w124 Cowl Trim - Did Parts Change? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Brian77 · #1 10-13-2012, 10:14 PM

Hi,

Well, nothing seems easy. The monowiper in my '94 e420 was experiencing difficulties, so I sourced one from a 1990 w124. My mechanic installed it but appears to have accidentally discarded all of the rubber windshield trim that runs across the bottom of the windshield and prevents water and debris from getting into the cowl. I ordered what I thought was the correct trim for this car, but it appears that Mercedes may have changed the design somewhere along the way. I found a picture of another MY '94/'95 w124 (I have no clue or pictures how my car appeared before the repair in this regard), and it appears that the windshield trim was one piece that ran the full length of the car. The current parts picture seems to show that this part is now broken into 3 pieces. Is this right? Unfortunately, the center piece is listed for well over $100.00 at the dealer. I would prefer to source one from a parts car but this may not be possible if this is a newer change to the part. Of course, the new trim strips (pictured below) will not snap into place at all. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Brian

duxthe1 · #2 10-13-2012, 10:56 PM

There are two styles, an early and a late and they are completely different. The late style has the 1 piece lower trim seal that is captured by the wiper assy. It (press fits) into a rail along the length of the windshield as well as into the black plastic trim pieces that form the cowling.

You will be better off finding a correct style parts donor and swapping parts than trying to butcher the two styles together. You could then sell your old style wiper to recoup some loss.

Gilly · #3 10-13-2012, 11:26 PM

Right, the later cars had an interior (climate control) dust filter. The addition did make some of that cowl trim different.

Found this for you:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59755145@N00/sets/72157601261235291/

Brian77 · #4 10-14-2012, 12:46 AM

Thanks, everyone, for their input. I was aware that my car has the cabin filter and that the cowl design changed. It seems that sometimes Mercedes changes the design of a part long after a car has ended production and wondered if this was the case. Actually, the more that I study the parts diagram, the more I wonder whether the dealer ordered the correct parts in the first place. Perhaps to save space on the page, the parts diagram truncated the sketch of that part, and it actually is still the same one piece design. Wish that I had the part number for that one piece molding to confirm.

Gilly · #5 10-14-2012, 09:37 AM

You mean the rubber part that goes from one side to the other, including the "half-moon" shape under the wiper?
Before that of course it was several pieces of gray trim, and also the rubber seals you mentioned were also in 3 pieces IIRC.
From you r original post it seems like the parts were ordered for a pre-dust filter car.
Yours should look like the pics I posted a link to.

Gilly · #6 10-14-2012, 09:38 AM

Can you post a pic of what your car now looks like under the hood and pics of the trim part you ordered?