What was the last year for 124 diesel wagon? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Benzadmiral · #1 04-02-2008, 01:13 PM

Hey, dieselers,

I'm rewriting a story of mine that I finished a few years back. In the original version, set in 1998, my hero drove an '84 maroon/palomino 300TD wagon. I thought it was neat to mention the details about the diesel engine sound and smell, etc. In a later story, he and his sister transport her dog, so the wagon is an important part of the background.

Well, I'm updating. The action now takes place in 2004, and I'm not sure a 20-year-old wagon will suit, especially since I plan future stories in this series. (Though if you can convince me, I'll leave it as it is!)

So: what was the last, or best, year for the W124 300 turbodiesel wagon in America? Or was it even turbocharged? Seems to me at least one forum member here has/had a '93, which would work fine for my purposes.

Also, I've never had a W124 or driven a wagon. Any peculiarities that endear them to their owners? Could they have come in maroon/palomino, or was it mostly white (for those roadside assistance vehicles)?

Any comments will be helpful.
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babymog · #2 04-02-2008, 01:14 PM

In the US: 1987 only. They are fairly desirable today, prices typically double the sedan prices, ... some of us drive '87 124 diesels because they are the only year for the wagon, and the only year for the 603 turbo (fast by diesel standards). Is your hero a collector?

Benzadmiral · #3 04-02-2008, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babymog

In the US: 1987 only. They are fairly desirable today, prices typically double the sedan prices, ... some of us drive '87 124 diesels because they are the only year for the wagon, and the only year for the 603 turbo (fast by diesel standards). Is your hero a collector?

No, he's a youngish college professor and only has one car. I bestowed a 300TDT on him because it was the least likely Benz I could think of, I'd had a W123 and so knew the interior, and I figured in future stories I could have him wrenching on it. In a second story, he and his sister (plus her dog Witt) plunge into a low-speed chase:

***********
“Sis, you know how to start a diesel --?”

“Oh, hell yes. Remember Uncle Walt’s truck? He taught me. Turn the key, wait till the glow plug light goes out, and –-”

The Benz’s 3-liter engine roared. Startled, Witt barked. Carla slammed the shift lever into D, spraying gravel. We accelerated past the office. I had a lightning impression of Anthony jumping back and gesturing furiously after us, and then we shot out into the traffic on Chef Highway.

Horns blared and headlights flashed as Carla swung right across two lanes. For an instant I felt the back end of the wagon start to fishtail on the wet pavement. Terrified, Witt whined and tried to climb into the front seat with me.

Then Carla flicked the big steering wheel, left, right, and the Continental tires (brand new, thank God) dug in, and we were accelerating west on Chef.

Diesels are not racing engines. They’re stump pullers, not Ferraris. But what they lack in horsepower they make up in torque, the force that makes the wheels turn, and you can really wind them up if you use the gears right. Carla downshifted to 3rd and thrust her foot down; I felt the turbocharger kick in.

************

Does that sound like a fair description of a W123 turbodiesel wagon? Would the '87 be different in any major respect?
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vstech · #4 04-02-2008, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benzadmiral

“Sis, you know how to start a diesel --?”

“Oh, hell yes. Remember Uncle Walt’s truck? He taught me. Turn the key, wait till the glow plug light goes out, and –-”

The Benz’s 3-liter engine roared. Startled, Witt barked. Carla slammed the shift lever into D, spraying gravel. We accelerated past the office. I had a lightning impression of Anthony jumping back and gesturing furiously after us, and then we shot out into the traffic on Chef Highway.

Horns blared and headlights flashed as Carla swung right across two lanes. For an instant I felt the back end of the wagon start to fishtail on the wet pavement. Terrified, Witt whined and tried to climb into the front seat with me.

Then Carla flicked the big steering wheel, left, right, and the Continental tires (brand new, thank God) dug in, and we were accelerating west on Chef.

Diesels are not racing engines. They’re stump pullers, not Ferraris. But what they lack in horsepower they make up in torque, the force that makes the wheels turn, and you can really wind them up if you use the gears right. Carla downshifted to 3rd and thrust her foot down; I felt the turbocharger kick in.

************

Does that sound like a fair description of a W123 turbodiesel wagon? Would the '87 be different in any major respect?
.

That sounds fun...
none of my 123 or 126 vehicles will perform like you describe... POSSIBLY if she revved the motor heavily before putting it into D she could have gotten it to spin gravel... the wet pavement part is right on par with a turbo kicking in, so that part is quite true, and I have done it myself plenty of times... it's just the take off spinning gravel that won't happen in a 123... without revving it first.
you see they have pretty tall gear ratio's and pretty mundane HP pre-turbo spooling, so it won't happen. flooring it first THEN popping it down into D would get two things happening, one the turbo would start spooling, and 2 the motor would build up quite a bit of inertia to throw into the tranny!

Benzadmiral · #5 04-02-2008, 02:17 PM

So, vstech, my description of the 3-liter engine roaring would encompass the revving necessary? The gravel is wet too -- would that make a difference?
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BodhiBenz1987 · #6 04-02-2008, 01:16 PM

1987 was the first and the last year for the 300TD W124 in the U.S. It was a turbocharged 603. AFAIK there hasn't been any diesel station wagon of any class in the U.S. since then, unless you count the R-Class CDI, which start in 2007.

The 124 wagons I think came in all the colors the sedans did. I have the color brochure and can dig it out for you if you want to be very accurate.

BodhiBenz1987 · #7 04-02-2008, 01:18 PM

Oh, and I think a 20-year-old station wagon would suit just fine for your story ... just ask around here ... lots of guys have daily drivers of that age or older.

#8 04-02-2008, 02:26 PM

If there's just a little drizzle on the pavement, (not a full-blown rain - just enough moisture to bring the grease, oil, etc. to the surface and make the asphalt nice and slick) I can spin the tires on my CD pretty hard when exiting a corner.

That light misting drizzle is the key - really makes the pavement slick.

vstech · #9 04-02-2008, 02:37 PM

no, it's not the condition of the gravel in question, it's the inability of these 123 turbo's to make any power of consequence off idle... I have no experience with the 603, but I bet it's not much different. they just don't rev fast enough off idle to spin the tires from a standstill. just add in the flooring of the go pedal before putting it in D and you got it on the money. the 603 would probably be harder to handle in the corner on the wet asphalt, but not a huge difference really.
I say stick with the 123, add in a line before putting the car in D about flooring the pedal first. the 123 is certainly going to have leggs long into the teens of the 21'st century, so it's perfectly fine for a story taking place 4 years ago. you might even add in to the build up background of the car earlier in the story about how pristine or recently rebuilt the guy's car is. "only" 120 HP sure sound weak, but like you said, it's torque, at low speeds that spins the tires, not HP. and 300lbs of torque is quite a lot below 30mph.

Benzadmiral · #10 04-02-2008, 03:04 PM

Thanks, everybody,

I'd think "The Benz's 3-liter engine roared", especially if it were loud enough to startle the dog, would pretty much indicate that Carla floored it to begin with; "growled" would indicate a normal start. Vstech, you say that when floored, "the motor would build up quite a bit of inertia to throw into the tranny!" Not a good thing to do very often, I'd guess?

I guess, for now at least, I'll leave it as an '84 or '85 W123, and make a note to myself that if I go newer, it's the '87 W124 300TDT I should use!

Here's how I introduce the wagon:

***************
I splashed out to the faculty lot on Engineering Road, where I had left my Mercedes. No sleek limousine; mine is a 1984 diesel station wagon. Sturdy and reliable, but it will never win any glamour awards and Richard Petty won’t ever use it in a stock car race.

As I climbed in and got the diesel to cough out its first cloud of black smoke, I wondered what it was that drew faculty members toward foreign cars -- Swedish cars in particular. In this lot, you could hardly swing a syllabus without hitting a Volvo or a Saab.

*******************

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Knightrider966 · #11 04-02-2008, 07:06 PM

My 300D's fuel economy is so good that I double checked everything to remove any doubt! Now this is all highway MPG so here goes.

1. I had replaced my speedo with a rebuilt one since mine had recently quit racking up miles. I had my next door neighbor, an Arizona Police officer check my speed with a radar gun against my moving vehicle to see how fast I was going. OK. Several times the radar gun and my speedo agreed withing a 1 to 1.5 MPH variable at 45 MPH. Close enough.

2. I'm running B99 and have since I got the car with those rare exceptions when I had to get a little dino! Maybe 4 times in the last year and never more than 2/3rds tankful. My idle went up gby 150 RPM just using it once it made it through the system in a couple hundred miles. Now my oil changes look super cleaner and my emissions test was 2% opacity read and up to 20% allowed.

3. My only engine maintenance change was to advance the injection timing by 2* to make up for Biodiesel having a slightly lower BTU. I maintain my vehicles well, never let maintenance ever take a back seat to something else. I even check my bolt torque on my engine accessories regularly, Power Steering, AC pump...etc.

4. I went on a sunday drive with a friend of mine around Arizona and we wound up at Wickieup on hiway 93 and had luch there. I refilled Mr Benz at Wickieup and drove 211 miles back home. South on 93, the Barry Goldwater/Joshua forest scenic parkway to Hiway 74 at Wickenburg. Turned left on 74 and took it to southbound 17, The Pearl Harbor memorial hiway, then southbound 17 to Eastbound 101, The Agua Fria freeway to Eastbound 202, the Red Mountain freeway to it's end at power Rd. South on power Rd. to University and East on University to Idaho. South on Idaho to the Wild west hiway which took me to my 1958 Ranch house in Superstition Vista!

Now for those lloking on a map and you can see how far I went. My problem? This is 211.6 miles since resetting the trip odometer in Wickieup and I watched the mileage markers while driving, very slight discrepancy, OK?

GALLONS OF FUEL USED FOR THE RETURN TRIP........5.5 GALLONS!

How is this possible? Is Biodiesel such a superior lubricating fuel that is can really help with good fuel economy like this????

This comes out to be 38.472 MPG! WTF?!

And man, we were going about 70 nonstop!

Can anyone think of something I over looked? The first thing I doubted was my speedo, but I make this trip in a Freightliner every week for the last year from Andy Devine in Kingman, so this mileage is about right!

My glow plugs are clean when I took them out to look at them and it even look like most of the carbon has been eaten away by being consumed somehow. My exhaust is the cleanest I've ever seen is a diesel. I filled a VP racing fuel can with exactly 5 gallons from my private fuel tank (470 gallons) and poured that in Mr Benz. I filled another and it was full at 5.56 gallons according to the marking on the outside of the can! I poured the remainder into ANOTHER jug and got just a little under 4.5 gallons back!

Now I double checked myself because everyone says on this board that these cars just don't get this kind of mileage. OK. No one ever made this kind of test with Biodiesel before to the best of my knowledge!

Now I want a 300 TD wagon!

babymog · #12 04-02-2008, 08:39 PM

The '87 will easily spin in gravel, I've done it many times. On the road it will keep up with most gasoline cars from its era, the '87 was "the fastest production diesel car" in its day, (I believe I have a Road & Track with this claim also) at close to 9sec 0-60 and 126mph top speed. With no black smoke and gas-car performance, the Ferrarri / stump puller reference again is more applicable to the earlier cars than the more refined 124 ('87).

The dog-startling noise? That too would have to be the cement-mixer sound of the older (616 / 617) diesels in the previous 300TD, the 603 in the 124 is much quieter.

IMO the 123 is a classic, a car with an unmistakable look and character, from the school-bus steering-wheel and handling to the gracious curves on her hood. Most diesel people I know like either the 123 or the 124, and respect the other, but don't love both as they are completely different automobiles. Your character moving from a 123 to a 124 is more of an evolution of needs, where staying with the 123 would demonstrate more of a whimsical taste in cars, like someone who would drive a Volvo P1800S.

Knightrider966 · #13 04-02-2008, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babymog

The '87 will easily spin in gravel, I've done it many times. On the road it will keep up with most gasoline cars from its era, the '87 was "the fastest production diesel car" in its day, (I believe I have a Road & Track with this claim also) at close to 9sec 0-60 and 126mph top speed. With no black smoke and gas-car performance, the Ferrarri / stump puller reference again is more applicable to the earlier cars than the more refined 124 ('87).

The dog-startling noise? That too would have to be the cement-mixer sound of the older (616 / 617) diesels in the previous 300TD, the 603 in the 124 is much quieter.

IMO the 123 is a classic, a car with an unmistakable look and character, from the school-bus steering-wheel and handling to the gracious curves on her hood. Most diesel people I know like either the 123 or the 124, and respect the other, but don't love both as they are completely different automobiles. Your character moving from a 123 to a 124 is more of an evolution of needs, where staying with the 123 would demonstrate more of a whimsical taste in cars, like someone who would drive a Volvo P1800S.

Very good description! I would love a Volvo P1800 and it would be hard to find another car I like as well as my W123 300D!

Benzadmiral · #14 04-04-2008, 10:50 AM

Well, thanks, everybody!

I guess I'll leave the W123 as the star of the show for now. If I write about the Hurricane Katrina period, perhaps I'll have the car get flooded, and then my hero has to hunt for a newer MB.

Come to think of it, I could have a scene where he logs on to MercedesShop.com for information! Ought to be interesting!
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vstech · #15 04-04-2008, 11:08 AM

a 123 that got flooded, would be fine. pull the plugs crank her over, dry out the interior and drive it. (ok, maybe a little more work than that... but not much)
no real electronics to fail, no computer to cause problems... well at least it would still be drivable...