Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => Body, interior, paint, chrome, and cosmetic items => Topic started by: hank sound on May 20, 2012, 22:28:34
-
:-\ Hi folks,
I washed my 280SL yesterday - and as a thanks for my efforts, I found that a great deal of water had entered the left side drivers compartment floor, towards the front. This water seepage was limited to the left side, no hint of water on the right side.
Any thoughts on what I should be looking for/at??
Thanks and cheers,
Hank
-
Hole in your drain tube. Look under ther dash and you will see a rubber tube for the scuttle box, the drains for the box go through the car and out into the engine bay.
-
Thanks Dr.,
Of course, I'll look into that immediately !! :o
Be well, Hank
-
And if you find no hole in your rubber tube, it, or the metal tubes above and below it might be clogged.
That will give the same result, correct Benz Dr.?
-
Or another one I found recently after going through the process was a leak though the wiper shaft opening!!
Garry
-
Yes, that's right. Anyone one of those things can give you wet feet but I have a much better story about wet feet in a Pagoda.
This was about 18 years ago:
I had a date with this rather hot looking blonde. ;D We were going out to dinner in the Red Rocket only it wasn't called that back then - it was simply called the 230. I only had the car less than a year at this point so there were still alot of things to fix.
This was the spring of ' 94 and I had just met this youg lady, and of course I wanted to impress her with my nice ride..... Well, there we were driving to diner, and I had to go through this large pot hole with a lot of water in it. Of course, I couldn't see that there was a pot hole because it was covered with water. ( I bet you can see where this is going )
So I slowed down a bit for the water hole on the side of the street, and WHOOSH!. :o There was water coming through the side window seals, water coming from the scuttle box drains and a ton of water coming through holes in the floor! :o My moment to impress her just evaporated in a deluge of dirty water. :(
I'm not sure why, but not one drop got on her either. She was wearing these rather exspensive looking high heels and without saying a word she put one foot on the tunnel and one up on the sill, while all of this water sloshed around on the floor.....and poured down between her parted legs. :o
You know, a really fun loving person might of laughed a bit or made a joke about it. Maybe even giggled a bit? Not this one. She never said a word. ::) I'm sure I mumbled something about having to fix the holes in the floor which garnered nothing in response. :-[
I somehow managed to get a second date but I'll end the story here. :-X And yes, I told Shelley about it. She never laughs about my car stories but she did about that one. Probably because I have her and not the blonde...... ;)
Come to think of it, my first date with Shelley a year later was also in the Red Rocket. It was still called the 230 at the time - the Red Rocket name came later. We were driving down a street in Leamington, Ontario and I almost hit a telephone pole! I had to swerve hard to the left which almost put her in my lap. ;D My excuse for driving like that was that she had been distracting me...... High heels, black stockings, short skirt - what can I say...... we were married later that fall.
-
Hey Benz Dr.,
I think I know what some of your advanced classes were back in your school days. That was a short, to the point, funny and well told story :D :D
Cheers, Hank
-
I once left my Triumph Spitfire top down outside a Cinema on a bright, sunny day. Came out two hours later to find that a severe thunderstorm had passed over and the car was filled with water to such a degree that it actually sat on its wheels in the wheel wells and couldn't move an inch. But luckily, I found the drain plugs and waited 10 minutes while the water poured out so I could drive off...much to the amusement of the onlookers - this wasn't a funny story for quite a lot of years :-)
-
Found the leak !! :D There's a duck billed bladder affair at the end of the drain tubes on both sides of the car - located in the engine compartment next to the firewall. My driver's side drain was completely clogged with "stuff". All is well now.
Cheers, Hank
-
Luckiley your problem is solved Hank.
Dr.Benz, that was a nice story.
Cheers, Ger.
-
...... There's a duck billed bladder affair at the end of the drain tubes on both sides of the car - located in the engine compartment next to the firewall. ...
Hello Hank,
the drain tube on the passenger side has no rubber valve, it is installed only on the driver side:
http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=6092.msg37765#msg37765
(http://www.sl113.org/forums/uploaded/66andBlue/2006114235929_Rubberball_Valve.jpg)
-
Great picture - when I had the engine out I realised I didn`t have any of the "duck billed bladders" and ordered some from SLS. When they arrived they appeared too big for the drain tube - I notice yours are the same - anyone know if this is the norm and how are they attached?
Cheers
-
Indeed, the one I received back then from SLS also appeared to be a bit too large so I put a clamp around.
Its too expensive to loose it. ;)
-
my problem is on the right side (pass side) i couldnt get hose off under the dash - going to try to unclog it thru engine bay but couldnt get anything past the bend in the pipe - now going to try a fish tank brush -
-
What is so difficult? There are only two cotterpin-style clamps that need to be removed.
If the rubber is baked onto the metal, use a needle, lift it up a bit and then spray some penetrating fluid (PB-blaster, WD-40 etc) into the cavity and wait a few hours. But most likely the rubber is so brittle that you'll have to replace it anyway, so, just cut it out.
-
Just a word of warning - I cut my thumb quite badly when removing mine earlier in the year. The end of the top metal nipple that the rubber tube goes on had rusted to a sharp edge - and it got me! :-[ I probably hadn't given it the respect it required!
Richard
-
I got my drain tube rubber valve at MB, they still carry it in stock. It fits like a glove on the tube.
Bob
-
Great picture - when I had the engine out I realised I didn`t have any of the "duck billed bladders" and ordered some from SLS. When they arrived they appeared too big for the drain tube - I notice yours are the same - anyone know if this is the norm and how are they attached?
Cheers
George,
it took quite a bit longer to answer your question more precisely.
I was searching for a new valve for the 280SL and came across these products here:
http://www.authenticclassics.com/Rubber-Water-Drain-Valve-for-Mercedes-20mm-p/auth-003774.htm
and a reproduction similar to the one from SLS:
http://www.authenticclassics.com/Rubber-Water-Drain-Valve-for-Mercedes-repro-20mm-p/auth-003773.htm
Looks like the original valve for the W113 cars has an ID of 15mm (and costs $100 !!) while the reproduction is 20mm wide. This seller includes a sleeve to make up the difference.
-
Dr. Benz ... "This was about 18 years ago:" now 19 years ago ... how time flys :) ... Just wanted to say loved your story :)
Hank, ... hope you found the source of the leak and changed that hose okay :)