|
I took my 240 (B230F/M46) for a 300 mile drive yesterday. Followed my brother-in-law and his C320 down I-5 for about 100 of those miles. The limit is 70 mph but if you have ever driven the stretch of 5 between L.A. and San Diego, then you know that it is the closest thing to the Autobahn that California has.
My car has 310,000 miles on it, original engine and transmission. This is an early "small bearing" B230F, too, that should have - according to some folks here - eaten itself up about 100,000 miles ago. Whatever, I change the oil every 5K with Mobil One and drive it like I hate it. So far, no problems with the motor or running gear. Eats an air mass meter every few years but ebay keeps me in stock for cheap.
So.....I'm following the C320 into a strong head wind, about 5 or 6 car lengths behind in the "fast" lane. We're doing 85 (3200 in 4+OD) and he starts to pull away from me. I'm only at about 3/4 throttle so I open it up all the way, figure that there are some nasty carbon deposits in there anyway, right? It inches up to 90-92 or so and won't budge past that. Tach sat around 3500-3600 and wouldn't climb. Didn't have the cajones to downshift to 4th gear, although I should have been about 1K rpm below the redline.
It doesn't really matter because I will probably never push it that hard again, but I figure it should have been able to hit triple digits. I've got tires that are rated for it, just in case. ;-)
Expecting too much from a 310K mile engine?
|
