e300 turbo diesel w124 and that had rust at 8 years old in the front wings on the arches.

Was that a left hooker Dan, or an aftermarket turbo kit, i ask because MB never made a 124 Diesel with a turbo in RHD (well for Britain, i have no idea if Japan saw one) which was a great pity.

For serious rust you struggle to beat the W210 that came after the 124, they'd give 70's Lancias a run for their money, and Mercedes are still struggling to live that one down...pity really as the 210 is a lovely car and not half as complicated or troublesome as the pre facelift 211's that followed.

Edited by gordonbennet on 04/12/2013 at 21:10

My mistake it was a w210 I always get confused with the model s of Mercedes and bmws. The rust was so bad that I sold it at 10 years old and 3 years ownership and the rust was getting really bad.

Its really strange, not all 210's go bad...and yes the model designations do take some keeping up with..;) i haven't got a clue about Audi B4/5/6 etc cos VW group cars do nothing for me, good job we're all different eh.

My Sis and BiL have a fleet of cars and one of those is a R reg W210 E300 Diesel, no TLC for their cars whatsoever but that high mileage 210 shows only the smallest signs of rust, its in a not particularly nice shade of green and i do wonder if the paint in certain colours is better for rust prevention.

On the other hand i first came across 210's in volume around the turn of the century when the first volume sales were being defleeted, we always transported large numbers of good used MB's but i'd never seen rust on the previous squarer shaped E and S Classes like i saw on these 3 year old 210's (and S Classes of the same vintage), a door stonechip if left would be a rust patch the size of a saucer in 12 months, entire front leading edges of wings and bonnets riddled with tin worm, especially in silver or maybe silver showed it up more?

MB's lowest point i think the late 90's up to around 2007/8.

Edited by gordonbennet on 04/12/2013 at 21:41

Tony G, check the floor under the car where drivers and passengers feet would be, where the chassis rails come down and meet the floor, also the bottom of the two wells either side of the spare wheel well, and if you haven't done so remove the plastic sill covers as the jacking points will require plating, no sills as such but the floor as you will alreday have discovered is an incredibly strong structure.

Also check around each and every one of those rubber bungs dotted around the rear wheelarches, water gets behind the underseal and corrosion results, and remove the lower door covers to check underneath, they can vibrate on the doors/panels and rub through the paint over time.

If its a 220/320 (facelift) especially the latter check the engine wiring loom carefully especially around the coils, if its crumbling it will short out and spike the ECU output transistors...don't ask me how i know this..:-) Full engine loom is about £600, but a smaller section is now available for the area worst affected but will need splicing into the existing loom. Do not ignore this, those ECU's depending on immobiliser type can be individual to the car, so sticking a used one in won't work, a new ECU is around £1500, i've had two repaired but parts to fix are getting rare, beware if you ever need to send one away for repair there are some sharks out there, i know a good place who fixed both for me, will inform if necessary.

Make sure you keep the OVP relay from the donor car, behind the battery near the ECU, a non starter is sometimes that relay going down, so worth chucking the spare in the boot just in case...i would say one of the cubbies but lack of those is the one big W124 weakness if the car has a passenger airbag.

They really are a lovely car to own and drive but need regular TLC to keep them up to scratch.

Edited by gordonbennet on 04/12/2013 at 20:09