mgw_300e

So I figured I'd tell you guys about all of the repairs that I just had done. On Dec. 26th I took my car out to C&C Auto in San Antonio (about a 3 hour drive from my home in NE Houston). I went that far because Tony quoted me significantly less for the repairs I needed.
In Houston, everyone was quoting me $2500 to rebuild my trans and $2300-$2700 to do the head gasket. Tony quoted $1245 for the trans and $1300 for the head gasket, including the valves, etc. So, for a $2500 savings, I'll drive 3 hours any day.
After Tony got my car, he checked it over to see if it needed anything else. The work I decided to have him do was:
Head gasket/valves
Replace timing chain
Rebuild transmission
Replace radiator
Replace power steering lines
Replace brake booster line
Replace differential bushings
Flush/replace power steering fluid
Flush/replace differential oil (Mobil 1)
Flush/replace brake fluid
Install new outside temp sensor (the one I got from Chris)
Replace oil pressure sender
Replace oil level sender

Final cost was $4107 after tax. Considering that the Head and trans alone cost $3000, the rest of the work was a steal as well! So, with all of this stuff done, my only real concerns right now are engine mounts ($65 for the pair on eBay) which I'll do myself, and replacing the suspension.

I already have the springs (Vogtland, of course) and I just need to let some time lapse before I try and buy the Bilstein Sports. Part of my suspension work will be replacing the passenger side lower control arm and spindle, but that's all DIY as well (thank God for eBay and salvage yards).

After the suspension is done, then I'll start thinking about wheels, etc.

Anyway, was it worth it? HELL YES! For $4107 I could have bought a POS W124 and had to do all of these repairs eventually, so I think I made out like a bandit! My car has had the upper and lower wiring harnesses, head gasket, and transmission done - it'll last another 200,000 miles, easily. Especially in Texas - no rust.

Saijin_Naib

Does it feel any better to drive around?!

mgw_300e

I was just coming back to edit that in.

It drives like a freaking dream come true. The trans shifts like it's new, and NOT ONE DROP of oil has leaked. My head gasket had been to the point of leaking just over a quart of oil per week - partly into the coolant channels and partly onto the ground. Whenever I was stopped for a light, puffs of smoke from the oil burning off of the exhaust would billow out. Pretty embarrassing. People would be looking over at me and I knew they were thinking "nice Mercedes, jackass!". These days, no leaks, no smoke, no burning oil smell. Once I get the motor mounts and suspension done, it'll be like a brand new car!

Saijin_Naib

You gonna swaybar it?

ShanMan

Congrats! I totally subscribe to your way of thinking BTW. I knew when I bought my car that it could be a monitary time bomb if things started to go bad. But, after driving it awhile, and learning tons about W124's through this site (and others), I have happily come to the conclusion that I can, with a clean conscience, invest at least as much into the car (for repairs and/or mods) as I paid for it. The reason: I do not believe I could drive a better car for $15k or less at this point.

mgw_300e

Eventually, yes. I think that will be stage II of my suspension upgrades. I'll probably do the following, roughly in this order:

Interior Stage I - repair all holes in interior (4 from old cell phone mount, one in driver's door panel), headliner replaced, new leather on steering wheel. I found a Certified Interior Restorer that is willing to barter for massages at my clinic(no, not done by me), replace sunroof motor, replace antenna mast, replace driver's front window regulator.
Suspension Stage I - springs, dampers, right lower control arm, right spindle, new bushings.
Wheels/Tires - probably 17s, maybe 18s
Interior Stage II - New head unit, maybe with a slide-out monitor/dvd/nav, chrome rings for gagues, LED conversion on switches.
Exhaust - maybe aftermarket rear muffler, maybe just tips.
Suspension Stage II - Sportline or limo sway bars front/rear, strut bar (if I can find one)
Paint - color match lower body cladding
Body Stage I - Front bumper, AMG spoiler
Body Stage II - Side Skirts, rear bumper (might never happen, depends on how much I like just the front bumper)

Saijin_Naib

nice work man Sounds like a good list. Id list my ideas, but psh... stupid lo

shadowgriffen

SOunds pretty serious to me, I cannot wait to see the finished result Matt, best wishes with your almost new w124

you no longer have to drive the crummy pathfinder everywhere take the misses out for a stroll on TeH Benzinie

mgw_300e

Exactly. As far as SUVs go, I like Pathfinders (the older ones, go figure), but nothing compares to the W124!

h22freak

way to go matt
nothing drives like our w124
i finally got your point why you keep the car
i'm gonna do the same

i need to redo my head gasket and rebuild the tranny
and they're gonna cost me like $2000
quite cheap eh? but it was driving me mad
never had a repair that big before

next week i'm sending my car to the shop for the head gasket work first
and when i get the extra money, i'm gonna rebuild the tranny

long live the w124

bjay51d

congrats on the new car keep up the good work...

kwb210

2 questions:
what did the labor amount to on the differential bushings? Did the diff have to come out of the car? If so I understand it is close to 6 hrs plus for labor to R&R the diff. How much were the parts, bushings?
did the guy rebuild the tranny or buy a rebuilt unit and install? if a rebuilt unit, do you know where he got it from?
Thanks!
kurt
1993 300CE Sportline

mgw_300e

The diff bushings were $163 for parts+labor. I'm guessing you don't have to remove the diff to do the job.

He rebuilt my trans, he didn't put in a different one. If you're looking for a rebuilt trans, try Adsitco. Theirs cost something like $1350, but shipping is like $300, plus they want your old trans as a core - it gets pretty pricey.

mgw_300e

There are so many posts these days about people selling their W124 because it costs too much when something breaks, etc., that I have to get on my little soap box and voice my opinion on this matter.

There are a few conditions where I feel that a W124 is not worth fixing:
1. If it's rusting. I don't mean if it has a couple of fixable rusted areas, I mean that hardcore rustiness that happens up north. That kind of rust is like cancer for your car.
2. If the frame is bent and not fixable. I'm sure you've been in at least one car with this problem. It was wrecked and fixed, and it hasn't driven right since. These cars perpetually eat tires and suspension parts.

I'm sure there is one or two other things that would make me wary of spending money fixing a W124, but I think that sums it up. So, barring these two conditions, I think it is foolish to scrap a W124 just because you're facing a large repair bill.

Let's take my situation. I had the double whammy of the head gasket and the trans. Even after finding a great shop to do the work, I was still looking at $2480 in repair costs. So let's say I decided to get rid of it. With it needing $2480 in repairs, I'd have been lucky to get $1500 for her. Then I would have had two choices - buy another W124, or buy something else.

Buying another W124 would probably run me about $5000-$7000, minus the $1500 from selling mine, so my cost would have been $3500-$5500. That's a lot more than $2480! Not to mention, now I would have a W124 that may need the same work my old one needed, and might need a wiring harness, too. Not to mention any other work that it might need. Not very smart.

Buying something else; yes, that can sound pretty good to a repair-weary W124 owner. Let's consider that. There are two ways you can buy something else - something new, or something used (duh). Any way, let's talk about buying something new. I just went to Honda's website and priced out an Accord with a V6. list price $25,795. At 5% for 60 months, with a $1500 trade-in allowance (I gave the dealer credit for being merciful), the payment would be $458.48 per month. Now, keep in mind that you can't finance a car without full insurance, and for many of you on this forum that would probably cost $200+ per month (less for us old guys, but you get the idea). So now you're driving around in your reliable Honda, laughing about the old days when you were dumb enough to drive a break-down prone W124, and you're paying $650 per month for the privelage. You also spend a lot of time trying not to think about how much better your W124 used to drive, how seeing it as you walked up to it in the parking lot would actually speed up your heart rate and how you could proudly respond "a Mercedes" when asked what kind of car you drive. You are now the proud owner of a very reliable, very generic car that blends into the sea of other reliable cars that are burying their owners in the payments as well. $650 a month?!?!?! I'd love to have that budget for mods on my W124. If I had gone this route, after 5 1/2 months i would have spent just as much in car payments as I would have fixing my W124, and I'd still have 54 1/2 payments to go! Stupid!

So, let's consider buying used. If I had decided to sell my car (we'll assume again that I could get $1500 for it) and buy something used, what could I have bought? I just looked on Autotrader and found that for $4000+tax I could buy a 1994 Honda Accord LX with 145,000 miles on it. So that's $2500 out of my own pocket, nearly the cost of the repairs I decided to skip, except that now I'm driving a '94 Accord with high miles. An Accord for God's sake!!! Reliable, sure; completely without repair costs, no. As it is, i think that W124s are pretty freaking reliable as well. We get caught up in the fact that repairs are expensive and we forget that we're driving cars that not too long ago cost $45,000+ when new. That's like $70,000 today! If we were the original owners of our W124s, we'd be bragging about how long these cars last before needing major repairs. "Yup, 200,000 miles on the original trans - built like a tank I tell 'ya!" My wife was driving a 1990 Mustang when we started dating. By 100,000 miles that car was dead from major failures of all engine systems, and it was on it's third trans. THIRD TRANS IN 100,00 MILES!!!! My Honda Civic hit 205,000 miles before I sold it. Very reliable car. it was on it's third transmission and it was really starting to show it's age - faded paint, rough interior, loud inside, etc. No one thought I was foolish for owning it because it has a reputation as being a sensible, reliable car. My W124 went 200,000 miles before needing a trans rebuild. The headgasket was blown and it still drove over 20,000 miles before I fixed it. The paint looks new, the interior looks new, damn- the whole car looks new! This car is more reliable than any Honda, in my opinion. Hondas will run forever, Mercedes will run forever - both need to be maintained, both need to be fixed. However, in the end, one will look like a worn-out trucker's wife that raised 6 kids while working 70 hour weeks waitressing down at the Denny's on I-10, while the other will look like a trophy wife that has lived an easy life of polo matches and charity dinners. Sure W124s cost more, but you get what you pay for.

So, I hope this helps those of you who are considering giving up your beloved W124s because you feel like it's a waste of money to keep fixing it. I've tried to stick to practical reasons, because I know that far too often, people on this forum (myself included) will give reasons like "you have to keep it, it's a Mercedes!" and other stuff like that, mostly based on our common obsession with these cars rather than rational thinking. Hopefully this will show you that there is a practical side to W124 ownership, as well.

shadowgriffen

car payment, no thanks!

DarkHand

Your words have reason and common sense that hopefully many will listen to and consider.
I for one will not be giving up my benz and am actively looking for another.
I plan on getting my father a w124 diesel (former benz man).

ShanMan

wiring harness aside, I am starting to think that most "known issues" must pertain to the four and six cylinder cars more so than the 400's and 420's. Any thoughts?

oneill_1

Amen brother!

-OG

h22freak

wow brother....AMEN
very touching and full of spirit

kwb210

I agree the repairs are the way to go. When I make a repair I usually try and buy OEM parts if not TOO much more money, they fit right and typically last longer than aftermarket, with few exceptions. I have 88,000 on my 93 300CE and expect to spend a fair amount of $$ at the 90,000 tuneup. Probably a wiring harness will be included. Then I should be done for many years. This is my second mercedes, the first being a 1979 300D, a few minor repairs over the years and many reliable miles. I just finished bringing life back to a 1967 MB 230 4 dr my 16yo son will drive. It had sat around since 1992. I asked the mechanic who helped me with carbs and transmission adjustments if the car was worth investing $1,000 into. It needed carb work, water pump, brake flex lines and misc minor parts plus some shop time for items I could not do. I had figured buying a used Honda or Toyota would be $1,000 to $3,000, which was my budget for a young driver. He made the comment: with MB you usually just make the repair one time and you're good for many miles. So my kid is driving a pretty cool old car, far from the normal cars parked at the high school.
kurt
1993 300CE Sportline
1967 230 4dr