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OWNER a777fan (E420)
- Thread starter a777fan
- Start date
you tease
Indeed, that is trolling/teasing quality that is up at levels perfected by myself!
As you can see... the 034 and 036 battery areas are completely different.
I'm not sure if the factory had the battery vent externally or not. The simple solution today is a sealed AGM battery.
They did NOT have a venting tube arrangement from the factory.
This explains what I ended up doing. I took the plug from the drain hole...
And cut out the center section so I would be able to route a hose through it. I picked up some silicone vacuum hose i had laying around, and a free vent tube from O'reily's and ended up with something like this:
Thanks for the routing suggestion Jlaa! It works like a charm.
Now... from underneath before the trim:
Thought about leaving it...
Then decided against it.
Its not the neatest thing in the world, but then again, I'll probably be the only one to ever see it.
Finshed up by replacing the battery securley, and vaccuming out the trunk
So Klink... since these didn't come with venting capability from the factory... am I worrying about corrosive gasses eating away my trunk for nothing?
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The weather was really nice today, and since the project on the other toy is currently taking up all the garage space, I took advantage for the MB and set up shop outside. I'm also currently in the process of thinning out the fleet, so I really will be counting on the 420 for the next several weeks while I wrap up the other 'project'. If you remember from one of my posts last fall, I placed a pretty big order with MB of Naperville, but I have yet to even touch it. Between the other two 'projects', the holidays and work I have struggled to make any progress.
One of the main items I had purchased was the upper harness. I knew the one in the car was on borrowed time, and wanted to at least address this item before starting to daily (or every other daily) the merc. The replacement went really well, and all in only took a couple of hours. The car was running rough after the first start up, but then I realized that I didn't have the harness for injector 1 seated properly. After clicking it in, everything was nice and smooth. Also took the opportunity to clean up the passenger side valve cover a bit. The breather hose at the rear has been spewing gunk for quite some time.
Hit the road afterward for a nice little Sunday afternoon test drive, and everything went really well. With the light traffic on the freeway I finally got to redline the damn thing. Can you believe I've had this since August, and today was really the first time I've gotten it to shift at 6k? Its taken some getting use to the firmness of the gas pedal and the kickdown switch behavior. You really got to keep the foot planted all the way down INTO the switch to keep it from up-shifting early. VW/Audi's I've had will still pull to redline after you have activated the kickdown and then backed out of the detent, as long as you have the gas pedal almost all the way to the floor.
Anyway after I got home... I dissected pieces of the harness for fun afterward. Even though everyone knows what it looks like, I still thought I would share some of my harness carnage! The destruction still took me by surprise. Especially since some of the copper was starting to corrode... an indication water had been sitting between the outer insulation layer and the bare wiring. Amazing it still ran as well as it did.
One of the main items I had purchased was the upper harness. I knew the one in the car was on borrowed time, and wanted to at least address this item before starting to daily (or every other daily) the merc. The replacement went really well, and all in only took a couple of hours. The car was running rough after the first start up, but then I realized that I didn't have the harness for injector 1 seated properly. After clicking it in, everything was nice and smooth.
Also took the opportunity to clean up the passenger side valve cover a bit. The breather hose at the rear has been spewing gunk for quite some time. Hit the road afterward for a nice little Sunday afternoon test drive, and everything went really well. With the light traffic on the freeway I finally got to redline the damn thing. Can you believe I've had this since August, and today was really the first time I've gotten it to shift at 6k? Its taken some getting use to the firmness of the gas pedal and the kickdown switch behavior. You really got to keep the foot planted all the way down INTO the switch to keep it from up-shifting early. VW/Audi's I've had will still pull to redline after you have activated the kickdown and then backed out of the detent, as long as you have the gas pedal almost all the way to the floor.
Anyway after I got home... I dissected pieces of the harness for fun afterward. Even though everyone knows what it looks like, I still thought I would share some of my harness carnage! The destruction still took me by surprise. Especially since some of the copper was starting to corrode... an indication water had been sitting between the outer insulation layer and the bare wiring. Amazing it still ran as well as it did.
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Nice to see the upper harness done. Mine is parked in the garage for some time now and need to get some work done now that weather is warming up.
Yes, we should schedule a little spring drive, bring Jon along to re-ignite the passion!
So Klink... since these didn't come with venting capability from the factory... am I worrying about corrosive gasses eating away my trunk for nothing?
Yeah, pretty much. The biggest thing that contributed to trunk rot was people overfilling the batteries. As more maintenance free batteries have been phased in, this is mercifully abating. The next biggest contributor is simply leaking batteries, and/or the installation non-DIN spec. M. Maus batteries with poor vapor control. The third major factor is people over-charging and “boiling out” the electrolyte by using dumbass chargers and/or dumbass methodology. This is getting to be more common as these cars reach leisure use status and more people start connecting them to maintainers and/or have to charge them before startup after a period of sitting idle. As is so often the case, enthusiasts are their own worst enemies, as they usually overfill everything and many of them have battery chargers...
The factory started adding the exterior venting as a safety measure to prevent accumulation of explosive gas is during an overcharge the situation, such as with a defective a voltage regulator. The first Mercedes-Benz to have it, in my experience, was the 210, which had the battery under the rear seat cushion, and this good practice persisted with each new model introduced, the only exception being the 170 SLK, which had the battery mounted under the hood. Interestingly, those 170 models added a tiny vapor/droplet catch tank on one end of the battery, and a blocking plug on the other. I kinda liked it, and sometimes use it as a lazy man vent installation...
Regarding that plug, let me point out that most people COMPLETELY BOTCH a battery vent install like these by not installing an appropriate PLUG in the opposite end of the battery housing! If you don't have the opposite end plugged, you DON'T have an exterior vented battery!
The plug is usually omitted by careless and/or lazy ne’er-do-wells during most battery replacements, too. Even on most cars with factory installed venting, you will find that if the battery has been replaced, there is usually no plug in the opposite end of the battery, even though dealer batteries are conveniently supplied with a plug which can be easily snaped off of the shipping cover for the positive terminal. Without the plug, there is no particular reason for the gases to not keep just venting to the interior. It is even conceivable that under some atmospheric or driving conditions, a gas flow from the hose outside, through the battery housing, then INTO the vehicle interior could be encouraged. Imagine driving with the windows closed and your sunroof in pop-up position...
But to repeat, when everything is OK, there are no acid vapors to be concerned about. Don’t overfill the battery, and don’t overcharge or overheat the battery. If the battery happens to leak, the venting does you no good, anyway.
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*salute*
You’ll be happy to know that did install the plug on the opposite side of the battery
Thanks for the background!
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*salute*
You’ll be happy to know that did install the plug on the opposite side of the battery
Thanks for the background!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I had high confidence. I looked for it in the pictures and didn't see it, but I did want to point it out for those that may not know.
What brand AGM do you have, Louis? I looked at photos of my Die Hard and Delco AGM's, and neither appear to have provision for a vent tube, on either side. I thought all true AGM's were sealed and ventless...? I'll check a couple of my OE MB AGM's at home for grins.mine vents (AGM) and is plugged on POS side.
Uter (insert umlaut) is currently in the fine and very capable hands of Steve (SG-Motorsports, in this universe) at MB of Lynnwood getting its new shoes put on (Michelin Premiere A/S), as well as a 4 wheel alignment.
I don't have high confidence that much of the fine work occurring on the alignment end of things will stick around for long (I suspect that much of the suspension is at its end of service life and is in dire need of replacement), but it will be nice to have a baseline to observe tire wear from. Currently the drivers side rear has heavy wear on the outside of the tire (almost to the belts). The others appear to be wearing fairly normally, but at highway speeds the wheel is cocked a fair amount to the right in order to keep the vehicle tracking in the correct direction. I look forward to seeing the improvement in the latter this afternoon!
I'm also looking forward to seeing how much the new tire improve the wet weather traction. As mentioned numerous times previously in this thread, the current Conti's are absolute crap in the rain. I thought it might just be due to the uneven wear patterns present, but a quick check of tirerack.com confirmed that this specific model sucks, even when new. [emoji4]
As for those wondering about my cars name, I'll just leave this here...
I don't have high confidence that much of the fine work occurring on the alignment end of things will stick around for long (I suspect that much of the suspension is at its end of service life and is in dire need of replacement), but it will be nice to have a baseline to observe tire wear from. Currently the drivers side rear has heavy wear on the outside of the tire (almost to the belts). The others appear to be wearing fairly normally, but at highway speeds the wheel is cocked a fair amount to the right in order to keep the vehicle tracking in the correct direction. I look forward to seeing the improvement in the latter this afternoon!
I'm also looking forward to seeing how much the new tire improve the wet weather traction. As mentioned numerous times previously in this thread, the current Conti's are absolute crap in the rain. I thought it might just be due to the uneven wear patterns present, but a quick check of tirerack.com confirmed that this specific model sucks, even when new. [emoji4]
As for those wondering about my cars name, I'll just leave this here...
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Verdict is in. Car is really transformed.
Steve did an amazing job. Wheel is centered, and everything just seems tighter. The car is more composed, and the new tires are quieter. He also took a look around everything else, and it sounds like I need to pick up a new serp belt, as well as address a leaky PS hose between the reservoir and the pump. Much to my surprise, he indicated most of the bushings are still in great shape... so perhaps the alignment will last a bit longer than I was expecting it to. One of the front lower control arm bushings is juuuust starting to go, but he estimated its got quite a bit of life left in it.
Anyway, I can't thank Steve enough. If you are in the Seattle area, and need some work done on your MB, I couldn't recommend him more!
This stuff arrived this afternoon!
Steve did an amazing job. Wheel is centered, and everything just seems tighter. The car is more composed, and the new tires are quieter. He also took a look around everything else, and it sounds like I need to pick up a new serp belt, as well as address a leaky PS hose between the reservoir and the pump. Much to my surprise, he indicated most of the bushings are still in great shape... so perhaps the alignment will last a bit longer than I was expecting it to.
One of the front lower control arm bushings is juuuust starting to go, but he estimated its got quite a bit of life left in it.Anyway, I can't thank Steve enough. If you are in the Seattle area, and need some work done on your MB, I couldn't recommend him more!
This stuff arrived this afternoon!
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Haha, Thanks for letting me spend the day with Uter! It was a nice change to work on such a well preserved/cared for E420. So many of these I see any more are so abused. You've got yourself a really great car!!
Interesting observation on pic uploads.
I'll upload a picture to my forum album, and then take the BBCode link and insert it into a post. I'll make the post, and the image will be there.
I'll come back the next day, and the image that I linked is no longer visible and has been corrupted in some way. The image link just turns into 'Attachment'. I have to go back and re-link the image via the provided BBCode link in order to get it to show in the post again...?
I'll upload a picture to my forum album, and then take the BBCode link and insert it into a post. I'll make the post, and the image will be there.
I'll come back the next day, and the image that I linked is no longer visible and has been corrupted in some way. The image link just turns into 'Attachment'. I have to go back and re-link the image via the provided BBCode link in order to get it to show in the post again...?
Don’t know what the issue is, but I’ll bet it has to do with the code that downloads attached images into the database. I am not in a position at the present time to debug the code, unfortunately.
Short-term solution — don’t upload anything into a photo album. Just attach images to regular posts. We’ll see if that solves it.
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Short-term solution — don’t upload anything into a photo album. Just attach images to regular posts. We’ll see if that solves it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well. The last few days have been interesting to say the least.
Its been ‘snowing’ here in Seattle for the last few days. This means a mix of rain/ice/actual snow which arrives, melts then re-freezes in dark spots in the roads leaving nice little surprises for drivers to find here and there. This, coupled with a population that can hardly handle their cars on a bright sunny dry day makes for some awesome motoring. (seriously, this is one of the only places on earth that the left lane is guaranteed to be blocked with someone driving the exact same speed as the guy in the right lane, acting completely oblivious to everything going in around them. Made all the more frustrating by the fact that they’ll drive at slightly different speeds inconsistently, giving you a sliver of hope that they will pass or fall behind the right lane enough for you to get around, but don’t worry... it will never happen)
Anyway, our other german made automobile (which will remain nameless, but has an awd system that goes by a very well known brand name) decided to start throwing low oil pressure codes on Thursday afternoon. After confirming that the pressure was in fact low via a gauge, and then discovering that the engineers at this large german company were kind enough to design the oil pan such that it cannot be removed from the car without lowering the subframe i caved and had it towed to the wheeler-stealer. A choice I am already regretting.
I recently was able to downsize the fleet by 1, and since the R32 is in the garage completely torn apart.. that meant the 24 year old MB would have to be pressed into daily service!!! Yikes!
I had yet to change the oil since my purchase and it was due. I took yesterday afternoon to perform my first oil change! I found it quite straightforward. Awesome that the whole job can be completed with 1 8mm and 1 13mm socket! You can tell they were thinking about service when they designed this thing. Something i have never experienced with any wolfsburg or ingolstat product! A few photos, cause why not?
God love the hood service position!
Got the lower panel off and was surprised to find an almost new oil pan!!
I was going to drop it to check for debris and such, but might hold off for a bit
The lower harness is TOAST!
Didn’t touch it, but i recently ordered all the components from naperville, so i’ll be rebuilding it soon.
Tucked the rags in thanks to a gixxer pro-tip
Popped the lid and took it into the garage for a clean up and to replace the gaskets
Then dropped in the new filter and all its austrian goodness:
Then drained the pan, switched out the copper washer, re-installed and dumped in 8 quarts of Castrol Syntec 5w-40. I plan on doing a 5k interval in this oil.
Went for a drive to check for leaks, then threw the air dam back on and called it a day. 8 qts got me right to the middle of the dipstick!
Oh... i think the FSM is wonked on the drain plug torque spec. 40nm seems awful hefty for that small bolt and pan!!! Am I crazy?
Anyway oil pressure when hot is much better on this oil. Not sure what was in there before. It was supposed to be 5w-40, but where at idle pressure when hot was right around the owners manual minimum of 0.3 bar. Now it hardly drops below 1.
Also some excitement today! Picked up my new Michelin Pilot Sport 4s’s!!! Big big thanks to Jeff0093 who really came through with a great hookup. Definitely reach out to him if you are in the market for a new set of Michelins or BFG’s! These will be mounted up on the monos once i have retrieved them from NorCal!
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Its been ‘snowing’ here in Seattle for the last few days. This means a mix of rain/ice/actual snow which arrives, melts then re-freezes in dark spots in the roads leaving nice little surprises for drivers to find here and there. This, coupled with a population that can hardly handle their cars on a bright sunny dry day makes for some awesome motoring. (seriously, this is one of the only places on earth that the left lane is guaranteed to be blocked with someone driving the exact same speed as the guy in the right lane, acting completely oblivious to everything going in around them. Made all the more frustrating by the fact that they’ll drive at slightly different speeds inconsistently, giving you a sliver of hope that they will pass or fall behind the right lane enough for you to get around, but don’t worry... it will never happen)
Anyway, our other german made automobile (which will remain nameless, but has an awd system that goes by a very well known brand name) decided to start throwing low oil pressure codes on Thursday afternoon. After confirming that the pressure was in fact low via a gauge, and then discovering that the engineers at this large german company were kind enough to design the oil pan such that it cannot be removed from the car without lowering the subframe i caved and had it towed to the wheeler-stealer. A choice I am already regretting.
I recently was able to downsize the fleet by 1, and since the R32 is in the garage completely torn apart.. that meant the 24 year old MB would have to be pressed into daily service!!! Yikes!
I had yet to change the oil since my purchase and it was due. I took yesterday afternoon to perform my first oil change! I found it quite straightforward. Awesome that the whole job can be completed with 1 8mm and 1 13mm socket! You can tell they were thinking about service when they designed this thing. Something i have never experienced with any wolfsburg or ingolstat product! A few photos, cause why not?
God love the hood service position!
Got the lower panel off and was surprised to find an almost new oil pan!!
I was going to drop it to check for debris and such, but might hold off for a bit
The lower harness is TOAST!
Didn’t touch it, but i recently ordered all the components from naperville, so i’ll be rebuilding it soon.
Tucked the rags in thanks to a gixxer pro-tip
Popped the lid and took it into the garage for a clean up and to replace the gaskets
Then dropped in the new filter and all its austrian goodness:
Then drained the pan, switched out the copper washer, re-installed and dumped in 8 quarts of Castrol Syntec 5w-40. I plan on doing a 5k interval in this oil.
Went for a drive to check for leaks, then threw the air dam back on and called it a day. 8 qts got me right to the middle of the dipstick!
Oh... i think the FSM is wonked on the drain plug torque spec. 40nm seems awful hefty for that small bolt and pan!!! Am I crazy?
Anyway oil pressure when hot is much better on this oil. Not sure what was in there before. It was supposed to be 5w-40, but where at idle pressure when hot was right around the owners manual minimum of 0.3 bar. Now it hardly drops below 1.
Also some excitement today! Picked up my new Michelin Pilot Sport 4s’s!!! Big big thanks to Jeff0093 who really came through with a great hookup. Definitely reach out to him if you are in the market for a new set of Michelins or BFG’s! These will be mounted up on the monos once i have retrieved them from NorCal!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Ahh. One awesome experience i had this morning that I forgot to relate.
Got up a little early to grab us coffee. Headed out in the 420 since it was the only option (probably would have used it anyway) get there just fine, grab the brew, head back to the car, unlock the doors, stick key in, turn. NOTHING. I mean absolutely nothing. No buzzer, no slow crank. Dead silent.
After a small meltdown/panic attack at the good luck of having two cars go tits up within two days after selling a perfectly good one... i remembered the battery tray work I did a week or so ago.
Popped the trunk, removed the battery cover and touched the negative terminal , which seated the cable more firmly on the post. Turns out this bozo didn’t tighten the cable bolt, and it had come loose just enough to prevent any current from flowing.
Car started right up. Crisis averted. *phew*
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Got up a little early to grab us coffee. Headed out in the 420 since it was the only option (probably would have used it anyway
) get there just fine, grab the brew, head back to the car, unlock the doors, stick key in, turn. NOTHING. I mean absolutely nothing. No buzzer, no slow crank. Dead silent. After a small meltdown/panic attack at the good luck of having two cars go tits up within two days after selling a perfectly good one... i remembered the battery tray work I did a week or so ago.
Popped the trunk, removed the battery cover and touched the negative terminal , which seated the cable more firmly on the post. Turns out this bozo didn’t tighten the cable bolt, and it had come loose just enough to prevent any current from flowing.
Car started right up. Crisis averted. *phew*
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ahh. One awesome experience i had this morning that I forgot to relate.
Got up a little early to grab us coffee. Headed out in the 420 since it was the only option (probably would have used it anyway
After a small meltdown/panic attack at the good luck of having two cars go tits up within two days after selling a perfectly good one... i remembered the battery tray work I did a week or so ago.
Popped the trunk, removed the battery cover and touched the negative terminal , which seated the cable more firmly on the post. Turns out this bozo didn’t tighten the cable bolt, and it had come loose just enough to prevent any current from flowing.
Car started right up. Crisis averted. *phew* :releived:
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Yep BTDT before. When I first bought my 500E and was driving it cross country to catch a ferry it cut out dead at 70+ mph on a couple of occasions for a second or so at a time and kept on going as if nothing happened. Then when I got the car home in my garage I discovered the PO had simply set both battery terminals on – not tightened up at all. So the car going dead at speed was actually hitting a bump and the battery terminal(s) popping loose. Incredibly it did the car no damage
Nice post. I feel your pain with NW drivers antagonistically hogging the left lane just because they can. I can also relate to that feeling when you turn the key and nothing happens. Not a good one.
You might consider picking up an oil extractor so you don't have to crawl under the car every time you change the oil. They are pretty inexpensive.
You might consider picking up an oil extractor so you don't have to crawl under the car every time you change the oil. They are pretty inexpensive.
I think this is in the Idaho driver training manual, since every car on the road appears to purposely do this. It's like they're trying to encourage road rage.
Bonus! And, your exhaust pipes look immaculate, much better than most IMO. The heat shields & bolts usually have at least a little corrosion.
LOL. Yeah, it's not good, but I've seen waaaaay worse. When there's no insulation visible at all and it's just bare copper everywhere, that is toast.
I think the spec is correct, it's a pretty large diameter bolt thread. I must admit to not using a torque wench on the pan bolt though, but Klink calibrated my arm via Teamviewer so it's all good.
If I ever meet this cop, I'd like to buy him a couple boxes of donuts and all the coffee he wants! (Skip the first 30 seconds.)
[video=youtube_share;J-goW15AwzM]https://youtu.be/J-goW15AwzM?t=30[/video]
I ***SWEAR*** that was filmed in Maryland. Nowhere on earth are there more incompetent/oblivious drivers riding in the left land. It's incredible.
No one pays attention to the signs on Washington Highways that read "Left lane for passing only".
I was in Barbados a couple weeks ago and everyone is flying down the really crappy roads. I mean very bad roads riddled with pot holes the size of a volkswagen. If you don't drive fast enough they honk there horns and flash their lights. Not a fun to place to drive for us righties, especially if you're from the Pacific Moist West.
I was in Barbados a couple weeks ago and everyone is flying down the really crappy roads. I mean very bad roads riddled with pot holes the size of a volkswagen. If you don't drive fast enough they honk there horns and flash their lights. Not a fun to place to drive for us righties, especially if you're from the Pacific Moist West.
I know. And in my case, its usually successful!
Thats great to hear. Steve had similar comments when he did the alignment a week or so ago. The car lived most of its life in CA, with a short stint in the Houston area of all places.
Ok! I just felt i was starting to strip the pan out before i got to 40. Maybe I was just being overly cautious. I ended up giving up on the torque wrench and just snugged it up by hand. Went for a drive and they’re wern’t any leaks, so I think its OK.
God. That is great.
I’ve thought about seeing how much it would cost to make more of these signs... and bolt them up on every onramp. [emoji23]
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Spent to tonight doing inventory on shipments from mboemparts
New mounts, new coolant tanks and hoses, new thermostat, new serp belt, tranny filter and gasket, updated oil sump pickup and screens, a ton of lower wire harness components and new valve cover gaskets.
One more box tomorrow with the remainder.
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New mounts, new coolant tanks and hoses, new thermostat, new serp belt, tranny filter and gasket, updated oil sump pickup and screens, a ton of lower wire harness components and new valve cover gaskets.
One more box tomorrow with the remainder.
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I had the pleasure of chatting with Tom at MB classic center for the first time this morning. I didn't receive 3 lower harness parts that I had ordered from MBoemparts, and was curious if they had gone NLA. He confirmed that two of them had...
A0005465335 - Boot
A0145450728 - Oil level check housing
Only 4 of A0185454328 left too. All in Germany. One is on its way to my house.
-J
A0005465335 - Boot
A0145450728 - Oil level check housing
Only 4 of A0185454328 left too. All in Germany. One is on its way to my house.
-J
I’m down in California for the week tending to some family business. Today I had the chance to meet and have lunch with forum member ‘luckymike’. We had become acquainted through the sale of his AMG monos which i bought from him a little over a month ago, but this was the first time we had met.
Mike has two beautiful 126’s, an SEC and SEL, both 1989s, as well as a 1995 E420 in Garnet Red (?) metallic. I had never been in a 126 before, and color me impressed! Nice door thunks, and totally quality materials. Definitely a bit more of a retro feel than the 124, but wow. I LOVED the seatbelt presenters in the SEC.. And the reclining & heater rear bench in the SEL. Very neat!
After lunch with Mike I had to go to the local pick n pull to look for some door cards for my Mom’s old beetle. After nabbing the cards, i scouted the MBs and found two V8 124’s. I didn’t have a ton of time, but nabbed most of the easily nabbable parts i could grab. All the CAN box modules, a ton of the relays and a vacuum pump, plus the passenger side mirror trim in gray.
I love the trips to the pick n pull. Such a fun afternoon digging around and just picking up what you want. I wish we had more V8s in the yards up in Seattle.
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Mike has two beautiful 126’s, an SEC and SEL, both 1989s, as well as a 1995 E420 in Garnet Red (?) metallic. I had never been in a 126 before, and color me impressed! Nice door thunks, and totally quality materials. Definitely a bit more of a retro feel than the 124, but wow. I LOVED the seatbelt presenters in the SEC.
. And the reclining & heater rear bench in the SEL. Very neat!After lunch with Mike I had to go to the local pick n pull to look for some door cards for my Mom’s old beetle. After nabbing the cards, i scouted the MBs and found two V8 124’s. I didn’t have a ton of time, but nabbed most of the easily nabbable parts i could grab. All the CAN box modules, a ton of the relays and a vacuum pump, plus the passenger side mirror trim in gray.
I love the trips to the pick n pull. Such a fun afternoon digging around and just picking up what you want. I wish we had more V8s in the yards up in Seattle.
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Welcome to the DarkCISide. Another convert in the makingI had never been in a 126 before, and color me impressed! Nice door thunks, and totally quality materials. Definitely a bit more of a retro feel than the 124, but wow. I LOVED the seatbelt presenters in the SEC.
luckymike, thanks for the assist !!
They are rare, quite rare. In 5-6 years of going to the yards in the Houston area pretty diligently, I saw a grand total of about 5 E420s and 400Es, and 1-2 "Sportline" pedestrian W124 sedans.
In the Baltimore area (five LKQ pick n' pull yards, vs. three LKQs in the Houston area), I've seen three E420s and 400Es in the past two years.
There's just not many out there, and 124s have generally given way to 210s, 140s, and increasing numbers of 220s in the yards. Unfortunately none of those cars apply to ours, like the somewhat related W201s and W126s do.
I am seeing a LOT more 124 wagons in the wrecking yards in Baltimore than I ever did in Houston -- they seem to have been much more popular in Maryland/DC than in Texas.
Bummer! This is a common problem, unfortunately. Some colors are NLA, and all are $$$ new. A good used one is generally fine, the trick is getting used ones with the center tab (screw cover) intact. Same clip is used on 123, 124, and 201 chassis which helps locate donors. There are cheap Chinese copies on eBay but I don't know how long they last.
:?