>>Anything at Mercedes is a fortune.
I haven't found the prices for parts too bad - I was expecting far worse. As mentioned above, as it's an older car, you typically get 10% off.
As an example, the ball joint which I should have fitted today (too cold outside!!), was £13 from MB. Hardly bank breaking!
However, some of the larger / more complex parts are eye wateringly expensive, and sometimes are worth sourcing through GSF or Euro Car Parts.
One of the things about MB which I appreciate is the brilliant availability of genuine parts, and MBs practical approach, which makes available repair kits to enable larger parts to be overhauled rather than replaced.
This site is useful or finding parts and part numbers;
www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb.asp
and once you know the part number,
www.mercedes-benz-parts.co.uk/
(which is Inchcape) will allow you to check the price
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And funnily enough whilst we were passing today i popped in and had a chat with my honourable MB indy, whom i would be lost without.
I think his frowns of disapproval means i won't be getting an M5 after all..:)
As referred to by NC above, my engine wiring loom disintegrated taking the ECU with it, the ECU was repairable (luckily as a new one is 1200 to 1500 quid), but the wiring loom alone was £550 and takes a couple of hours or more to fit.
He took great delight in showing me the repair kit which MB now supply for the loom in question, obviously just replaces the normal parts that perish....cost..under £40.
Quite why i like him so much is possibly a question for a doctor..;)
NC's bottom ball joint at £13 is remarkable value, and i only wish mine was the same, the 24v petrol models have a wishbone in which the bottom ball joint is welded in.
From MB these are £225 + the dreaded a side, but they are available from the 2 oft mentioned places at £125+ a side.
The joys of owning cars.
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>>24v petrol models have a wishbone in which the bottom ball joint is welded in.
Yes, when I first read about those, I was fearful - but, thankfully, although my engine is a 24 valve, being a diesel, it has the replaceable type of ball joint.
The repair kit for the engine wiring loom on the 320s is well thought out - for many cars in cooler climes like the UK, it's only the hottest parts of the engine where the loom degrades, and for the 320s, this is the wiring to the coils which runs along the top of the engine.
For my E300D, it's the wiring to the coolant temperature sensor, towards the rear of the engine, under the inlet manifold** where the loom fails first. I could have repaired my loom, but, when I found the new loom was £300, I decided to fit one. Although the repair could have been carried out for less, I didn't view it as a good use of my time, especially as I would end up with a "bitza" loom without consistent wire colouring, splices and with the unrepaired part of the loom still gently rotting.
** On the diesels, virtually everything of any interest is to be found under the intake manifolds. There's quite a list of jobs which are worth doing "while you're there".
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To answer the OP, there is only one engine fitting the relaxed, effortless cruising nature of the W124. It's the 3.2 litre straight six. The 4 litre V8 was, sadly, never available in the estate.
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I had a W124 - 260E saloon from new as a company car.
It was great to drive if a little tail happy on high speed bends.
I did over 100k miles in 3 years.
I would NEVER own one: it cost a fortune to maintain. Even from new, things went wrong occasionally: key barrel, suspension bushes, radiator holed by stone etc.
All the stories are comparing 25 year old technology with 25 year old technology.
BIL has a 3 litre 124 estate. Done 100k miles. He bought a C180 estate to reduce the miles on the 300D estate as maintenance costs are so high.
And now with age, all the rubber/pastic pipes start going.
My neighbour had a AMG 500 W124 estate. Lovely car.But sold it to buy a VW 4x4 - Touran/Tourag? or summat like that.
A complex design not suited to cheap longevity.
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"Having had a 124 series (and now, a more modern c-class) I'd strongly advise against buying into the myth of longevity & build quality. You'll end up buying bits & pieces all the time - think suspension parts, catalytic converters, wiring looms, head gaskets (with v6 petrols) - you'll certainly cement your relationship with ther MB garage - probably give you your own mug for the 'free' coffee after a while."
No car is free of faults and weaknesses, especially as it ages. Comparatively speaking, the W124 "myth" seems to be fairly well founded. That said, the W124 M103 and M104 engines (straight sixes: the V6 arrived shortly after the W210 was introduced) do suffer from head-gasket failure; the thing to do is figure it into the the offer you make (£600+ at an indy, including skimming). The wiring harness problem affects not only the W124 but also other models from 1991 to 1996; I have a 1996 Coupé which has yet to show signs of this.
The keys to a satisfying experience with a W124 are:
* Get a prospective car properly inspected by an independent specialist. That's up to a couple of hundred quid well spent.
* Figure any defects into the offer you make. I had £1000 knocked off because of a head-gasket weakness and a radiator leak that the vendor had either not noticed or chose not to reveal.
* Find a good independent garage for servicing. There are plenty about. You will get better work for half the main-dealer rates. Few staff in main dealers know these old cars at all. You can also talk sensibly with an indy -- something I've never really experienced with a dealer over the service reception desk with mechanics hidden away somewhere.
* Don't imagine that all MB parts prices are eye watering, but keep checking them against Euro Car Parts and GSF. The lower-priced parts from Euro and GSF will usually be of inferior quality; their OEM parts will be closer to MB prices, and usually from the same manufacturers.
I'm hardly impartial: I've had an E320 Coupé for 8 years, with very few problems; I've had an E300 twin-turbo saloon for 2.5 years with no problems after fixing the stuff spotted in the pre-purchase inspection. I love 'em both and do not envisage selling them.
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If looking for a cheap older version and don't do much milieage go for a 300TE . Simple SOHC engine and plenty of shove (the 2.6 engine not available in estates in U.K). Later 2.8 and 3.2 o.k but can suffer gasket problems (althoug my dad's mark 1 C280 has been fine. Been in a 300TD estate and is smooth and quiet but even in the last 136 bhp guise, it just didn't go. I know there are a lot of horror stories out there about W210 but this last engine in that with a Turbo E 300 Turbodiesel is terrific and goes on and on. The same engine with a cylinder lopped off is also great in the C250 Turbodiesel mark 1 estate.
Edited by mattbod on 14/01/2009 at 13:12
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>>NC's bottom ball joint at £13 is remarkable value
At last, a day with good enough weather to work outside on the car, and freedom from SWMBO's household DIY, and Number_Nipper minding edicts.
I pressed the N/S front ball joint in this morning, and when I took the old one apart, I'm really glad I did. Instead of a nice machined ball, I saw a rust pitted and weakend blob of metal which was so corroded, it was shaped more like a golf ball!
The steering feel is much improved, and so far, the occaisonal creak while steering at low speed appears to be gone.
It's not a job which I would recommend for most DIYers though - the spring bears on the lower wishbone, and so, you either have to compress the spring with an appropriate special tool (over £400 for the Klann one), or, you have to arrange a suitable safe support for the wishbone, containing the spring force. The advantage of leaving the wishbone on the car and working in-situ is that a) you don't need to contend with the doubtlessly seized inner wishbone bolts, and b) the inner wishbone bolts are eccentric, and so, if you disturb them, you need to have the front suspension realigned (caster, camber, and tracking)
Now, I just need to open negotiations to allow me some time to do the O/S (which I'm fairly sure is in better nick than the N/S)!
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Mercedes charge me 40% less than the standard labour rate and give 10% discount on parts as my car is over 8 yeras old. This labour rate is as good as most main dealers but you have to be prepared to take the odd large bill but which make doesn't? Mate of mine mine had to pay £90 to have a headlight bulb changed on a Renault.
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Took a taxi to a restaurant at the weekend, turned out to be a W124. The cooling grill on the right front wing identified it as a 300 Turbodiesel with the 147PS 3 litre 6 cylinder engine. It was showing 840,000km which, according to the driver, was genuine. She informed me she'd had the car since new and had no intention of selling it as she didn't like the quality of the newer Mercedes models. The engine was actually very smooth and quiet, subjectively more so than my BMW 530d.
On the way back home I was in a W211 taxi with 530,000km on the clock which is actually more of an achievement as that amounts to around 100,000km per year!
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I'm currently on my 3rd W124 estate - E220, E300D, now an E320. Performance was about the same with the 220 & 300D, but the Diesel was much more economical. I would agree with other contributors who praise the saloons - yes, if you don't particularly need an estate, don't buy one. If you do buy one, do make sure it's got the 7-seat option - everyone wants these and it will be much easier to sell when the time comes.
You'll get horror stories of big bills with pretty much any car. I lost about £1000 on the 220, but that was about 5 years ago when prices were generally higher. That said, the only item that I had to replace was a thermostat! The Diesel sold after my adding 30,000 miles for depreciation of £25 with only a couple of bits needing replacement.
Yes, they do get abused, but there are a lot of them around, so take your time, drive a few - perhaps even one of the specialists who seem to start selling at £5K as a benchmark!
You shouldn't really need to have to resort to a main dealer for servicing, there are plenty of very good independents around. The other difference with a modern car is that many parts can be repaired, they're not all sealed units which have to be replaced completely even if it's only a small piece that's gone wrong. Also, no horrible cheapo cam belts to worry about either! There are plenty of Merc breakers around and there aren't many bits you can't source from them.
I've tried a similar age 5-series Touring - much, much smaller boot, no 7-seat option and the seats don't fold flat!; Volvo 740s are very solid,but don't have anything like the feeling of luxury or smooth ride; Citroen XM - it's big, it's comfy, it goes wrong - a lot!
I really can't think of anything else that offers the quality for the money!
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Here's Autocar video:
autocar.co.uk/VideosWallpapers/Videos.aspx?AR=2374...2
The UK's specialist in W124 estates is interviewed at the end of it.
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Bookman - did you sell yr 300 estate very recently on Ebay for about £1500?
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