How noisy is your engine?

[Spetz]

Just wondering how much noise from your engine is sent through to the cabin?
In my C124 (E220) the engine is quite noisy and generally is the noisiest thing. Even on the highway there is more engine noise than tire noise or wind noise.

Is this something that is only apparent in the 4 cylinder cars or even the 6 cylinder ones?
I would expect that with the double firewall design it would be pretty quiet.

[Cal Learner]

I briefly owned a 4 cylinder 190E (W201) that was quiet, but it was brand new, too, and I traded it on my W124 after only 1 year. The 6 cylinder 124 is now 23 years old, and the engine is remarkably quiet, certainly quieter than road noise. It's my impression that 4 cylinder motors are always noisier than 6s or 8s. If you think yours has become progressively noisier, maybe it's just a small leak on the exhaust manifold. My wife's 1990 Nissan Maxima, also bought new, has a wonderful 3L v6 motor that's as rugged and peppy as they come, and has purred for 21 years. But replacing the manifold gaskets brought the engine noise back down to a hushed level that I wouldn't have thought possible. I had just got used to the higher noise level, even though it seemed quiet even then. Something to consider.

[rocky raccoon]

Is yours still intact? If not consider replacing it. Your car will be quieter and it will insulate the paint on your hood from the high engine temps.

[JimFreeh]

Consider the penetrations where wires/hoses enter the interior through the firewall.

Any loose grommet can telegraph sound into the interior.

Jim

[TheDon]

Not very loud at all. I can hear the clock tick at idle. When I put the hammer down the M104 does roar but that is acceptable because I like it.

Other than that no loud noises at cruising speed. I have a cabriolet so wind noise is more of a factor.

[lee polowczuk]

104--- quiet almost is it running quiet

103--- just above quiet....just not as smooth of an engine..

...did my first spark plug change in a 104 yesterday.... takes about 4x as long as a 103. not bad though, very intuitive

[Hogweed]

used to hear more tranny noise than motor noise from the m103's

[tilac1]

Thanks to the 'double firewall' design, M103 is very quiet. Smooth too.

[Spetz]

Yes the insulating blanket is still there.
The car was bought brand new by my dad in 94 (it was custom ordered).
We've owned a saloon E220 as well and also wasn't too quiet but it seemed to have a different (better) engine noise. It had much higher mileage though.

This 220CE has just hit 62,000 miles and is meticulously taken care of.

At lower rpms it's louder than my daily Mazda 3 which has 20,000 miles.
My 08 Audi is whisper quiet in comparison, and the E39 BMW that replaced the W124 in 97 was also whisper quiet in comparison to the 124s we had.

So I am lead to believe they are just a loud engine?

[Cal Learner]

Spetz, are the noises you're referring to mechanical sounds? Ticking rockers, rumbling/grinding bearings, etc? Or is it simply an ambient noise level that is higher than you would like?

[Spetz]

It's engine noise, I can't specify exactly what it is but just like any engine with higher rpms it makes more noise.
But it is quite noisy in comparison to how silent everything else is

[anthonyb]

My M111 4-banger is quieter than the road noise that comes through the chassis from the tires. I'd say it's road noise loudest, then engine noise, then wind noise. Same for when I had a M103 engined 300E.

[Spetz]

What should I start checking for excessive engine noise?

There is a bit of raspy sound and I thought it was the exhaust as it sounded weird from the outside when driving off (my brother drove off with it) but I took it to an exhaust shop and at idle he stuck his head under it and said there is no hole.

What do people think?