I bought the CD-Rom manuals for the W123 from Performance Products for $125. They have been worth every penny. Of course, you can buy a pirated copy on E-bay for $10, but like Forest Gump said, "You never know..."

I have used them extensively over the last year to track down vacuum leaks, etc.. I also use them to audition new mechanics who might try to snow me with what all has to be done. The manuals, be they in print or CD-ROm are poorly translated into English and it takes several readings just to interpret what they are saying. Of course, this also makes it easy to find the right parts because the poor translations carry right through to their part names.

I find the manuals particularly useful for showing the special tools required to do certain jobs and their part numbers. You have two options....buy a tool from Mercedes that costs more than if you paid a mechanic to do the whole job...or fabricate your own tool from the pictures. I prefer the latter.

If I had one gripe, it would be that it doesn't cover the transmission for the W123. I happen to have a manual tranny, so it isn't that bad, but this appears to be the only part of the car that is missing.

Just my $0.02.

__________________
'06 E320 CDI 51K miles
'02 VW Jetta GLS TDi 120k miles
'99 Ford E350 7.3L Powerstroke 200k miles -sold
'84 Euro 300D 5 spd manual 317k miles - sold