Titivating my Mercedes 124
Discussion
EJH said:
Having guessed Petit St Bernard before seeing your photo (luck 1, judgement 0), I’m going to chance my arm and ask if the second avalanche tunnel photo on the way to Val D’Isere?
Correctamundo. Yesterday was Pt St Bernard. Both Cols closed malheureusement, but still fun going up one side.Setting out this morning:
Presently having a picnic at the Aire du Jura on autoroute A39. We've done 215 miles in less than three hours, not bad when the first 50 were on slow routes nationales. Had a great run over the autoroute Blanche (A40). Fantastic, dream-like motoring.
Presently having a picnic at the Aire du Jura on autoroute A39. We've done 215 miles in less than three hours, not bad when the first 50 were on slow routes nationales. Had a great run over the autoroute Blanche (A40). Fantastic, dream-like motoring.
Edited by r129sl on Saturday 9th April 10:56
EJH said:
I have plotted routes to go back and do as many passes in a week as possible (as well as visiting C'unter in Switzerland for photographic purposes...well, taking a photo of my car with the sign). Very keen to do the Col D'Iseran which goes straight up the La Fornet Valley of Val D'Isere, as well.
You could do a lot worse than simple following the Route des Grands Alpes: it takes in the Col D'Iseran. There is also a good book called Curves: Frankreich: Route des Grandes Alpes. It's in German but it has good maps and inspirational pictures.Steviesam said:
Stuff about his s210
The 210 is seriously under-rated and the six cylinder diesels are both superb. The om606 turbo diesel probably offers greater longevity, the om613 CDI much greater performance. For me, the 210 chassis still has plenty of trad Mercedes-ness. It's just the rust that stops it being an ultra-modern-classic. I keep thinking about one, either a diseasel or a 430 or even a 55. And as you have found out, some modest expenditure on the rear axle can really sort these cars out.freshkid said:
I still miss my W124 estate. They are such fantastic cars to do a long journey in...the seats are comfortable, the suspension is floaty and the steering is light and insulated from bumps but still reassuring. My modern Merc with its big wheels and sporty suspension set-up is ridiculously uncomfortable in comparison (but gets you there a hell of a lot faster!).
996miles today. Left at 8am, home at 11.30pm (-1hr), stopped three times for an hour each, plus the channel tunnel crossing (about 1h40), plus two night-time diversions. I doubt anyone could do it much faster (or any faster) without taking serious risks with his licence or safety: the stops are essential to avoid fatigue. Plus, it's not a race.fluffnik said:
...though mine never had that 190 sticker in it. What's that all about? 
A reminder of the maximum speed permitted on my winter tyres. See earlier in this thread: a pukka MB part and a very useful purchase given the only way this car will exceed 190kmh is if you drop it from a plane. Unfortunately, I can't get the sticker off: that's MB quality glue for you.Anyway, the point is, I drove it all the way home in one stint, all but a thousand miles and it was superb.
Oa, I think I'll bring the 124. You can have a go in it if you like. If I can persuade L, I'll bring one of the other cars, too, but it is hard to decide which.
These are the little winter tyre stickers. It was in the Spartan thread that I mentioned them, not this one. They're not obligatory. It was just an excuse to use yet another pointless accessory on which I was unable to stop myself wasting—sorry, investing—money, albeit not very much in this case. A bit like the ski racks...
These are the little winter tyre stickers. It was in the Spartan thread that I mentioned them, not this one. They're not obligatory. It was just an excuse to use yet another pointless accessory on which I was unable to stop myself wasting—sorry, investing—money, albeit not very much in this case. A bit like the ski racks...
cheddar said:
Serious speed, minus the stops/diversions it must be an AVERAGE of around 90mph!!!!
How didn't you get pulled?????
High praise indeed. I'm blushing. How didn't you get pulled?????
First, I subscribed for a Télépéage bleeper which allows you to use the Liber-T lane at all toll gates, resulting in a massive time saving. This is the best thing I have ever bought. We did not have to queue at all. I reckon this cuts up to 20 minutes from a long journey. At the toll gate just keep left and follow that fast-moving DSK-style Frog saloon. Get one here: https://www.saneftolling.co.uk
Second, there were no gendarmes on patrol. The only GD unit I saw was in the usual place, between junctions 6.1 and 6 on the westbound autoroute A26 around Béthune. And I saw him before he saw me (because he was busy texting or playing pocket billiards or something).
Third, I just wasn't going that fast. I set my cruise at an indicated 100mph, which equates to maybe a true 150kmh. That is not fast enough to excite the interest of Les Flics on a 130kmh speed limit. But I was able to cruise at this speed endlessly, at one time for 20minutes without interruption. And the interruptions were usually very short, maybe 20 seconds while some dunderhead Brit or Belgian remembered to move back to lane one after his overtake. JF I find drives very well on his autoroutes, not that he seems to venture on them much at all.
Fourth, back in the land of s
t roads and even stter driving, aka Blighty, it was Saturday evening, best time to make progress. Again, a steady 90 to 95 indicated isn't going to cause anyone to hit the lights and besides, they're just not looking for 25 year old Mercedes estates. They want new Audis. I saw three cop cars Oop North, but two of them were just Bobbies heading from A to B and while everyone else panic brakes to 68, the invisible Mercedes is able to wheel past at 80, get ahead of the next bunch of automaton and then resume ramming speed.So door-to-door average was 60mph and on-the-road average was about 83.
This morning I switched to the summer wheels and tyres, dropped the oil and changed the filter. The summer tyres feel a bit lumpy for some reason.
Edited by r129sl on Sunday 10th April 21:49
I had an early start this morning and found the private test track was empty. Conditions being 100%, I thought I'd see what my 124 could do. Well, at 5,000rpm in fourth (top), the speedo was wobbling over 117.5mph. It was still gaining ever-so-slowly and the engine will rev to 5,400rpm, but I thought that was plenty.
I suspect it was about 110mph.
Being half way through the bank holiday and having run out of things to clean and patience with my children, I found myself skulking around this car. Whereupon I found a lot of mud in the wheel arches. Like, enough mud to topsoil my garden. Notwithstanding I was wearing my best Sunday-lunch threads, I set to cleaning it out with my fingers. I find it's a good look in my job, dirty fingernails. The girls love it, too. I identified the start of dreaded corrosion; not enough to worry about but enough to warrant a bringing forward of the annual trip to the Man. This is what you get for living at the beach and treating your prized estate car as, well, your estate car.
Here is the nearside front wheel arch. If I get this during the summer, I won't need to replace the wing.
I also found this small bubbling on the same wing. Presumably the paint was damaged slightly when the clip for the Sacco panel was reattached last time.
The inner lip of the nearside rear wheel arch:
And finally:
Being half way through the bank holiday and having run out of things to clean and patience with my children, I found myself skulking around this car. Whereupon I found a lot of mud in the wheel arches. Like, enough mud to topsoil my garden. Notwithstanding I was wearing my best Sunday-lunch threads, I set to cleaning it out with my fingers. I find it's a good look in my job, dirty fingernails. The girls love it, too. I identified the start of dreaded corrosion; not enough to worry about but enough to warrant a bringing forward of the annual trip to the Man. This is what you get for living at the beach and treating your prized estate car as, well, your estate car.
Here is the nearside front wheel arch. If I get this during the summer, I won't need to replace the wing.
I also found this small bubbling on the same wing. Presumably the paint was damaged slightly when the clip for the Sacco panel was reattached last time.
The inner lip of the nearside rear wheel arch:
And finally:
I have been monitoring my expenditure on this car for one year now, using the excellent Road Trip App.
The headline figures are as follows:
23,853miles
30.36mpg
Fuel costs: £3,925.70 (16p per mile, £11.06 per day)
Servicing/maintenance/expenses: £1,792.61
Total £5,718.31 (23.5p per mile, £15.75 per day)
I don't think that's too bad. It includes the cost of insurance and road tax. I also get some tax relief because I am self-employed and VAT-registered and more than half the miles are business miles.
The headline figures are as follows:
23,853miles
30.36mpg
Fuel costs: £3,925.70 (16p per mile, £11.06 per day)
Servicing/maintenance/expenses: £1,792.61
Total £5,718.31 (23.5p per mile, £15.75 per day)
I don't think that's too bad. It includes the cost of insurance and road tax. I also get some tax relief because I am self-employed and VAT-registered and more than half the miles are business miles.
It spends a lot of time in heavy traffic; about 4,000 miles were fully loaded with a roof box running at 100mph-plus (that really knackered the figures); and I tend to cruise at 90-ish. My old 320 TE that it replaced generally gave me 21mpg in similar use. Even so, the mpg of the diseasel is a bit disappointing.
Jodyone said:
r129sl said:
I managed to make a mess of this:
nothing you can do about the temperature 
You plan magnificently well -some might say worryingly well- for these! I'd have called that a win
There may be a bit of action on these pages over the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow the car gets new front lower control arms at the dreaded main dealer. They have offered a price I can't refuse so it's second (or tenth) chances all round. I spent the evening ordering up myriad bits of trim, little bits and bobs which I have noticed are missing or worn out. I'll document that, when I get it all. £100-odd of under-bonnet seals (not sure why) and a similar amount on interior parts. More significantly, I have also ordered new coolant hoses and clamps between radiator, water pump, and reservoir, £124. Finally, I am mulling on replacing the front shocks. I am not convinced Baister fitted the right ones (although he swears he did): I'm sure he fitted Bilsteins for a c124. It was also 90,000 hard miles ago that he fitted them. After driving a very tidy a124 cabriolet today, I started wondering about my car's ride. I've priced up replacement Sachs at £100 for the pair, including VAT, and they are an easy change. I'll see what it's like on the new control arms tomorrow before making up my mind.
Edit: this morning's purchases (not the pen and USB dongle):
Edit: this morning's purchases (not the pen and USB dongle):
Edited by r129sl on Monday 18th July 10:10
MB Newcastle fitted new lower control arms today at a fairly reasonable price, all told. Obviously they have cured the hideous graunching noises coming from the joints with the chassis but, to my surprise, the ride and handling seem better, too.
In this evening's sunshine, I fitted my new little parts.
Our old friends the pedal rubbers were suffering for 58,000miles of wear:
New light switch:
New radiator cap, note how the seal on the old one had perished and was letting coolant out.
My children had kicked the seat belt anchor cover away. This was surprisingly troublesome to fit. More haste and all that.
Then finally, the pièce de résistance a new speaker cover for the near side rear door. The main dealer wrongly priced this, so I snapped it up. I'm not sure why I get obsessed about these little bits of damaged trim, especially when the door card is wrecked. I took the opportunity to remove the door card, add some sound deadening to the door skin and then remount everything better than it was. Again, a tiresome task.
Next week the car goes back to Paul the Man for it's annual paintwork. There is very little to deal with. A bleb where some trim has rubbed away the paint; a tiny bit of chipping on an inner wheel arch; and a bleb behind the back bumper. He has quoted £300, so it seems churlish not to.
In this evening's sunshine, I fitted my new little parts.
Our old friends the pedal rubbers were suffering for 58,000miles of wear:
New light switch:
New radiator cap, note how the seal on the old one had perished and was letting coolant out.
My children had kicked the seat belt anchor cover away. This was surprisingly troublesome to fit. More haste and all that.
Then finally, the pièce de résistance a new speaker cover for the near side rear door. The main dealer wrongly priced this, so I snapped it up. I'm not sure why I get obsessed about these little bits of damaged trim, especially when the door card is wrecked. I took the opportunity to remove the door card, add some sound deadening to the door skin and then remount everything better than it was. Again, a tiresome task.
Next week the car goes back to Paul the Man for it's annual paintwork. There is very little to deal with. A bleb where some trim has rubbed away the paint; a tiny bit of chipping on an inner wheel arch; and a bleb behind the back bumper. He has quoted £300, so it seems churlish not to.
I replaced the front shocks today. Quite a physical job for a weakling like myself. In the humid air I was sweating like the proverbial fat lass at a disco wearing a cardigan by the time I was done. Anyway, correct Sachs replaced incorrect Bilsteins: sure enough, it was wearing shocks intended for a 124 coupé. Is there any difference in feel? It's very hard to say. But at over 90k since the last change and with a lot of motoring coming up in the next few weeks, it seemed worthwhile. I also replaced a couple of nuts and bolts that weren't correct. The cost was less than £100.
After going to the Man next week, I am going to change all of the radiator hoses. They look original. None of them feels hard or looks particularly swollen, but at 23 years and 335k miles, it seems like more sensible preventative maintenance. Again, even with new jubilee clips, the total parts cost was only about £100, although I'll have to buy some anti-freeze.
After going to the Man next week, I am going to change all of the radiator hoses. They look original. None of them feels hard or looks particularly swollen, but at 23 years and 335k miles, it seems like more sensible preventative maintenance. Again, even with new jubilee clips, the total parts cost was only about £100, although I'll have to buy some anti-freeze.
Thanks CdeG. We're all saddos in this life. You have to embrace it.
I stuck your book in the post tonight, should be with you Tuesday or Wednesday.
I feel like I've done something wrong with my new shocks. It feels ever-so-slightly like I have a slightly out-of-round tyre for some reason. A boy whacked a brake disc with a hammer at one point but I don't think that could be it. I've checked everything is done up tight. Repeatedly. Maybe it's all in my imagination.
I stuck your book in the post tonight, should be with you Tuesday or Wednesday.
I feel like I've done something wrong with my new shocks. It feels ever-so-slightly like I have a slightly out-of-round tyre for some reason. A boy whacked a brake disc with a hammer at one point but I don't think that could be it. I've checked everything is done up tight. Repeatedly. Maybe it's all in my imagination.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff