Quote:
Originally Posted by deanyel
I'm perplexed by the idea that a 104, especially HFM, would be hard to work on. What specifically? What ever breaks? If it has ASR sure it's a nightmare, but that's ASR not the motor itself. There's a good cure for that too, which is to get rid of the car. The HFM 104s and the LH 119s of the early/mid 90s are the best, longest lasting, most DIY friendly, repairable engines Mercedes ever made.
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Agreed completely.
Many of these posts are coming from those who have not had at least a couple of examples of each for years of use, I have. The M103 is a fine engine, just that the M104 does everything better and with essentially the same bottom end, it is a very durable engine. The additional changes to the transmission and car body/interior/electricals are IMO the icing on the M104 cake.
On the other hand, if you're going to spend a bunch of money on your engine to equal or exceed the power of the M104, I guess the M103 sounds like it is very modifiable, ... however there are a couple of members here with turbo/blown M104s who have benefitted greatly from the additional valves and breathing available.
I spent a lot of time working on CIS and CIS-E cars starting in the mid-'70s when they came out, L-Jetronic also, and the HFM system of the M104. Personally I prefer the accuracy of a sequential-injection system over the constant injection system, and find it very reliable. I have and will choose the more modern sequential injection HFM system over CIS any time.
To each his own.