W124 M103 Thermostat orientation?
 

Hello,

Does the thermostat have a correct orientation on a W124 M103? Manual says to install ball valve at highest point, housing appears to be level to me. Since there is no highest point, the ball valve can be anywhere in the rotaion, can it not? Car is '86 300E W124 M103.

The sensing bulb goes toward the engine, not the radiator.

Hope this helps,

I don't believe horizontal rotation matters, it's vertical orientation (i.e. water flow) that counts.

Larry Bible is correct. It's the way the factory had the thermostat oriented on my 300E when I changed it.

Thermostat Orientation
 

If I understand the question correctly it refers to the rotation of the thermostat in the housing. When I replaced mine I wondered about that too. The stat can be rotated with the bridge in line with the axis of the engine or perpendicular to it. I split the difference and rotated it 45 degrees.

As previously noted, there is no high point so the location of the jiggle valve should not matter.

I know the thread started out - W124/M103, but interestingly enough, my W126/M103 has a higher spot at approx. 2 o'clock.

On my M103 engine in my 124 the gold colored bridge is facing up....
http://img.eautopartscatalog.com/live/G400114603WAH.JPG

Huh, that's interesting. I didn't know that. Can anyone explain what that little ball does? I've always wondered about it...

It's a small air vent.

That little valve in the thermostat is sometimes called a "drizzle valve" The thermostat should be rotated until the drizzle valve is at the highest point available.

This was a mystery to me for al long time too!

So the gold bridge portion goes towards the engine?

Is this correct?

Haasman