1986 Mercedes-Benz W124 300 E

Summary:

Brilliant, a true testament to the magic of old cars

Faults:

Some cracked paint on the hood, natural wear.

Back left window motor broke.

Cruise control not working.

Radio fried, but can easily replace with a more modern one.

General Comments:

This car is a pleasure to have received, coming from my grandparents who kept this car in mint condition. This thing feels like a starship when it accelerates, with a slow, smooth acceleration that seems to never let up. At speed, this car is comfortable enough to lull you out of focus, but handles well enough to entertain you.

The interior is brilliantly designed, with certain unnecessary touches (like dropping the back headrests but not bringing them up) that make it feel like you own a real nice car. With good care this car feels like a plane on course to a target; speedy, strong, and solid.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 10th July, 2008

1986 Mercedes-Benz W124 300E

Summary:

Not reliable

Faults:

I bought this car about 6 months ago from a friend of mine. Transmission went out on the first week. I felt so bad and so down. Likely, I was able to install a second hand trans. ($800) now, it was noted the car keeps stalling and hesitating while running. Sometimes it won't start and notice the car running rich on gas (Black rich smoke). It shuts down often while running and especially when you are on the road and while at the stop lights. In the morning, it starts fine, but if you miss the first start opportunity, you might as well wait a while because it won't. I also replaced fuel filter and air dist. unit. I think this problem might be electronic related. Please help. Also, if you can provide me a drawing on how to connect the auxiliary fan to the 85 C relay.

General Comments:

I will appreciate your comments and feedback.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 21st January, 2007

23rd Jan 2007, 05:29

The cause of your rich running and associated problems may be a faulty fuel injection computer, often known as an ECU. Is expensive to buy a new one, but a second hand one will be cheaper. A mechanic will be able to tell you if this is the case.

25th Apr 2007, 17:01

You may also have a leaky injector.

WE own a 1991 Golf and had to replace the ECU in December, but the car still seemed to run rich, didn't develop power, and if we stopped and left it for a few minutes it would not restart. After sitting for an hour, or overnight, it would.

This was driving us nuts. Finally the shop where the ECU work was done pulled the fuel rail with all the injectors. Sure enough, one was dripping.

There was enough pressure and volume of gasoline in the pressure accumulator that when the engine shut off, the fuel just kept leaking into the intake manifold.

Result? Rich mixture and flooding on a hot restart.

Strange side effect? Sometimes, for a cold start, the mixture would be absolutely right and the engine would crank no more than a quarter revolution before it was running.

Hope this is helpful.

16th Dec 2007, 20:04

You know the story, if you don't know how to fix it yourself find someone who does.

Sounds like your OVP is not supplying power to the fuel ECU.

Well that is the first thing to check.

Also find yourself a new friend, Merc boxes don't just die (unless there is a fault) they slowly wear out with tell tale symptoms.

2nd Jan 2008, 16:02

I have a 1986 300E and the same thing was going on. It was simple... PREMIUM GAS. Make sure that's what you are using. The car is really sensitive to the fuel. I drained every ounce of gas and filled it with premium and some cleaner; now it starts right up.

20th Jan 2009, 12:05

Hey, I have a 1986 300e, and a similar problem was happening; the car would start up, but once in a while it would stop. I found out that it was the fuel pump; the old one had given up and I went down to Autozone to buy one, and that one was a cheap piece of crap that didn't let enough fuel flow. I finally upgraded to a Bosch pump that was 20 dollars more, and it works perfectly.