[Turborun]

Upgraded to 18” HRE wheels and lowered the springs

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by Turborun

Upgraded to 18” HRE wheels and lowered the springsAttachment 2083788

Looks good; how did you lower the car?

[fuzzysheikh]

Hi Akshay !
I'm brand new on this group and literally came across this forum last week, while I was looking for ways to refurbish my dad's W124. I must've been around 4, maybe 5 when he bought it BUT the memories with the car outdo the hassles that that I may have to face in order to get it fixed. I tried contacting dealerships like T&T Motors in New Delhi and Panjab Motors in Punjab but they either don't seem interested in the project or realize that arranging the spare-parts would be a HUGE hassle. Any guidance as to how or who to contact regarding spare parts would be highly appreciated !

Best,

FuzzySheikh

[.HEM]

Originally Posted by fuzzysheikh

Hi Akshay !
I'm brand new on this group and literally came across this forum last week, while I was looking for ways to refurbish my dad's W124. I must've been around 4, maybe 5 when he bought it BUT the memories with the car outdo the hassles that that I may have to face in order to get it fixed. I tried contacting dealerships like T&T Motors in New Delhi and Panjab Motors in Punjab but they either don't seem interested in the project or realize that arranging the spare-parts would be a HUGE hassle. Any guidance as to how or who to contact regarding spare parts would be highly appreciated !

Best,

FuzzySheikh

Hi FuzzySheikh,

Welcome on board!!

The car looks clean, did you check what went wrong with the car? Contacting the dealers will be waste of time, most do not have stock of the spares. You can order it online from many websites. Find a local mechanic, who can handle this car. It is the bigger task for you!

I'm currently restoring an already clean W124 E300

Best,
Hem

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by fuzzysheikh

Hi Akshay !
I'm brand new on this group and literally came across this forum last week, while I was looking for ways to refurbish my dad's W124. I must've been around 4, maybe 5 when he bought it BUT the memories with the car outdo the hassles that that I may have to face in order to get it fixed. I tried contacting dealerships like T&T Motors in New Delhi and Panjab Motors in Punjab but they either don't seem interested in the project or realize that arranging the spare-parts would be a HUGE hassle. Any guidance as to how or who to contact regarding spare parts would be highly appreciated !

Best,

FuzzySheikh

Hey, that looks like a clean car.
I can definitely help you with sourcing the parts needed for your car.
Where is the car located, and what's the current situation, does it run?
When was it last started?

[Turborun]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Looks good; how did you lower the car?

I’ve put a shorter set of springs

[narayan]

Great thread. just read through since I recently got hooked on to this generation after seeing a beautiful W124 300CE here in Singapore. After that I have started noticing that there are quite a lot of W124 Es out here. Most are petrols. Very keen to pick one up.

Akshay and others who have shared their cars here- can you throw some info around costs of upkeep ? are all parts imported from Germany or MBIL supports this generation even now ?

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by narayan

Great thread. just read through since I recently got hooked on to this generation after seeing a beautiful W124 300CE here in Singapore. After that I have started noticing that there are quite a lot of W124 Es out here. Most are petrols. Very keen to pick one up.

Akshay and others who have shared their cars here- can you throw some info around costs of upkeep ? are all parts imported from Germany or MBIL supports this generation even now ?

Most Running parts for service like filters and brake pads are available off the shelf in most major cities. Only a few MB dealers down south support these cars, rest, just don't entertain you.

Recently I had a major issue with the car, and I needed some parts urgently.
Ordered via a website based out of Estonia, and parts, were at my doorstep in 5 days

More updates on the car soon, she has been through a lot lately.

[akshay4587]

Almost 8 years since i have got the W124, and it has been a fairly smooth journey, apart from the niggles and headaches you would expect from a 25 Year old car with 200K on it odometer.

November 2020

So I traveled back from Australia in November, due to a family emergency and got some work done, Engine oil/Filters etc were changed, along with rear brake pads and some suspension rubber parts. Upon inspecting the coolant, me and my friend (FNG Owner) found out a fine layer of oil on top of coolant, which got me thinking, since it was negligible, we decided to flush the radiator and cooling system, and fresh coolant was filled. Everything was Rosy until one Sunday Morning.

Early December 2020

It was a nice, not so cold sunny Sunday morning, and I was excited as it was the for a Mercedes Benz Owners Club meeting in Chandigarh. Everything was fine as expected, car was throwing out nice vapours and water droplets at cold start, picked up my friend, and we started driving towards destination which was about 60 Kms away.

At around 40 Kms into the Journey, AC stopped working all of a sudden, since it was winters and I have had some issues with AC in the past (Compressor Clutch/Ac Valve etc), I assumed, one of them would have given up the ghost, since everything else felt normal, Temp gauge was stable at 80 degrees, and engine was performing normally.

Upon reaching the venue, we popped the hood and saw bottom half of the engine smeared with Green Coolant, which was odd since we had filled Blue Coolant recently and prior to that it had red colored coolant. Upon opening up the coolant reservoir cap, hell broke loose!!!!

The Coffee that should have been in my Cup, was now floating on top in the coolant reservoir

My Heart Sank, as I knew it was the head gasket, Checked Engine oil cap/Dipstick, there were no signs of water mixing with oil anywhere, which got everyone thinking. After waiting for a bit, we restarted the car, and everything felt normal, no loss of power, No smoke, No misfires, and AC was back too. Anyways, we slowly drove to friend's FNG, decided to flush the coolant system again, did a test drive of about 20kms and No Coffee!!!!, I was relieved and drove back home, only to find Starbuck's finest Latte again in the coolant reservoir

After a Sleepless night, and a Million phone calls later, it was almost clear that head gasket had gone, and being an Aluminium engine, a couple of mechanics were of the opinion that head would have got damaged too.
However, I was indifferent to it since car had never gone beyond 80-90 degrees ever since i had owned it. So ordered the parts, that included all the gaskets needed for a top end rebuild. Inspected timing chain and guides too and they were all good (Might replace them 10-15K kms later). A used head was also arranged on standby, just in case the current one was damaged.

Ordered some parts that were not available with my source via this website, and i cannot recommend them enough.

https://spareto.com/

Parts, were at my door from Estonia in 5 days Flat!!!!
Shipping and duties were quite exorbitant though.

With all parts in hand, we opened up the top half of the engine, to find that it was indeed just the head gasket, which had given up due to age, and upon research, i found out that this is an Achilles heel of M111 engines.

Rest every thing was perfect, infact the engine block still had factory honing marks after 25 years and 205 K kms.

The whole process of fixing up the top half took almost a week, and car fired up in first crank after the rebuild.

The Story of woes didn't end here, more to follow in the next post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRu5j5Mw8lI

[akshay4587]

After the head gasket replacement, everything seemed to be fine, apart from a small coolant leak from the water pump, which was primarily due to the fact that we missed out on sourcing a proper gasket for it, and ended up making our own; which was a mistake. Since the leak was minor, I kept on topping up coolant and driving thinking, I would get it done at summer break.

However one fine evening as i started the car, what followed was loud noise from the fan touching the shroud, upon inspection it was found that the water pump has given up. Called my local parts guy and he promised he can have it sourced for me overnight

Got the new Water pump/Gasket and fresh coolant, and car was up, nice and smooth, until I went for a test drive!!!!

[wheelz]

Originally Posted by Turborun

Upgraded to 18” HRE wheels and lowered the springsAttachment 2083788

Hi Turborun, can you please help me with the color code of the car...
Your car looks stunning, was planning to re-paint my car..