Borrowing a 300E 2.8 for the week
 

A friend was nice enough to lend me his '93 300E 2.8 for the week in exchange for some work on the car. Overall it's in nice shape, Florida car so there's no rust, but the clearcoat is cracking from the sun. Base model, doesn't even have headlight wipers. That 2.8 runs good through and has great power. It just had the transmission rebuilt so it shifts perfectly.

The suspension is scary dead. I'm guessing there is NO rubber left in any of the rear bushings, the car floats all over the place on the highway. The steering doesn't self center very well either so I'm sure the front end needs some help too.

Is this one of the models that was affected by the degrading wiring insulation?

Pics tomorrow :)

-Jason

I think 94+ had the Degrading harness

It's an HFM from 93 to 95, so yes bad wiring harness, but it's unlikely that it's the original.

If it runs good, it's almost certain the wiring harness has been replaced. I think it's a bit underpowered, but we drive faster in Texas than New England...

According to wikipedia it had 190 hp when new. More torque off the line would be nice but if you stay in it the car moves.

The car has an overheating problem. Stopped in traffic with the AC on the temps creep up and up. It's not the fan clutch, you can hear the fan whirring away when you accelerate. The electric fans are working properly too. I'll give the radiator a good cleaning tonight, see if there is junk blocking the airflow.

At leas the AC is still R12 :D

-J

MODEL........ YEARS... CHASSIS... ENGINE..... TRANSMISSION... STEERING

300E ...........1985-92 124.030 ...103.983 KE ......717.4/722.3 ......765
300E ...........1993-96 124.032 ...104.992 HFM ....722.369 ............765.904
300E 2.6 ......1985-92 124.026 ...103.940 KE ......717.4/722.4 ......765
300E 2.8 ......1985-93 124.028 ...103.942 KE ......717.4/722.4 ......765.904
300E 4MATIC 1987-93 124.230 ...103.985 KE ......717.4/722.342 ...765.906

per fault code scanner doc

Are you sure..it's r12. My indy put 134 in my '93 2.8 when recharging mine :confused:
In my '89 420sel he used r12.

The caps look like R12. I'll check when I get home.

I'm pretty sure all W124s and for that matter almost all Mercedes products were R134A by 1993, except maybe the W201. They started the transition in 1992 such as on the W140.

You're right, it's got 134A.

For the most part, a lack of cooling at idle speed (fan clutch + aux fans working), but ok at driving speed will be a flow problem aka water pump.

compu 85, replace the thermostat before spending a lot of time and effort doing anything else.

I'll probably suggest the owner do a tstat and water pump. It does not cool down quickly until you get the engine speed above 2000 with the air con off. On the highway it's fine. Pulling in to work (with the AC off) the temp started to creep up again. This issue needs to be addressed now, especially because my friend's mom will be driving the car in a month, and I doubt she'll pay close attention to the temp gauge like I do.

Driving this car is like trying to twirl a hula hoop on a waterbed. The car flops all over the place, the steering has memory turning right... at least the shocks don't seem dead. The owner said he didn't like driving it because it was a "big floaty car" (A W124 is big???) I would love to see the look on his face after driving one with a working suspension :)

There are also a couple electrical problems. The outside temp gauge turns on and off (and reads very low), the worn brake pad light flicks on and off, the radio turns on and off, and the fuel gauge drifts a bit. It also smells like mold in the AC.

It's been nice driving it though, but I don't think I could ever own a W124... I just don't fit. There isn't enough headroom. If I adjust the seat such that my head isn't poking out of the sunroof I have to fully extend my arms to reach the steering wheel. It doesn't help that this car doesn't have an adjustable steering column, but that 1" less of headroom is really a killer for me. I just fit in my W126 with the steering column all the way back :S

-J

Jason, a true friend would strongly recommend that the owner replace all the rubber components in the suspension so his 1993 300E drives/handles the way it was designed. It currently is an accident waiting to happen.

The tires are probably heavily worn with a lack of correct alignment due to the worn bushings -- hence the wandering turns.

Sounds like it needs a good revamp.