My W124 rehabilitation ? Wake up ?

[zippy320]

So to continue from this thread and to provide everyone with a little update on my new project.
http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=69987&page=2

I'm still working on my W124 , Taking me time as I learn and go along .Almost completed my Engine "fix" replaced many of the top engine gaskets , oil , filters , plugs , etc . Cleaned it up as best I could , The car would not turn over by hand so in an act of desperation I attached a new battery to it , turned the key and hoped for the best . With no effort it turned over.
I was thrilled I could now turn it over by hand .

There after , Removed and replaced the Auto transmission oil pan gasket, drained the fluid , replaced the filter and partially refilled with new oil . I had to turn the engine by hand to line up the torque converter drain plug .

Still not sure if the reverse gear would work but it was badly overfilled before.

Now Iv started work on the fuel system . Drained all the fuel , Tested both fuel pumps , One seems to turn over , the other is dead .
The tank is in the boot of the car with little openings from below . Next step will be to replace the in tank filter screen , Fuel pumps , Fuel filter and figure out how to flush the fuel lines .

Surprisingly , this car isn't that complicated to work on , Although some if it is still a complete mystery to me , the suspension different , It seems to have vacuum lines all over the place , the Fuel Pump relay has a fuse , It has an over protection relay that controls the fuel system so not complicated but different to that of my E30.

What I have noticed about this car is that its so well built , compared to my E30 , E46 including the new F30 . Everything looks like its been fitted to last forever .

This is turning out to be a very interesting , somewhat exciting project for me .

 

[ChefDJ]

Very interested in this :rollsmile:

 

[zippy320]

Update

So I completed the fuel system refurbishment, Change the fuel pumps , new filter , cleaned the tank ( Not dirty or rusty) and flushed out the lines . After everything was connected , I tried starting it . ( For the first time in over 12 years I think) Everything's perfect , no leaks .

Took a few spins but it fired to life :rollsmile: Hearing that familiar engine note after years was such a good feeling!

The car is still on all four Jack stands so no wheels are on the ground.

The bad news , It has a head gasket leak , I can see water mixing with oil on the oil cap , Also its sump gasket is leaking . and who knows what other gasket is there that's leaking oil . Surprisingly though , the engine ran very smoothly . No hesitations or anything of that sort . Also , I let it run for a while , closely watching the temp gauge to the middle mark and the car wasn't overheating or loosing coolant , although im not sure if the thermostat had opened up the pipes did get hot .

The Transmission is also acting very strangely , ( I knew there was an issue with the transmission ) Gears move smoothly as I replaced all the grommets and bushings on the linkage , but In drive the rear wheels moved , ever so slightly , in Neutral they moved , in Reverse , it moved ( In reverse) then stopped) and in 1 2 3 they moved same as in Drive .

Also found that the steering box was leaking fluid . :thumbdo: I purchased a rebuild kit for this from Mercedes Benz but , god does it look complicated .

Tested all the electronics and everything worked . The headlight switch worked though It felt to loose , from what I remember it should click into each setting . This moved with a little resistance.

So I feel I have almost reached the end of all that I can manage by my self .

I need to find a good reliable garage to have the engine fixed , Im not sure if it needs a rebuild , but if the heads got to come off , and the sump has to come off , maybe its not a bad idea .

I also need a transmission specialist who can work on these gearboxes. I called ZF and they don't work on Mercedes boxes so im stumped .

I need a reliable good garage in Durban who can work on the engine and someone who could rebuild the transmission .

My dad has told me that the head gasket was replaced once , Does not look like they did a good job of it .

Tomorrow I will visit Mercedes Benz and have a little chat to them about this car and see what they say .

Right now im stumped And the cars on Jack stands in the Garage.

 

[MikeR]

:coolShake: good luck

 

[Dbn540i]

Update

So I completed the fuel system refurbishment, Change the fuel pumps , new filter , cleaned the tank ( Not dirty or rusty) and flushed out the lines . After everything was connected , I tried starting it . ( For the first time in over 12 years I think) Everything's perfect , no leaks .

Took a few spins but it fired to life :rollsmile: Hearing that familiar engine note after years was such a good feeling!

The car is still on all four Jack stands so no wheels are on the ground.

The bad news , It has a head gasket leak , I can see water mixing with oil on the oil cap , Also its sump gasket is leaking . and who knows what other gasket is there that's leaking oil . Surprisingly though , the engine ran very smoothly . No hesitations or anything of that sort . Also , I let it run for a while , closely watching the temp gauge to the middle mark and the car wasn't overheating or loosing coolant , although im not sure if the thermostat had opened up the pipes did get hot .

The Transmission is also acting very strangely , ( I knew there was an issue with the transmission ) Gears move smoothly as I replaced all the grommets and bushings on the linkage , but In drive the rear wheels moved , ever so slightly , in Neutral they moved , in Reverse , it moved ( In reverse) then stopped) and in 1 2 3 they moved same as in Drive .

Also found that the steering box was leaking fluid . :thumbdo: I purchased a rebuild kit for this from Mercedes Benz but , god does it look complicated .

Tested all the electronics and everything worked . The headlight switch worked though It felt to loose , from what I remember it should click into each setting . This moved with a little resistance.

So I feel I have almost reached the end of all that I can manage by my self .

I need to find a good reliable garage to have the engine fixed , Im not sure if it needs a rebuild , but if the heads got to come off , and the sump has to come off , maybe its not a bad idea .

I also need a transmission specialist who can work on these gearboxes. I called ZF and they don't work on Mercedes boxes so im stumped .

I need a reliable good garage in Durban who can work on the engine and someone who could rebuild the transmission .

My dad has told me that the head gasket was replaced once , Does not look like they did a good job of it .

Tomorrow I will visit Mercedes Benz and have a little chat to them about this car and see what they say .

Right now im stumped And the cars on Jack stands in the Garage.

Great progress there bud.

Try M&H Auto 031 4678888, Scotty is the owner. as I stated before he's one of the very few honest mechs that I have met.

 

[zippy320]

Thanks guys!

I think my dad knows M&H Auto , His down the road from his surgery , Im not sure though if his taken the car to him before or who he spoke to , but this was a long long time back . Will check him out .

Has anybody here heard of Franklin Auto ? I came across them online and they seem to specialize in Mercedes Benz cars.

I tested again today and its definitely has a head gasket leak . No doubt about it , Apparently its common on this M104 variation engine , Thankfully another issue that these cars had was the wiring harness was made of some eco plastic which eventually broke apart , I know this was replaced just before its motor plan ran out and I checked , it seems to have the newish non eco type harness which was one plus .

As I cant do any more work on the Engine , Gearbox , Steering box , Suspension , and I have already completed the fuel system , Cooling system and managed to get it to start , Im going to now focus on things that I can do , that is cleaning up the little bits of interior and fixing whatever needs fixing I also need to get it outside and power wash the under carriage , theres so much baked on oil sand and dirt .

Seems like the headliner decided to fall , Yesterday it was fine , today its sagging , Not sure how that happened or how im going to fix that . Im going to fit back the original Becker Le Mans radio and plug in its CD shuttle , and try to get its radio system back to Original stock , after that I would look at "updating it " yet keeping its original stock look like I did with my E30 , but im really not sure if I could get a newer E class system to work in this car , the new cars have some fiber optic lines and the speaker pods are so small on this car .
But I have found a new e-class I can strip up for pieces so will see how that goes hehe .

I hope you guys don't get annoyed that im posting this in a BMW forum , I don't know where else to find help on this car , there arnt any South African Merc forums like this anywhere , and that Merc fanatics is well ... a sad empty place .

 

[ChefDJ]

This is an epic story of restoration :=):


Don't be surprised at the smoothness of the engine after all this time, even with the issues it still currently has. That's typical old Benz quality for you. I do not think the engine will need a rebuild (a very bold statement coming from myself) but perhaps some TLC while its open... All will be revealed.

Keep it going.

 

[zippy320]

Thanks Chef! Thanks so much for the encouragement

I still cant understand , the engine is so smooth and it starts perfectly on the first turn, Theres still no water mixing with oil on the dipstick , All I find is a little water/oil mix in the cap, Yet the engine runs so smoothly .I left it running for an hour and it gave no sign of overheating , went to the middle and stayed there . I asked someone and BMW , about it and they tell me it could be because I still have the old fuel filter in there.

( I cant take of the filter as I don't have the tool to remove it and its right at the back of the engine ) I was going to eventually take it of and do another oil change with the proper Mercedes Benz oil and filter that I purchased . The oil I used now was correct spec casterol magnatex of which I used just to clean up the engine because the old oil was really dirty.

I hope the engine does not need a rebuild , My mind says maybe head gasket but I hope not . I already have it in my head that I may need to have to Transmission rebuilt .

So in the mean time Im working on a few other smaller issues that I can manage.


I have come across a small issue . I decided to remove the outer door pieces to check for rust and any other issues and this is what I found .

After removal of panel and before cleaning and after cleaning I found these small scratches , I guess its where the panel has been rubbing onto the body of the door, This appears on all doors.

What can I do about these scratches? Should I just paint over it with touch up paint?

This is an epic story of restoration :=):


Don't be surprised at the smoothness of the engine after all this time, even with the issues it still currently has. That's typical old Benz quality for you. I do not think the engine will need a rebuild (a very bold statement coming from myself) but perhaps some TLC while its open... All will be revealed.

Keep it going.

 

[zippy320]

So a quick update!

This cars been parked in the garage in the same spot for many many years , I did a bit of work to it to get it started , it now starts up perfectly on the turn , And the idle is very stable , Problem I have is that the car had no reverse gear at all , Also when in neutral the transmission was locked , behaved as if it was in park . This hindered me little project on the car . As I could not get it out of the garage , I tried using a jack but that didn't work so it sat in the garage . My only other option was to get a tow truck to move it out and I didnt want to do that as I want to be able to move it in and out all the time .

Last week i decided to remove the transmission oil pan , drain the fluids , replace the filter , and fluids . Also thought ,
While im in there , why not remove the valve body and clean it up .

So I removed the body , Disassembled it , cleaned up all the passages , springs , valves , balls , reassembled it and put it back in . I also replaced all the rubbers around the shiftier inside and outside. When my E46 comes back im going to have to do this to its valve body , so this was good practice . I used all original Benz parts and Oil on the transmission .

I reassembled everything the night before and tested it this morning, and even though the car still has no reverse ( Although it tried) , it can now roll back in neutral!!! !

I can now roll it out of the garage , Im so excited , this afternoon I rolled it out for a brief half hour before it got dark , started it up and let it idle while watching the temp gauge , it sat for a good half hour purring away , temp went up to just between 80 and 100 degrees and stayed there, Its the first time this car has seen the setting sunlight in many many many years .

Sadly , I have come to the conclusion that the gearbox is totally shot , and it needs to be rebuilt . It also needs a new exhaust , the power steering box needs to be refurbished . The brakes still work well but would need a flush , and I have no Idea how to check the self leveling system .

Tomorrow I will roll it back out and give it a good wash , Its covered in layers and layers and layers of dust . The dust has become somewhat sticky lol

One thing though! This car is damn heavy! It puts all of our BMWs to shame in terms of weight (I think build quality as well ) But its so damn heavy to push. Tonight I will remove the left side sills and give them a good clean like I did to those on the right

 

[KevM]

Nice project....in a few years time these cars will be quite rare.
Brillant cars.
Just be careful with the electronics... this shape was a bit troublesome compare to the earlier w124.

 

[Budleigh]

Sounds great! Pulling off the Sacco panels is a great idea to clean up the underside and check for rust and what-not.

 

[mbl]

you have yourself a gem there, I should know ....

I have a '92 200E, it was my late father's car. Unfortunately, it was neglected and needs tons and tons of work. It is my daily so, trying to spend time fixing it is a bit of a mission but I'll get to where I want it to be one day.

For any merc related stuff, go onto http://oldmercguy.co.za/

The gents name is Keyan, very helpful and always ready to assist.

Good luck with what your undertaking and I admire that you doing this to bring back such a great car.

 

[Silverbird_96kw]

Wow love this.

I need mudflaps, rubber suround for arial need to spray front and back black bunper beading.

But your car looks in very good condition.

Ours has a slight miss on ilde and at times when driving, guy replaced 1 ignition coil pack, dont ask why only the one. Replacing the 2nd as we speak.

Hope she will be sorted agter that.

Keep us updated