Reliability of a 1985 230E
 

Hey Folks,

I am pretty familiar with the diesel w123 cars as I have a 240D that has been very reliable as a daily driver.

My friend wants to look at an 85 230E with 54,000 miles as a potential daily driver.

Car has a manual transmission.

My question is how reliable are the gasoline powered 4 cylinder engines from this time period? Anything specific to look out for?

thanks!

How is your friend's mechanical aptitude? Is he familiar with the CIS fueling system? The engine is the only real difference from the diesel cars of that era. The CIS system is remarkably reliable when maintained and performing adequately, but can cause even the most pious of mechanics to belt out a stream of swearing that would make sailors blush when something goes wrong.

If your friend isn't mechanically inclined and isn't willing to learn about the CIS system, walk away. If he has to have a shop perform the work on the engine, he better have deep pockets.

One of the best things you can do for a CIS car you want to turn into a daily driver is to replace *EVERY SINGLE ONE* of the rubber vacuum fittings under the hood. Vacuum leaks are the CIS system's biggest nemesis. With the age of the car (mileage doesn't matter), the rubber is likely hardened, alligatored, or softened, depending on where it is in the engine bay.

you don't say where you are. if in the u.s., then good luck as these are hybrids we never got over here as a new car. if elsewhere, i'd have no issues with anything on the car, engine or otherwise.

hybrid? wellll, it's a 123 with a 102 eng that was redesigned in 86. that means vbelts-no problem but weird motor mounts and other parts not easily found in the states used for that engine in that 123 body. if we got lotsa gas 123s here, no sweat, wouldn't care. but we didn't get these and that's the issue. otherwise, go for it. good luck, chuck.

The M102 is quite reliable - CIS is / can be a problem as explained above

Additionally

Head gasket trouble - corrosion between alloy head and steel block

A particular problem for the M102 fitted to W123s - simplex timing chain. Not known for being reliable. The (double row) duplex versions are much better.

I believe the W123 230E was the most popular W123 model in South Africa and Africa at the time, most of these with manual transmissions. A few of my colleagues had the 230E's and I cannot recall any of them ever having issues, and most of these cars had over 300k km on the clock.

I would buy a 230E without any hesitation.

Thanks everyone. I drove the car today. It was pretty nice but I noticed the clutch seemed very stiff. There was zero play in the pedal at all. Is this normal for these cars?

Is there indisputable documentation that the car is 54 K miles?

Does your guy have a spare car he can drive when this one is down for repairs?

Don't expect to just walk into a random auto parts on a Sunday and walk out with anything you need. At minimum it would have to come from the central warehouse or you would have to order from the sponsor of this board.

Even if the 54 K is genuine, time takes a toll on cars so expect to change parts before they break in order to reduce the number of unannounced breakdowns.

A few years ago, friend had a grey-market '84 230TE for a short while, but sold it, partly because he didn't want to deal with the expense and hassle of repairing the exhaust system, since exhaust-parts for that model were unavailible here.

Happy Motoring, Mark