better there than the glass roof!

 

True enough...I'm just bummed cause I've been learning how to repair windshield cracks and chips from a professional (friend that owns a shop in BC), but this one can't be repaired.

 

On another note, did the overrunning pulley mod and put a new belt on before the BC trip....loved how smooth the shifts are now. Red Pxl has 119,701km now!

Edited by stickman007
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  • 1 year later...

As of this morning, Red Pxl has 140,436km.

 

Performed maintenance service on it and a general inspection:

- Will need new rear tires pretty soon, down to the wear bar.

- Injector one seems to be weeping very slightly - can't tell if its between the injector/fitting/line, but its not enough to make a mess.

- Will need new windshield (thank you AB).

- A/C is leaking very slowly from the valve cores.

- Clutch was slipping a little, found that the actuator rod has some play - performed "nutted mod" with brass 1/4" flare cap, and performed teacher in with STAR.

 

The Chinese turbo is running strong without any issues. The cheap RockAuto alternator is loud, but still running with the clutch pulley.

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Interesting: our clutch has a touch of slip now so last fall the car came off the road.  It would just slip momentarily under high load and then lock up again.  So you're suggesting that the actuator and or clutch release bearing lever could be the issue?  If so that'd be good news.

 

You are about 18,000 km behind Snowball.

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I'm getting the exact symptoms - but only very subtle. I don't think the slight play in the linkage (actuator/fork/bearing) would cause the clutch to slip - it would probably just cause rougher shifts. The lack of calibration might have something to do with it, but its a long shot.

 

I think its the tune and an aging clutch. I will probably just keep driving it. I do have a clutch/fork stocked at home ready to go for this winter. I'm catching up to your mileage! On average I do 90km a day during the summer with the C1.

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  • 3 months later...

C1 got put away for winter last week.

Service done, new tires at the back and swapped the front inner/outer to even out the wear. Due to current projects, unfortunately she will be stored outside under a car cover instead of the garage this winter. My 451 doesn’t even get a cover.

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  • 7 months later...
  • 1 year later...

So much for all good to go...went to check tire pressure, and the caps were seized! Used a pair of pilers to hold the stem - ended up damaging one of stem and leaked all the air out.

 

So...I pulled out the new-to-me set of Brabus Monoblock that I've acquired last year! Still wish I could find a set of Crossblade wheels - that I can afford. These will do for now.

 

IMG_9607.jpg

 

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  • 2 months later...

Some oldies, but goodies, seeing as I was able to lurk around the site tonite, and also update my profile picture through the adminCP - with a picture of the two Canada1 cars I owned (though not at the same time, the coupe was local with two previous owners while I had the cab). I think the picture with the two Subies is actually the cab. Oh well. LOL. It was fun seeing other smarts I owned, and a lot of iterations of my original car - which BTW - I have spotted in CHilliwack in the last year several times at two address..... still in it's ruby red with corelines and Brabus spoilers glory..... "silver, ruby red, silver, ruby red, silver" as Speedie remarked the day we changed the panels!!

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post-43-1302031264.jpg

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post-43-1332480347.jpg

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post-43-1389831957.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Haven't posted in this thread for awhile!

 

Current mileage 167156km, still behind @MikeT 

 

In preparation for my BC trip, major maintenances were required as I've been slacking for the last little while:

- New springs and struts all around with OEM springs and Bilstein struts.

- Found that my rear bump stops were destroyed similar to Mike's

- Added spacers to rear bearing mounts to decrease the negative camber to around -1 degree from the factory -2 degree

- Put in a used turbo (just under 100k): the Chinese turbo that I had on there is finally having issues, 1) over boosting (waste gate diaphragm is leaking), 2) my turbo lag is increasing significantly, 3) the gasket between the body of the turbo and the muffler elbow is leaking pretty bad.

- New tires

- New fuel filter

- New glow plugs

- Flushed coolant

- New Air filter

- Oil service (faithfully Rotella T6 0W40) and MANN oil filter. The canister adapter I had on there just leaks like a bastard, so I removed it and went back to OEM

- Hope to get a new windshield if I can get it in before Thursday!

 

This winter, the cylinder head will be coming off for a cylinder head rebuild. I've been noticing rougher cold idle and smoke. A few other higher mileage Smarts that I've worked on seem to have the common issue of burnt intake valves. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with higher intake temps with the ECM tune.

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You've been busy....I may see see if you're home second or third week in Sept.   If that's ok.
While you have the head off, check the bore for out of round issues. Mine were so badly warped it took 3 over pistons to correct it. I have one of those oil adapters also but not using it. It wasn't covered in oil until I took it off....lol.  Also check rockers for cracks, I had two with the start of cracks. I also had bad valve seats that required replacing.

 

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I'm only 15K km ahead of you and if you drive a bit more than 12K km a year then you may be catching up!

 

I wonder if Mercedes still has crate long blocks available. I don't expect to change mine but it in theory should be a lot more economical than a rebuild.

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I will be doing a full rebuild (whatever parts I can find) for a friend this fall. According to MB, I can’t even find piston rings now. Will have to hit up @Willys on where to source OEM or aftermarket engine internals.

 

The 2 that I rebuild the heads for, the engine ran perfect. There was no significant wear to the intake seats nor the exhaust seats and valves. The intake valve edges on the other hand was sharp. I put new rockers, lifters and seals in both rebuilds. When the engine fires up, there was zero smoke!

The one engine even had slight scoring on cylinder 3, but it seems the head made all the differences. Like Willys, I will post pics and make a thread when I do my next rebuild.

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