How do I decide if the time has come?
 

My 124 is running OK right now. But I drive alot, 90mi./day commute and trips all over the northeast and central atlantic states. I am trying to decide if I should let my beloved 124 go and invest in a lower mileage 126. My car has 303K miles but has had all the major problem areas addressed. New (rebuilt) #17 head, radiator, condensor, A/C work, excellent maint., tight suspension+steering, no rust, power equip. works, new vacuum pump, vacuum pods replaced. I have most repair records. Holds 1.6 bar at hot idle, pegs immediately upon acceleration. But I am concerned about being 900 mi. from home on a trip for work and having something serious happen. I cannot miss appointments/meetings, it is imperative that I be present when assigned.

Only shortcommings the car has are: 303K mi., very bad paint, small dent in RF fender, trans. has been maintained but never rebuilt, broken sunroof, no cruise, AC is cool but not cold.

What is the car worth $2K, $2.5K? less? Help me decide; should I let it go and invest in a lower mileage 126 or get it painted and continue to invest in the 124 until it leaves me somewhere?

keep it and get the low mile 126...

It depends on what you want out of that car. Certainly it could be made to run every bit as reliable as a new car. But that requires a certain amount to be spent on the upkeep.

Its all what you want. Any old car is going to give you trouble, to think a W126 of equal age with say 100k miles on it is going to be trouble free is just not realistic.

I'm not sure I understand the question, do you want the W124 or do you want a W126? Either one will run indefinitely if it is properly maintained, regardless of mileage. It sounds like W124 needs a few $1000 to make it right, how much are you planning on spending on a W126?

I strongly urge you not to spend a great deal of funds on a vehicle with 303K on the clock. Sure, perform the usual repairs as you have been doing. Suspension components, engine accessories, door lock actuators........etc. But, realize the engine has 303K and it's on severely borrowed time once 350K rolls around. No matter how well you believe that it's running, things such as valves and chains and tensioning rails just won't last forever.

I'll simply relay a sad story of an SDL that I saw at the shop in Raleigh that does quite a bit of M/B work. Vehicle came in with 425K on the clock with a heavy rattle from the engine. They pull the head, find out the tensioning rail is partially destroyed, and note that the head is cracked in three places.

What do you do with that? He's already into the shop for $1K just to take it down. He can't get it back up for less than $4K and then he'd have a lower end with 425K on the clock. Just senseless.

Don't paint it. Plan on a lower mileage vehicle sometime in the next 50-75K.

Why not just drop in a reman engine? What did he think he was getting into with 425K miles? He could probably make the whole car pretty nice for the price of a new Kia. :confused:

Get yourself a AAA Gold membership. AFAIK, the first 100miles of a tow is free with this level of membership. Keep up with the regular service, etc. The only way I would consider rebuilding/restoring a candidate such as your is if I could find a parts car with the major mechanicals intact. This assumes you can do the wrenching yourself. RT

Well, dropping major money at a repair shop with 425K on the clock doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

If he decided on a reman engine, he'd be looking at $8K or so.........installed.

You can buy a pretty nice W126 gasser for $8K.

Don't fall in love with a vehicle.

I've got the gold AAA
 

for just that contingency. I could affort maybe 3 or 4K to add to what I get for my car. Say $6k total. I should be able to get a 126 with less than 200K for that shouldn't I?

True, if he wants the gasser, he should buy it. From a straight economic (cost per mile) point of view, we should all just buy Honda Accords anyway.

My point was, one should not put $1000 into a 400K+ engine unless they are willing to go all the way.

Agreed, but, restricting our discussion to M/B's, there are choices that are economically preferable than pouring money into an older vehicle simply because you are attached to it.

If you utilize a repair shop, and are basically clueless as to the longevity of the engine (they go 1 million miles........right?), you give the vehicle to the shop and they must attempt to determine the problem. They explain that they must remove the head to do this. You say..........OK.........because you just don't realize what you've got there. Once the head comes off, the bad news starts to accumulate in a big way.

I can do
 

normal maintenance and minor repairs, alternators, brakes etc. But no major motor/tranny work. I guess I'll just drive it until something major goes wrong then find another.

I agree, the cost per mile is going to increase after a certain mileage. It's just a matter of what you want. I could probably drive a new CDI for about $.50 or .60 per mile, but I'm not interested. I think I spend around $.30 per mile for my 300D. I could probably drive a newer W124 for less (in the short term) but I don't want to do that either. I could run a series of W123s into the ground for $.15 or .20 per mile, but I'm not interested in doing that. Just a matter of what toy you want to play with.

I'd suggest that work get me a comfy car that I enjoyed driving if it was that important to them that I attend their meetings so far from home or that i be compensated sufficiently to purchase my own. A CDI comes to mind...:D

If you can follow directions and know which end of a torque wrench to grab, you'd be supprised what you can do. I've got a 617 torn apart in my garage right now and before that I'd say the toughest thing I'd done was replacing the carrier bearing support. Granted, I can't do things like head work but I sure as heck can strip it down myself, saving major $$ on labor, and send it to the experts. Get a good manual and a nice warm garage and you've got yourself one of the best winter projects you could hope for.