61x Temp sensors
 

Has anyone had good luck or bad with the cheaper temps sensors available? The range is about $7 (Meyle, facet) to about $28 (OE).

I hope this isn’t too irrelevant because I haven’t used the Meyle temp sensor, but I’ve had terrible luck with any W123 Meyle part I’ve used. At $28 for an OEM sensor, I’d throw in the change knowing that the original lasted 30+ years. A faulty temperature reading can lead to a lot more damage than a $28 part should lay claim to.

Ironically, I’ve used Meyle without a problem on multiple E46’s, but the W123 line just sucks.

With a combined 350,000 or so miles on 617.x engines, I tend to opt for either genuine M-B parts or OE to M-B parts. Now then, a caveat for the latter is that on one occasion, I discovered that the part (front suspension) was made in China. I returned it. True: The detail of manufacturing of the part was clearly not adequate and that is how I got to wondering why it seemed unusual and went back and examined the package it came in and found the country of manufacture.

I would pay heed to the sentiment expressed on this thread by TJ513.
Remember: The 617.x engine is a high precision piece of machinery (unlike most of its era and modern brethren) and choosing to use parts on it that are not of adequate quality is a means for significantly increasing the opportunities for failure.