Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Doctor Gollum on 08 September 2025, 23:56:32
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So, what does £600 buy you these days?
Well, an 8 owner 2007 ML280 CDI with 7 weeks MoT and 204k miles on it might not be top of everyone's wish list, but horses for courses ;D
Basically the garage that my mate uses for all his bits and bobs had bought it from a customer when it looked like their bill was going to far exceed the value of the car. They used it as a dog van for a bit and until it started to, er, have issues. At which point they offered it to my mate. After a quick test drive, he was all set to break it and asked if I could help strip it. I felt that the issues, whilst not exactly economically viable in the scheme of things, weren't insurmountable and felt it had at least another year in it... So having a soft spot for high mileage sheds and being the total idiot that I am, I bought it from him ;D
The good bits:
2 ok tyres.
Starts, runs, drives and stops.
MoT until October.
Aftermarket shin breaker
The not so good bits:
2 knackered tyres
Aircon inop
Osr tail light out
Number plate lights out
Fuel gauge inop
Radio inop
Absolutely minging inside
Some cosmetic issues
Bodged wiring for said shin breaker
Interior light burnt out. Literally.
Auto lights not working (see above).
Surging at low speeds.
Oh, and a stretched transfer box chain... Sounds like a machine gun if you stomp on it.
And that's just the things I knew about...
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Sounds like a full days work.
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Aftermarket shin breaker
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Ah yes, the wince as you walk into the dreaded towball. ;D
Good luck with the repairs, I'm confident that you'll sort it. :y
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That will keep you busy for a weekend or two ;) 8)
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Sounds like a great project.
For minimal cost you can at least make it a lot nicer. Then, hopefully, just one or two major jobs.....
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And a decent* winter run-around, not that we seem to get bad weather anymore :y
*I'm sure the tree huggers would disagree, obviously.
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Sounds like the V8 one I was offered a few years ago. After a good look around it, and running it up and down the airfield, we decided that free was about £2000 too much ;D
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So got it home and it promptly ordered 4 tyres for it and set about cleaning it inside.
There was so much dust and dog hair in the boot, I ended up taking it back to the shell just to get it vaguely presentable.
Investigating the interior light led to evidence of rodents... Basically mouse piss had shorted the light out and took out the ECU in the overhead unit. Cleaning was then escalated to removing the headlining and all the upper trims were also removed, vacuumed, scrubbed and re vacuumed and the mouse house above the interior light removed.
Apparently the previous owner had found said mouse under the back seat and dispatched it.
Cleaning the interior took 4 whole days and used 8 cans of Ambersil foaming upholstery cleaner and a vacuum bag. Still not happy with the door cards, but they're a textured plastic that's a bastid to clean, even with a nail brush. Same for the top of the rear seat back rest...
A new set of seats and door cards is on the list of possibilities but the seats are now clean enough to use especially now it doesn't stink of wet Collies and mouse piss.
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New tyres fitted, and Halfrods very kindly pointed out a CV boot on the front axle that had become detached and sprayed grease all over the inside of the wheel. They very charitably offered to replace it for £418 ;D - Fixed with 2 cable ties. After the mouse, this was unknown item #2.
Next, the interior light got replaced with one not full of mouse piss and miraculously the Auto Lights came back to life. An unintended consequence of this was the replacement overhead ECU came from a car that had an auto dimming mirror... fix one thing etc, etc ::)
This cracked open the lid of Pandora's Box and the mirror became the first upgrade.
The rear lights turned out to be corroded contacts on the light cluster and this highlighted some obvious water ingress... Cue unknown item #3. The contacts cleaned up ok and the tail lights now work as advertised. The number plate lights required a new tailgate trim to fix as the bulb contacts are built into the plastic and had corroded away and been cobbled with a twist of wire which threw the bulb warning system into melt down. Replacement trim sorted this.
The tail lights are bolted to the body and clamp against a piece of 10mm thick foam stuck to the body. Unfortunately these foam pads had previously been mistakenly stuck to the light, and obviously leaked like a sieve. Someone's solution to this was to use silicone sealant to seal the foam to the body :-X
New foam pads are still available from Mercedes, so it got a pair of them fitted the right way round having cleaned all the sealant off and repainting the area they stick to to ensure a perfectly smooth surface... Removing the seal and had somewhat damaged it. Obviously it hasn't rained since, but I have crafted a pair of gutters inside the body to drain any water that does get in away from the rear SAM which had obviously been damp at some point.
Sods law, it hasn't rained since so won't know how effective that repair is and I also need to use some sealant under the tailgate opening cosmetic trim to direct the water away from running straight down into the light mountings.
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Next on the list was the fuel gauge not working.
Wiring checked from the top of the tank to the rear SAM. The code was for the left hand tank level sensor and there were no faults in the CANBUS between the rear SAM and Instrument Cluster. The gauge performed its start up self test as you would expect it to.
The right hand level sensor showed a modest resistance which fluctuated a bit as I rocked the car. The left hand one was consistently open circuit.
Replacement used level sensors/fuel pump/tank plumbing was acquired along with the tool to undo the locking rings with a view to just swapping the whole lot out.
Opening the tank up revealed an immediately obvious cause... The plug connecting the left sensor to the right tank electrical connection wasn't plugged in.
Fixing this was a lot quicker and cleaner than expected. 8)
The tank gubbins is not wasted though as it cost less than half a new level sensor assembly from China, which actually costs as much as the genuine Mercedes unit. The complete pump/sensor assembly is £800 new regardless of source, second hand, £120. So it's a handy back up should I ever require it.
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Bought a complete service kit for it as I had no idea when it was last done, and had attributed the surging at low speed to a blocked fuel filter.
The pollen filters were a bit rough, the fuel filter corroded, and the air filters were in a totally different league :o
At some point someone had slopped oil all over the right hand cam cover whilst topping it up and this drained straight onto a joint on the right hand air intake. The inside of this filter housing had a 1/4 inch of caked on oily grime inside it.
Both filters were absolutely solid with detritus, bugs and gunge. It's a miracle that it ran at all, let alone not having a check engine light on...
https://youtube.com/shorts/CKLR4skIb1Q?si=s0DkHpLHr8peHm02
New air filters, and fuel filter fitted and the intakes cleaned out and not only does it no longer surge, but it's a damn sight more lively too. Being a 3.0 V6 it was never short of torque, but it did feel a touch asthmatic... Obviously it was struggling for air without the turbo sucking it in at low rpm.
The cabin air intake got a scrub out along with replacing the pollen filters.
Oil and coolant are the last two items on that list as far as the engine goes, but the oil filter cap is welded in place so actually had to buy a tool to remove it without cracking the housing.
The coolant can wait a moment, but will get done when the washer bottle gets replaced with a heated one. This and associated plumbing en route.
Unknown item #4 is the front drop links... They clatter like a loose tile in a gale and will get done on my next days off ready for the impending MoT. That should be all the MoT bits addressed.
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Next thing, the radio.
It would fire up and then switch off without actually doing anything and would kill the battery overnight.
The head unit, audio gateway, CD changer and Bluetooth ECU are all connected by a fibre optic loop. Switching the HU on triggers a loop check by the audio gateway. This keeps going until each component checks in. Unfortunately in this generation of Comand, the audio gateway is integral to the HU. The loop checked out at each point outside the HU, ruling out the CD changer and Bluetooth ECU as the faulty component. Basically the HU wasn't seeing itself, so shut back down whilst the audio gateway kept trying to perform the roll call, hence the drain.
Having established the likely culprit, a known good unit was acquired from a private seller and the radio, including NAV now works at it should... But...
It came from a car without the CD changer or phone pre wiring, so whilst my phone pairs to the Bluetooth, the radio doesn't know it's there. Same with the CD changer. Fix one thing... ::)
All is not lost as it should be possible to recode it for both. And as Pandora has her box open, I may as well retrofit a reversing camera and code that in at the same time.
Whilst we're in the electrics...
The Climate Control functions except for the aircon. Regas first and go from there.
The non functioning parking sensors are down to no signal from one rear sensor. These are a newer version of the system fitted to the Omega but with visual warnings as well as the beeps. Trouble shooting should be straightforward... Common power and ground to all the sensors in each bumper along with a single signal wire to each sensor. Checking this to the ECU will be relatively straightforward thanks to the wiring diagrams on WIS so if it's rodent related it's just a question of running one wire from the boot connector to the ECU. However, just in case it's the bumper loom or sensor, I have acquired both.
Towbar wiring has been removed as there's absolutely zero point using scotch blocks when you can get a plug in harness.
The shin breaker is being replaced with a factory fold away tow ball like the one on TPC along with the correct harness.This will be a relatively straightforward job as well and a bit of box ticking coding should see that all ticketyboo. Just waiting on bits for that job, and whilst the bumpers off, I can further investigate the parking sensors.
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So far then...
2 knackered tyres
Aircon inop
Osr tail light out
Number plate lights out
Fuel gauge inop
Radio inop
Absolutely minging inside
Some cosmetic issues
Bodged wiring for said shin breaker
Interior light burnt out. Literally.
Auto lights not working (see above).
Surging at low speeds.
Stretched transfer box chain - replace chain and fluid/ possibly replace transfer case fitted with new chain
Service engine
Service gearbox
Change diff fluids
Front end vibration 65-80: tyre rebalance?
Crap headlights... New bulbs or xenon retrofit...
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Excellent progress… good luck with the MOT :y
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Still not happy with the door cards, but they're a textured plastic that's a bastid to clean, even with a nail brush. Same for the top of the rear seat back rest....
Excellent progress so far! :y
Without wishing to teach you to suck eggs, re. the door card plastics, have you tried getting hold of a £1 plastic bog brush and cutting the handle off? Stick it in a cordless drill and it works wonders on hard plastics with some spray cleaner.
It also fetches ingrained grit out of carpets with relative ease 8)
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I used a nail brush, but I can see how that would be a solution. :y
Actual leather to replace the MB Tex vinyl stuff is on the slightly longer term list. Had MB Tex in the Alabama Mumsybus and whilst fairly robust, it's just not the same. Seats would obviously come with the leather trimmed door cards rather than the semi solid plastic the more basic trims came with. This stuff seems to absorb muck and scrubbing gets the bulk of it and leaves it looking nice until it dries...
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Excellent progress… good luck with the MOT :y
Ta :y
Have to say it's been incredibly therapeutic whilst trying to avoid being in the house.
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Excellent progress… good luck with the MOT :y
Ta :y
Have to say it's been incredibly therapeutic whilst trying to avoid being in the house.
I can relate to that, there is little better escape than tinkering with a car, especially when the weather is nice, and you're not up against the clock.. mainly why I'm doing a little more of it :y
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Been busy today...
Oil change all done. It only takes 8.5 litres. And guess who found the new sump plug washer on the floor having just refilled it and run it up to temp ::)
Managed to undo the sump plug, fit the washer and refit the plug without losing more than a cup full of oil or burning my finger :-X
Won't make that mistake again :-X
Other work was a combination of tasks, not least resealing the freshly sealed lights. Weather has finally been atrocious and inspite of the new seals, one light was flooded and tother clearly had water draining past it into the inside of the boot >:(
Stripped out the boot for several different jobs, removed the lights and bumper for 4 reasons. Reason number 1 was to remove the tailgate aperture trim which runs down behind it which needed removing to address the water ingress with a bit more vigour.
Picked up some expanding all weather roofing sealant and ran a thick bead behind the trim from the gas strut mounts to the rear panel. Hopefully this will be enough to divert the water away from the light apertures and into fresh air behind the bumper. I also ran a bead around the outside edge of the foam pads to dissuade any water that might now get behind the lights. Time will tell... :-\
Bumper removal reason number 2 was to address the beginnings of some rust on the nearside rear quarter. Turns out it's had a minor repair in the past and paint was chipping along the top edge of the bumper and eventually moisture had got to the metal. It's right on the bottom edge as it folds over the bumper, and barely an inch long... Well it was ::)
Really it could do with another small skim of filler, but I can live with the 3/4" scar. Been primed and painted and there's a scratch on the dog leg of the wheel arch, so once the colour coat has hardened over the weekend, I will rub both down with 1500 grit wet and dry and then lacquer it to blend it to the body line. A similar approach to a scratch on the OSF wing has saved the panel, so worth a go.
Bumper removal reason number 3 was to deal with the shin breaker. Now removed and replaced with a factory fold away tow bar. Just waiting on the last couple of bits of hardware to arrive to wrap that up and need to run the wiring. The wiring being reason number 2 for stripping the boot. Again...
Bumper removal reason number 4 was to investigate the non function parking sensors. Once the bumper was off, the inch of mud and other crap covering the sensor suggested it had had enough. Sensor swapped with the used one along with the relatively clean loom I acquired at the same time and I now have working parking sensors.
Today's surprises were the missing under trays and the lack of the low speed impact pad behind the rear bumper.
Oh, and the droplinks are floppy but will require cutting off to remove as they're quite crusty... and the CV boot cable tie bodge didn't hold... Need a metal one to clamp it a bit tighter. Failing that another CV shaft. If it needs removing it to fix, I may as well fit one that isn't broken.
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So far then...
2 knackered tyres
Aircon inop
Osr tail light out
Number plate lights out
Fuel gauge inop
Radio inop
Absolutely minging inside
Some cosmetic issues
Bodged wiring for said shin breaker
Interior light burnt out. Literally.
Auto lights not working (see above).
Surging at low speeds.
Stretched transfer box chain - replace chain and fluid/ possibly replace transfer case fitted with new chain
Service engine
Service gearbox
Change diff fluids
Front end vibration 65-80: tyre rebalance?
Crap headlights... New bulbs or xenon retrofit...
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Today's efforts saw the tow bar installation completed along with retrofitting a reversing camera and finishing up the rear quarter paint...
Towbar and camera both function as they should and just needed a spot of coding to make them work. Unfortunately, because it's a 2007 and the folding tow bar is a later option,. there's nothing in the system that will allow me to code in the folding version. That said, it now knows it has a towbar fitted and has trailer recognition to boot. And it's vastly improved now you can walk up to the boot without losing a knee :D
Whilst I was in there, I reprogrammed the head unit as well. Bizarrely the car it came from had rear entertainment but no phone and no cd changer ??? Fortunately both are a box tick so now work as they should.
Another discovery, although not really a surprise if you stop and think about it, the auto lights sensor also performs an auto wiper function. I obviously ticked that box too and again appears to work as expected.
I need to revisit the rear quarter. The paint match is shocking and today wasn't perfect the best day for painting outside... ::)
From an upgrade perspective, leather and a heated washer bottle are about all that's left to do. Well that and the transfer case :-X
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Another discovery, although not really a surprise if you stop and think about it, the auto lights sensor also performs an auto wiper function. I obviously ticked that box too and again appears to work as expected.
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I've mentioned this before ...
Lights & wipers are linked on my W166 in that the lights will turn on after the wipers have auto wiped so many times (I've not counted) even when it's not dark.
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Another discovery, although not really a surprise if you stop and think about it, the auto lights sensor also performs an auto wiper function. I obviously ticked that box too and again appears to work as expected.
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I've mentioned this before ...
Lights & wipers are linked on my W166 in that the lights will turn on after the wipers have auto wiped so many times (I've not counted) even when it's not dark.
:y
I need to try that. If you leave the wiper switch on the first intermittent setting, when you start the engine it sweeps once regardless of the weather and it's then fully automatic. The ML does the same. But haven't noticed the behaviour you describe on TPC, either because it's seamless or because the lights are always on auto :-\
Pretty nifty if they both do that 8)
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Another discovery, although not really a surprise if you stop and think about it, the auto lights sensor also performs an auto wiper function. I obviously ticked that box too and again appears to work as expected.
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I've mentioned this before ...
Lights & wipers are linked on my W166 in that the lights will turn on after the wipers have auto wiped so many times (I've not counted) even when it's not dark.
Both my cars do that. I thought it was normal on anything built in the last 10-15 years?
Mine appear to be related to how heavy it thinks the rain it - so if its bucketing down, the lights will pop on almost straight away, but if its a single wipe every 15s or so, might take a couple of minutes. I *could* read the distructions, but that pesky Y chromosome prevents such girliness.
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Over complicated gimmickry for no sensible reason.
If people are too stupid to know when to use their wipers and lights (independently or together) they shouldnt be allowed to drive. :)
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Over complicated gimmickry for no sensible reason.
If people are too stupid to know when to use their wipers and lights (independently or together) they shouldnt be allowed to drive. :)
;D
Says the chap.with rain sensing wipers on his Omega >:D
You're correct in your point and I am pretty sure noone disagrees with the sentiment :y
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Another discovery, although not really a surprise if you stop and think about it, the auto lights sensor also performs an auto wiper function. I obviously ticked that box too and again appears to work as expected.
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I've mentioned this before ...
Lights & wipers are linked on my W166 in that the lights will turn on after the wipers have auto wiped so many times (I've not counted) even when it's not dark.
Even my poverty spec grandland has this.
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Yes, so it bloody well should ;D
It's at least 20 years newer than Albs' Omega >:D
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Another discovery, although not really a surprise if you stop and think about it, the auto lights sensor also performs an auto wiper function. I obviously ticked that box too and again appears to work as expected.
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I've mentioned this before ...
Lights & wipers are linked on my W166 in that the lights will turn on after the wipers have auto wiped so many times (I've not counted) even when it's not dark.
Both my cars do that. I thought it was normal on anything built in the last 10-15 years?
Mine appear to be related to how heavy it thinks the rain it - so if its bucketing down, the lights will pop on almost straight away, but if its a single wipe every 15s or so, might take a couple of minutes. I *could* read the distructions, but that pesky Y chromosome prevents such girliness.
Pretty much the same as mine .....
The handbook is far far too big to actually read, though there is a CD version loaded into the 'radio' too
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It's probably in the list of mandated goodness along with TPMS and speedlimits :-\
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Over complicated gimmickry for no sensible reason.
If people are too stupid to know when to use their wipers and lights (independently or together) they shouldnt be allowed to drive. :)
;D
Says the chap.with rain sensing wipers on his Omega >:D
You're correct in your point and I am pretty sure noone disagrees with the sentiment :y
The rain sensing wipers are shite and dont get used. I apply a little pressure to get a single sweep in light drizzle, and otherwise just switch the wipers on. ;)
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The rain sensing wipers are shite and dont get used. I apply a little pressure to get a single sweep in light drizzle, and otherwise just switch the wipers on. ;)
mine just do what it says on the tin .... there are 2 positions/sensitivities but rarely ever get moved from the 1st (other than 'off')
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Over complicated gimmickry for no sensible reason.
If people are too stupid to know when to use their wipers and lights (independently or together) they shouldnt be allowed to drive. :)
I'm a big believer in not legislating for stupidity....
However, the number of idiots driving around here at night with no more than DRLs on the front and nothing lit up at the back makes me understand why the authorities have to.
Personally, if I was in power, I'd shoot them, and their offspring (as scum breeds scum).
//TB waits for Auntie Lizzy to call him a Nazi.
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Over complicated gimmickry for no sensible reason.
If people are too stupid to know when to use their wipers and lights (independently or together) they shouldnt be allowed to drive. :)
I'm a big believer in not legislating for stupidity....
However, the number of idiots driving around here at night with no more than DRLs on the front and nothing lit up at the back makes me understand why the authorities have to.
Personally, if I was in power, I'd shoot them, and their offspring (as scum breeds scum).
//TB waits for Auntie Lizzy to call him a Nazi.
I agree on all counts .... I've pulled up alongside people before now to tell them they've no lights on, they just look at me bewildered with comments like 'they are at the front' or 'my dash is lit up!'
I think I'm right in saying that on mainland Europe, it's a requirement to put lights on if it's raining hard enough for windscreen wipers - hence the link between them on some cars.
Dim/Dip was a thing years back, which I thought was a good idea, but presumably the powers that be didn't. It prevented halfwits from driving round on just side lights.
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Whatever you do to try to make it easy for halfwits, they invent a new level of stupid.
For example, when the car automatically turns on the headlights, they don't notice the big blue light that tells them they're on main beam. ::)
It's much better to let Darwin deal with them. Problem is, the one thing they do seem to be able to figure out is how to procreate. :(
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Fitted front drop links, a new clip on the CV boot and tried to replace the split steering rack gaiter that I discovered yesterday.
Turns out the Lemforder one from Eurocrapparts didn't fit, so had to nip down to the local factors, now NAPA, and buy a universal one. Which also didn't fit >:(
However, I was able to salvage enough of the old one to secure to the rubbery universal one with a cable tie and use the crimp clip to hold the old end to the rack. The technical term being " in poor condition but preventing the ingress of dirt and water" ::)
I will replace it in due course, but with a genuine one. On a side note, the track rod ends are original and showing minimal signs of wear, inspite of 204,998 miles.
Then off to the MoT it went.
Whilst under the front end, I discovered a leaky trans cooler line so that's another unknown surprise... Will probably get that done when I get the gearbox serviced.
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On a side note, the track rod ends are original and showing minimal signs of wear, inspite of 204,998 miles.
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things just aren't made to last nowadays .... ::) ::) ;D
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On a side note, the track rod ends are original and showing minimal signs of wear, inspite of 204,998 miles.
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things just aren't made to last nowadays .... ::) ::) ;D
Apparently not.
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On a side note, the track rod ends are original and showing minimal signs of wear, inspite of 204,998 miles.
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things just aren't made to last nowadays .... ::) ::) ;D
Apparently not.
:y