A few years ago, the rear muffler failed on my '88 S124/300TE.

No big surprise, as it was pushing 20 years old and there's plenty of road debris shot at it by the rear tires.

When these cars are factory assembled, the center and rear mufflers are all one piece, but these units come separately as replacement parts, as well they should. One needs to cut the pipe between them at the appropriate place so the new rear muffler pipe will slide over the remaining piece of the interconnecting pipe.

So, just recently the center muffler finally failed--at 22 years age-- and I replaced it.

I came to Tulsa--car is now with my son--prepared to have to cut the connecting bolts or at least expecting them to break as soon as a wrench was applied. No, they just screwed apart, no problem. This was a worry, as my supplier failed to include the new bolts ordered with the new center muffler section, but I was able to reuse them with the new copper locknuts that did make it into the package.

The center section separated pretty easily from the front section, i.e. the CATs, with just a little hammering, which of course was no problem since that was being replaced.

Biggest hassle was separating the center and rear sections at the now clamped insertion, but some hammer and chisel work did this just fine with zero damage to the newer and still functional rear pipe. I'm pretty sure I used some German antiseize at the rear section replacement and certainly did again this time.

Then, of course, it all went back together easy as pie. New "olive" on left, composite seal on right. 20nm on those pretty copper nuts.

Now, I admit this car spent most of its life in the dry, rust-free southwest, but that climate doesn't describe the last maybe 3 years in Tulsa.

It's a fine, high-quality system so undeserving of being hacked and welded on by typical muffler shop jockeys. And of course quality of OE parts is the best, and it's nearly unbelievable how much a center muffler for a W124 weighs.

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Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '06 SLK350

Apparently, owners of new Mercedes products aren't experiencing that level. This month's Consumer Reports stung Mercedes and BMW, in particular, the GLK350 was ranked last in the prospective reliability survey.