W124 mileage questions.

[asw124]

Hi,
When generally do w124s get costly or need many repairs? I know no two cars are the same but is there a certain amount of mileage where for example a head gasket should be replaced or any other work like that?
Thank you.

 

[Terry_]

124's are old cars full stop. There are plenty of low mileage bad cars, and high mileage good cars!
Repairs in key areas and good maintenance are more important

 

[coupe deville]

Get one with all the following done, and it will be cheap motoring.
I didn't, I've done them all in the past 5 years.

Head gasket
Engine wiring loom
Front springs
All 4 dampers (Bilsteins)
Steering damper
Steering drag link
Front strut top mounts
Transmission fluid and filter
Front wings
Front discs
Brake pads all round
Brake fluid ( 3 times )
Bosch battery
Mid and rear sections exhaust
Front screen
Fuel filter and spark plugs
Annual oil and filter change (about 3,000 miles)

Still got rear screen to do, then I think (hope) the big spends have done.

 

[RKC-benz]

It would scare me to list out the things I've done to mine since I got it last autumn, but I purchased it to get out of MB Agility habit of new C-class estates ... I reckon that it will have cost roughly the same money over three years as an Agility lease (deposit, instalments, returning-the-car-bill for scratches) ... The difference is that it will be mine at that point, also I love it's charm more than my new ones, and finally as it's looked after it will slowly appreciate...

 

[219]

My first W124 : 300TE bought at 2-1/2 years old with 46K on it ran reliably for a number of years with only routine servicing . Beyond about 6 or 7 years old and 100K it started to need the odd thing like drivers window regulator , brake discs , back exhaust box - nothing major . Dizzy caps are a repeat item on the M103 and 300-24 M104 .

At 200K the ASD diff packed in and I sold the car for spares .

My 300TE-24 was bought from a breakers and turned out to be a high mileage one owner car with FMBSH . On obtaining the history , it had over 400K and I ran it without issue to 430K before it was written off .

 

[coupe addict]

Coupe de Ville was obviously unusually lucky! I'd add to that list the diff oil seals, gearbox mount, and ( worst of all for sheer irritation ) the heater fan.
Apart from that they're really no trouble at all.

 

[Palfrem]

and ( worst of all for sheer irritation ) the heater fan.
.

Quite. My heater fan makes an almighty screeching noise from time to time.

Expensive to replace?

 

[hotrodder]

The Bosch fan motors are pretty spendy new for what they are (getting on for £200?), pretty easy job unless the aircon is aftermarket/dealer fitted. Used motors are dirt cheap but a lottery... i paid £30ish for a mint looking example that shat it's 'bearings' within a couple of weeks and replaced that with a tatty looking example (more commutator wear etc) that i won off eblag for a few quid which has worked silently for several years now. There's at least two variations of Bosch aircon fans (non aircon are completely different) that aren't directly interchangable- the squirrel cages differ as do the lengths of the motors spindle on one side. Given that last bit the first thing i'd do is pull the wiper to access it, note the part number/squirrel cage style, lube the bushings and put it back together. Might shut it up for a long time and if it doesn't you know exactly which style you need

This

124's are old cars full stop. There are plenty of low mileage bad cars, and high mileage good cars!
Repairs in key areas and good maintenance are more important

covered everything really. W124s are all too old for it to apply but FWIW my take is that mileage is pretty much meaningless when it comes to judging condition of the running gear... something with starship miles on it has probably spent much of it's life pounding motorways which, as long as servicing isn't neglected, is much easier on everything than say short town journies (crashing over speedhumps/potholes, constantly changing gears, accelerating/braking, nothing gets upto temperature properly, lots more cold starts etc etc). Personally i'd go with the high mileage example every time and not just because it's typically cheaper due to everyones preoccupation with the odometer reading

FWIW my spending on an s124 bought in 2008 for ~ £1k at 178k (now 208k and still not needing the oil topping up bewteen yearly changes)...

Routine servicing aside it's had a middle & rear exhaust plus the waterpump at ~185k, radiator at ~203k and inbetween those new rear suspension spheres, subframe bushes, replaced all the fuel/brake/suspension pipework with cunifer.
I've also had to repair the engine wiring loom, the aformentioned heater fans, one window regulator (front passenger, drivers was no doubt already done) and a 2nd hand wiper- was barely functional when i bought it, servicing the linkage improved it but the motor was tired so replaced the entire thing with the later style that has a clip on turtleshell cover for easier access
Currently slowly working my way through the front suspension, new tie rods for the last MOT, need to change the top mounts soon and i'll probably throw a new steering damper on it and replace a bunch of other ball joints at the same time. I suspect my next big bill will be for wishbones/lower control arms... OK at the moment but being a 320 the lower ball joints can't be replaced without changing the entire control arm and being a sport chassis MB think approaching £500 each is reasonable! Obviously i'll be finding a different source when the time comes for those!

 

[1001ab]

I think I must have been really lucky with my W124s, none of which I paid more than £700 for, because they've not needed anything beyond servicing.

I've upgraded things, swapped leather interiors in and suchlike too. The nice jobs, easy but not essential and not keeping it off the road.

My daily driver saloon, which has carried me from 108k to nearly 130k, is starting to lose some of the magic carpet-ness of it's ride. There are jiggles and a certain looseness in the steering.
From Coupe deville's list, would these be a good starting point to look at restoring the ride quality?

Front springs
All 4 dampers (Bilsteins)
Steering damper
Steering drag link
Front strut top mounts

 

[SilverSaloon]

From Coupe deville's list, would these be a good starting point to look at restoring the ride quality?

Front springs
All 4 dampers (Bilsteins)
Steering damper
Steering drag link
Front strut top mounts

yes, well worth doing along with ARB mounts, engine mounts, gearbox mounts too if worn. Propshaft coupling also worth checking for play.

 

[coupe addict]

I would pick out a list of items which are not really commonplace maintenance, so that you either have to ensure that they have already been done, or budget for them on day one.
This would be the loom, throttle body, head gasket, and front wings. This is a £3000 list, which means you should expect to pay £3000 plus for anything on which this list has been dealt with. After that, however, all the other stuff spreads out over time - it's still likely to be £1000 a year to keep up with the rest of the list, but now you have a car at a standard that makes £1000 a year seem very cheap, even without the benefit of near- zero depreciation.
Opinions vary, of course, but the huge enjoyment I get from driving my E320 coupe makes it seem almost insanely cheap to me.

 

[John Jones Jr]

...I love it's charm more than my new ones...

^^^This.

I like a bit of patina too and there's a nice satisfaction knowing M-B at the time were genuinely designing/constructing cars with long term build quality in mind by producing the best without trying to chase car sales figures.

 

[Terry_]

I would pick out a list of items which are not really commonplace maintenance, so that you either have to ensure that they have already been done, or budget for them on day one.
This would be the loom, throttle body, head gasket, and front wings. This is a £3000 list, which means you should expect to pay £3000 plus for anything on which this list has been dealt with. After that, however, all the other stuff spreads out over time - it's still likely to be £1000 a year to keep up with the rest of the list, but now you have a car at a standard that makes £1000 a year seem very cheap, even without the benefit of near- zero depreciation.
Opinions vary, of course, but the huge enjoyment I get from driving my E320 coupe makes it seem almost insanely cheap to me.

I agree. But I'd rather spend an average of 1-2 k a year for a couple of years getting a 124 right and keeping it going, than spend that money on some of the modern cars.
Nothing drives like an old merc

 

[BillyW124]

I agree. But I'd rather spend an average of 1-2 k a year for a couple of years getting a 124 right and keeping it going, than spend that money on some of the modern cars.
Nothing drives like an old merc

But.. the problem is i've been spending 1 - 2k a year since 2009!!!

am i doing something wrong??

 

[BillyW124]

Jokes aside though, if you can bear the cost of putting the above mentioned + other things right then running maintenance cost will be less each year to almost nil with the exception of doing fluid changes as per normal routine schedule - that's it.

 

[WDB124066]

As above & Suspension bushes really are tired at 100 000 miles, car will feel sloppy on the open road.

The drivers seat can collapse if the previous drivers have been weighty, parts are available new to fix it but a little pricy. You can test by trying out the passengers seat and comparing the two to some extent at least.