1995 Mercedes-Benz W124 E320 Estate

LOL. Its dead, as in no volts. Will check it out tomorrow and see what I find.

Been a while since I posted. So here's some stuff that has happened over the last 2 and a bit years...

All of the exhaust hanger rubbers have been replaced, the rear box ones failed both at the same time, overnight, whilst parked.. Weird.
It's had 3, yes THREE window regs and motors, so they all wind smoothly now.
Sunroof seal replaced, first with an eBay seal which was nowhere close to being the right length.. And then with an OEM seal which sealed so good that the roof wouldn't open properly, or close fully as it was that tight. Left it for a few days to see if the would clamp it down a bit and compress it, NOPE.

The fix was to adjust the sunroof motor clutch, now it works perfectly. I'm still chasing a damp interior on it. Under the rear bench gets wet on one side, and I suspect the rear sunroof drain tubes have come apart in the C pillars. It's defo not the load area windows as I sealed them with Dr Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure and the load area is bone dry now. Waiting for the weather to improve before I pull more trim out of the car to have a look.

The tailgate soft close isn't working. It went intermittent on me, and now just doesn't. I have a good used one to fit, but haven't wanted to go in there and do the job as removing the old, broken one to test it was a total nightmare. LOTS of roads and stuff, one which was disconnected. I felt so clever finding that and realising this was why the interior handle on the tailgate didn't work. Reconnected it and now the central locking randomly closes itself... The sensible thing would be to swap the locking mech over and then tamper with the roads to get it right. So this will need to wait until I feel sensible again.

Rear box has a hole in it on the 90 deg bend just before the box, I patched it up for now but it will need a new silencer this spring.

Good news? I replaced the dashtop speakers, much better now as one had a crumbled foam, the other was just OLD.

They also don't match!


MOT was good, though the tester noted the OSF damper was leaking. Annoying as the car has Sportline dampers which are NLA. Might have to go for Bilstein B6...

OSF wing is not happy either. This surprises me as the PO had it repaired..




In summary, it has been reliable, comfy, smooth and I love it. It needs a few jobs doing. I'm moving house around June, back to Newbury. Hoping for a double garage!

MOT due in June and the tester last time noted the OSF shock was misting....

As the car has Sportline suspension, and that is NLA from MB I had to find an alternative. Bilstein B6 was the objective.

Autodoc had them in stock so ordered them. NOPE, came the reply a week later, we don't have them... Oh well that's great. I'll order from somewhere else. It has taken me nearly 10 days to find somewhere with actual, real stock. Ordered today, along with top mounts, bump stops, gaitors.

Will post how I get on fitting it once it has arrived.

Today, the car got a new blower motor and fan assy. Luxury not having the squeaky, rumbling, noisy accompaniment to air flow.

Oddly enough when I started the car today the Aircon was dead. Checked the fuse for the compressor and it looked okay. When I removed it to check it, the copper strap was broken in two.. New fuse and all was well.

MOT Booked for next week and this is what I found..







Nothing a bit of s/s mesh, some gun gum, and a liberal coating of roofing paint can't fix.

MOT passed on the retest. Failed on the emissions for high CO..... Well, that's odd, as I got it properly hot and so on before the test.

In desperation, and not wanting to fire the parts cannon at it, I blink checked the ECU. Yup, code stored for O2 sensor to ground. Cleared the fault, drove the car, and it actually felt better, smoother. I was away for 3 days so couldn't get it retested, but today it passed!

Hoorah for a £4 DIY blink code reader. Feeling smug.

Finally, after 18 months of multiple botched repairs on the rear box, a new one was found and fitted. Sourced from SL Shop and fitted by TEC in Thatcham.

Car has a secret coolant leak. It is not burning coolant, and there is none in the oil, and no oil in the coolant. Weird. I had a random coolant level light warning come on, but the level was where it needed to be to not throw a warning... I don't think the cap has been sealing on the expansion bottle properly, so ordered a new bottle, cap, level sensor.

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I've SORN'd the car for July as it ended up wanting tax, MOT and so on at the same bloody time as 2 other vehicles I own... Once I get it in use again I'll see if the coolant loss is cured.

It’s not losing water into the gearbox via the oil cooler in the rad is it? I seem to recall that was a possible failure mode on these.