My entry to this obsession-and questions.

[cixelsyD]

A month ago, I start looking at a local auto auction's website. Once a week, they have an onsite auction that you can view from online. Been looking for a project, something from Germany.
My theory: Japan, Korea and the United States have national speed limits, and it effects car design. Much of Europe still has stretches of highway between cities with no speed limits, and it effects car design.
I like old stuff, and had a couple of old BMW's in various tours in the Army.
Because of the previous 2 statements, I was looking for something old from Germany.
Back to the auction a month ago. Most days, my calendar pins me to the ground by 10:00am, and I have a phone stuck to my head all day. This particular week, my wife was home sick (I work from home). In between running up and down stairs to check on her, I remember that it's auction day, so I login to the site and sort by make. There's a couple of old 300's on. One of them is a 1989 W124 300E. The site says "Problems". I look on eBay and see what used console and window switches are selling for on one of these cars and decide to play. I put $450 on the "Problems" car....3 minutes till my next call, 2 minutes, auction starts. My bid registers, someone in the lot outbids me, I click "Bid $500" ($600 was going to be my limit)...my auto-dialer for my next work-call kicks in and my phone rings, I announce on the conference bridge and my job takes off again. 45 minutes later, I hang up the phone...Oh NO, the AUCTION!

I flip back to my personal e-mail and discover that I'm the proud owner of said "Problems" W124. Long story short, "Problems" meant that the lot didn't want to pay for keys. When we showed up with our custom ordered keys, the rig fired right up!

(This was a huge risk, I'd never do it again without being there...but this seems to have a happy ending so far.)

I showed up at the auction ready to strip this thing and take the chassis to the recycler. I couldn't tell from the pictures of the bottoms of the doors were rusted out or not. Had super low expectations, I dragged it home on a trailer. Car in shockingly good shape by the way, not a speck of rust, clean VIN check, not even evidence that it's even had an air bag deployment, MB-Tech interior equally spotless, I'm in lust with this car immediately.

The low fuel light was on, so I put a can of Sea Foam and 5 gallons of 91 Octane in it. I drive it enough to figure out that it needs a drive shaft carrier bearing, and it has an early throttle hesitation. I drop the exhaust and shields, mark the driveline, replace the carrier bearing, put it back together. After another drive, the front cam-cover is leaking profusely, seems like it needs a tune-up. I read and read and read the forums here, and decide "Flame-bait be damned, I'm going to tune this thing up." This isn't grocery money, it's a hobby.
I replace the leaking cam cover seal, cam shaft end seal, valve cover gasket, replace cap, rotor, plugs, wires, fuel filter. It all needed replacement. The cap and rotor were old and scored. The thing screamed through smog test, the tech is amazed at how well this thing runs...says most new ones don't run this clean. It still has this annoying hesitation from a stop. Once you get going, it's fine.

After reading some more on here, I considering pulling injectors and replacing the seals...take it around the block on one more test drive, and it flat dies. Turns over, and nothing....thanks for AAA, they dragged it home for me.

I get all frustrated, download the electrical troubleshooting section from the MB website, tear my tune-up apart and re-do it, measuring everything along the way. (I used only Bosche parts for everything, BTW) Cap, rotor, wires all test perfectly. I put it back together again, no spark.
Keep testing, crank sensor tests normal resistance, the coil resistance is high out of spec for resistance, but no open short. I replace the coil. (Again, tested out of tolerance, and this is not grocery money). Now, I have a kinda weak, erratic spark from the coil wire and negative pulse on the coil.

I read and read and read...don't replace things you can't prove are bad...I get it. (Did I mention that I really dig this car, and this isn't grocery money?)

After hours more reading, I source OVP relays from about 6 different places, and find the local dealer is the cheapest source, $47. Still no spark. I get on eBay and order a replacement EZL for $75, as insurance. Everything I read tells me this is now, officially the EZL. In a moment of desperation, I replace the Crank sensor before the EZL arrives. No change. Used eBay EZL arrives, no change.

Strong battery. New OVP relay. New coil, new cap, rotor, plugs, wires.
New crank sensor.

I have erratic spark out of the coil wire when I turn it over, but nothing to the plugs. I'm convinced that the EZL is bad, and the used one from eBay is bad as well. We'll see later in the week, when the replacement arrives.

So, there you have it. Overall, I'm comfortable with what I've learned about the vehicle, and plan to keep it. I'm actually watching the auction for a W123 in decent shape. They don't make them like this anymore, I get it.

Thanks for reading, if you made it this far.

[Chris W.]

Welcome to the board Cix. Hopefully you will get your new hobby sorted out so you can enjoy it! I want to say that there is some kind of insulating disk in the distributor which can get carbon tracks on it but I can't find reference to it. It was mentioned in a STAR article several years ago. Wait found it here, second post down, hopefully you can see it without being registered to this other board. This is probably not it as you are not running at all, but anyway, for future reference here is a link ... On an old E28 BMW I had, it would randomly die completely. Turned out to be bad connection to the battery, believe it or not. Check the simple things like all main electricals and grounds. But you knew that.

http://www.*********.com/forums/showthread.php?3168-Engine-still-skipping-a-beat-every-few-seconds&highlight=star+article

Your troubleshooting skills seem up to the task, carry on.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 398K

[Gilly]

As long as it isn't grocery money.

[Gilly]

Only other thing I can think of is a broken rotor bracket, but you already did the rotor itself, and aso you had the bracket off for the front cover reseal.

[cixelsyD]

Thanks, both of you!

So, 2 things:

1. The first EZL was, in fact bad.

2. The brand-spanking new Bosche rotor appears to have been somehow less than desirable. It tests fine for resistance, but the runs terrible with it installed.
I took some emery cloth and cleaned up the old one a bit. Not sure how this can be, but I'll pay attention to that in the future.

Wow, this thing is great. It's what I was looking for a couple of years ago when I bought a Town Car. Quiet, smooth. Not a race car, but that's not what this car is about.

Thanks again for having a read, and for your suggestions.

Now, to find a 1970's W123...

[Ritchie]

Welcome to the forum Cix.