merc estate w124 running repairs....

[HMC]

Having sold my last w124 to negative creep, and then moved my amazon on, i had a space on the drive and realising how much i missed the old merc, and wafting form A to B decided to get another! As busses dont run early or often where I am, Cycled the 20 miles to the station, Just about on time. Quite an uneventful, relaxing journey trundling up through the westcountry via Bristol and over into South Wales

 

An unusually quiet Bristol Temple Meads

 

Spotted a few candidates, but settled on a later second facelift model, with the later 16v 4 pot petrol. On the whole as described, and wafts along well. First one ive had with a complete uninterrrupted history. Hadnt really been used since the MOT so the squeaky and lacking in bite brakes soon improved. Cruised back mainly on the motorway. As usual with a w124 petrol auto, the engine is turning over quite busily at motorway speeds, but the only tell tale is the tachometer further round the dial than you'd expect. Listed at 2.2 / 150 bhp so reasonably but not particularly quick, but thats not really the point. As is typical in my favoured w124 price range, the front wings are a bit moth eaten, but the rest of the shell looks fine. The vacuum central locking is playing up, but otherwise all is well.

 

 

 

 

Plans are to service it, sort the locking and used it! If it stays a while and behaves itself I may even treat it to a new pair of wings

[Negative Creep]

Your to Plymouth station is a fair old jaunt! Nice end result though

[Wilko220]

First collection thread I've seen starting with a 20 mile bike ride. Top man!

[Angrydicky]

That's exactly the same as my dad's old one. I remember on his it had some strange self levelling rear suspension setup that had gone tits-up which meant it wallowed down the road like a fully laden Austin Atlantic. And the misfire was solved by changing the grotty plugs and HT leads that didn't look like they'd been changed for years. Nice cars.

[Tetleysmooth]

Funny how the first pics in a collection thread are normally always in a petrol station.

 

No-one ever leaves any petrol in a car they're selling.

[KruJoe]

Timeless classic. Lovely colour too.

[Cavcraft]

Nice spec too, is that MB Tex or leather, my hangover/eyesight can't tell from the picture? Anyhow these are defo better in automatic format imho, I can't say I ever truly enjoyed the manual Mercs of that era.

[Bobthebeard]

Not sure if this is of any (future) use, but thought I would say it anyway!

I ran a W124 for a year or so without problems up until one day when all kinds of electrical mayhem ensued. The horn would sound randomly, the rear wiper would come on for no apparent reason and various dash lights started flashing at random. Had to disconnect the battery to stop the horn sounding!

Turns out* that one of the windscreen washer pipes had become partially disconnected and was squirting screen wash over the fuse box.

Massive electrical gremlins until the fuse box was removed, dried out and the circuit board cleaned up. Needless to say it was my local independent garage who sussed the problem. Gawd knows what a main dealer would have charged to repair* it.

Any one else had this? Probably just me. That's how my life seems to go!

[Spiny Norman]

Nice old Merc, looks like a decent buy.

The seats look like the ones in mine, leather with the perforated centre sections to avoid 'sweaty crack syndrome'.

[HMC]

Funny how the first pics in a collection thread are normally always in a petrol station.

 

No-one ever leaves any petrol in a car they're selling.

 

Agreed. This was no exception with the warning light winking at me as I struggled to find a petrol station. I, on the other hand always seem to time it wrong and cant be bother siphoning fuel off etc.

 

Nice spec too, is that MB Tex or leather, my hangover/eyesight can't tell from the picture? Anyhow these are defo better in automatic format imho, I can't say I ever truly enjoyed the manual Mercs of that era.

 

Its leather, my last estate had the MB tex. Indestructible vinyl but the original owner specc'd it black on black with no air con so on hot days you baked and got stuck to the seat!

 

 

The body is nice and straight save the front wings which have been cheaply repaired in the past where they go around the front arches. After driving it around for a few days its grown on me so much ive swallowed, ordered a pair of new MB front wings and booked it in to our local bodyshop. I have used pattern ones in the past on an earlier w124 but they dent easily, cost time to fit and never seem to look right around the A-post. Its going in on thursday.

[Tetleysmooth]

Funny how the first pics in a collection thread are normally always in a petrol station.

 

No-one ever leaves any petrol in a car they're selling.

 

Agreed. This was no exception with the warning light winking at me as I struggled to find a petrol station. I, on the other hand always seem to time it wrong and cant be bother siphoning fuel off etc.

 

Yeah, me too. You get yourself all pumped up collecting the new car, only to be faced with the possibilty of running out of juice on the first drive.

Something else I always boggle at. A seller can leave audio equipment worth hundreds in the car, but if there's something like two months tax left, it's 'we can negotiate a price for that separately'.

[forddeliveryboy]

Funny how the first pics in a collection thread are normally always in a petrol station.

 

No-one ever leaves any petrol in a car they're selling.

 

 

I'll have to find a pic at the back of a restaurant kitchen - or in the middle of nowhere when I ran out of fuel this winter, out of mobile reception for at least 10 miles, but close to a good old-fashioned housewife who had a couple of litres of sunflower oil in the pantry!

[beko1987]

Funny how the first pics in a collection thread are normally always in a petrol station.

 

No-one ever leaves any petrol in a car they're selling.

 

I got 100 miles home with the juice left in the XM. Campbell obviously bucks the trend!

 

I sold the ZX with about 30 miles to go before the light went on however! Mainly due to driving home with no exhaust which ruined fuel economy

[dollywobbler]

I did once buy a car which conked out on the forecourt. Just made it! I always leave far too much fuel in cars I'm selling. Seeing the fuel light come on just upsets me.

[Spiny Norman]

I always ask the seller to make sure there's at least a couple of gallons to get me going as part of the haggling process. I once got about 10 miles up the road from Alnwick (with about 150 miles to go) when I chickened out driving an unknown Volvo 240 and when I stopped at the petrol station I couldn't get the bloody cap off!

Much swearing, wrenching and hitting eventually got it off and off I went, but it put a real downer on what had been an enjoyable day out.

[Tetleysmooth]

but it put a real downer on what had been an enjoyable day out.

 

 

Exactly my point.

I collected an E28 from down near Poole some years ago. Lovely looking car. Got in switched on, fuel light on, no movement from the needle.

Asked the seller where I can get some juice. Blimey, the list of directions he gave me. Pulled on the forecourt with beads of sweat on my forehead.

 

Anyway, sorry for this thread theiving.

Nice car chap. Always had a soft spot for the big Mercs since owning a 300E a couple of years back.

[Negative Creep]

Silly question but did they all have asymmetric wing mirrors?

[dollywobbler]

Yes. I'm not sure why. See also Volkswagen T4 Transporter. Those Germans are odd.

[forddeliveryboy]

Yes. I'm not sure why. See also Volkswagen T4 Transporter. Those Germans are odd.

 

Quite logical - these mirrors are a massive drag through the air, and in a country where 100mph+ is the norm, you don't make them bigger than they need be. The line of sight to the opposite side mirror means it can be a lot smaller for the same view. Love the old-fashioned engineering of MB, long gone now sadly, where only the unreachable mirror is powered - you can adjust your own side yourself. More thinking like this required.

[Negative Creep]

I didn't notice it at first, but now it bugs the hell out of me. Wonder if anyone is breaking a LHD one around here?

[Spiny Norman]

I think it was more to do with the different view required and the angle of viewing. Driver's mirror needs to be wider because you're sitting next to it. Passenger side mirror (6 feet away) less so.

Be happy they bothered to change them round for rhd markets, some wouldn't have bothered....

[HMC]

Popped to the local MB dealers to collect my parts order today. 2x wings, oil and air filters, thermostat and oil pressure sender. A slightly eye watering bill given the modest price i paid for the car, but what the hell, its a hobby, I tell myself.

 

 

I started Idly prodding at the leading edge and it looks like its been 'repaired' before. The other side is similar.

 

 

With a bootfull of wings its off to the local bodyshop tomorrow

[Shep Shepherd]

How much were the wings exactly?

[HMC]

£190 per corner. Ouch!

 

Pattern ones are readily avalable for less, but usually take more time to fit usually never fit as well and are quite tinny.

 

Then again does it really matter enough to justify the price?

[Shep Shepherd]

^

I'd be quite happy to pay the same price for genuine replacement wings for The Volvo if it ever needed new ones*; quality cars deserve quality parts

 

 

 

 

*But I don't need to at present; at 23 years old, the car is more or less rust-free *wag*

[HMC]

Just given the car a wash thought i'd do an update

 

Got the car back from the bodyshop a month or so ago,  Really pleased with the match theyve made with the paint on the new front wings. After tiring of the wobbly wheeltrims that were only tacked on with cable ties and broken rusty clips i decided to sort the wheels out. To be true to the spirit of the site i should have upgraded to some poundland trimz but a few of the covers were a bit low on tread anyway so a bit of browsing later and id convinced myself what i really needed were some mercedes alloys off a c36 AMG. That and a bit of rustproofing with some dynax s50 is where she stands at the moment.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

ULTIM8 RESTECP for spending close to the car's resale value just to sort out the scruffy wings ! The result certainly looks beautiful !

 

I don't think any other manufacturer has the parts support for older models that M-B has. When I had my 260E, I turned up at my local dealership with some random part code for an obscure suspension bracket, fully expecting to be laughed at. Contrary to my expectations, they found it on their parts system, ordered it and it arrived from Germany within a couple of days !

 

They did charge me around £40 for the privilege, though, so I decided to utilise 'genuine scrap yard parts' from then onwards.

[forddeliveryboy]

I didn't notice it at first, but now it bugs the hell out of me. Wonder if anyone is breaking a LHD one around here?

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Mercedes-Spiegel-links-mechanisch-verstellbar-W124-S124-Limousine-Kombi-W201-/200920615538?pt=DE_Autoteile&hash=item2ec7cd4a72