Engine questions:

Is it a wet sleeve?
Does it have split journals?
What kind of milage are you getting?
What is a "cross bolted main"?
Will it "let" you do burn-outs?

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5 speed '91 190E 2.6 320,000 mi. (new car, fast, smooth as silk six, couldn't find any more Peugeots)
5 speed '85 Peugeot 505 2.5l Turbo Diesel 266,000 mi. (old car, fast for a diesel, had 2 others)
5 speed '01 Jetta V6 (new wifes car, pretty quick)
5 speed '85 Peugeot 505 2.2l Turbo Gas 197,000 mi. (wifes car, faster, sadly gone just short of 200k )
5 speed '83 Yamaha 750 Maxim 14,000 mi. (fastest)
0 speed 4' x 8' 1800 lb Harbor Freight utility trailer (only as fast as what's pulling it)

Thanks Larry. I'm looking forward to trying out a 203 now.

And another thing....The new MB's seem to be very resistant to rust.

Larry and I have to disagree on one point:

The W124 and the W202 being too similar. Having spent time in both (lots in a W202 and W201) there is an area where they differ greatly...

The strut suspension used in the W201 and W124 (pretty much the same in both chassis) is greatly inferior to the double-A-arm set up in the W202. While the suspension tuning in some of the "luxury" models of W202 left something to be desired, the ability to turn a W202 into a terrific handling car picks up where the W124 fades away. If the C36 had been blessed with as deep an engine as the W124 E500, there would be no chance for the W124 E500 to run with the W202 AMG car.

But, the W203 comes back with struts, but it's a new set up that has nothing in common with W124 or W201 cars. It's got a bit of a twist that is kinda like "variable geometry" that means the car is quick to respond at slow speeds and very stable at high speeds. With the W124, there was no such ability. When the cars were tuned for high speed stability, they were down-right ponderous around town. We MB-philes just got used to it, since we loved that our cars were like rocks at 100mph. Now we can have our cake and eat it too with the W203!

The two cars I find that are very similar (since we owned both...) are the W210 E-Class and the W202 C-Class. Despite the different (and not always loved) rack-and-pinion of the W210, the cars have very similar characters with regards to ride, handling, interior feel, and so on. They share very similar suspension design, and even their interiors have many "deja-vu" moments. Hopping out of the C230 and into the E300 brought "hey this is much the same" kinda driving experience.

I have yet to drive a Mercedes I didn't like. I have seat time in W123's, W124's, W201's, W202's, W210's, W109 and the SLK and ML versions. I like them all for various reasons...

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Jim Anderson,

The link below should take you to my "M112 Engine Review" in the Featured Cars Forum. If it doesn't you can search by that.

It is not a wet sleeve engine. That, at least to me, would imply a sleeve that can be pulled with a puller and replaced. Rather it is an "open deck" engine. The cylinder "sleeves" are a special alloy of some sort and are only permanently connected to the block at the bottom. The top is open around the sleeves and is, of course, sealed by the head gasket when installing the head.

I'm not into burnouts, I prefer to keep my cars in one piece and have tire life beyond a matter of minutes, but there is a switch on the dash that you press to disable the ESP then you can throw it around just like any car.

Cross bolted mains are additional main cap bolts that go through the side of the block bottom and into the side of the main caps. VERY STRONG. Other engines that have employed this that I'm aware of are MB racing engines of the past, The 427 and other high performance FE block Fords and the Chrysler Hemi of the sixties. This makes for a bullet proof bottom end and is much stronger than the four bolt configuration found on such engines as the four bolt SBC and Ford Clevelands.

The rest of the information will hopefully be found in the M112 engine review post.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=1582&highlight=engine

I hope you enjoy it,

First let me start by saying, LARRY, i couldnt add or take away anything from your last post , absolutly accurate. I absolutly love my new C class. I dont know what it is with mercedes, sure they are building them with different materials, but you can tell that they still pay attention to detail and everything is so meticulous... There is something that MB knows on keeping the drivers happy. And until someone takes a mercedes benz out for a day, they will always call it "an over priced car" or " german trash".... Its so funny because whenever i hear these comments i immediatley asked have you ever driven a mercedes and 85% of the time the answer is no. This C320 that i bought is the most spirited, nimble, and most predictable car i have ever driven. As Larry stated there is some body roll but the engineering masks it and you feel like your on air.. Truly happy with my new mercedes...

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2001 Mercedes-Benz C320 3.2
1991 Mercedes-Benz 300E 3.0

Larry: with the W203, can the advanced DIY'er still do some troubleshooting and diagnostic work ?

While I doubt I would purchase a NEW Mercedes, I can forsee myself purchasing a used one (probably W211 E500 wagon). However, being a slave to the dealer or shelling out $2500K for a good scanner just to do some diagnostics/troubleshooting doesn't sit well with me.

:-) neil
1988 E36T AMG
1993 500E

That is a downside to this car and most all new cars, they are getting more and more specialized as far as working on them yourself.

That said, you DON'T need a $2500 scanner. By US law ALL cars delivered during and after the '96 model years are OBDII compliant. There are MANY scanners and software products for a laptop available for a few hundred dollars that will draw codes from these and any other car.

There are many things that will be challenging for the DIY'er, but I'm sure that this is how everyone felt when the 124 came out. We will adapt to much of it. They're still put together with bolts and screws.

Have a great day,

I know about OBDII scanners (I have three of them), but I'm talking about troubleshooting A/C problems, etc., that need the more expensive scanners.

:-) neil

When did the 203 come out? What models are available? C240, C320...
I am not terribly thrilled with my C230 but might like it better if it had the sport option (and a stick). So I will probably change to something else. How would C280 compare to C240?

Thanks,

Mike

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I actually like the engine in the C240 better than the C320 engine.

If I were hauling a lot of weight my feeling might be different.