230sl wrd

[cheltenham]

Hi All,

        Iv'e recently come to the final stages of my 1966 230sl restoration. Having put the shiny replated thermostat jacket over the top of the thermostat, i fired up the old girl and she ran rich and rough with plumes of smoke and choke on. Next mission was to consult forum. Everything indicates stuck wrd, checked it on car, plunger is solid and does not move. The bore however is clean. I have removed the wrd housing and plunger from the pump and have noticed that the spring loaded shaft on the underside of plunger does move but not much . Have soaked unit in wd 40. My question is how am i to free seized plunger? do i use heat/penetration liquid and gently tap the plunger shaft from the underside? Finally cant seem to access any information on the repair of this problem via the technical manual. Car is the early type thermostat. Can anybody advise me.

Many thanks for any help. Mathew

[glenn]

Ditto--  How to free up the air valve on the WRD???   It is frozen open  - and covered with black soot.............

[twistedtree]

Soak in penetrating oil and gently tap in both directions.  It will free up.  If you have the old style with a spring loaded hex nut (at least it will look like a nut) on the side of the WRD body, and a little pin that protrudes in the cylinder where the plunger is, be VERY careful with it.  It's a push-to-turn WRD enable/disable device and is likely seized up too.

I've committed to write up a "tour" for the WRD, but haven't gotten to it yet.  Hopefully soon.

[Jordan]

There should be a very small screw on the side of the valve body that you can remove and then extract the entire valve assembly for cleaning.  Mine was broken off and rusted over so I had to just keep using lubricating fluid to move the valve back and forth.  There will be grit between the walls so you need to get that out.  The valve should eventually move with almost no effort.  Keep applying fluid, move valve and shake out fluid, repeat multiple times.  Took me about a day and a half to finally get it clean and moving.

[twistedtree]

Be cautious of that "screw" that holds the piston in.  If we are talking about the same thing (it only exists on earlier WRDs), it's actually a push-to-turn knob that springs back and locks @ 180 deg intervals.  Each position either enables or disables the WRD.  Is this the gadget you are talking about?

I urge caution because if it's frozen in one of the locked positions (the spring pin that goes in from the top is what it locks against), and you think it's just a screw that you can keep turning until it comes out - well, it will indeed come out, but only because you broke it off.  You can guess how I know this 

If you soak it, then tap it inward against the spring, and keep doing that until it moves freely in and out, then you will be able to see how it works and locks in position at the 180 deg points.  To remove it, you need to get the spring pin out.  I had trouble getting my spring pin out after breaking the knob, and left it for H&R Fuel injection to deal with, which they did with style.  Fortunately I had another WRD kicking around to salvage parts from.

[Jordan]

I am referring to the "adjuster thingy" that is mentioned in this thread.  http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=14677.msg100299#msg100299
I can't move or remove mine so I don't know if it will turn the WRD on and off.  I have a late 230SL.  It works now in that it sucks air when cold and doesn't when hot.  I don't know if the plunger pushes enough to adequately lean out the gas when hot.  Does the outside temperature matter when you do a CO test with the Gunson Gastester?

[twistedtree]

Yup, that's the same thingy (good thing we speak the same language).  But it's not an adjuster really.  It's an enable/disable for the wrd.  I posted about it maybe a month ago.  I'd post a link but I'm struggling just to type this on a phone.  Without it being freed up, you would never know that's what it is.  I even found some language about it in the older version of the BBB.  Discovering its real function was like finding a hidden room in a house - at least for me.  Others probably knew all along.

[ja17]

Yes, its buried in the BBB  information (early version).  It is for test purposes only.