1991 Mercedes W124 250D Manual
Discussion
Cheers both! There is more to come on this car!
.
When I first drove this, it didn't dissapoint. It's a very different beast to the E320 that came before it!
ian316 said:
That is beautiful if I could have more than one car at a time an older Merc would be it. Watch a program called love on netflixs called Love she has a w108 the wonky spotlights do my head in but it's still stunning
I'll have to watch that .When I first drove this, it didn't dissapoint
. It's a very different beast to the E320 that came before it!So, I made a start on working on it. The first thing to do was to have this car keep a charge. My faithful BMW 990Ah battery actually had a use for a change! Normally, it's too big for any of the cars! The 550Ah battery that was old and most likely shot from the US came out. It seems according to my tester that the CTEK really did its thing on that BMW battery. It came back with 995Ah on the tester, a pretty decent result!
Upon throwing it in, I fired it up. Immediately the engine fired into life. No coughing, spluttering or almost catching. Just a clean fire up. It's never turned over this fast before! Whilst I was here, I checked the alternator output. All was fine there too! Excellent! Believe it not, this battery came from a dealer friend of mine, where BMW threw batteries away which they suspected of being iffy. This one was fine by the looks of it.
However, the battery terminals on the battery were mangled due to the battery being used as a jumper battery. Not a good thing really. But after some caressing with some sandpaper, the car terminals slipped on fine.
With that in mind, I figured I'd show it off against my other Merc. 23 years separate these cars, and it's fair to say that it really shows! Now, the S124 against a new Merc would be an interesting comparison, albeit I've sort of done that
.
I even thought I'd register it. Naturally I couldn't, but one can pretend eh? I'm sure Raul would approve!
Ah, let's have a few more shots eh?
I even took it for a spin in the yard. After all, it's private land. The rattle once hot would stop and not come back as soon as it was driven! Strange eh! You can't make this stuff up!
Either way, I had to crack on with the car. Enter Stage Left:
What was interesting is that the Mann filter seemed to have more pleats and finer holes on the very inside of the filter? Will this make a difference? We will see.
Out came the surprisingly thin oil from the engine, and also the cheapo filter. However, the filter housing was very clean inside ; a nice sign to be fair.
With this done, it was time to fire it up! Thankfully the oil pressure doesn't now drop below 45 when hot, and the engine is very quiet now. A result indeed!
Naturally, I still have tons to do, but that can wait until next time.
Upon throwing it in, I fired it up. Immediately the engine fired into life. No coughing, spluttering or almost catching. Just a clean fire up. It's never turned over this fast before! Whilst I was here, I checked the alternator output. All was fine there too! Excellent! Believe it not, this battery came from a dealer friend of mine, where BMW threw batteries away which they suspected of being iffy. This one was fine by the looks of it.
However, the battery terminals on the battery were mangled due to the battery being used as a jumper battery. Not a good thing really. But after some caressing with some sandpaper, the car terminals slipped on fine
.With that in mind, I figured I'd show it off against my other Merc. 23 years separate these cars, and it's fair to say that it really shows! Now, the S124 against a new Merc would be an interesting comparison, albeit I've sort of done that
.I even thought I'd register it. Naturally I couldn't, but one can pretend eh? I'm sure Raul would approve!
Ah, let's have a few more shots eh?
I even took it for a spin in the yard. After all, it's private land
. The rattle once hot would stop and not come back as soon as it was driven! Strange eh! You can't make this stuff up!Either way, I had to crack on with the car. Enter Stage Left:
What was interesting is that the Mann filter seemed to have more pleats and finer holes on the very inside of the filter? Will this make a difference? We will see.
Out came the surprisingly thin oil from the engine, and also the cheapo filter. However, the filter housing was very clean inside ; a nice sign to be fair.
With this done, it was time to fire it up! Thankfully the oil pressure doesn't now drop below 45 when hot, and the engine is very quiet now
. A result indeed!Naturally, I still have tons to do, but that can wait until next time
.ian316 said:
After watching another episode of that netflix prog it could be w115 US headlights always throw me, I like that you're straight on with the oil change and stuff a lot of people would just have looked at the dip stick and thought that looks clean
You may be in for more of a treat as this tale goes on in that case . But yes. I needed to know what I was dealing with .I know what you folks are thinking! I should be doing the fun stuff! But let's be honest, what point is there if I can't even drive the car? But slowly and surely I'll get there!
The good news is that most of the parts have now arrived! But I still had to diagnose a few things!
Firstly the horn. The switch is working, but there is nothing happening at the horn. I have a spare brand new horn, so that will be getting fitted shortly
.Then there is the sidelight. I almost forgot how to deal with old lightbulbs! I've not really had to deal with them for a while. The Carina and the W124s both had internally changeable bulbs for the best part despite the headlights being more traditional on the Carina.
The marker light required investigation. After taking the bulb out, removing it, and cleaning it up, I put it back in again. Halleluyah! I now had a working set of bulbs all round!
Sure, it now looked good, as a Stateside Merc should, but having candles for headlights up front was never going to be of any help!. It is said that the Windproof Zippos give out more light than 4 of them put together! But what the Americans want, the Americans get. Isn't that what Trump is saying these days?
For those of you wondering why this Merc came equipped sealed beams for a '72 car, it's a pretty simple reason. No, it wasn't what Mercedes had lying around on the shop floor. It was a regulation set by the US. The idea was that if you blew a headlight, you could go to any drug/convenience store, and pick up a light that would go into any US car. Yup, back then, the US only had one size of light to fit every US homologated car. Soon, that became 3 sizes of lights towards the 80s.
Here is some info for those who fancy some bedtime reading on the subject, shamelessly stolen from a mate of mine
.But how would I solve this issue! After all, the beam pattern was wrong for UK roads anyway! Get some Halogens of course! Sure, they're not LEDs or HIDs but at least they would look right. However, what would I choose? I had some experience of Halogens previously too. In a condensed format:
-MGB Carellos: Not bad at all. Fairly standard light
-Triumph Stag Autopals : Honestly? Pretty crap. I'll be honest, they weren't much of an improvement over the sealed beams I removed! It seems the new owner thought so too, which is why he threw them in the bin
-Dolly Sprint Autopals: See above for the Stag
-Triumph Spitfire on Wiper QuadOptics and Osram Nightbreakers : VERY Good! I was surprised by the output! They were that good! I always wanted a little more light at nighttime but they were a big improvement from above.
-'76 Carina on Autopal lights and GE Bulbs: They were very good! The lights themselves seemed like a much better quality than the ones I got for the Stag (and the ones in the Sprint) The reflectors were actually reflective! It wasn't a bad car to drive at nighttime that one
So, I've had a mixed bag. What would I do on the Merc? Go cheap like I did on the Stag or go middle of the road, but risk an iffy batch of headlamps? Nope. I lost the plot and decided to splash the cash:
Yup, I went with the Cibies! One light cost more than a pair of Autopals, but I've not heard a bad word about them ; it's what the owner of my Stag fitted into that car with good results too.
Firslty, I wanted to do a comparison however. So I tested the sealed beams on the dip setting, but with a CTEK charger on in the supply mode. That way, I could keep the test fair
. In an enclosed unit, that would also make it more fair .
I think you'll agree. They're not too bad, but they could be better. Soon I cracked on with stripping down the light assemblies:
Compared to the new lights, there is not alot of difference visually. Yes, I also decided to throw in the Osram Nightbreakers I had originally had destined for the W124 ; but that car has surprisingly good headlights compared to my previous W124s. Maybe that's on brighter bulbs already.
All I had to do was put the boot on as a finishing touch:
Sure, the Cibies don't look much different to the sealed beams, but at least the car will actually illuminate the road without blinding oncoming traffic! Note how one of the Sealed beams is milking at the top of the unit. It seems that was due to burn out anyway, so maybe this upgrade was done at the right time. OK, I'm making excuses for splashing the car. I know! With the lights ready, I clearned up the Chrome surrounds, copper greased up the fixings in Classic Oils high copper quantity Copper grease (great stuff that is, especially being free!), and threw the entire lot back together
:
I know, it doesn't look massively different!
With that in mind, it was time to perform the acid test! Was there actually going to be a difference?
YES! The photo doesn't really show it, but there is a stark difference in brightness and focus! Damn me leaving my camera card at home! If you think that is good, wait until you see the full beam shot! Oh, wait, I have one coming up!
Yup, that is quite a difference. The lower yellower light is still an H1 sealed beam. It's fair to say that the newer Cibie has trounced it, well and truly! Fancy another shot? Yeah, why not?
Yes, that really is quite a difference!
So, that's enough about the light geekery! At least I've sorted the lights out and I'll be able to see where I am going at night. But i still have a few things to fix One of which is the washer pump. For a Mercedes, it's quite an antiquated setup, with electrics being present, but now how you expect them to be!
The idea is that you push the bellow, and a switch will then turn on the wipers as you squirt the washers. See what I mean now? The issue with mine is it doesn't squire the washers at all. The bellow has split and I am missing a one way valve. That' sounds fine, until you realise that a rebuilt washer pump assembly is £400 and the tank assembly is the same again! Ouch! Who said Merc ownership was cheap! Naturally, this leaves me in a dilemna. Do I replace the pump bellow with a switch to activate a pump, but put that into a tight engine bay, and modify the wiring etc. or do I source the broken bits for around £120?
Choices choices!
So, I left the car at the washer pump scenario. I decided to order the bits stupidly! It's a nice setup to have, but it's not arrived yet! So while, I have a backup solution in place, I'll say more closer to the time. After all, it had a fair few things to do before it would see the road!
Tyres are one area I am sketchy about these days. I did some pretty silly things in the past but I guess, as you get older, you get more sensible. Sure, the car came with Michelins, that were nearly fully treaded, but they were not free of issues.
-They were flat spotted badly
-They were cracking horrendously.
I know many RRers would have driven on them, but I couldn't do. When others are saying your tyres are bad, you soon wonder if they have a point! So, with a bit of searching I hit a few snags, which brought back some memories from My old Stag, with this being a 185R14 tyre from the factory or a 7.35 x 14 Crossply, which mine looks to have come supplied with going from the spare.
-Get a budget or van tyre fitted? Sure, it would be cheap, but it wouldn't be right for me, and I've previously got rid of cars becuase the tyres were crap and I didn't realise their impact back then,and I've transformed a few cars with new tyres.
-Go to @dougal007 and get a set of Michelins. The right way to go, but it pains me getting tyres for the M3, let alone two cars having cars having cars with a near £1k tyre bill! That and I wasn't sure if the wheels looked right. Sure, they look good, but with the now 205/70R14s on, they are getting a little old!
-Change the wheels. Tricky, but doable.
-Go for a smaller tyre, which makes choices easier and cheaper for better products. I'll be honest, the tyres look lost on this anyway, so that was out of the question.
What would I do? Enter Stage Left:
Yup, I got myself a set of Mexican Hats! But I needed some tyres, What would I go with? A set of Falken ZE914s in a 205/65R15 size. Out of the mid-range stuff, I've always found Falken to be a decent step up from Kumho. I question if the grip is quite as good as the big boys but it certainly is close going by the FK453. However, tyre life is appalling. But on a car that will barely do 15MPG, I doubt tyre life will be a massive issue either.
Despite looking like an easy combi, it wasn't quite so straightforward to fit them on.
They wouldn't pop onto the bead, despite moving the tyre about on the rim. My tyre fitter wondered if it was down to it being a 7J rim and a 205 section tyre, but I've had 195s on those in the past as an OE fitment. In the end, a device called a Cheetah inflator was deployed and the bead was seated in no time. It's these things I do like about Ross at BT Tyres in Rugby. If you have tyre needs or issues with balancing/tracking, he is your man.
After they were fitted, I couldn't stop admiring them! But it was pointless! They weren't on a car!
That said, I still had plenty to do on the car. It had brakes were it seemed the handbrake was always on, and I still had no washer pump or the track rod end issue resolved. They would come to be a little trickier than I thought.
Tyres are one area I am sketchy about these days. I did some pretty silly things in the past but I guess, as you get older, you get more sensible. Sure, the car came with Michelins, that were nearly fully treaded, but they were not free of issues.
-They were flat spotted badly
-They were cracking horrendously.
I know many RRers would have driven on them, but I couldn't do. When others are saying your tyres are bad, you soon wonder if they have a point! So, with a bit of searching I hit a few snags, which brought back some memories from My old Stag, with this being a 185R14 tyre from the factory or a 7.35 x 14 Crossply, which mine looks to have come supplied with going from the spare.
-Get a budget or van tyre fitted? Sure, it would be cheap, but it wouldn't be right for me, and I've previously got rid of cars becuase the tyres were crap and I didn't realise their impact back then,and I've transformed a few cars with new tyres.
-Go to @dougal007 and get a set of Michelins. The right way to go, but it pains me getting tyres for the M3, let alone two cars having cars having cars with a near £1k tyre bill! That and I wasn't sure if the wheels looked right. Sure, they look good, but with the now 205/70R14s on, they are getting a little old!
-Change the wheels. Tricky, but doable.
-Go for a smaller tyre, which makes choices easier and cheaper for better products. I'll be honest, the tyres look lost on this anyway, so that was out of the question.
What would I do? Enter Stage Left:
Yup, I got myself a set of Mexican Hats! But I needed some tyres, What would I go with? A set of Falken ZE914s in a 205/65R15 size. Out of the mid-range stuff, I've always found Falken to be a decent step up from Kumho. I question if the grip is quite as good as the big boys but it certainly is close going by the FK453. However, tyre life is appalling. But on a car that will barely do 15MPG, I doubt tyre life will be a massive issue either
.Despite looking like an easy combi, it wasn't quite so straightforward to fit them on.
They wouldn't pop onto the bead, despite moving the tyre about on the rim. My tyre fitter wondered if it was down to it being a 7J rim and a 205 section tyre, but I've had 195s on those in the past as an OE fitment. In the end, a device called a Cheetah inflator was deployed and the bead was seated in no time
. It's these things I do like about Ross at BT Tyres in Rugby. If you have tyre needs or issues with balancing/tracking, he is your man.After they were fitted, I couldn't stop admiring them! But it was pointless! They weren't on a car!
That said, I still had plenty to do on the car. It had brakes were it seemed the handbrake was always on, and I still had no washer pump or the track rod end issue resolved. They would come to be a little trickier than I thought.
300sl-24 said:
Can I ask where you bought the polished rim Mexican Hats in 15" from please?
They were not brand new. They were however reasonably priced compared to many people out there. I bought them from a Ukranian chap who sells quite a few wheels in Hillingdon. He had a choice of me either buying all silver wheels or the polished lip items that you see there.These are not genuine Mexican hats. They are ATS versions which IMO look a little better. They have the right amount of dish, which many other copies don't manage. Being German made, they are also TUV approved with a KBA no. on them so they are certified.
They were quite a bit lighter than the factory rims I took off.
So, I had some fancy looking wheels! But that wasn't the end of it.
The first was to get a working washer pump. While I ordered the parts, they would take some time to arrive! So in the meantime I threw in a switch under the pedal, in addition to an electric pump. This would work for as long as I needed it to.
Secondly, I had to change the severely knackered track rod end. It had a mile of play in it pretty much! Working in logistics, I ordered the right part days before hand. However, it was the wrong thread; I need a right hand thread to work with mine. Balls! However, it was no great loss as the boot was cracked anyway on the correct balljoint on the same rod. So that was changed. While ECP couldn't provide with a TRE, a local motor factor would save the day.
I'd have taken pictures, but I did have a few mates around to assist, so I didn't really want to seem anti-social. And they'd help me remove the very stuck caliper on the car!. Even with alot of hammering, the offside caliper really didn't want to come off. Eventually, it did thankfully.
As said before, the calipers from the SL shop and other sources are £250 each! Bigg Red wanted £130 to refurb both calipers, which didn't seem like a bad deal. However, I decided to get the piston and seal kit prior to calling Bigg Red. A mistake, but OTOH, it would cost me £60 per axle, and I've fancied rebuilding calipers for some time. It's fair to say that the pistons came out with a fight! However, they cleaned up well, and the bores weren't too bad either.
During the cleaning process. Then it was time to look at the old pistons.
They're not great, but not that bad at all. The car clearly had been sitting for quite some time!
But why use old pistons when you can go new?
Before I knew it, the caliper was assembled and ready:
After having a friend around to help me bleed the system, I now had a car with a good pedal and a permanent handbrake removed. I also had a link pipe to one caliper remade for me due to us breaking it, but it was fixed!
All I had to do now was to fit the caliper to the car and bend the pipe to suit.
The next thing? Get the horn working. After finding a horn from an MG Midget, that was working once more. Sure, the car had a bit of BL on it now, but at least it would get an MOT.
Finally? The exhaust rubbers. With that done, it was time to get the wheels on. Except I hit a problem.
The nuts I bought (the ones on the right) wouldn't fit. They were catching the rear drums badly. I'd have to wind them out around 6-7 turns for them to clear the drum. But would the new bolts in the middle fit and do the job?
The first was to get a working washer pump. While I ordered the parts, they would take some time to arrive! So in the meantime I threw in a switch under the pedal, in addition to an electric pump. This would work for as long as I needed it to.
Secondly, I had to change the severely knackered track rod end. It had a mile of play in it pretty much! Working in logistics, I ordered the right part days before hand. However, it was the wrong thread; I need a right hand thread to work with mine. Balls! However, it was no great loss as the boot was cracked anyway on the correct balljoint on the same rod. So that was changed. While ECP couldn't provide with a TRE, a local motor factor would save the day
.I'd have taken pictures, but I did have a few mates around to assist, so I didn't really want to seem anti-social. And they'd help me remove the very stuck caliper on the car!. Even with alot of hammering, the offside caliper really didn't want to come off. Eventually, it did thankfully.
As said before, the calipers from the SL shop and other sources are £250 each! Bigg Red wanted £130 to refurb both calipers, which didn't seem like a bad deal. However, I decided to get the piston and seal kit prior to calling Bigg Red. A mistake, but OTOH, it would cost me £60 per axle, and I've fancied rebuilding calipers for some time. It's fair to say that the pistons came out with a fight! However, they cleaned up well, and the bores weren't too bad either.
During the cleaning process. Then it was time to look at the old pistons.
They're not great, but not that bad at all. The car clearly had been sitting for quite some time!
But why use old pistons when you can go new?
Before I knew it, the caliper was assembled and ready:
After having a friend around to help me bleed the system, I now had a car with a good pedal and a permanent handbrake removed. I also had a link pipe to one caliper remade for me due to us breaking it, but it was fixed!
All I had to do now was to fit the caliper to the car and bend the pipe to suit.
The next thing? Get the horn working. After finding a horn from an MG Midget, that was working once more. Sure, the car had a bit of BL on it now, but at least it would get an MOT.
Finally? The exhaust rubbers. With that done, it was time to get the wheels on. Except I hit a problem.
The nuts I bought (the ones on the right) wouldn't fit. They were catching the rear drums badly. I'd have to wind them out around 6-7 turns for them to clear the drum. But would the new bolts in the middle fit and do the job?
helix402 said:
Loving the old bus. Have you thought of doing a new thread for the latest Merc?
Debating it. I didn't update it on here as last year as it was a very busy year for me, with my sister getting married, and with me also coming to terms with a job a little different to what I was used to, with a manager who himself was in a similar position. I'll touch on the wedding part later on .I still have quite a few updates for this however
.It's a shame you can't change titles as I would change it otherwise
.Meh! You win! I'm going to put this onto a new thread. The first few posts will be a repeat as they'll obviously be here. But the rest will be new after a while and there was stuff which happened after this
.ian316 said:
Rebuilding calipers yourself is a very satisfying job, loving the wheels
It really is! I wasn't going to do it on the M3, but being a sliding caliper, the job should be easier .r129sl said:
The wheels are great. I'm surprised you had bother putting a 205 tyre on a 7J rim: the gen2 w126 takes 205/65 VR 15 tyres on 15 x 7J rims.
We do wonder if it was down to storage issues with the tyre. However, they have been fine on the car . The W126 having that size was a partial driver for me having it in my car:bristolracer said:
I remember watching Ryan O Neal in the film The Driver giving one of those a test drive.
Great car
I saw that after buying the car!Great car
SebringMan said:
Debating it. I didn't update it on here as last year as it was a very busy year for me, with my sister getting married, and with me also coming to terms with a job a little different to what I was used to, with a manager who himself was in a similar position. I'll touch on the wedding part later on .
I still have quite a few updates for this however.
It's a shame you can't change titles as I would change it otherwise.
Meh! You win! I'm going to put this onto a new thread. The first few posts will be a repeat as they'll obviously be here. But the rest will be new after a while and there was stuff which happened after this.
Thankyou. (The M3 calipers are very straightforward to rebuild.).I still have quite a few updates for this however
.It's a shame you can't change titles as I would change it otherwise
.Meh! You win! I'm going to put this onto a new thread. The first few posts will be a repeat as they'll obviously be here. But the rest will be new after a while and there was stuff which happened after this
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