Originally Posted by jbach36

A few people said to carry fuel filters with you. WHAT FOR??? I've had my W124 car for 18 years and have never needed to change a fuel filter on the road. I change the big fuel filter once a year (I forget how often it's supposed to be changed, maybe every 12,000 miles) and the small pre-filters you do 3 of those in between. So unless you're driving more than 4,000 miles, why would you need one? That said, they are small and I probably do have one in the trunk of my car, but if you change fuel filters regularly like you should, you'll have no problem.

The other stuff about carrying lubricant, and these other special tools people are saying, etc., are all unnecessary. Sure, if something breaks you'll wish you had that tool, but if you have a heart attack, you'd wish you'd brought a heart defibrillator with you.

That all said, check and/or change all your fluids. Your brake fluid is supposed to be changed I think every 2 years, preferably in the spring and after the rains because it absorbs a lot of water. Fresh or reasonably fresh (5 years or newer) radiator fluid, oil, windshield fluid, fresh power steering fluid (use the Stop Leak stuff by Prestone) otherwise you'll lose fluid because the rubber seals are old.

There is ONE REALLY BIG THING that you should do. Last year I was driving halfway across the country on the highway and I suddenly lost all forward momentum!! Could have been deadly but fortunately I was in a good spot for this to happen. The accelerator cable plastic holder piece broke. The cable was no longer doing anything. The pedal went straight down to the floor and wouldn't spring back up. I was off the side of the road and used something to jam the cable in, to where it wouldn't come back out (it was a small piece of tire tread alongside the highway that I found), and I drove it that way for another 300 miles just fine. But I had to get that part. A MB place in CA said I'd have to buy the whole cable assembly, it was $178 or something.

I declined to buy that but went to another MB place in a small town, he showed me the exploded view of the parts. I showed him what I needed, just that end piece. He said it's $4.10.

So I did get that piece, but I also have a small zip tie around it so if that part ever fails, the zip tie will prevent the cable from coming though the metal area. Take a look, I did a write up on this previously with photos. The part you need is 202 301 00 93 64. Change your part out if it at ALL looks weak, and put a zip tie around the cable end so if that part breaks, you won't get killed in a car crash.