01/2020: Sports Car Market (C124 AMG)

[gerryvz]

"1992 Mercedes-Benz 300CE 6.0 AMG"

From the January, 2020 issue of Sports Car Market magazine.

German Car profile of a recent C124 AMG that was sold at auction. Authored by Uncle Pierre Hedary.

 

[gsxr]

Sold for $0.267M despite multiple repaints?

I'm curious if what he claims is correct, that MB leveraged AMG's DOHC R&D for the M104/119/120, or if MB was already heading in that direction before AMG produced their own.

I have to disagree with his assessment of CIS-E / KE-Jetronic as "excellent" though. And I was surprised to find a technical error, the M119 in any form never had HFM-SFI injection - it had LH-SFI, and from 96-99 it had ME 1.0 injection. HFM was only used on the M104, I believe. SFI may be "unexciting" but it's far more reliable, robust, and easier to troubleshoot than Jetronic.

Also note that when he says "between 1990 and '92" he is referring to USA model years, and then only the M119.960 in the R129.066 chassis. LH-SFI came to USA as of 1992 model year in W140 and W124, and was available as early as 1990 in Europe.

 

[northNH]

Woe betide any who disagree with you, Dave, so I’ll just share my experience with what must be a Unicorn...

I bought my previously well-maintained ‘92 3.0L CIS-E coupe some years ago with ~100K miles; it now has 205K.
As a DD it has ALWAYS started easily and run happily from -20° to 95° @ 24mpg, rock-steady idle and good power.
It has had one (still good) cap, rotor, set of plugs and no wires during that period. And no senders, sensors, or expensive stuff either.

There has been but ONE episode of ABS/ASR/limp home BS, caused by occult water collection below right rear seat, initially intermittently disturbing, then finally permanently frying the underhood MAS control unit via the fuel pump wiring connector.

Other than that (with occasionally playing with the mixture with the skinny Allen wrench for fun) there has been ZERO effort, expertise or parts required to keep this system, and me, happy.

Knock on wood?

 

[gerryvz]

Sold for $0.267M despite multiple repaints?

I'm curious if what he claims is correct, that MB leveraged AMG's DOHC R&D for the M104/119/120, or if MB was already heading in that direction before AMG produced their own.

I have to disagree with his assessment of CIS-E / KE-Jetronic as "excellent" though. And I was surprised to find a technical error, the M119 in any form never had HFM-SFI injection - it had LH-SFI, and from 96-99 it had ME 1.0 injection. HFM was only used on the M104, I believe. SFI may be "unexciting" but it's far more reliable, robust, and easier to troubleshoot than Jetronic.

Also note that when he says "between 1990 and '92" he is referring to USA model years, and then only the M119.960 in the R129.066 chassis. LH-SFI came to USA as of 1992 model year in W140 and W124, and was available as early as 1990 in Europe.

HFM was also used on the M119 as found in the W140, I believe. It wasn't only an M104 thing -- it was definitely used on other engines.

@northNH -- I've owned a CIS-E-based M117 (560SEC) since 2002. I have yet to have ANY issues with it, other than having to replace the EHA two times over the years. This is about a 5-minute job. Part isn't cheap (last I checked they were around $160 on sale), and the ethanol in our gas kills 'em after some years of use, but the CIS-E system itself - bone-reliable.

I replace the cap and rotor far less often than I should - about every 65-70K miles. Actually just did it recently, and should be good for another 10 years.

 

[gsxr]

HFM was also used on the M119 as found in the W140, I believe. It wasn't only an M104 thing -- it was definitely used on other engines

Nope. The M119 and M120 always used LH-SFI or ME injection. HFM may have been used on other engines, but it wasn't the M119 or M120.

 

[gerryvz]

Sorry, you are correct. I got it mixed up — LH was used in the M104 for a short time, not HFM on the M119. The 119 only used LH and ME.