I feel silly, how many of you out there know what the spring on the gas door does?
 

what the ?
amazing,. I JUST figured out (after loosing my gas cap at a gas station and recovering it!!!) the spring in the door holds the cap!
now I know most of you knew this, but how many did not... and will admit it?
:eek:

Thanks for the info. I'll try it out next fill-up.

I noticed that when I bought the car and figured it out. Since then, I've noticed that just about EVERY car made has some sort of cap-holding device mounted to the door. Soemthing I've never noticed before. You learn something new everyday, I guess.

Yes, but many I have seen done do a very good job, expecially on the newer vehicles. But the W123 does a stand up job at holding its fuel cap!

You mean that hole where I stick a rag down? Just kidding.

I wish the W116 did, the door is spring loaded and tries to shut all the time unlike the W123 doesn't have a cap holder built in..

for info on this thread, which cars do and which don't?
 

mine is an 82 300SD that is the 126 body:cool: and it DOES! very firm grip no chance of it falling out if I drive off with it still sitting in the holder very nice!
John

And all this time I thought that spring was a cigarette holder.

yes, I did figure this out on my own, but only within the last year or 2.:o

Well I never figured it out. But then again I've never filled up outside of Oregon, where you are (stupidly) not allowed to pump your own.

Some of the attendents evidently haven't figured out what the spring is for, either. One of them forgot about the cap entirely and I had diesel all over the rear quarter of my car by the time I got home.

Note to self, don't stand near Randy if he's filling up a gasser.:eek: :D

I've left stations where I have observed people lighting up. This is not the place to argue my opinon on smoking but I am truly amazed at the IQ of some people. Apparently if you blow the smoke away from the nozzle your safe, as if the smoke makes things explode.

One time when I was in Russia, our plane stopped in Magadan (formerly gulag central) to re-fuel. I decided I didn't care about stretching my legs so I stayed on the plane. Then I looked out the window and saw that the guy re-fueling the jet was smoking a cig. I decided maybe I would take a look around the terminal after all!

I'm not a smoker; just thought that's what it was for...:D

I didn't even think about it until I went to a full service station (in NJ, I think) and saw the attendant use the holder. It was one of those "I feel stupid" moments, because I had owned the car for months and had been setting the cap on the pump or just holding it my hand. Duh. :o

Ok, I'll admit. I didn't know until I read this. I can't wait to go home and check it out now.

So I'm a dork...

Yep it does a fine job of holding that cap.

well whadda ya know...
 

All this time, me thinking MB skipped out on the w124, no fuel cap holder...till I read this run out to the garage and jumpin jehosawho the springgy NEAT!!!

Can always learn something new

Thanks!

Wow, I being a newbie just figured all you guys and girls Knew this already
 

glad to know I am not the only one. I just looked at the spring spacing and figured the cap would fit... and presto! very nice feature in the MB vehicle. I continue to be amazed by this car the more I use it!:cool:
I am currently reading the manual for proof this is what it was designed to do.
John

We can all rest assured that they will never put things like this in cars ever again, it most likely would save 2 dollars...

I figured this out soonafter purchasing my 123, but only after I had figured out that the fuel door locks when the doors are locked heh heh Boy was that embarassing... I had started to pry on it with the key(I was at a truck stop and the pump was way far away from the station, so I locked it up) but then logic took over and I realized that if the trunk locks itself with the doors.. that it was only logical that the fuel door would as well=)

Yup on page 43
 

it does not spell it out for you, but the picture shows a dotted line cap stored in the spring! COOL
And I read this book from cover to cover... gotta pay more attention to the PICTURES!
John:stupid: :)

I've met a few W123 owners that don't even know how to OPEN the fuel door! :D One was using a screwdriver to fift up on the front lip. :D

I always knew what the filler cap holder was for, but I sure as hell didn't know about the hood until I found this forum:D

I just can't even visualize what it would be like to have an attendant pump my gas. It has been a long, long time!

I just place an order for the fuel door so I can check the spring too!

News to me.
 

I had not figured it out either.


gas cap holding spring in fuel door

90 degree opening hood


I am liking this car more and more. :)

Don't forget the extra slots on the hood and trunk hinges to adjust the spring tension on the lids. :)

Probably the only thing I hate about the 116. The stupid thing openss down and wont stay open. Its a real B___H to put biodiesel in. You need a third hand to hold it open. Then you have to somehow clear the door so you dont spill.:mad:

I didn't know that either! Can't wait to get home to see how it works! Funny, my wife & I were just talking about how newer cars get better mileage & perform better than these old 123's & why people like us still want to hang on to these fine vehicles! There ya go! Paul.

More cool stuff.
 

gas cap holders
90 degree hoods
extra hood and trunk spring adjustment slots


maybe we should start a list of theses things ? :)

I figured out the fuel cap
 

spring thing right away. But since we're admitting things, I opened a thread to ask how to turn on the fog lights. I hadn't tried pulling out the knob... :rolleyes:

i have been using the spring thing so long i dont ever remember not knowing what it was.

that is the thing about a benz though. i have been driving them for over thirty years and still i often look at a little well thought out detail and say, "oh, nice detail, now i see why they did it that way".

tom w

[QUOTE=Maroon 300D] I've never filled up outside of Oregon, where you are (stupidly) not allowed to pump your own.

That regulation does'nt apply to diesel. I found this out on the Dodge/Cummins forum when I got my truck so I tried pumping my own when I passed through Or next in my 240D. The attendent kid rushed over :eek: and I told him to check with the "boss". You CAN pump your own diesel in Or:P

Tom W remarks about discovering neat engineering things on MB.

Here's one for you W124 owners. Requires crawling in to the trunk and laying on your back. Take a look at the mechanisms that retract the rear headrests.
Vacuum actuated. Talk about engineering overkill! A thing of beauty.

As an aside, I did discover how to remove the rear speaker covers. I could find nothing in the manuals. You put your hand over the cover with your finger outboard toward the outside of the car. Squeeze your fingers toward the inside of the car. Then pry the front of the cover upward taking car not to dent the plastic. Once the front is loose, carefully wiggle / pry the rear of the cover upward. There is a plastic post at the rear that looks easily breakable.

Steve

most things are easy to work on if you know where to apply pressure, tools etc.

if you just go to prying on things at random it is pretty easy to break things.

tom w

IF it's like the 108
 

that has the filler under the license tag - there is a place between the door and the body that captures the cap to hold the door open. :)

another nice little touch.

tom w

No, its in he same place as on the 123, on the upper half of the right rear quarter. The hinges are on the bottom instead of on the side.

one more for most...
 

One more for those with sunroofs, in the event electrical operation is not available they can be closed manually using the big external nut on the motor usually located left rear sedans and wagons.

heh, any new info to add to what's been found about the cars you didn't know?
how about the seats on a 123, there are two slide handles, one for minor adjustment forward and back, and one for the additional adjustment for them long leg drivers.

One of them affects the height of the seat and the other just the fore/aft position, if I remember how my 240 works correctly. By going front/back on one of them, you're going up and down a height ramp or something.

Maybe. Last time I was playing with mine, I thought I could tell I was going up and down. But who knows.

And in comment to the last post on this thread about the sunroof nut (yeah, it's 2 years old, but since it's already been revived...) that's great in theory, but every time I've ever seen one fail to close, the electrics were fine and it was damaged or destroyed hard parts that had failed. Therefore the nut is useless in most "real" emergencies that I've had.

I've never fueled mine yet. One of these years I'll check this spring out. Joking.

That one threw me for a loop when I first got the car.

I don`t remember when I first discovered the holder for the fuel cap, had the car so long now, seems like I always knew ;).

The night we bought the car was interesting. bought it from a private party, but the guy was selling it for another guy that was on a trip in Japan.
went over what papers there were, had coffee, BSed for a while then headed for home.

stop at a gas station down the road to fuel up. thing was about dry. I pull up behind the wife, get out and the door won`t open. I said, pull the cable to pop the door. there is no cable, I can`t find it, there is nothing there. there has to be one. so I walk around and take a look, nothing. well, look in the owners manual. thumb through it and don`t see anything. go back around, still won`t open.

Now Iam the proud owner of a New mercedes and now have status, can go asking how to put fuel in this thing.:rolleyes:

wife gets out of the car and walks around to the fuel door, and now it opens up. how did that happen? I don`t know. what did you do? nothing :confused:

I was a while before I finally got this one worked out. Unlock the door :D.
dang vacuum.

Charlie

New car orientation
 

Bought mine at Stephenson Mercedes in Dallas in 1983. Part of the purchase package was an orientation of features from the salesman. As I remember, this was about 30 minutes long and one of the first things demonstrated was where to put the fuel cap when refueling. He also demonstrated the 90 degree hood position. I wonder if this was done at all MB dealerships in the 80's?

Bigger challange was for gas station attendants to find the gas cap on my 56 Chevy. Neat design: you turn a chrome trim piece on the tail light and the entire assembly hinges down to reveal the gas cap. Most attendants had to ask for the location. In those days, full service was the norm.

wow, charles, that's amazing. I am sure many dealerships pointed out things about their new cars. it's amazing that you are still an original purchaser of the D. so, all the stories your car could tell, you are aware of them. that's awesome. I hope it's in prime condition.
hold onto it for another 27 years!

As I remember, the early 50s Cady had the "flip up" tail light fuel fill also. Very cool cars back then.

The first manual 240D my wife and I took for a demo ride was almost cut short because I couldn't find reverse after pulling in a downward sloping driveway to turn around and head back :o

It is a spring?!?

Maybe it will make the flap on my cd easier to open...

the cd has a finger hole to pull up on the flap, I'm sure the door locks also lock it in place,and if it's broken, it could stick shut.

I know it does, but when the little rubber bumper flattens with age, it makes it tougher.