Larry,

I wonder if it' a combination of the 123 versus the 124 and the year of manufacture. I've had 3 mercedes cars, all diesels. A 1980 240D, 1983 300D and a 1987 300SDL. I've maintained them all and it just seems to me that somewhere between 1983 and 1987 the quality of the parts went way down. My 87 had some parts wear out at between 100k miles and 150kmiles that my 240D with 250kmiles never had.

I seriously believe that somewhere in that time frame Mercedes cheapened the parts quality in an attempt to get the overall cost down, I believe to compete with the upper end Japanese cars.

I know you a big fan of the 240 with a manual transmission but I have to say that if I had to pick my favorite of the three that I owned it would be the 1983 300D. That said, my 240 will last until she returns to the earth (rust).

Joe