Hey All,
I bought this car new in '92. 300 4matic, 3.0L. Drove it two yrs and lost it in a divorce. I got to drive it very occasionally when the ex and I would go on trips (where we wouldn't kill each other). To her credit, she did pay the $$ to a dealer in Spokane, WA to keep the car up over the yrs. However, in the last three of so yrs, the dealer changed hands, did some 'suspect' things and she quit driving the car. I only got it back because she was fed up...and yeah, I had to buy it again, but at a much reduced price...with high mileage. As a boy put it (whom I mentor), "Didn't you buy the car in the first place?"

Needs brakes, cylinder head gasket, tires, headlight lenses, some suspension work-although minor. For all intent it looks like it's two yrs old-seriously. I even steamed out the wheel wells back to the paint.

My major complaints are the online part houses. For the lack of part's schematics, I can't always identify the exact parts I need. For example, that rubber part that comes off the valve cover and goes into the top of the air cleaner- I can't even find what it's called? Definitely a car that was intended to be serviced at a dealer, which of course is BS if I can do it myself. There doesn't seem to be like a Bently manual (that was so great to work on Jags with), where they assumed you would make or use alternative tools and weren't a Jag mechanic, necessarily. Everything seems to be reprinted from the factory MB manuals and they assume you are a MB mechanic.

And when I go to these parts places online, the range of parts and prices are phenomenal. For example, I was looking at freshening up the shocks....they range from about $80-450!

*Update: Thanks to ohlord and the mention of autohausaz.com, I found about 90% of what I was looking for plus a Bently repair manual-sweet! That 'sway/torsion bar' in the front that goes into the brake/wheel housing on both sides....there are some rubber boots there that have rotted away. Any idea what those are called? (Still looking for these!)

WTF is with the apostrophe...it keeps adding them in my post?


Kevin

 

Stuff like part #78? right click and zoom
http://www.performanceproducts4benz....s.aspx?bmid=89
look there and then order at autohausaz.com or i have contacts in mb parts.
ohlord

 

Another great site, thanks ohlord! However, I can't find the same part you're referring to-#78. I looked in the diagram labeled 'front suspension'. I see the sway/torsion bar, but the ends are cut off on the illustration. Maybe you're in another part of the site?

Kevin

 

link opens for me to a view of the engine and part 78 says
http://www.performanceproducts4benz....spx?pid=100608
air cleaner breather hose.
ohlord
enter year and model in visual shop section and you will find it

 

I have a 1990 300TE which I believe is virtually the same car and have learned alot in the last year as to MB, this is my first. They are goofy with the CIS-KE5 system and so forth but I am slowly understanding that they have their own logic.
As I am used to BMW I had an initial issue with the premise but am coming to understand what it's about..the part you speak of is the venilation hose from the valve cover into the air filter, I had to replace that part $17, oil breather line I believe.

 

Thanks guys, but I found that part....what I was referring to was the end of the front sway/torsion bar as it pivots into the wheel assembly. There are rubber boots covering the connection that are rotted away on my car. I can't find a blow up of that connection and boot cover(s).

Cliff....we have much the same car and much the same joy.;-) I agree with a posting you made about the quirky trans. All I can say in its favor is that crazy Autobahn passing gear around 90. Other than that, I don't think I'll ever get quite used to it-wished I had a 5spd etc. I remember that some yrs after I bought the car new ($63,910.00 in '92), MB lowered the price of all their models across the board. It has been said that their build quality was lowered as well. I can't verify that, but I can say that at least in our wagons, they were a 'no compromise' affair.

I can also elaborate on what you said about the suspension in another post. This is a sports car that think its a wagon. When I was at Lake Tahoe on the big trip, I threw it into the turns from Carson City to the lake (up the mountain and then back down). Instead of the tires squealing and the car losing its track from centrifugal forces, it seems to hunker down and ask me to feed it more speed. I was only limited by my skill level because I haven't owned a car like this since I had a E type Jag in college and raced in rally events. I don't know what the physical limits of the car are yet, but I was routinely 30+mph over the posted limits on those turns. 4matic light came on a few times, but no tire squeal.....amazing. Which begs the question, what happens if you use synthetic bushings in the suspension front and rear, better than factory shocks and a under-the-hood supercharger?

Anyway, anytime you'd like to commensurate about this wonderful W124, give me a holler!

Kevin