New Member

[Tony 300CE]

Dear Guys and Girls,

Having found your website, almost by accident, the other day and spending most of the day reading and printing various correspondence, but also working for the Civil Service where all PC usage is monitored and audited, I will be reprimanded, but what the heck, it will be worth it.
I suspect that this will not be the last time that you hear from me, as I have recently purchased an accident damaged, spares only, 1993 AMG E320 24V Coupe, which I intended to transfer the engine, but having read about the potential wiring harness problems I imagine that this will now be a winter project.
I have been the proud owner of an immaculate white 1989 300CE 12V for the last six years, having covered about 70,000 miles, the mileage now being 160,000, other than the normal servicing and tyres, it has cost me a pair of front discs and an alternator, even the exhaust is the same. Until that is, last December, when it would sometimes stall when I pulled away from a standstill, but re-started immediately and would ?miss? heavily every time the accelerator was pushed hard, yet if the accelerator was ?feathered? lightly, the speed could easily reach 100+, but only as a test of course, interestingly the stalling seemed to be more evident when the fuel tank was below half full. Having taken it to my local MB Dealer they suggested that as the fuel pumps were ?buzzing? loudly, then that was the fault. I replaced both pumps and the filter, with the noise sounding exactly the same, the fault still persisted. It has not moved since, but I now know of course to check the OVP Relay, Fuel Pump Relay, clean the throttle flap, etc, etc, etc.
It was love at first sight when I bought the car from an MB dealer, it had full service history at the time, but hasn?t now, I can?t see the point on a car of this age, but I have often thought of taking out a bank loan and putting it in for a full MB Service just to see what they find. Obviously paying the extra for a well maintained vehicle at the start has been worthwhile. Reading some of the frustrations in this Forum and on mercedesshop.com, which I found referenced here, it would seem that a lot of ?first time? faults appear around my mileage, of course some other manufacturers do not have vehicles that regularly reach these figures and beyond, so I suspect that my frustrations may be just starting, but thanks to all your experiences and priceless knowledge documented, I hope that mine will be less than some. Thank you all for the time you have given so far and the quality of advice yet to come.

 

[NormanB]

Hi Tony

Welcome to the forum and your interesting first post

Look forward to hearing how your project progresses - when is the first instalment?

Have fun

NormanB

 

[Tony 300CE]

Norman,

Thanks for the reply, I am now in a bit of a quandary. My primary reason for buying the damaged car was because it was a coupe, the same as mine and as I have every intention of keeping mine ?till hell freezes over?, I thought the damaged one would be a good source of spares, especially if I took the time to ensure everything was in working order before rendering the car immobile. Then there were secondary reasons: I presumed that 90s technology must have moved on significantly over 80s technology, that after 160K my engine was due for a rebuild, that by transferring the engine, harness and all ancillaries the existing fault would disappear and the extra power of 24 valves would be fun.
Now, by reading a lot of the items covered in the Forum, the stalling may be down to cleaning a few parts or replacing relays, there is nothing wrong with 80s technology, 160K is not necessarily a reason for a rebuild and if the ?93 E320 harness has potential problems, I will need to investigate further. So I am considering spending the time to identify and fix the existing problem, get my pride and joy on the road again and start driving a car that obliterates all road noise. Then get the damaged one started, the first foot is compressed to an inch, but I think it ?only? needs a radiator and fan, then I can asses the real damage and form a plan, my gut feeling is that once I have mine back on the road, I will be reluctant to take it off again, still it eliminates the perils of Winter driving. The main problem I have, is that at the moment I work away from home through the week and it is proving difficult to find a sustained period of time to work on it at weekends, things will have to change..........................

 

[DavidBlake]

Hi Tony,

Before you do all that work make sure it's worth it!
Before buying my 300CE 3 years ago I did a lot of research on the different models, read just about every W124 road test ever published. These showed that in realistic road situations your car is just as fast as an E320 coupe, and uses quite a bit less fuel, similarly its much faster than a 230CE but uses virtually no more fuel, you only really gain in maximum speed with a 24V, but as yours does 139 mph are you going to use it much?
My sister has a 24v and its true they are even more refined, but I feel noise is not too loud if it's nice noise!

 

[Tony 300CE]

Hi David,

Thank you for this, you have clearly confirmed the impression that I was forming myself, I do believe in ?if it ain?t broke don?t fix it?. I have definitely decided to repair the stalling problem and get the car back on the road a.s.a.p.
I also believe in whenever making changes to bear in mind the route back to ?originality?. At a time in the future if the 300 engine started to show signs that a rebuild was necessary and I could install the 320 so that it would be a relatively easy operation to go back to the 300, I could then take my time rebuilding the 300 without being under any pressure time wise. Also my weird psyche works on the premise that if I have a spare, then I won?t need it??????
Thanks again for your comments.