Fixit Log

[Sclass]

Diff plugs can be really stubborn on Mercedes cars. Additionally there is no way to get a long enough cheater bar on the plug without a lift. They use a hex socket head. One trick I have successfully used to get them out is to put a floor jack under the wrench and lift up the car against the arm of the wrench. I recall I use a short length of 4x4 between the jack and wrench. The stuck ones have really let out a hellacious crack when they come loose. You can easily put a few hundred pounds of weight on the end of the wrench in a very tight space.

If your plug is square drive (I think it is) make sure you use a solid wrench that won’t easily slip out and ruin the plug. No flex heads. Only use a ratchet if it has a lifetime warranty that is easy to exchange .

ETA - oh no. I just watched a video of filling a Santa Fe transfer case. That little 10mm hex fill plug looks very hard to remove. The jack trick will not work. If it’s really stuck you may have to drop the exhaust pipes.

[Stasher]

So much stress when trying to remove that steel bolt out of an aluminum housing I'll be sure to update when we give it a second go with the breaker bar and yes it is a 10mm hex head on the transfer case. The rear diff was a 24mm socket for drain and fill which I could get a big enough socket and leverage on but it was tight as well.

[Cam]

I got a real kick in the butt this week to actually get started on some DIY car repair. On Sunday, when I was going to run some errands, I noticed part of the exhaust was hanging lower than usual. I took a photo to get a closer look.



If you zoom in you can see light coming through where the exhaust pipe connects with the muffler. Uh oh. Should I have addressed this right then and there? Yes. Did I? No.

A few days later, DF was out with a girlfriend. When she got back to the apartment, she called me down. Her friend said the car "is making jingle-jangle sounds". DF was apologizing profusely, thinking she had damaged the vehicle. I told her it was fine and that it was actually my negligence that caused the break. What break? See below.

That night, I jacked the car up with the scissor jack in the car and put a jack stand under it. I was able to squeeze under enough to get a coat hanger in there to tie up the pipe so it wasn't dragging on the ground anymore.



I brought it to the mechanic yesterday. The guy at the desk said it should be an easy fix. However I received a call later in the day saying they couldn't fix it. The only option for a replacement muffler was direct from Mitsubishi, and they told me I'd pay through the nose for it. I checked yesterday online and they are right. I saw a used muffler on eBay but that was it! They recommended going to an industrial radiator place where they said the guy can bend his own pipe, as it'd be cheaper than ordering a muffler from the dealer. They also tied the pipe up a lot tighter with the coat hanger so it isn't as close to the ground.

I'm figuring out next steps now. Likely early next week I'm going to bring the car to my parents place and get it up on four jack stands so I can really get under it. Then I'm going to check out the status of the rest of the pipe. If it crumbles in my hand then that makes it clear. If it is still solid enough - maybe my welder makes its first debut in forever...Open to advice if anyone has any.

[Stasher]

Any good shop should easily be able to modify in a different muffler, I'm not understanding why a universal exhaust option and a couple adapter mid pipes aren't an option?

[Cam]

Interesting. Had I known more I would have asked. I have another mechanic a short drive out of town that I could call and ask about it. However if this is something I can DIY I am going to. Probably will still get a quote from pipe bending man just to see how much it might cost.

[Stasher]

I could be totally wrong and still have old school muffler shops stuck in my head, but worth asking around.

[Sclass]

Huh. That’s a tough call.

You (of all people here) can weld that back together. You may have to flange it and add some extra tubing. It’s best to get it out of the car to see what you’re up against.

All the repair parts can be picked up at Canadian Tire. You can fit almost anything with some bent sections and an angle grinder. Your break doesn’t really need any bending. You just need to weld a flange on the resonator and weld your pipe back on.

I recently had to make a call on this. What I found was for a little more than the price of 10 cf of argon and a new flex joint I could just buy a new section of pipe specifically made for my car. It wasn’t Mercedes but it fit well. Some poor guy in the third world welded it up satisfactorily for me. I was pretty surprised what I could find online.

[Cam]

This saga continued this past weekend.
My partner and I went to see a play, and stayed overnight out of town. On the way there, the hangers holding the muffler broke. We were just getting to the 4 lane highways when a serious grinding noise started. I pulled off the road, and looked under the car. The muffler itself was dragging on the ground. "Well, darn", I said.

We pulled off into a parking lot where it was quieter. We were in a bit of a time crunch as the play was starting in a couple hours, and we still had to get to the hotel to drop off our bags.

I spotted a bike shifter with a cable still attached in one of the cup holders. I used my needle nose pliers to snip the cable, and then rigged it up to hoist the muffler off the ground.



That got us almost to town, when a bump knocked the muffler loose from the cable. We actually still made it to the play just fine. It was a great play. We did get some looks from folks with the muffler dragging for the couple minutes though.

Right after the play, we made a trip to Crappy Tire to buy the materials for a better fix. I bought a pipe clamp, another bike cable, a flat-head screwdriver, and a multi-bit screwdriver.

I was using the scissor jack that came with the car for all these lifts. This was because I was misunderstanding the princess auto jack I had in the back. https://www.princessauto.com/en/1-1-2-t ... 0oQ-VoGNgj

The one end of the handle has a square taper, and that is to turn the release valve. I couldn't figure this out in the moment though, and assumed it was faulty. Shout out to DF who figured it out when we were eating ramen the next day.

Here is the improved fix. I threaded the cable through a pipe clamp to keep it from slipping off the muffler.



DF gets another shout out for asking, "Cam, won't the cardboard burn?"
And I said, "Ah yes whoopsie doo", and removed it. I had it there to reduce the friction between the cable and the pipe clamp. Her astute observation probably saved us saying, "Why does it smell a little smoky in here" later in the drive.

That fix got us almost all the way home when it broke loose again. I tried hooking a new cable on, but it slipped off.
At that point, I brought it to the muffler shop and just dropped it there. They just recently fixed it. They also fixed the car's AC. $927 taxes and everything included. It was a hit, but everything is in tip top shape. I can take photos of the welds later, but they look fantastic. The folks there know what they're doing. The muffler is nice and shiny. We can drive over bumps again without cringing.

This is my kick in the pants to start DIYing this stuff before it hits OH SH*T levels. Now that I have four jack stands and a good jack, I have no excuse to not get started.

[Stasher]

Sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do, great work on improvising to get to the play and home then to the muffler shop. We can't always save money on everything and experts exist to help us, glad the shop did quality work for you.

[Sclass]

I use a version of your princess jack for 99% of my lift needs. I love that thing. It’s just the right size for a small car and I can really throw it around compared to a 3 ton steel floor jack.

Yeah…I hate breaking out the money gun but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. That was a lot of money.

I keep a lot of stuff in my trunk. A backpack full of tools, glues, wire, tape, zip ties, hose clamps, flashlights, respirator…it’s in the EDC thread. It’s useful when driving an older car. Stuff breaks.

[Cam]

@Sclass

Yeah it was painful. For the AC it was either a compressor or condenser that needed replacement. That was the big portion of the bill ($645). The actual muffler install was ~$175.

I will take a peek at the EDC thread for stuff to carry in the back.

And yes, I think the jack is going to be a whole lot of fun. Way overkill for my car. But it can do anyone else's car in my family too. My sister already asked about doing an oil change on her car My dad drives older cars too (his is also a 2015 Mitsubishi, but a bigger model). It's going to make tire changes a breeze too.

@Stasher

Thanks! Yeah DF was proud of my resourcefulness. And yes, when I am paying a solid chunk of cash for work being done, I really like when it is done well!