1986/7 230E Auto

[Sp!ke]

I'd go round and tighten up the sump bolts, they're always loose.

The sump bolts are supposed to be loosish. If you tighten them too tight you'll distort the sump and it *will* leak.

 

[c2raig]

I did wonder if your fence escapade was the result of tyres having gone rather wooden with age. Might be worth having a look at the manufacturing dates on them.

I can explain what happened better now I'm not posting from a BlackBerry.

I was heading to a junction which has a nasty little left hander just before it, the rain was torrential and I was unfamiliar with the car. The box changed down *just* as I'd started to accelerate away from the bend to approach the junction, as it did the rear end stepped out of line so I corrected the slide with throttle, by this point the junction was on top of me, or rather, I was on top of it, as I braked it became apparent that the car wasn't stopping, and, although pumping the pedal, it was *just* too short a distance, I drove up a drop kerb and nudged the fence post heavily (one of those 3x3 ones with a tilted 3x3 on top). My passenger didn't feel the bump and didn't know I'd hit the fence, until I reversed back and the fence was very clearly knackered.

Of course, the W124 is fine, my passenger is fine (my main priority) and I've chalked it up to experience.

The tyres are about 18 months old on the back, there's plenty of life left in them but I don't 100% trust them, I know the front ones are new, so I may aswell do the rear ones then it's got four new shoes on it at once. I never, ever skimp on tyres.

 

[VB123]

A bit of late input here, I bought a 1991 300e last year with 382000 kms on it.
It was purchased with the sole intention of commuting between Dubai and Abu Dhabi on a daily basis, about 230 kilometres round trip, @ 160 kmh in temperatures of up to 50C. The vehicle performs this task effortlessly.The milage is now 421000. I change the engine oil every 6000K with 20w/50 Mobil.

I find the car a comfortable and relaxing place to be (difficult considering the loopy drivers here) and much prefer driving this over our 2006 C200. Which is rubbish!

So far it has only had brake pads replaced.

Good luck!

 

[219]

It was purchased with the sole intention of commuting between Dubai and Abu Dhabi on a daily basis, about 230 kilometres round trip

As a digression ,

I read somewhere that a move to put 'The Flintstones' on TV in Dubai was blocked , citing the reason that locals would not appreciate the humour .

However , people in Abu Dhabi do !

 

[312 Sprinter]

The sump bolts are supposed to be loosish. If you tighten them too tight you'll distort the sump and it *will* leak.

I knows, but because of that after a few years they tend to be finger tight, and that is too loose.

 

[StephSte]

Paying off old accounts used to hurt your score rather than help it. This flaw in the credit scoring system was fixed during 2006. That being said, you are still better off fixing your most recent bad debts and leaving your older ones for last.

 

[c2raig]

Update:

The Mercedes is still in the UK.

I fully serviced it over the weekend, and prepared to bring it to France today.

My director saw it on Monday morning at the office and decided, against my thoroughly sturdy argument, that the car would not make it to France.

He insisted that I take a company car - which is not ideal for me as I begrudge paying tax on something I don't want. So we settled on me using a "pool car", which, he subsequently went out and bought yesterday afternoon. No tax on a pool car, officially.

So I now have a Mercedes 230E and a Citroen C2 on my drive in the UK, and a 2005 (55) Ford Mondeo 1.8LX on my drive in France.

This does mean, however, I can divert my time in the UK and make the W124 really nice and use it when I'm home, as it's still insured. This will keep it fairly low mileage. (!lthough I covered almost 1800 miles in one week in the UK, it's such a pleasure to drive I didn't use the Citroen at all).

 

[c2raig]

 

[Tiff]

Nice parking!

 

[c2raig]

Hey, he paid for it on his credit card, I'm not going to be the one who got it dinged/scratched!

 

[Tiff]

:d

 

[c2raig]

I've now driven this car nearly as much as I drove the W124 last week.

I prefer the Mercedes, even though the Mondeo has cruise, climate, CD etc etc, the Mercedes is just nicer to drive.

That's not to say the Mondeo isn't good, because it really is.

 

[219]

His reasons clearly have nothing to do with the reliability of your car : he just does not want a riot starting within his company when all of your colleagues see your Mercedes and become jealous of it , then want one of their own too .

It would not say much for the French carmakers if all their engineers were seen driving Mercedes .

The decision has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with reason .

I once had a boss a bit like that , who was also a bit flash - I worked at the time for a presentation/exhibition company and we were breaking down a large exhibition at the SECC where we had monitors & VCRs on many of the stands . As one of the company vans was broken down ( Peugeot , funnily enough ) I borrowed a box trailer and took it in with my Ponton , which I drove into the exhibition hall to load up the trailer ; the boss , being a show off , drove his brand new 911 into the hall and parked it up but no one took any notice of it - in contrast to my Ponton which instantly drew a crowd of people who surrounded it , wanting a look and asking questions ( one guy even pestered me to name my price as he was desperate to buy it ! ) . When my boss commented on this , I replied nonchalantly " Oh , I get that all the time " - he wasn't best pleased , but did sell the 911 not long after and ran a Pagoda 280SL for a while , until he got fed up with that too .

The company vans broke down a lot , because he spent nothing on maintenance - he hated it every time I used my car and charged fuel to the company for it .

One of our other customers was VAG , who always insisted that I and the German caterer , who supplied traditional German food at events , hid our Mercs well out of sight when we turned up with them .

Your chance will come when the Mundano breaks down , or needs to be serviced . A pool car can be left in the pool amytime .

 

[312 Sprinter]

I got that with my Volvo. My boss made rumblings about me needing a newer car; until the day we had to go see a client in Germany. He was going to pick me up in his "nice" new A6. He rang me up early in the morning when it broke down.

I knew full well what was wrong with his Audi; a turbo hose had blown off but I decided it was far more fun to leave it by the side of the road. We went in my 180K mile at Volvo instead. He couldn't believe a car "that old" would happily sit on the Autobahn at 120mph.

 

[c2raig]

You are of course, both correct. He was banging on about corporate image as he made phonecalls about buying a Mondeo, and was a little annoyed my car of choice was 23 years old and a Mercedes.

It's all politics. This guy drives a Volvo XC90 and his brother who owns the company drives an Audi S5. However, they often hire cars to visit certain customers...

I really couldn't care less what I show up in. The Citroen wasn't exactly showing that they looked after their staff

The Mercedes will have it's chance, I want to bring that car to the continent.

 

[c2raig]

Just thought I'd post a picture of the Mondeo parked in the place where I'd imagined my Mercedes would look so good...

The Mondog doesn't quite cut the dash I imagine the Merc would, parked on my drive...

 

[c2raig]

Hi all, sorry to drag an elderly thread up, but the time has come for me to start doing some work on this car. Been very busy since September (it's all WORK WORK WORK!), but I'm planning to do some work on the Benz during a holiday in the UK soon.

Plans are as follows:

Exhaust - I want a stock system but with twin pipes at the back, I got a quote for a stainless system with the recommendation of Pontoneer - but I can't justify £900 on an exhaust, it's just a little bit smarting.

Service - A bloody good one. It's been sat since November.

Wheels - I've seen some lattice type wheels I want on the car online, but I was hoping someone could tell me if these will fit my car, and what they're from, as they're definitely inkeeping with the age of the car, and they're a style I really like.

Bodywork - Going to tidy up the existing bodywork (surface rust, patchy paint), and fit clear front indicators, side repeaters and smoked rears. Perhaps find an AMG spoiler, and colour-code the bumpers and mirrors.

Hope someone can answer my questions about the wheels and exhaust system. I'm also wondering how difficult it is to update the stereo and speakers in a W124. I don't really fancy hacking the wiring to bits, but some upgrades (a CD player) would be nice.

Thanks

Regards,

Craig

 

[d w124]

You can get the backbox only for a lot cheaper,as for the alloys can you tell us the offset?

 

[c2raig]

Thanks for the response!

I don't have any information on the wheels (going to give the guy a call tomorrow, only just found them) other than they're 15" and MB. Was sort of hoping that someone would recognise them! (Long shot, I know).

The exhaust has a now large hole in the centre pipe. This is my problem. I'm happy to go with mild steel, I was just hoping someone could recommend (or at least tell me exactly what I need from) a supplier. W124 exhaust in an internet search brings up ALL sorts!

Thanks again,

Best regards,

Craig

 

[d w124]

Thanks for the response!

I don't have any information on the wheels (going to give the guy a call tomorrow, only just found them) other than they're 15" and MB. Was sort of hoping that someone would recognise them! (Long shot, I know).

The exhaust has a now large hole in the centre pipe. This is my problem. I'm happy to go with mild steel, I was just hoping someone could recommend (or at least tell me exactly what I need from) a supplier. W124 exhaust in an internet search brings up ALL sorts!

Thanks again,

Best regards,

Craig

By-pass the centre silencer a get someone to fit somethink like this
As for the alloys they look nice but might be 123 etc offset