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Originally Posted by immunity
For all you w124 owners who havent already done this.... I upgraded my gas to super premium and now the car is driving like new...there is no low end hesitation...or engine rocking at idle...and acceleration and torque are much better.... It cost me almost 50$ to fill the tank...but the car sure was happy....
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I am surprised that any improvement would be noticed running an M103 on higher octane fuel. Unlike the M104 which had a knock sensor and would benefit from higher octane fuel, the M103 did not. Possibly additives in the higher octane fuel cleaned the fuel system which resulted in the smoother running you mention in turn resulting in better performance. An M103 in good running order theoretically will not benefit from fuel of any higher octane from that which will allow it to run without knocking (pinging or pinking).
As Larry suggests, the ignition timing can be altered (advanced) by way of the R16 programming resistor which will result in slightly improved performance when used with higer octane fuel (mandatory). In some markets R16 was an adjustment accessible to the owner but in other markets (eg. USA and Australia) it was a single resistor in a plug in the wiring harness. Larry mentions as many have found that removing the R16 resistor plug programs the timing for greater ignition advance. Just be aware that this is not necessarily the case with all models fitted with the R16 resistor. I have found that for both my Australian delivery '90 190E and '90 300TE that removing R16 caused the ignition timing to default to a "limp mode" giving maximum retarded ignition timing. To achieve maximum timing advance I needed to fit a higher value resistor for R16 to each of my cars (a different value for each as well). This has previously been covered in these threads:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=67772
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=67773
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107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.
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