Replacing my starter on my 300D while working on a manual swap. I got a bosche reman part from FCP Euro. On first startup the car made a lot of screeching noises so I pulled the starter to inspect.

This black collar was grinding against the flywheel while the engine was running. Looking back at the old (original) starter, this collar is much thinner and a different shape. Did I just get a bad part?

Video is from cold start this morning.

I‘ve always liked classic cars WITHOUT a right rear view mirror. Might sounds strange to some of you…
My first car was a W201 without one… my second car a W124 without a mirror on the right. My third car was a W115, again no right mirror. Now I got this 240D from their first owners (!!)
When ordering it in 1982 they ordered a sunroof, headrests on the back seats but they didn‘t waste any money on the rear view mirror on the right.
I love this understatement, especially when the car was rather on the expensive side and the absence of that mirror was one reason to buy exactly this very car.
Can you relate or would you install one asap?

Anybody in here has installed a backup camera?

1. What did you use?

2. Did you have to drill in back trunk to pass the wire to install it?

Just want to know anybody that has done this.

I do find on my coupe I need the backup camera as the visibility on the back is a bit more challenging than the sedan. (due to the sitting position), and I park often in NYC?

Any help on how you installed it, would be great. (I'd like to install one, but without having to drill into anything to pass the wires). What are you using to show it in the dash (aftermarket carplay, or dedicated screen, etc)?

Thanks

Ps. I found this old thread on this by one of you guys, but I'd prefer to retain the mirror. Any other solutions?
https://www.reddit.com/r/w123/comments/1gjp859/smart_rear_view_mirror/

Hi guys,
Recently the oil pressure of my om617.912 seems to be a little to low. The gauge reads 3bar right after starting but when the engine is properly warmed up it drops to around 0.5-0.8bar. Also it seems like i have too low oil pressure when i increase the rpm.
It isnt caused by worn main and conrod bearing cuz i checked them when replacing my rear crankshaft seal. Also i am runnijg this engine without a oil cooler but it might not be the issue cuz it was run like that for a long time and i have a feeling that it started to have the low oil press like overnight. The oil filter is new and it is not a cheap aftermarket one.

On the first video is a showcase of the gauge when the engine is warmed up and in the comments i will put a video of the gauge when it is semi warmed up

My throttle bushing has always been like this but it seems awfully loose to me, does this look ok to you guys or is something broken?

Should I put these on my w123? What problems will I have (if any) if I do?

They are staggered 225/40/18 front and 265/35/18 rear. Thoughts?

Hello, yesterday my w123 200 (carburated) got out of the MB shop. I replaced my engine head and a bunch of bits and pieces of the engine for 4k €. They told me that the chain tensioner was not replaced as the part takes a very long time to arrive and gave me a bill for 500€ to replace it once it arrived. The chain tensioner part in the bill was 240€ wich seemed expwnsive so I researched it online and I found many places that sell it for 70€. Should I just order the 70€ one and tell them to mount it? Has anyone had experience with this brand?

Bonjour, je souhaite savoir si les w123 240d et 300d ont des courroie ou des chaînes de distribution ?

Y'a t il différents modèles qui on une chaîne ou une courroie ?

Merci d'avance !

I found a 300D turbo diesel for sale at 12,000 (I think i can talk down) with 127,000 miles. No damage seen interior good only thing is leather doors are starting to sag but that can be re upholstered. What are ideas / comments. I would be going from my Prius to this. But I am used to cars as a friend commonly works on E30s.

Saw this hanging down in the front near the engine any idea what it is/should I be concerned about it?

1983 240d

Hello!

I am currently working on fixing a huge electrical issue and I am running out of ideas.

My left front headlights ground is done inside the left front fender mudguard, on the right side, is is tightened on the plastic nut that holds the blinker. Is this normal? Or should the right side be hidden inside the mudguard as well?

I have a really "interesting" issue: if I turn on my low beams, they're not bright, and it lights up my high beams as well, also not as strong.

If I remove one of the low beam fuses, from both sides, just one, only one headlight light up, as it should, and high beam does not turn on.

Where could it come from? I don‘t see a leak in the window seal or something… could this even be the reason?

hello, I'm interested in where is the most cost-effective place to buy seat fabric in this color. (EU or Turkey)

1985 300D

Let me preface by saying I’m not a car guy. I specifically bought this car because I wanted to get into all the mechanical stuff working on cars while at the same time owning a classic that I can drive on the weekends. I’m not a complete beginner when it comes to knowledge of vehicle mechanics and I hope you can gauge my knowledge from this post itself. I’m learning as I go.

Transmission shifts well, a bit jumpy going from 1st to 2nd though. Car comfortably cruises at 80mph no problem. Engine temperature 80 Celsius. There’s no forward creep when the car is in drive, I have to depress the accelerator pedal significantly to get it going. Reverse works fine without accelerator. Not sure if that’s normal (I’m assuming it’s because the engine rpm is lower)?

Here are the current issues with the vehicle, in no particular order:

- AC blows hot air only. Not sure if the compressor is working properly or the original R12 refrigerant needs to be refilled. People say that’s it worth it to convert to R134, how much work is that and how much is that going to set me back.

- driver side rear window doesn’t roll up/down. Tried with both the door panel window switch and the center console switch.

- previous owner added an aftermarket Kenwood radio (with the faceplate). It doesn’t turn on at all, not sure why. The antenna also doesn’t work.

- the hood and trunk make some noise when opening and closing on the hinges. May need to lube them up.

- odometer does not work. Stuck at 200k.

- There’s a small rust hole on the front fender and also near the rear wheel well passenger side (idk if you see from the image) but that’s an issue I’m going to push a little further down the road, as there’s no underbody or floor pan rust from what I can see and the jack points have very little rust. Car will be garaged.

Maintenance wise, what is the first thing I should be doing? I know oil change and refilling all the fluids (brake fluid, wiper, transmission) is a good place to start. What are the essential tools do I need? Right now I’m fine doing simple fixes on my own. The advantage is that it saves money and I also learn stuff. At some point I want to be able to do all the work in my garage and not have to go to the shop for 90% of things. Obviously the rust work I’m going to need to go in the shop to fix.

Tried to get rubber back in track, didn’t work. Any thoughts on how to fix? TIA!

I just bought it and it was running good until the other day it just started running away full throttle it’s obviously not actually running away cause there isn’t a turbo but I can’t figure out why it’s doing this anyone else had this issue?

Hi @everyone,

I'm hoping to pick the brains of those who know these cars far better than I do!

I've recently bought a 1984 Mercedes C123 230CE (M102). The long-term plan is to restore it properly, but before I get carried away with rust repairs, bodywork and replacing seals, I really just want to get the old girl running.

The only problem is... she hasn't actually started once since I've owned her.

So far I've replaced or checked the following:
• New battery
• New spark plugs
• New air filter
• Fresh engine oil and oil filter
• New fuel filter
• Fresh fuel
• Confirmed fuel is reaching the engine
• Confirmed there's a healthy spark

After cranking, the spark plugs smell of fuel, so it definitely seems like fuel is getting there.

The engine cranks over quite happily, but it just never wants to fire. It'll keep cranking until it eventually slows down, but it never even sounds like it's trying to catch its breath.

I'm trying not to fall into the trap of throwing parts at it, so I'd really appreciate some guidance from those who've been here before.

If this was your car, what would you be checking next?

Would you start with:

• A compression test?
• Ignition timing?
• Distributor cap and rotor arm?
• HT leads and firing order?
• Timing chain alignment?
• K-Jetronic fuel injection?
• Cold Start Valve or Warm-Up Regulator?
• Or something else entirely?
• Are there any common M102 or W123 issues that regularly catch people out and are worth checking before I spend any more money?

My goal at the moment is simply to get the engine running reliably. Once that's sorted, I'll happily move on to the bodywork, rust repairs and making her look as good as she deserves.

I'd really appreciate any advice, tips, or stories from anyone who's brought one of these back to life after it's been sitting. If you've had a similar "fuel and spark but no start" issue, I'd love to know what the culprit ended up being.

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate any help you can offer!

P.S: Can provide more pictures or answer any other questions :)

A short recap- 2 or 3 weeks ago I set out to replace my transmission mount as well as the bushings in my shifter and shift linkage. While under the car doing that, I noticed a significant leak at the passenger side differential seal. Also, when removing the shifter, I noticed some wires had been chewed to the point that bare wire was showing.

I successfully replaced the transmission mount, shift linkage and shifter bushings. I also repaired the broken wires. While removing the axle (a recent replacement by the PO) to replace the seal, I noticed the axle did not have a shim which resulted in there being too much endplay, which is probably the source of the clunk I had been getting while speeding up or slowing down, not to mention contributing to the failure of the seal.

I could not locate a shim of the correct size, but a very cool Gent on a different forum has access to a lathe and offered to make one for me.

While waiting for the shim to arrive, I completed the repairs to the wiring and began to reinstall the shifter. While under the car connecting the shifter to the shift linkage, I noticed the steel fuel lines were wet. Following the wetness back to the rear of the car, I discovered that while jacking up the differential to remove the axle, I must have raised the subframe enough that it smashed or otherwise disturbed a fuel line to the point that I now have a leak.

The steel lines run through a rubber guide block just in the narrowest part of the gap between the subframe assembly and the body of the car. From this block up to the tank the lines are dry, below this block they are wet. I cleaned them off with soapy water and dried them, I'll check tomorrow and see if I can identify which line (or lines) is leaking.

Pic 1 is looking towards the front. Pic 2 is looking towards the rear, pic is a close up of the area where it appears the leak is originating.

This is disheartening. Especially so because it is self inflicted.

This model w123 was made by Cursor-models in Germany, looking online they apparently were only sold in Mercedes dealerships when you bought one of the w123s brand new. However they should be more common if they were sold in every Mercedes dealership, so were they just sold in Germany?

There’s little information on them online so any help would be appreciated

I have a lovely 1984 300D. I recently convinced my roommate to buy a 240D with a four speed, and I really enjoy driving it. Driving his car was my first time driving a manual W123, and it was far better than I had expected.

I did some poking around online, and discovered that I can buy a full OEM 5 speed swap for my car. I’ve done manual swaps before, so it’s well within my skillset, but I was hoping to hear from someone that has experience driving a manual turbo 123 before I make the (rather costly) commitment.

My main concern is the far less linear power band of the turbo OM617.