So here i sit 6 months after buying a 94 w124 e320 sedan. mint cond. at the time
Month 1. reverse gears goes, month 2. starts to run rough, month 3. forward gears start to slip, and engine starts to smoke black heavy and almost cease to run so time for a rebuild i think to myself, Well as i start to do my research i learn of the wiring issues i may have, so out to the car i go and yes harness is toast so i buy a new harness runs a little smoother but still smokes, so back to the forums and more research and with my limited knowledge of gas engines myself being a 22 year old cummins tech and fire medic yes i'm a diesel head and a horrible writer sorry, decide to pull the wonderful piece a german engineering we call mercedes, and yes i am a fan, so after it sitting in my garage for 2 months undriveable last week i pulled the engine and rebuilt it from the bottem up and now i'm stuck on the simplest of things, the timing At this point i have the engine sitting on the stand head torqued block painted cyl 1 at tdc and am stuck there feeling pretty stupid and would appreciate any knowledge or mockery guidance or questions any of you may have.

Many Thanks Nathan.

Also throwing around the thought of doing away with the mech. fan ?

oh and just a tad bit of additional info the harness from the tba was toast also so i have a rebuilt from 4mercedes on the way.

This should be helpful....I did my first headgasket for the first time on this car recently.......

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w124-e-ce-d-td-class/1460479-started-my-head-gasket-repair.html

Look at the last page also, i provide links to some of the most importants reads on this ,,,including Steve's article (a must read!!!)

good luck

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1993 300E, 2.8 M104 .....

also, benzworld forum has important links in the w124 forum DIY section (how-to, manuals, etc) check them out.....

and you should do a search here also, and this is the best Mercedes forum out there !!!

it has been covered....good luck !!

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1993 300E, 2.8 M104 .....

Thanks a lot latief !
I looked over all it this afternoon and will be out in the garage hopefully timing and sealing her up right.
Great write up and nice pics !
Just a couple things i was thinking of doing was removing the mech fan and going elect and removing the egr ?
So any thoughts on these from anyone would be gladly taken.
Nathan.

I don't know enough about that particular car to comment on EGR, though in theory it's no big deal. But better make sure the emissions controls won't freak out or some other similar unhappy computer issue.

As to the electric fan, I'd just make sure that the alternator was up to the task since MB tended to put alternators in that were on the cusp of adequate considering how many electrical components these cars have.

Personally, I feel that the risk of overheating damage isn't worth the extra few horsepower you get, but that's just my personal opinion. As long as the viscous clutch is good, there isn't that much power loss anyway. Cars that don't have a clutch, that's another story. You get at least 10 HP by ditching the mechanical fan on those old setups.

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-tp


1990 300SE "Corinne"- 145k daily driver - street modified differential - PARTING OUT OR SELLING SOON - PORTLAND OR. AREA - PM ME FOR DETAILS
1988 560SEL "Gunther"- 190K passes anything except a gas station
1997 S420 - 265k just bought it with a rebuilt trans. Lovely condition

Whatever the value is, the savings will be there only at the high end of the rpm range. So unless you're drag racing your 17 year old beast (and it will still lose ) I recommend just getting a new viscous clutch. In Florida, it is a good help in keeping temps down after much stoplight idling.

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Prost!