Bloody Big Bad Benz is the Bloody Biggest Piece of Tosh

[richardmorris]

Could you possibly have a look if you can see a part number on the plastic pop up air deflector? Mine seems to be missing entirely - though there are a couple of plastic hinged pieces floating around in the tray.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Could you possibly have a look if you can see a part number on the plastic pop up air deflector? Mine seems to be missing entirely - though there are a couple of plastic hinged pieces floating around in the tray.

 

Sure thing, I'll do it tomorrow when it's light. 

 

 

Any news from the heater front?

 

Yes. I've spoken to someone about this, and the duovalve is suspect number one.

[Junkman]

This?

 

[Jim Bell]

My rear doo dahs went down together. How queer.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Yeah, that heater doodad. It doesn't click if you disconnect and reconnect it like that. More investigation required.

 

My rear doo dahs went down together. How queer.

One of them lacks confidence, and won't fall until it's seen the other one do it.

[Jim Bell]

I'm the same weeing outdoors.

[tooSavvy]

I'm the same weeing outdoors.

.... in the company of grils or yobs?

 

TS

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

 

 

No other optional extras whatsoever.

 

 

What? It´s got 4 electric windows, a centre-console-armrest (Mittelarmlehne), a sunroof, headrests at the back seat and an auto-transmission. Many early petrol-ones are not that well equipped with extras. 

 

UK W124s were pretty well equipped - certainly better than the equivalent XJ6, where the two ranges overlapped price-wise.

 

The 250D and 300D both had ABS, electric sunroof, central locking, centre armrest, 4 electric windows and an electric passenger's door mirror, rear headrests and  tinted glass as standard equipment, - the 300D added automatic transmission too.

 

It also has headlight wipe/wash, tinted glass all round with shaded windscreen, fabric seats, full carpeting, central locking, the foldaway switch for the rear headrests, electric passenger mirror, remote control driver's side mirror and, according to the manual included in the paperwork, it had a Blaupunkt stereo with cassette player.

The money spent on the options of this car would have comfortably bought you a new Renault 4L at the time.

 

The options at extra cost were headlight wipers (£309.13) and the Blaupunkt stereo. In the early 1980s delivery was free in the UK, but by the W124's time, Mercedes wanted £150 +VAT.

 

 

I like the W124; they're nice cars in my view.

[dome]

The fruits of today's labour:

 

 

 

I can confirm that this feature is most amusing when your mate nods off in the back.

[HMC]

Re the heater duovalves- I managed to get one back in working order by nothing more than tapping with a screwdriver and giving it a workout with the thermostatic slider in the centre console. I tried this first through sheer laziness but it actually worked!

[mercrocker]

I can confirm that this feature is most amusing when your mate nods off in the back.

 

Its even funnier when its the MIL....

[Junkman]

No matter what "standard" equipment Mercedes UK decided to sell the cars with, these options had to be ordered in Stuttgart.

Here is the order sheet:

 

 

238 from 01.06.1986 to 31.10.1989 CITY DRIVE LIGHT FOR GREAT BRITAIN

240 from 01.03.1982 OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE INDICATOR

259 from 01.11.1982 to 30.11.1990 " BECKER RADIO GRAND PRIX CASSETTE, STEREO, ELECTRONIC, LW/MW/USW"
286 from 01.01.1962 LUGGAGE NETS ON FRONT SEAT BACKRESTS

341 from 01.09.1982 ADDITIONAL LAMP

362 from 1978 LIGHT BLUE*

412 from 01.07.1983 ELECTRIC SLIDING ROOF WITH TILTING DEVICE

420 from 01.01.1963 " AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION, FLOOR SHIFT"

430 from 01.01.1977 HEADRESTS IN THE REAR

461 from 01.04.1960 INSTRUMENT WITH MILEAGE READING AND ENGLISH LETTERING

507 from 01.10.1983 to 31.03.1989 " OUTSIDE REAR VIEW MIRROR, RIGHT AND LEFT, HEATED (ELECTRICALLY ADJUSTABLE ON THE LEFT) (R.H.D.)"

524 from 01.01.1964 PAINTCOAT PRESERVATION

531 from 01.01.1963 AUTOMATIC ANTENNA

543 from 01.11.1978 " SUN VISOR WITH VANITY MIRROR, ILLUMINATED "

570 from 01.04.1970 FOLDING ARMREST FRONT

584 from 01.04.1970 ELECTRIC WINDOW LIFTERS (FRONT AND REAR DOORS)

593 from 01.01.1972 " GREEN HEAT-INSULATING GLASS ALL ROUND, HEATED REAR WINDOW, SINGLE PANE SAFETY GLASS - TINTED STRIP"

600 from 01.08.1971 HEADLAMP WIPER/WASHER

613 from 01.02.1963 " LAMP UNIT, ASYMMETRICAL, L.H. TRAFFIC"

 

*My guess is they mean the main beam control light, which was still required to be red in some markets at the time.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Just been comparing the vin decider of my E280 dizzler. The only code that the two share is 543 illuminated vanity mirror in sun visors.

Bit pissed off to find mine has got M013- Reduced engine performance. !!

Presume it's because the 280 uses the same 3.0 as the 320/350 but with 190 instead of 225/40bhp. Only Mercedes would be this brutal in their description though. They might as well call it; Ein Vimpy Pussy engine. For those that did not apply themselves at their studies,engine.

[Junkman]

Is M013 merely class barrier nonsense, or does it have a practical purpose, e.g. export to speed limited countries, or sum such?

[Junkman]

I CAN HAZ BRIMMAGE FOR SUB 45 QUIDDICHES: http://www.caterersdepot.com/KTC-Vegetable-Oil-20-litre

 

I bet I can do this in any Carrefour car park as well.

[andrew e]

That Mickey Mouse , crashing down of the rear headrests is still a feature of my 2008 E-Class , you still have to clamber around in the back and lift them up by hand too. Does anyone know if even newer models have this comedy feature?

Sort of on my wagen at least:

 

http://www.online-image-editor.com/index.cfm?fa=download_file&image_path=http://imagehost4.online-image-editor.com/oie_upload/images/26181130A2g3W7/oie_animation.gif

 

Click to have lacklustre excitement*

[jonathan_dyane]

Bloody lovely motor, I'm most envious. If they were as fast and economical as an XM 2.1 TD my head could be turned.

[Junkman]

Fast?

Go look at other threads...

[forddeliveryboy]

They're superb on fuel, especially with the diy gears. 40 day in day out from a good 300d (saloon), 45 on a run, 50 when gentle and under 80mph. Worn/cruddy injectors knock that back a bit, as do the auto boxes and estate - 37ish with my 6 pot wagon, 44ish with the 5 pot one. 

[jonathan_dyane]

I don't know how you manage to get those figures. I used to get 37-39mpg out of my 190D 2.5 manual and low thirties out of my w124 300TD auto. I get about 46mpg out of the XM.

[forddeliveryboy]

I don't know how you manage to get those figures. I used to get 37-39mpg out of my 190D 2.5 manual and low thirties out of my w124 300TD auto. I get about 46mpg out of the XM.

 

They'll carry on fine even when needing adjustment - most don't bother.

 

1 - Fuel timing, it's usually out on higher mileage cars.

2 - Injectors - they're usually working inefficiently "   "   

3 - Autoboxes - worn ones sap loads of power.

 

I've seen 6mpg difference with recon injectors and the timing adjusted.

 

Plus, they're often not working at their most efficient on England's little, congested roads, especially if there's lots of rapid* acceleration required. I've managed just over 50mpg even on veg from a 300 manual which surprised me since I'd been driving it while tracing an intermittent fault - it's done well over 250k but has been well-serviced down the years. 

[Junkman]

This one has 138,000 miles on the clock, a sub 50k mile gearbox, and I don't give a flying monkey about OMGMPG.

 

In due course, it will be replaced with a proper car. In the meantime, I just hope it doesn't rot a whole lot more.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I've been enjoying this for a couple of days now. It's very nice, I like driving it and the interior is a perfectly pleasant place to spend time. I'd hate to have to write an opinion piece for it, because it'd just be the word 'good' over and over.

That said, problem one has occurred. Tonight it lost windscreen wiper, headlights, interior lighting (including the hazard switch glow), indicators, and probably a bunch of other stuff. Tail and side lights were unaffected. Sunroof and windows still work albeit very, very slowly. 

[Junkman]

WTF did you do now?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I broke it. 

[Junkman]

Fucking brilliant!

 

Nobody never broke one of these before.

 

You just made history!

[Jim Bell]

I tried to warn everyone.

[forddeliveryboy]

Too much fiddling, not enough driving.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

It's fixed. All systems functioning as they should. 

[forddeliveryboy]

Wot woz cause?