My 88 300E Update
 

I bought my 88 300E with 200K on the meter, some minor repairs and this thing has been rock solid in this frigid Indy weather. Never fails to start even on the first crank, idles good no pinging unusual noises from the body and or suspension. I was seriously thinking of buying a newer version but with the way this thing is working I DON'T think so, if anything I might just get some cosmetics on the body taken care of, upgrade the headlights and just run the wheels off the thing.

Best of all its paid for :cool:

I'm completely amazed, my mechanic took the valve cover off and inspected the components and was amazed at how clean it was, the chains have no slop, only minor thing is the tranny has a little quirk when shifting cold but goes away immediately after warming up. ;)

She is a keeper and come better weather she is heading to the body shop for a face lift!

I, too, have had good luck with used vehicles recently...good to hear of yours

I wouldn't worry about that. I have owned more than 10 W124's in my life so far and they are all like that. They do have delay switch as well. Perhaps you have notice that if the weather is cold it takes longer to shift from first to second. This is done by default to protect the engine and the gear box.
Enjoy your car, for me W124 are one of the best Mercedes ever build.

Nice! My 300E was an absolutely fantastic car. If rust hadn't finally set in after 17 winters, it would likely still be going strong. The M103 was a hell of an engine. That entire chassis felt incredibly solid.

Yeah I have noticed the delay, I usually drive it around the neighborhood slowly till it wants to shift properly then I head out on the highway.. I kind of treat like an old person getting up for the first time in the morning take it slow till all the blood gets circulated :) :P

I must be lucky then because I have VERY little rust on mine just on some minor seams and a tiny bit on the jack plugs. The bulk of the cosmetics is the repaint of the roof and Paintless dent repair on the hood, side and trunk.

What I did not bargain for is the sun roof works without the slightest hitch but my mechanic cautioned me to not use it except for maybe to pop it up not to let it go back because the belt could break at anytime with the age of the vehicle.

Luck, or geography. Lots of salt used here in the winter. It did remarkably well considering. Great car.

Those are good cars, the W124 was one of MB's better models!

Keep it running and post pictures!:cool:

The shift delay is to protect the amazonian fruit bat....not the engine/gearbox. Its to warm up the CAT faster to reduce emissions. I am annoyed by it on our 300E and am going to disable it soon.... :D From my analysis it appears that merely unplugging the power cable to the solenoid will prevent it from intervening.

MY 88 300CE just rolled past 123,456 last week on the way to Philly..
Tried to get a pic of the odo, but it was too blurry to read. Onward and upward to 200,000.:cool:
Rock on.