Ford cap and rotor on 400E???????
 

I was talking to one of my dads OLD SCHOOL car buddies, and telling him how the caps and rotors on the 400E's are so much $$$$ and he said there should be a ford V8 one that will work for half the money???? Then he said there are books out there that have cross referance parts lists for different cars??? Most of the old mans boys are hack&slash specialists, but this guy usually knows his stuff. He has a shop and has built many hot rods? Any body heard of this before???

Wow, you cannot be serious.

Just spend the $150 for the pair and be done with it. Are you not driving something with an SBF where the cap/rotor is about $12 out the door.

The last thing I'd want on my car is a ford part! Why?! If you can't afford to drive an MB and use the correct parts, don't drive one!

He evidently has not looked under the hood of an MB product, or worked on a car in many years.

Since there are 2 caps directly on the front cam cover that have only 4 spark plug wires....how are they going to install a cap that has 8 wire connections????

You have a nice car...spend the $$$ and get new Bosch caps & rotors.

Not as crazy as it sounds
 

Why should car companies re-invent the wheel, or for that matter the distributor cap?

Years ago, I had a '63 Sunbeam Alpine. Front shocks were about $100 in 1979. I took one to an auto parts store and they let me look through their inventory. Shocks from a Chrysler Newport were an exact match. $8 a piece.

Why should we be surprised if something from a Mercedes is interchangable with a cheaper make? Is a parts supplier such as Bosch going to make two different parts or try to sell the same thing to two different companies?

My uncle was a sales rep for a carberator company with a sales route in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. He sold the same design to a major motorcycle company, two snowmobile companies and a farm equipment company. The price difference in replacement parts was amazing.

I'm sure you can find many interchangable parts if you look. Actually the stupidest example was that the same GM alternator was priced differently depending on the way it was clocked. Take out the four long bolts, turn the mounts 90 degrees, put the bolts back in and the $29 alternator became the $89 alternator.

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Well, since Mercedes invented the automobile perhaps it's their birthright.

Why not criticize ford for not following?

In any event, a Mercedes V8 is a bit more sophisticated than a flathead ford and has an ignition system to match.

You could be the lucky one
 

You know people win the lottery, (the big ones) every now and then. I suspect many spend a fortune on it, but if you win a really big one, WOW! So if you had a number of freight cars full of distributor caps and rotors, you might just find one that would work. In the third world where they have more time to play with sandpaper, knife, file and glue, they might find one quicker that would work. But who is going to spend the time to search? You mentioned interchange books. Junkyard have them, the primary one is Hollander's. They don't speculate on parts that "might" fit. They list parts that come from name sources and are known to be identical parts under different part numbers. But please let us know if you find a Ford cap and rotor which is an identical perfect fit.

Well, back in the old days..there was 1 cap for a Chevy, 1 for a Ford, and 1 for a Dodge.

But that was 30-40 years ago..not today.

Some BAD info on the internet! REALLY BAD! including HERE.

Step up to the PUMP & buy the correct parts.

If you really can't afford it...either sell the car or go to the junkyard and find the best looking one and test it out.

WOW Brutal, I don't understand why its not a smart move, if you can get the same part by the same company that makes them, for half the price, Only diff is a part number. Thats like going to Autozone, and the guy saying Well I got to caps for your car, they are the same part made by the same company, this one is $80 and this one is $35 which one do you want???

Bosch, MADE in Germany.

Not Beru, and certainly not Duduco made in Italy

Isn't some Bosch stuff made out of Germany now, maybe Spain or something not sure. I allways try to use Bosch stuff never had a problem with any of there stuff. Some people on here seem to not like there plug wires, but for half the price of OEM ???

Why don't you go to a junk yard and buy one from a Ford Pinto for a dollar and see if it fits. Or you can modify it and make it fit.

I LOVE the idea of a quality cap and rotor fitting a MB, that is sold as for another vehicle. Some MB owners will pay more for a part just so they can feel like it's better. I would love to hear what you find out.

Ford Pinto now thats a great idea, I bet I can get it for 50 cents:] All I was trying to do here is throw out some info I was given, to maybe aaaaaaaaahhhhhh I don't know save people some money!!!! Sorry if some people on here don't care about saving money. The way this country is going we might all be broke soon, Driving Pintos.

No, I purchase and drive what I like as I can afford it. Obviously you cannot afford to drive a near 20 year old MB if $200 for an ignition tune up breaks your bank.

I look at it like this: Why risk damaging a nice Mercedes engine (big $$$) while trying to save a couple hundred dollars? I almost always buy OE parts and accessories because I can rest assured that they were designed for my car and won't damage any other components or systems. Better to spend the extra money on appropriate parts than to do damage that will require an expensive repair. Just my $.02.

I just replaced my cap/rotor on my m103: Bosch Made in Spain.

I mean how often do you really have to change this stuff?

Once every 30k? 60k? 75k at the most? So maybe once in 3-5 years depending on driving?

Granted things add up over the years, this breaks here, that breaks there...

I couldn't find any mention of changing the cap/rotor in the maintenance manual for my 190.

I had a bad solenoid on my old Ferrari 250. I took it off the car and down to the local auto electrical shop and ask them to test it without saying what it was from. They were very cool and did not ask.

I followed the tech back to his test bench and watched him pull the solinoid off and walk back into the storage area. He looked around for about five minutes and walked out with a solinoid. After switching the linkage it was a bolt on replacement. He tested it and it worked fine.

He carried it out to the front desk and told them what number it was. They wrote me a bill for about $32. On it it said...."Thermo King Solinoid".

heh!

PS I wouldn't be surprised if they had a pretty good idea what it was from.

If a ford distributor cap fitted I doubt I would use it on my benz.....I might though.;)

Funny, when I had the 300E I used the O2 sensor from a ford mustang.
Did I have any problems?....NO
If Ford had distributor caps and rotors that would fit my E420.
I would use them. BUT I do no think Ford has anything that would fit the E420 (may be the O2 sensor).

[I] Bosch plugs made in india foul up quickly. I always prefer Beru plugs and leads .Just a personal preference by the built and feel of the product[/I]
mak

Ford, Volvo, many other brands, used Bosch components, just put into a FoMoCo blue box instead of an MB grey-blue one, so it is quite possible that there are other part crossovers like the O2 sensor.

Mercedes used Delco ac compressors before Nippondenso. . . Lucas brake parts . . . there's quite a list of suppliers.

OK funny post but some is not all jest

it does look real close and some of those old timers can make you nuts : he is correct and wrong at the same time lots of 50s 60s American as well as the foreign at the time were interchangeable items, but that's over many years ago,

if you are short of cash than junk yard the part many good things can be had in a yard and should be - jz

We had this guest lecturer come into our senior capstone design class this past week. He was a EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) test engineer with Delphi. He presented how different products were tested in their labs. He had this giant list of tests they conduct, it was quite impressive. I've been to the test labs before. Theres quite a bit of money involved here. He also mentioned that the testing they conduct differs from company to company. They deal with primarily automotive applications, things for Mercedes, GM, etc. He said that the parts they test for Mercedes have a larger number of tests done on them to insure they meeting the mileage/warranty.

So I would surmise that other parts might work on our cars however the Mercedes designed one have typically been though a large amount of testing to ensure the quality.

He said they after a number of years they'll conduct field studies where they go out to junkyard and run the same battery of tests on the parts and more times than not they'll find that the parts are still fully functional..

He pointed out that every feature in the design served a purpose, everything was placed there for a good reason.

He also mentioned that they were currently testing stuff for the MY 2014 cars...I found that kind of interesting...

My senior design group is actually designing a new testing device for them....

JamesDean thanks for the info, makes sense!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rotor and cap
 

Bunch of snotty people here, just because it says Mercedes doesnt mean thats all you can use. Had a 1991 Volvo, needed a blower motor, Volvo blower motor $235.00, the kid at Autozone, yes Autozone said the blower motor from a Chevy would fit nicely, Chevy blower motor $18.95, still driving the car and getting plenty of heat from the Chevy blower motor!!!!!!!!!!!

Parts swap
 

I have a 12 cylinder Jaguar. MANY parts from other manufacturers will work.So much so there is a crossover guide for doing so. Some of those parts are actually made by the same companies and just re-labeled with the Jag Tag at many times the cost.IF you have the proper info, you'd be an idiot to pay 12x as much for a dealerpart. It does take effort and proper research to do this correctly, but for the time you spend, I'd say that you are saving without risking anything. The car parts industry is global now, so the incidence of proprietary parts, sure ain'tlike laptop computers. Many parts now are just the same part in a different box, marketed to a different demographic group. Do the research, and reap the rewards.

There was a time in the 50s and 60s when MB used parts like ignitrion parts compatible with other cars: Bisch, Bilstein etc. No more

Sometimes it matters, sometimes, not. you gotta check yourself.

Silly thread.

I agree with Shaniqua.

Look, MB Doc was being polite. This idea is just plain stupid for two reasons - Fords are American and MBs are German. Except for some ABS components, they are unlikely to have any parts in common.

Secondly, even if you found a cap that looked like it would fit, would you risk damaging your ignition coils, your rotor, etc. just to find out if there's $50 to be saved? It's gambling hundreds of dollars for a potential savings of tens of dollars. It's the same reason you'd never race a Ford Pinto for your pink slip. Sure, you'd probably win, but what have you actually won compared to what you could lose?

Cheap out on your washer fluid if you must, but buy a real cap and rotor!