My 1986 W124 200E 'Barn Find' Project.

[paul_jw]

News? I got news for you..

Well. Managed to get the ignition barrel sorted, and charged a new battery up.

Turned the ignition on and to my delight found it is has an alarm. I had to disconnect the horn to shut the thing up!

Anyway, put a gallon of petrol in, started turning it over. After about 10-15 turns it started biting. I put full throttle on and made it worse so i realised it must be a fuel problem. After another few turns with no throttle it only bloody started!

YouTube - barn find w124 merc actually starts first time - b-e-a-utiful!

Idled well at 800-900rpm and sounded nice with no blowing exhaust or smoke. Refused, however, to react properly to the throttle. After a few small revs built up, got it to temperature and this went, leaving me with a nice smoothly running and idling W124.

Put it in gear, rocked it back and forward and the brakes became unstuck. Its maiden voyage up to the tenth floor and back down revealed a very smooth car, powersteering is better than my daily driver - although the seat is so low and cant get used to the length.

Next task will be to do some quick checks, new bulb, new wiper and try and bypass the alarm somehow. i presume the red solid light on the dash is the alarm telling me its been woke up? will have to work out a way to get rid of it as i need the horn for the MOT.

Im going to insure it for the day sometime in this week and just pop it in for an MOT - see what happens!

 

[grober]

The seat height adjuster is the oval handle on the side of the seat squab. It looks just like the back/fore adjuster at the front of the seat. It also moves the seat backwards/forwards as part of the height adjustment process so has to be used in conjunction with front back/ fore adjuster to get a suitable driving position. It may be very stiff if it hasn't been used for a while. The alarm would appear to be an aftermarket one. Thankfully does not include an immobiliser which would have made getting the car started a problem. Any good alarm installer should be able to figure out how to disarm it. The old alarms are often found behind the dash-sometimes behind the glovebox/ sometimes on the drivers side beside the steering column- another favourite is in the passenger footwell -just some suggestions. One of the first things I would do is replace the fuel filter.

 

[paul_jw]

Thanks grober - i fully intend to. Now it moves itll be coming with me to my driveway as soon as possible.

The only thing that i need to sort now is that alarm, ill check everything else for the MOT but i know with the horn disconnected its an instant fail.

 

[Sp!ke]

Look up under the front passenger carpet, up near the bulkhead for an override switch for the alarm.

 

[paul_jw]

Thanks, ill have a good look. The guy who used to own the car is back from sea in about a month so worst comes to worst ill try and get hold of him and see what he used to do.

 

[paul_jw]

Now you got me thinking.. There is a button that i couldnt work out what it was for - but it looks factory installed. Can you confirm this?

Its a little square button just in the centre console, just behind the gearstick.

Does this have a purpose or could this be it? Seems a little silly to have the override here though. It resembles one of the stick things you sometimes see for adjusting wing mirrors - but mine are manual..?

 

[clk208]

Now you got me thinking.. There is a button that i couldnt work out what it was for - but it looks factory installed. Can you confirm this?

Its a little square button just in the centre console, just behind the gearstick.

Does this have a purpose or could this be it? Seems a little silly to have the override here though. It resembles one of the stick things you sometimes see for adjusting wing mirrors - but mine are manual..?

I think some of the cars of that era had electric adjustment for the passenger side mirror and manual for the drivers side (because it is in reaching distance of the driver). Long shot but original elec mirror could have been damaged then replaced with a manual one?!

 

[grober]

That's almost certainly the nearside mirror electric adjuster [moves the internal reflector surface not the whole mirror unit-i.e. the mirror body doesn't "fold" in like the new ones]

 

[paul_jw]

Well the car is now out of the carpark and in an outside carpark. I drove it about two miles today (on private property) and after the initial rubbish petrol surge it was fine.

I did however find a lot of faults which need seeing to, and were not noticeable in the dark of the carpark.

This includes:

Mileometer not turning
Rust spots here and there on the bodywork
Boot badges, grille and grille emblem need replacing due to pitting.
Washer bottle leaking.
Exhaust blow (i think from backbox)
Radio not working.
Drivers side repeater needs securing.
Check strap mount kaput on drivers door.

Really not big things, id like to have a go and repair the rust but with the colour of the car i think it would be hard to achieve a paint match with a rattle can. The colour too is a pretty bad off green/gold.

I have pictures of everything so ill post them after 7pm. Even after a quick wash it still looks manky, needs another three or four i think.

On the plus side, the electrics all work including the sunroof. Lights all work, main beam works, indicators work. No knocking, power steering works very well and it gets to temp fine. Drives and idles fine after a few minutes.

Rust around bonnet and grille that needs replacing.

General Carpark pics - still filthy.

The mystery switch - thanks to those who pointed out what it does

Nice oil pressure, getting up to temp slowly.

Damaged door check strap mounting. Could weld i suppose.

Rust

Rust

Rust

Overview

Overview

I hope i can get some paint to sort the rust out to be honest.

Next step is get it home and get it in for an MOT after some precursary checks.

 

[Frank O' Phile]

This includes:

Mileometer not turning
Rust spots here and there on the bodywork
Boot badges, grille and grille emblem need replacing due to pitting.
Washer bottle leaking.
Exhaust blow (i think from backbox)
Radio not working.
Drivers side repeater needs securing.
Check strap mount kaput on drivers door.
.

Hi Paul, have been following this thread with interest and glad you've got it going. I bet getting it outside has knocked your rose tinted specs askew, but still a good project and well worth doing. Glad it's running well.

As for your problems...
Mileometer, the drive gear is spinning free on the shaftand stopped it turning. There is a thread somewhere (will try to find it) on how to fix it, I did the same on my old 200 and it just needs taking apart, application of a small dab of threadlock, and putting back together.

Gsf can supply boot badges, emblems and door check straps. To replace the checkstrap ('bout 8quid?) the only difficult part is removing the door card. Other bits should be readily available used.

Good luck with it.


Edit: I used this as it basically shows the problem. It managed to apply the threadlock without removing the shaft.

 

[paul_jw]

Ive bookmarked the thread for the speedo repair, thanks - found it tonight.

The rust itself isnt really a problem to be honest, its just surface and would be easily sorted should i be able to get the correct paint.

The door strap has actually ripped the mounting away from the door - the strap itself is in one piece. The chrome shiny stuff is a finishing touch

Ive had a good look under it too today and the sills stood up to some close inspection. Once i sort the horn out im just going to put it in for an MOT. Should it fail on a lot i would have to cut my losses and either break it or sell it on as is.

If its only simple things ill put a ticket on it, clean it up, rechrome the bits and make it shiny again. Thats the plan anyway!

 

[grober]

If you post the vehicle vin number in this site. Mercedes-Benz Club Russia | Mercedes-Benz / VIN it should give you all the build codes including the colour. My guess from the photos is either Champagne Metallic DB 473 or Light Beige metallic DB441

 

[paul_jw]

Got the car out of the base today and on its way for an MOT - only to be told it was impossible to do it, even thought id booked.

So, home it went for a once-over.

Firstly i reconnected the horn, and set about tracing this alarm system. I pulled the sensors out of the back parcel shelf and heard a relay ticking away under the back seat. Lo and behold upon inspection - the worlds cheapest alarm and sensor system. Traced all the wires to the indicators and a second horn (?) and stripped everything out. I still have an ominous red light on the dash but im going to get up there and pull it tomorrow.

Cleaned the inside and out of the car, and cleaned up the badges on the back. Greased all of the door check straps as they were creaking away, removed the footwell carpets and boot carpet for a wash and hoover. Removed and binned the little carpet out of the centre console as it was stinking, and then got the radio out and reconnected loose wires in order to get sound! Radio 2, music to my ears.

Finally i pulled the washerbottle out which was leaking from a seal, and resealed with some sikaflex. Found out that the parking light had been on last week, thus the reason my battery died - not the alarm as previously thought.

Some pictures:

Fading light must make me move onto tomorrow for inspection of all brakes and pipes, suspension bushes, springs, dampers. A bulb check and electrics check next while my parts turn up for a general service - fuel filter, plugs, brake fluid, oil, and thermostat.

Then its another once-over pre MOT and see what it flags up.

 

[grober]

Common MOT failure point are the rear brake fluid pipes especially from the union on the rear subframe onwards. Check the springs very carefully especially at the ends where they normally break- difficult to see- often escape MOT's/service inspections.---other things off the top of my head --- wiper blade condition- spare wheel/tyre -hazard flashers- seat belt condition/operation. glad you got the alarm thing sorted- deffo non standard install!

 

[paul_jw]

It was pure luck to be honest that i found it - it had its own designated horn which i found from research into post 93 w124s. when i snipped the sensors which were on the back parcel shelf it was luckily quiet enough to hear the relay on the alarm unit ticking away. there was an inline fuse on the wires that connected to the indicators which had blown, so they didnt flash.

at the moment it doesnt have a spare but im going to take a trip to my local scrapyard as they have a w124 in there, i think one tyre on it has perished so im going to replace it. as theyre steels ill just get the spare off a scrapyard car. as far as i know its not a failure to not have a spare as some sports cars just have a can of tyreweld!


hazards are working fine too though now the horn fuse is installed again as they share one. there is an advisory from way back in my history pack for condition of brake pipes so thats where my inspection will start - but i have a kit and some unions and hose to get this sorted should it show anything. the brake fluid is manky anyway too so it would give me a good opportunity to cycle fresh fluid through when bleeding.

as for bushes - some look a little cracked / perished - is this an mot failure too even if they show no play?

 

[grober]

Don't think the bushes will be an issue as long as there is no decernible play in the joint. Most testers just give them a good shake to test for play- there's not much else you can do on the rear suspension.
Its not a failure to have no spare tyre afaik.

 

[219]

I'm pretty sure that even if you do have a spare it is not part of the test .

 

[paul_jw]

Made some progress today. Finally got the ingnition barrel back in, the interior cleaned professionally and all the trim back on.

Fixed and replaced the passenger door lock.

Fixed the washer bottle, just have to replace the pump.

Ordered air filter, plugs, rotor arm and rocker gasket.

Just need to try and find a suitable fuel filter as eurocarparts are out and ebays are £20!

 

[219]

Just need to try and find a suitable fuel filter as eurocarparts are out and ebays are £20!

Always used to be about a tenner from MB - worth phoning to check ?

 

[230K]

Hi

If this is it FUEL FILTER - E Class 1985 - 1994 E200 Filters - Mercedes-Benz Parts, Inchcape it's £32.15 from MB.

230K