Well to me at least, two in the past 6 weeks in very public places. My passenger side lens was lifted at the airport main parking garage under security cam... except the cams were out of service, dang.

My drivers side was lifted today from a public parking lot, in broad daylight and well traveled. backed into the spot leaving my front end exposed and visible to the rest of the lot for 1 hour, and whammo, drivers side lens swiped. 4pm

WTF!!! Is there a worldwide shortage of MB W124/201 Turn signal lenses?

Has this happened to anyone else?

So I try to figure out how they are getting swiped and with a little trial and error, I can now get these things out in a breeze, it's almost too easy. Not willing to loose any more lenses to greedy hands, I'm interested in securing these as close to but not quite gluing them in place

Any ideas on how to better secure these things?
TIA

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

Wha? I didn't realize there was even a market...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Seems like a bonehead move so little gained for so much risked.
Not sure what the legal consequences are but
I hope not to catch someone in the process

__________________
Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

Certain Freightliner trucks use the W124 turn signals.

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http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...aman/Fleet.jpg

Peach Parts W124.128 User Group.

80 280SL
85 300SD
87 300TD
92 300D 2.5 Turbo
92 300TE 4Matic

I'll be damned.

__________________
2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

Wow.

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'85 300TD "Puff The Magic Wagon" - Rolling Resto
'19 Mazda CX-9 Signature - Wife's sled
'21 Morgan 3-Wheeler P101 Edition
'95 E300d - SOLD
'84 300TD "Brown Betty" - Miss this one
'81 240D "China Baby" - Farm grocery getter

It's rare that a junkyard car will have the front TS in undamaged condition and new ones from the dealer are mucho bucks. So yes, I suppose there's a market and it wouldn't take more than a few seconds to pry one loose. Interesting comment on the use in trucks, I'll have to watch.

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Freightliner Trucks is an American truck manufacturer, a division of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the German Daimler AG.[1] The division is known mainly for the heavy duty class 8 diesel trucks it offers, as well as classes 5-7 trucks.


Now you know.


Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

Well wadda ya know. I looked into the Freightliner lenses, and sure enough, same ones, also unfortunately about the same price as MB $62 per lens

Freightliner FLD Front Signal Lamp: Big Rig Chrome Shop

I'm working on a solution this afternoon, if any good comes of it, I'll share with the rest of you.
Best

__________________
Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)

I guess there's some advantages to being part of a rare crowd of cars around here.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

... I've got a lot of 124 lenses...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I always wondered on the turn signal lenses on these trucks that they look exactly like W124 turn signals, but I didnt pay much heed to them that they would be the same part.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Ahem.... old information! (OK, I'm just hogging some credit here....)

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/open-discussion/118568-w124-corner-lights-same-some-semi-tractors.html

But about the thefts, that's just odd.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 422K

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Objects in closer are mirror than they appear.

So here's the deal, by design, this turn signal lens is awful at actually firmly attaching to the vehicle. The tangs or tabs, ears if you will that slide into the headlight side of the mounting assembly are too short. This is what makes them so easy to pry off.

If you grab the lower leading edge and and bottommost corner of the TS assembly closest to the headlamps and pull forward while simultaneously pushing the side of the TS assembly where the Locking tab is, and the lens pops out. This is caused by the fact the the pair of tangs closest to the headlights are too short and, essentially give way allowing the entire TS assembly to be tilted inwards to the chassis from the Locking Tab side, thus releasing the locking tab and TS assembly.

Anyhow, the weakness is the short length of the tangs which are effectively only about a 1/4 in. long, it's the little notches that actually do the holding.
So my attempt is to solve this by lengthening these tabs by 1 inch.

With some spare sheet metal a vice, pliers or sheet metal tools you can quickly make a set of longer tangs that attach onto the OE ones and extend the tabs to 1 inch. The sheet metal size per tab extension is 0.75 v 1 folded over so that you aligned the fold down the centerline. Although the clamping pressure of the bent tabs does a great job at holding onto the OR plastic, you can also add some crazy glue as well.

After installing the newly modified assemblies, I attempted to pry them off via the thief method and it looks like problem solved. Unless you are willing to break the tangs off completely, the longer tangs prevent the assembly from being rocked out. At the same time the longer tangs do not impeded removal or installation of the TS assembly as needed for bulb changed etc.

You can also choose to stiffen the spring action for the locking tang to apply more outward pressure. I hope the combination will keep prying hands off of my lenses either by defeating the ease to which they can be removed or by leaving the assailant with a broken assembly as a reward. Hope this is the last of it.

Some pics below of the modification and tools used
[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

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Stable Mates:
1987 300TD 310K mi (Hans)
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee OM642 165k mi (Benzrokee)