Service part's for W124 - Mercedes only or elsewhere?

[b4bby]

I'm just getting a list together of various service Item's I feel would be needed for my W124 300TE-24 and wondered If I should only buy them direct from Mercedes or will an aftermarket part's supplier quality be of a similar standard?

There Is not a problem If Mercedes only part's are preferred but I'm sure I've read on here that Febi aftermarket part's are of a good quality too.

I'll at least be looking at getting the following -

Spark plug's
Air/Oil/Fuel filter's
Pollen filter
Auto gearbox filter

Would there be anything else that may require replacement that I've not listed?

[MarshPhantom]

I've recently changed the distributor cap on mine, the old one was in a real mess. I'm amazed the car was still running.

Got that from ECP.

[b4bby]

Good Idea on the distributor cap, I'd have forgotten that one and the rotor arm too.

[BGarside]

Just buy those servicing consumables from ECP or GSF or AllGermanParts.co.uk. ECP/GSF usually offer a choice of qualities so just opt for the branded or OEM-standard parts.

[r129sl]

I wouldn't just buy anything and I wouldn't confine yourself to the main dealer, either.

Mercedes does not generally make its own parts. You can save a lot of money with a little effort and absolutely no compromise on quality by learning who does, how to use their online parts catalogues and where to buy their parts. I would seek out Lemförder suspension components and Sachs dampers; brake parts by Bosch (who make almost everyone's ABS system) are fine, but Merc also used Brembo, ATE and Pagid among others for brakes. Behr/Hella for cooling and air con. Bosch, Hella and OLE for lighting. Often you will find parts from these manufacturers bear MB's part number and plainly have the star mark burred off. Another reliable parts manufacturer is Febi Bilstein. That company's entire catalogue is available very cheaply on Ebay.

Finally, I would always buy filters from Merc: they are generally the cheapest.

I don't know how leggy your TE is nor how obsessed with it you are, but I have found the cheapest easy win on these cars is to replace the front shocks and shock top mounts. It is an easy job, maybe 20 minutes per side, and it can vastly improve the handling of the car. After that is the more specialist job of replacing the rear subframe mounts.

Edited by r129sl on Thursday 4th December 07:23

[PositronicRay]

I would buy the auto gearbox filter from MB, if it doesn't fit it's a PITA otherwise just go for branded stuff. I use ECP for consumables just because I have a branch 20 mins away in case of problems but their not always the cheapest.
I also use Mr Auto, Wanapart, AP motor stores.

Good call on the shock mounts, if they're starting to split change them likewise with the flex discs.

[b4bby]

Well I got a reply from Mercedes In Hull with these price's

Gearbox filter £17.88

Oil filter £7.91

Air filter £46.68

Fuel filter £38.04

Pollen filter £37.20

Spark plugs (6) £18

Rotor arm £64.20

Distributor cap £216

The gearbox and oil filter seem reasonably priced along with the spark plug's and I'll get those but I think I may be able to do better with the other part's elsewhere so I'll have a hunt around.

Any Idea's which company supply's Mercedes with the rotor arm and distributor cap?

[S0 What]

Other than the dizzy cap i would use non OE, dizzy caps OE only or bosch branded units, the amount of cheap dizzy caps that loose the carbon contact i've had to change cos people don't like paying £40 for a dizzy cap is silly.

[r129sl]

Mann filters are OK.

Bosch or Beru for the dizzy cap.

Check it has got pollen filters. Not all of them have. Indeed, most 124s, especially pre-1993, don't.

[220te]

For the sake of undoing a couple of bolts I would change the diff oil too.

[b4bby]

It's got climate control so I'd assume It's got a pollen filter fitted, actually Mercedes did quote for a pollen filter and they checked from the car's reg so It must have one.

I'd already factored In for a diff oil change as well as the engine/gearbox oil change.

I noticed Febi list a filter for the power steering too, what's the scheduled Interval for those?

[r129sl]

b4bby said:

I noticed Febi list a filter for the power steering too, what's the scheduled Interval for those?

There isn't one (an interval, I mean). Nobody ever does it. Don't know why, because it is a dead easy job. The steering does wear on these cars. I replaced the box, links and bushes on mine and it was like a different car.

http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/PsFluidFlush

This whole list of "how to" jobs is quite good: http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/DoItYourSelf

[PositronicRay]

r129sl said:

.



This whole list of "how to" jobs is quite good: http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/DoItYourSelf

Thanks for posting that, very useful reference guide.

[b4bby]

Right all the part's ordered now Including the power steering filter.

Filter's Inc pollen filter are Mann, spark plug's are Bosch super 4's and the dizzy cap and rotor arm are also Bosch.

Picking them up tomorrow.

No fluid's ordered just yet as I didn't know which type was needed for the diff/gearbox.

[b4bby]

Thanks for the link's R129sl, I'm sure they will come in very useful.

Just browsing on Ebay and bought a new water pump for the car to go with the other service Item's.

I think I'm getting addicted to buying part's for It!

[MarshPhantom]

r129sl said:

I wouldn't just buy anything and I wouldn't confine yourself to the main dealer, either.

Mercedes does not generally make its own parts. You can save a lot of money with a little effort and absolutely no compromise on quality by learning who does, how to use their online parts catalogues and where to buy their parts. I would seek out Lemförder suspension components and Sachs dampers; brake parts by Bosch (who make almost everyone's ABS system) are fine, but Merc also used Brembo, ATE and Pagid among others for brakes. Behr/Hella for cooling and air con. Bosch, Hella and OLE for lighting. Often you will find parts from these manufacturers bear MB's part number and plainly have the star mark burred off. Another reliable parts manufacturer is Febi Bilstein. That company's entire catalogue is available very cheaply on Ebay.

Finally, I would always buy filters from Merc: they are generally the cheapest.

I don't know how leggy your TE is nor how obsessed with it you are, but I have found the cheapest easy win on these cars is to replace the front shocks and shock top mounts. It is an easy job, maybe 20 minutes per side, and it can vastly improve the handling of the car. After that is the more specialist job of replacing the rear subframe mounts.

Edited by r129sl on Thursday 4th December 07:23

Is this fitting original shocks or uprated ones?

My car sometimes gets quite bouncy in corners.

[MarshPhantom]

S0 What said:

Other than the dizzy cap i would use non OE, dizzy caps OE only or bosch branded units, the amount of cheap dizzy caps that loose the carbon contact i've had to change cos people don't like paying £40 for a dizzy cap is silly.

Bremi dis cap is £60 from ECP

[r129sl]

MarshPhantom said:

Is this fitting original shocks or uprated ones?

My car sometimes gets quite bouncy in corners.

I always use original spec shocks. New front shocks always really tidy up the handling and firm up the ride. They're so easy to fit and relatively cheap (about £60-£75 each for Sachs) that if you've got 100k on the clock you'd be mad not to change them.

[0a]

R129 is a fountain of knowledge for W124 renovation! I recently completed a suspension refresh on my W124 and can confirm that the car is transformed.

In my limited experience, any W124 should have the balljoints, front shocks, and steering damper replaced straight away if there's no evidence of them being done recently. The balljoints because they are a known consumable, and once they 'go' the decay can be from okay to disturbing within a few miles. The shocks and steering damper because they make a big difference to how the car drives.

Otherwise r129 kindly made a very useful post over on the barge thread - it's worth reading the whole post as it gives an excellent summary of how to search for Mercedes parts. The great thing is that they are cheap. The bad thing is that once you start you might get carried away!

Here is the page: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

R129 over on The Barge Thread said:

Sensible worklist — I have marked the big wins with a star
Front
Lower control arms (but only if necessary)
Shocks*
Shock top mounts
Springs (but only if necessary)
Anti-roll bar bushes and brackets

Steering
Idler arm bush*
Centre link
Track rods
Steering damper

Rear end
Shocks
Springs (if necessary)
Front pair subframe bushes*
Rear pair subframe bushes (only if necessary)
Link kit
Control arm bushes (only if necessary)
Diff mount bushes (if you're having the subframe lowered, you might as well)
Anti roll bar bushes (these can get dry and then they can eventually tear their mounting points off the floor of the car)

If you did all of this (I seem to recall you have done the shocks), you will have a car that drives as good as new and is better than 99% of the 124s out there. Hell, it will be better than 99% of all but the newest cars out there. It is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on an old and essentially worthless car but it wouldn't buy you much by way of alternative. Of course, it all depends on how much money is worth to you. Just to set my parameters, I also figure I can stand £500 without too much trouble, but £1,000 I have to think about and any more than that is going to hurt.

A good mechanic could do this work in a day. Most of it you could do yourself on the drive with minimal specialist tools (just watch those springs) so long as you live close to a suspension alignment centre! It's just nuts and bolts and brute force.

Less sensible—maybe next time
Engine and transmission mounts
Propshaft centre bearing
Propshaft dampers

Good luck!

[BlueMR2]

If you own a 24v petrol, or any other with the 4 pot front brakes you will need the lower control arms to replace the ball joints as they are not replaceable.

Check if your thermostat cover is plastic or metal as well.

Edited by BlueMR2 on Monday 8th December 19:38