Well, in search of a affordable wagon with automatic and preferrably diesel to keep daily driving costs down I stumbled across a Binz modified W124.

My previous record with Mercedes includes an 81 W123 200T. Probably never seen in the US, it was a straight 4 2 liter gas wagon with 4 speed manual. Excellent room and cruise comfort. Wouldnt have minded better seats and less rust and engine problems.

The next vehicle(s) was actually a US W124 300E 4-door automatic and a W126 560SEL. Never stayed around long enough to get either car fully working and properly working. The 300E was used a lot though. When my US stay ended I returned to Europe again and now ended up with the W124 Binz.

No, Binz is not a typo or slang They modify Benzes to various applications. My current one an old ambulance from the Red Cross here in Norway. The engine probably never made it to the US, it is based on a 230TE which is a stright 4 gas 2.3 liter engine with fuel injection. Whopping 136BHP

Streched about 2.5 ft and with lots of added weight it is no race car. But I am pretty sure they added a higher ratio diff because the acceleration is rather good. Fuel consumption is not too bad either considering the weight and the automatic. Expect around 25MPG on side roads. Havent checked the actual highway mileage. Probably a couple of MPGs more. Estimated 18MPG city driving.

Has a block heater and battery charger. Outlet for coupe heater as well.

What needs to be done:

Front pads and sensors (brake wear)
Right rear wheel bearing
Tune-up servo assist
Right rear shock (probably self-leveling and hydraulic? $$$)
Oil leak from engine or transmission. I suspect it is the servo though, since ATF level seems ok and engine oil level is good as well. Though might be a small leak that shows up over time.
Interior fan only works on 3 and 4. Though has been working on 2 a few times as well (just bad connections or needs new resistor pack?).
ASD stays lit (will try read codes and reset instructions found here).
Indicates bulb failure (could be rear tail light which is out).
Central locking not working.
Door light swithes need replacing.
Stereo must be replaced (has new one ready).
Right front door interior handle broken.
Front fog lights not working (just missing bulbs?)
Needs summer tires... and wheels.
Windscreen wiper seems to struggle a bit / is slow (adjustments?)
Probably has an exhaust leak around front / middle.

Tends to idle high when it is warmed up. Idles around 750-800 when cold, but after driving for an hour it idles 1000+. Acts up now and then when warming up while driving. Gets jerky but is fine if you let of the gas and reapply it. Transmission hesistates for a second or two when cold from 1st to 2nd. Otherwise shifts fine. Kickdown does not work, and it is unwilling to shift down unless you slow down a bit. Manually downshifting is great though. A bit jerky at times though. ASD has worked a few times for a minute or so. Seemed more responsive when ASD worked.

Other than that a bit cosmetic work is of course needed.

Link to my photo gallery is found in the signature and avatar... Suspect I will be frequently asking questions here after digging through the archives.

Welcome any pointers and links to my known problems. Hopefully it can become quite well without another morgage on the house

From the colds of northern Norway,

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99 W210 E220 cdi sedan automatic (248.000 km) 210.006

Yeah, we have heard of "Binz" over here, but they don't use them for Ambulances in the states. For that, these days, the Ford E350 vans with diesel engines are used mostly, nowadays.

Makes me think of the old joke.

Q: "What are the two preferred ways to get around in New York City"

A: "By bus, and by ambulance!"


I don't know where up there you are, but when I went, a few years ago, I never got too much further than Bergen and Lillehammer.

Uff da!!!!

What a beautiful country. I loved it. Probably the loveliest place I have ever seen in my life. The people are kind and most speak English, and they have their own special sense of humor: I remember one friend there, in Oslo, I was talking to him about immigration, and all the muslims coming to Norway.

He said, "Yeah, they like Mercedes, too. But, paaah, all they can afford is the 124!!"

A tour guide told us that the labor union representing the Norwegian road construction workers up north, got it in their contract that they would only have to eat salmon no MORE than 5 times a week.!!!!

On your wagen, can't you get a pair of those huge, round "miniature sun" driving lights that so many cars in Sweden and Norway have. They are the "anti-Moose lights" (or anti-reindeer) lights, do you know about where you could buy them? I have never seen them for sale, but have seen them all over Sweden and Norway. I would not mind getting a pair of them for the "cool" factor here in USA.

Also, everyone in Norway hates the high taxes. I recall being told that if you put a screen behind the front seats, and promise not to carry any passengers, you can have the car classified as commercial and get the green license plates (your wagen still has the white ones) and not have to pay high license plate fees.

It seems that deal would save you a lot of money on the wagen you bought.
Do they still have that?

Welcome back, to the forum. Your technical questions will be answered quickly for this unusual vehicle, on the Technical or Diesel Discussion sections.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Maybe I would do well as a cabdriver there then...

Glad you liked your visit to Norway. You got to visit our most rainy city, Bergen. Just been there once myself, and it is a nice place.

I am situated a bit further north, on a smaller island called Leka. When looking at a map I would say about just in the middle of the northern and southern points of the country.

I see you picked up a few phrases from Norway as well

You can find some quite out there stories, and most people are good of making them around here, so there is always a joke or funny story to be heard.

I have some extra lights around somewhere, which I suspect it is the same type you are referring to. Anything like these you are looking for? Theres a terrible set of similar lights on the W124 which is totally useless. Bad quality. So I plan to fit those round ones on the W124 instead. Those make pretty good "daylight" at even the darkest nights. The problem is the regular main beams. I will probably have a look at the reflectors and see if they may be bad.

There is a few places to get those lights here. Most part shops carry some brand of them so they are not hard to get by. If you want I can look up and see how much they are. I am sure I can assit to ship some over there. I actually thought of starting some kind of export/import of those when I lived in the states. Would just be glad to help. There is also a lot of various smaller ones out now which uses Xenon technology with excellent results.

Most taxes are ok... but some are not too my liking. I would not mind getting the one-time taxes on vehicles removed. They could keep the vat, but skip the power, weight and engine capacity taxes - or CO2 taxes which recently replaced the power tax. Our neighbors in Sweden do not have these, and as a result cars are usually half price or less there.

Another silly tax you mention is the green plates. It is correct as you mention that if you just register a wagon (which is large enough) as a 2-seater you can usually save 20+% on the one-time taxes mentioned above. However this does not affect any used cars as the one-time tax has already been paid. So since I have white plates I can drive around with a total of 4 persons in mine. I could re-register it with green plates, but it would not save me anything. The green plates can usually be swapped for white ones after the car is 10 years anyways. Or has been registered for 10 years with green plates I should make a point of. The green plates indicate a light van/wagon mainly designed for transportating goods. Makes it a bit easier on the commercial transporters I guess...

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99 W210 E220 cdi sedan automatic (248.000 km) 210.006

Yes I wouldn't mind if you looked up the price of the "miniature sun" lights.
(Thank you)

There is nothing like those here. But they are very common in Sweden and Norway, a little less so in Finland.

Leka must be a beautiful place. But I am sure being an island, all the tourists miss it.

I wasn't in Norway long enough. It was beautiful (July). Norway to me looked like heaven on earth.

I think it was this tour that I was on, if I recall: (Globus)
A good introduction to Norway. (aslso went to Sweden, Denmark and later, to Finland and Estonia)

http://www.tourvacationstogo.com/globus_tours.cfm?source=google&ref=google.com&dom=globusreservations.com&mcn=adv&npid=10081&nhr=1

The boat trips through the fjiords were just incredible. I regret that I did not buy any sweaters, or a little model of a wood stave church that I saw. The trip was too fast. I believe I was in Stavanger and Telemark, as well as other places, but next time I go would love to go more North and see the Northern Lights.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

That looks a like good trip. Got to see quite a bit there.

Do not miss the midnight sun either next time Where I come from originally there is midnight sun (daylight 24 hours) during the summer months, and now during the winter months there is absolutely no daylight. Just twilight for a few hours.

A good tip would be to catch a trip on Hurtigruten, a cruise/boat trip that goes from Bergen up along the whole coast of Norway to Kirkenes. Takes a 5 days so because it stops along many cities and places on the route. Sometimes with a few hours to do some shopping or sightseeing. Then you can catch a flight back if you do not want the round-trip.

I found a few links to brochures you can look at and see if anything in particular matches what you are looking for. All are PDF-files. If you hang on until next week I will get my lights on the W124 and take some pictures to let you know how it looks with those I have. I think they are 210mm diameter.

Unfortunately the brochures are in Norwegian, but the images should be ok. Maybe you will even figure out the prices which are in NOK. Just divide them by about 5,50 for USD equivalent. Same with the sizes, 210mm divided by 25,4 gives you inches. If stated in cm, then divide by 2,54 (210mm = 21cm).

There are some nice brackets to mount 2, 3 or 4 lights on that are sold here. You mount them behind the license plate and then you have a sturdy base for the lights. Not sure how those will work over on US cars, but I will take some close-ups so you can see how they are mounted.

If you or anybody else here on the board needs anything in particular I would be glad to help if I can get those parts or items. Just drop me a message. Some items might be easier to get over here.

CD Cardic items
Biltema items (there is a bunch of stuff, but just scroll to the right page)
BilXtra items (might be the same as CD Cardic...)
Hella items
Bosch items (unfortunately an older brochure, but they do not have a newer online).

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99 W210 E220 cdi sedan automatic (248.000 km) 210.006