M103 owners - check the throttle linkage plastic retainer

[Duke2.6]

Mine broke and left me stranded on a freeway onramp. One more upshift and I would have been standed on the freeway. I was able to back down the ramp at idle speed to a parking lot, and a friend rescued me. I cut a piece of sheet metal (about a half-inch square with a slot) and tied it to the bracket with a couple of cable ties, and that got me home.

Funny thing is that I've known about this problem for over 20 years. People were talking about it at Starfest '92, but they said it was 300Es only, and my 190E 2.6 was not effected. I should have done more research.

Much to my surprise the local dealer has the part and the parts guy knew exactly what it was, but I bought two from Pelican since I also needed a steering center link and both tie rods (clunk in the front end due to three worn joints, one each on the center link and both tie rods.)

The part number is 202-301-00-93. It's definitely used on 300Es according to Pelican's catalog, and I expect all other models that have M103 engines.

Interestingly, in the ten years I've been on this forum I don't recall anyone ever reporting the same failure, but it's definitely waiting to happen, and if it does you will be stranded with nothing but idle speed.

A two-bit plastic part should not strand you in the car that's "engineered like no other car in the world", so I'm back to calling it the "Mercurial Benz". The last car that stranded me was my '72 Vega GT in 1974 with a dead fuel pump.

Duke