260E broken aerial

[malkie]

Bonjour à tous! I live in Paris and I've just bought a 1993 W124 260E from its original owner, with log books, Mercedes service, no prangs, leather seats, 73,000 Kilometres for ?5000. I'm happy. Would have preferred a 300E but they all seem to have 200+ k's on them and/or dodgey history and blown head gaskets( joint de culasse). The 260 is straight except the electric aerial is U/S. I seem to recall reading other forums where this is common on Benz. Any clues to its repair? (I guess I start by checking the fuse and leads). Anybody know a good Mercedes mechanic in Paris or not too far away apart from the dealers??Merci beaucoup as they say over this side of la Manche.

 

[jberks]

Bonjour.
Full extent of my French I'm afraid. Electric ariels were not fitted at the factory but by the selling dealer. In the UK, the common make was Hirschman. Its easy to fix or replace. There are 3 wires and a relay. Live, neutral and a switch wire that should be live for up and dead for down. Wire energised, relay switched and live sent to motor for on the up side, wire de-energised, live sent to down side. This wire is usually fed directly from the radio. Assuming the wiring is ok, just replace the whole thing - about £30 and 30 mins work. You can get new masts but why bother.

 

[malkie]

Thanks for the info - very kind of you. If anyone is interested I just found a 1992 W124 300E (LHD) with 95,000 kilometres. 2 owners. Present owner has done 23,000 k's since 1994. M103 12 valve engine. Black metallic and Left Hand Drive. Asking ?6500. cheers, Malkie(Paris).