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Mercedes Benz - W123 230E & W124 200E - Both happy and working ok


Peter C

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Last year I removed the silly ICE from my W123 and fitted a period Becker radio cassette player. The fancy Bluetooth Kenwood head unit found its way into my Boxster whilst the boom box ended up sitting up in my office. I have now returned the Boxster's ICE to stock, in preparation for its sale, which led me to think of a cunning plan. Time to upgrade the 200E's ICE.

 

The most time consuming part of fitting a sub in the boot is extending wiring through the car. Firstly, I had to take the glovebox lining out to get to the rear of the bulkhead, via which I extended a power cable connected to the battery.

 

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Then I had to remove various bits of trim and the rear seat to extend the cabling from behind the dashboard to the rear of the car. Fortunately, having done this before to my W123 and having fitted various head units to my previous W124s, I actually knew what I was doing.

 

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4.5 hours later, job done. The head unit and microphone (for a hands-free phone connection) are in place.

 

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And the money shot.

 

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Having taken my time, I managed a discreet installation without breaking any trim. All the cables are hidden and I did not have to drill any holes or damage any part of the car - the installation is 100% reversible.

 

On a low bass setting the four speakers sound nice and clear and with the head unit suitably set up, most of the bass is being produced by the sub. The effect of the install is very pleasing. The W124's boot is far better finished than a W123's, which has no lining to the underside of the boot panel and hard plastic side panels. The W124 has soft linings on all sides and the result is almost no vibration of external panels. Great result and the whole job cost me nothing.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I haven't updated this thread for a while mostly because I've spent very little time driving or tinkering with the 200E.

 

Firstly, the new original Mercedes Benz thermostat appears to have made very little difference to the engine's running temperature. I suspect that the cheap Ebay water pump is causing the electro-magnetic fan to engage prematurely and thus the engine is over-cooling. The gap between the two faces of the clutch is smaller than what it should be, even with my cunning plastic shim fitted and the clutch is clearly not working as intended. I can hear the fan turning as soon as the engine temp reaches 87 degrees, which can't be right. As a solution, I propose to remove the clutch and fan and wire in an electric fan.

 

The second issue relates to a rattle that could be heard from the engine bay whenever engine revs dropped below idle speed. At first I though the metallic sounding noise was related to a loose exhaust clamp but further investigations revealed that the noise is actually coming from the auxiliary belt tensioner. Today I decided to remove the tensioner and see whether anything can be done to silence it.

 

As usual, access to the engine ancillaries was superb. I had the tensioner out within ten minutes.

 

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Unfortunately, whilst removing the manual tension adjuster, part of the tensioner body, where the manual tension adjuster connects, cracked. Not a problem as the tensioner was knackered anyway.

 

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I took the old tensioner to Hughes of Beaconsfield and ordered a new one. A snip at £173 and that's with a discount. Should be with me by Thursday.

 

On a happier note, I went for a drive via Wendover on Sunday and took a couple of photos of the 200E next to another white 200E, which also has a manual 'box. The other 200E looked tired and unloved compared to mine.

 

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Hopefully I'll update this thread again later this week, once I've got the new tensioner fitted.

 

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I drove down to Sandown Park yesterday for the first BP Fairs toy collector fair of the season. I got a couple of nice W124 models.

 

Whilst the 200E drove fine on the M40, M25 and A3, once in traffic approaching my destination the cooling fan kicked in and ruined the driving experience - so much noise and the engine, which has to turn a 16" fan that acts like a propeller, doesn't want to rev. I've decided to buy one of these:

 

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Does anyone have any experience of these kits?

 

Before I left the fair I took a nice shot of the 200E next to a period 520i. Two great but very different cars.

 

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I purchased a 16" fan and thermostat kit via Ebay, all in £45 inc p&p.

 

Weather conditions weren't great and as my W123 doesn't know what rain is, it stayed in the garage. Consequently working conditions were a little compromised.

 

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The instructions for the conversion kit suggest that the fan should be fixed directly to the radiator. From what I gathered that would involve extending cable ties through the radiator core, resulting in irreversible damage to the radiator fins. Instead, I removed the fan shroud and decided to fit the fan to the shroud instead.

 

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A 16" fan is a perfect fit inside the shroud.

 

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I used cable ties to secure the fan to the shroud. Everything lined up perfectly and there is plenty of clearance between the water pump shaft and fan.

 

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The fitting instructions recommend that the electrical supply is switched via the ignition. The only ignition switch live that I know of feeds the radio and not wishing to interfere with any other wiring circuits, I decided to take a feed from there. Unfortunately this meant having to remove interior trim to extend the wire into the engine bay.

 

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I have connected the electrical feed to the fan via a 30A relay. It's been a while since I last wired in a relay and I had to get instructions from the net.

 

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With everything fitted and connected, I turned the thermostat down to approx 10 degrees C and the fan came to life. I need to test it properly by getting the engine warmed up to full running temperature but initial signs are positive. I will tidy up the wiring once I know everything is working properly.

 

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I took the 200E for a drive first thing this morning and not long into my journey I could smell antifreeze. A quick check under the bonnet revealed a leak from the radiator to top hose joint, around the temp sensor wire that I fitted yesterday.

 

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Once home I let the engine cool a little, then I removed the top hose and squirted some gasket sealant around the sensor wire.

 

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I let the gasket sealant set and after a couple of hours I started the engine and ran it up to temperature. Everything seems fine and the leak has stopped.

 

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In other news, the heater valve has started to click. Joy.

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  • 4 weeks later...

With my Boxster sold, see here:

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/34862-2000-w-reg-porsche-boxster-27-manual-sold/

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/34894-2000-porkster-borxster/page-2?hl=boxster&do=findComment&comment=1777777

 

Good bye old friend:

 

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The 200E was moved into the garage:

 

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First job was to sort out the flaky paint on the cam cover, which suffered damage when I pressure cleaned the engine bay:

 

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A coat of high temperature enamel paint later and the glossy look of the cover has been restored:

 

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It's been a while since I've taken the 200E for a Sunday afternoon drive. Fortunately I put that right yesterday and managed a 3 hour trip to Silverstone circuit and back via the A413, which is one of my favourite roads.

 

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The 200E parked next to much faster German machinery:

 

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Stunning machines:

 

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The 200E is happier on this side of the grandstand:

 

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This is as close as the 200E gets to being bounced off a kerb, cutting the racing line:

 

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On route home:

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I took the 200E for an MoT yesterday. I also booked my mechanic, located down the road from the MoT station to carry out some improvements and repairs.

The list of proposed works included:

1. Replace gearbox oil.

2. Replace brake fluid.

3. Replace rear subframe bushes.

4. Repair / weld / replace blowing exhaust manifold / gasket / downpipe.

5. Whatever else the MoT man flagged up.

The MoT test went well.

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The tester was happy to let the blowing manifold pass as I told him about the proposed imminent repair. An inspection of the rear subframe bushes also revealed no movement in the rubber elements. My bodge has worked well. The MoT tester advised against replacing these as they can be a pain to remove and from an MoT point of view they are not defective. Later on my mechanic confirmed the same, so they are not getting done.

An inspection of the exhaust manifold from underneath the car revealed not a lot. The M102 engine manifolds are known for cracking so it might be necessary to weld up the original - a new one is £££. Fortunately, on the 200E access to remove the manifold is nice and easy.

All being well I'll get the 200E back some time next week, with the manifold fixed, ready for another 12 months of happy motoring.

 

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With the 200E still with my mechanic (no problems to report, he is just busy sorting out other stuff), I've been using the W123 230E for weekend outings.

On Sunday I drove up the M40 to the Stratford upon Avon autojumble, approx 70 miles each way.

The 230E (5 speed manual) will happily cruise at 80MPH with the engine spinning over at 3,000 rev/min. If necessary, it will easily pull 90-95MPH and I've done over a 100MPH but at such speeds it doesn't feel comfortable and the engine sounds strained. 

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The original Becker radio picks up AM and FM stations only so I use a JBL Bluetooth speaker to listen to digital stations (Absolute 80s & 90s).

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Entry fee to the event was £5 and normal cars got to park in a dusty gravel car park. However, turn up in a classic and you pay £4 and get to park by the side of the racecourse, where the event was being held.

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The autojumble was lame, with most stalls selling classic bike parts. One seller was asking £30 for used W123 wheel trims (each!). Madness.

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Tidy but high mileage (204k) W201 for sale at £2,000.

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The 230E cruised home without any problems to report. I got 9.3 l/100 (30.5 MPG) which is about 5MPG less than I would have got if I stuck to a 65MPH cruising speed.

The 200E should be back with me by the weekend, which is just as well as I have a few plans for it.

 

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Three weeks ago today, after the MoT inspection I left the 200E with my mechanic in west London (who I've know for approx 25 years) to do a couple of jobs.

The three jobs shouldn't have taken more than a couple of days to sort out. Earlier this week I called my mechanic and he promised that he will get the car done this week. He's had problems with other cars and one of his best mechanics was away on holiday.... Midweek, on route back from a work appointment, I popped into the workshop. The 200E was nowhere to be found. By sheer coincidence, within 2 minutes of my arrival, my mechanic friend drove the 200E into his yard. It looked bad.

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The mechanic left my 200E parked under a tree for over two weeks. The car was covered with sap and flowers and bird droppings. I wasn't happy and insisted that the car is fixed by the end of this week and properly cleaned as well.

I got the car back today. It was clean enough but I spent a couple of hours this afternoon going over the bonnet, roof and boot lid with my machine polisher. It looks the biz now.

The assumed cracked exhaust manifold problem turned out to be a cracked manifold stud and a split gasket between the manifold and the downpipe. Fortunately the stud could be drilled out and replaced. Everything is back together with new gaskets and silence has been restored. The brake fluid was changed with no problems to report. The gearbox oil was also changed, the old stuff was dirty and there was a fair amount swarf on the plug. The mechanic also presented me with a clip, which he claims dropped out with the old oil.

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I always thought that gearbox parts were big and clunky. I have no idea what purpose this feeble little spring could serve inside the 'box. Any ideas?

In other news, I would like to upgrade the rear speakers. The originals are tired and a funny size.

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ideally I would like to install a pair of chunky 6x9s but that would mean cutting the rear shelf metal, which would be an irreversible bodge. A 4 inch speaker fits quite nicely but will not perform to my expectations.

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Any recommendations?

 

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I visited the Enfield Pageant of Motoring yesterday. Although the autojumble was much smaller than in previous years, I managed to find a NOS original Mercedes nearside front wing. There are three different, old and worn, MB stickers on the wing to confirm originality. A good result at £30. I am now actively seeking a good offside wing. As soon as I find one, I will get both professionally sprayed and replace my bodged rusty ones.

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During the recent MoT test, whilst the car was up on a ramp, I noted there was surface rust within the front suspension turrets. This needed attention as W124s like to rust around the shock absorber mounts. This is the offside.

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I scraped off the loose rust and did not find any grot. A coat of waxoil should hopefully prevent further corrosion.

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Tidy inner wing.

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I did exactly the same on the other side.

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After the success at the Enfield Pageant, I wasted no time and purchased an offside front wing from Ebay. Used originals were not available so I went for a reproduction item from a UK supplier. The wing arrived today. I removed the packaging and found a dent right in the centre of the wing. Bummer. 

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I've already made arrangements with my bodywork man to take the wings to him tomorrow for painting so there's no time to wait for a replacement part. I am sure that the bodywork man will be able to fix the dent. The NOS wing looks knackered but I am sure the surface corrosion will clean up just fine.

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I took the 200E to Kensington today for a work related appointment. It performed perfectly, even in traffic the temperature gauge stayed at around 90 degrees. When I got home I put the 200E back in the garage and gave it a quick once over. And just as well that I did! Whilst checking under the bonnet I found the electric fan, which I only fitted a few weeks ago, totally loose moving around on the cable ties. It turned out that the four clips that slide onto the fan enclosure have become loose. Whilst fitting, the clips needed a good push to fit, however, perhaps due to under bonnet temperatures (?) the plastic has shrunk and the clips no longer stay in place. I removed the fan and glued the four clips in place.  They won't move again.

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I'll have to reassemble the fan tomorrow as I'm planning on taking the 200E on another work trip on Friday, this time up to the Cotswolds.

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The NOS wing is definitely heavier. The metal is thicker, this is especially visible around the arch area. Some of the detailing is different but fortunately in areas that will not be visible. I’ll soon find out how well it fits.

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I am such a tit!

The same day that I took delivery of the offside wing, I packed both wings into the back of my Tucson and the next day took them to the bodywork man for spraying. In the process I completely missed the fact that neither wing had a mounting hole for the side repeater. This meant that I had to some tricky cutting to do on a pair of freshly painted wings.

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I did exactly what Ed China always says, measure twice and cut once.

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The nearside wing was a genuine MB part whilst the offside was a cheap EBay repro. The MB wing was heavier and the gauge of the metal was clearly thicker, the inner lip around the arch was wider and it did not have a cut out at the bottom front corner behind the arch. A little research revealed that very early W124s, pre 1986, came without side repeaters, hence the lack of opening. The thickness of the arch lip is different on phase 2 and 3 cars. The lower cladding, not fitted to phase 1 cars, wraps around and into the arch and I later found that to re-fit the cladding to my early spec wing I had to cut a piece of plastic to make it fit. The phase 1 cars also came without sill covers. On phase 2 and 3 cars, the sill cover is bolted on to the front section of sill, which is why there is a cut out section in the front section along the bottom of the wing. It is fair to say that the generic approach of selling W124 wings on EBay, based on all being the same from 1985-1996, is complete crap.

Gaffer tape was used to protect the fresh paint.

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I then drilled as many holes as possible to reduce the quantity of metal that required removal.

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Then came the hard bit, I removed the required amount of metal by filing down the wing with a file, all done by hand. Fortunately, my file was exactly the same width as the height of the opening.

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Working on the repro wing was relatively easy but getting the job done on the thicker MB wing was hard work. In the end I succeeded, both side repeaters fitted perfectly. I applied a little Hammerite to the cut edges and the wings were ready for fitting.

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I checked everything over whilst the wings were off. There was no sign of any corrosion within the concealed areas of the chassis.

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I fitted the offside repro wing first. It fits ok, the shutline against the door is fine, likewise the bumper and around the indicator but whilst the line is correct along the front of the bonnet, it becomes 3-4mm wider towards the windscreen end. There is no way of pulling the wing in as doing so would upset the abutment of the wing with the door, which would look awful. The varied width of the gap is not immediately noticeable and I'll happily live with it. The nearside MB wing fits very nicely. Ignore the uneven fitment of the two panels beneath the headlights, these are coming off today to be tidied up. Colour match is perfect and I got the job done in 6 hours. I'm a happy tit.

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Youve just reminded me of when I damaged a wing on a  facelift Mk2 Carlton in the snow , when the Carlton was only about 3 years old.

I bought a pattern wing, got it painted and set to changing it one Sunday morning, only to discover, like you, there was no repeater hole. However unlike you, I'm a bodging bastard, so I taped the repeater to the inner wing and bolted the new wing on, inte di g to sort it later...

Well, it went through a Council Taxi test and an MOT without anyone noticing the repeater on the offside only and the guy that bought it 6 months later didn't notice either. I often wondered if when that bulb taped into the wheelarch failed and the others flashed more quickly, how long it would take to trace that fault.

Incidentally  that Carlton was a J reg 2.0 GLi and almost a competitor to your 200e when new, except the Merc would have been priced  closer to a fully loaded CDX, ( probabl even a 2.6) the spartaness of the Merc makes it so much more appealing now. I've since learned my lesson and have a bASe e-class for work.

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According to one of my period magazines, a base model W124 200E cost £19,942. My 200E has front electric windows, an electric sunroof and MB-Tex upholstery, all of which would have been costly extras.

At the same time, a much higher spec’d 2.0L Vauxhall Carlton cost £15,157. A 2.0 Diplomat was £19,678, although I’m sure nobody ever paid the full retail price for a Vauxhall in those days. Interestingly, a 2.6 Senator was £20,726, not much more than a base model W124.

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Easy to be caught out with merc wings. Early w210s have a repeater hole, late ones don’t (it got incorporated into the wing mirror assembly) they also slighly facelifted the whole front metalwork so although looking similar, don’t fit at all.

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The only reason repeater holes aren't drilled is because in the rest of the world, even on Phase 2 and 3 cars don't have them. They're exclusive to the very few market requiring them.

 

Even in Germany or the US the Phase 3 car wouldn't have them.

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2 hours ago, Peter C said:

...although I’m sure nobody ever paid the full retail price for a Vauxhall in those days.

Indeed.  In 1992, the Owd Giffer paid just over half the new screen price for a six months old Carlton 2.6 CDX.  Got 14 good years out of it before chopping it in for the recently-departed A6 Allroad.

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