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


Peter C

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Good news. The B-post trim that I fixed* with gaffer tape is now silent, the boot has dried out and there has been no further water ingress. Admittedly, the 200E hasn't seen any rain / water since my discovery so I'm not getting overly excited just yet.

To replace the faulty clutch master cylinder, my mechanic had to remove the lower dash panel. The careless twat caused damage to the panel, presumably with a large screwdriver, whilst trying to lever off the inset plastic trim.

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Ok, it's not the most difficult job getting the lower dash panel off but it's a faff nethertheless.

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My wife volunteered* to help and out came the iron and dishcloth. Time for a professional repair.

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It only bloody worked! Now I don't have to see the damaged trim each time I get in the 200E.

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Some time ago I upgraded the 200E's front and rear speakers and installed a 12" JBL sub-woofer and Sony amp. The system sounded decent and the bass was loud and clear. However, earlier this year my Cooper needed an ICE upgrade so I removed the sub and amp and installed a Mutant combo in place - see earlier post. Unfortunately, the Mutant kit has failed to live up to my expectations. The sound quality was generally poor, the bass was not as deep and nowhere near as loud as what I had before. I decided to remove it. I'm now left with a big, clean and clear load space. Win.

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The upgraded front speakers were actually tweeters. I also removed them and re-fitted a pair of Kenwood 4" co-axials, which I had in the 200E before I started the upgrades. For some reason, Mercedes specified unconventional sized speakers in W124s and a 4" speaker is not a perfect fit.

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I secured the speakers with speaker-bogey and sealed the edges with gaffer tape. It's not professional but it works.

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The Kenwood head-unit is actually quite decent and features in-built front and rear cross-overs, which enable full control of which frequencies are sent to the front and rear speakers. By restricting the lower frequencies to the front speakers, they only produce mid and high tones and sound clear, whilst the rear (larger - 5.25") speakers provide a full range of tones. For a standard system it sounds ok and I am not proposing to spend more time fiddling with the ICE.

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  • Peter C changed the title to Mercedes Benz - W123 230E & W124 200E - Both happy and working ok

In this overdue update I have very little to report. Neither the W123 nor the W124 has developed any faults and due to a recent holiday and bad weather both have been resting in their lairs. 

The W123 should not need any significant attention and I have no plans for any improvements or repairs. 

A few years ago I attempted to replace the W124's leaking cam cover gasket but failed when ECP supplied me with the wrong replacement gasket. I sealed the old gasket and oil stopped leaking from the front of the cam cover but there is still a dribble at the back, which has caused oil staining on top of the gearbox bellhousing. I intend to obtain the correct replacement gasket from my local Mercedes main dealer and the job properly asap. 

This summer, Covid rules permitting, I am planning on taking the W124 across Europe to Poland. My wife and (twelve year old) son would not enjoy the road trip so they would fly to Szczecin, where we would rendez vous and head to Kolobrzeg (coastal resort on the Baltic sea in Poland where I have property), spend a week there, then drive to Poznan to see my in-laws, then return to the UK a week later. In total, that's approx 2,000 miles from the UK and across France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Poland, including the journey home. I've done this trip in my W123 twice before so it should be a walk in the park for the W124.

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Before I go, here is a photo taken a couple of weeks ago, with the W124 parked outside a £20M mansion in Weybridge, Surrey. It looked happy there.

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5 hours ago, Peter C said:

In this overdue update I have very little to report. Neither the W123 nor the W124 has developed any faults

That must be terrible for you not to have any W123/W124 content to write about, but I can help you! Just fix my W123 or W124 and then you will have plenty to write about.:D

In the meantime can you tell me what is missing under the bonnet of my W123TE and is there a fluid reservoir for the rear self levelling suspension?

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47 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

That must be terrible for you not to have any W123/W124 content to write about, but I can help you! Just fix my W123 or W124 and then you will have plenty to write about.:D

In the meantime can you tell me what is missing under the bonnet of my W123TE and is there a fluid reservoir for the rear self levelling suspension?

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Reservoir is here.

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Think that hole is just an access for the shock absorber top mount - probably would have been a rubber cap there one day many years ago.

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