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Service Manuals and Tools Required

bgreene30

E500E Enthusiast
Member
Hi everyone. I just purchased a 1993 500E and need some guidance on which service manuals I should be searching for and diagnostic tools and specialty tools i will need to add to my tool quiver. I am quite handy with the spanners but to date am more suited to servicing pre 70's american muscle cars and british motorcycles. Seeing as I added a 69 280SL pagoda and 93 500E I need the rosetta stone course in German!
Thanks in advance.

Bob is so cal
 
The 124 service manuals are online from MB free -- check the sticky post about this that I posted some time back.

You can make a simple blink code tester from $15 worth of radio shack parts, and you can use GSXR's code translator document to translate them to root causes. The directions for making the blink code tester are available from this site.

All of the answers to your questions are available here through search.
 
Hi Bob,

As GVZ mentioned, the service manuals are available free online from MB, or you can buy them on CD-ROM from the dealer, or some people have posted the CD contents online with a nifty HTML navigation (like this) instead of MB's funky Flash navigation/menu. The manuals are available in hardcopy form via eBay (except the M119 engine manual, which was never available in print from MB), but the hardcopies are not cheap.

For diagnostics, the main item you'll need is a blink-code reader. You can build one, or buy one from eBay (click here). The code reader will come with a code list, throw it in the trash immediately, and use this code list instead. If you can stomach the cost, this adapter makes the code reading much easier (note that you'd need to buy/build a reader with 4mm pins if you're using this adapter). Or just shell out ~$600 for the Chinese SDS for use with your laptop... this will give you access to live data from the computers, along with reading codes. If you get the SDS, you don't really need the blink code reader, but it wouldn't hurt to keep the blinker box in the trunk or something (along with the code list), for emergency use.

Special tools - this depends on what particular job you are doing. One I'd recommend is the Koken compact Allen driver (click here), not cheap, but it will save you a lot of misery when removing the valve covers. Another is the M119 spark plug socket. There are lots more but I wouldn't worry about it until you need to do a certain job; i.e. if you replace timing chain guide rails, there are a few tools you'd want to buy... but if a previous owner already had this done, there's no need to buy the tools. If you intend to do any suspension work, look for a Klann spring compressor (I've got one for sale in the classifieds at the moment).

Best place to buy OE dealer tools & parts is parts.com (lowest prices anywhere). I generally use AutoHausAZ or ElAutoParts for most of my aftermarket parts. Aftermarket tools come from a variety of sources, mostly whomever has the right tool at the right price.

Please post some info & photos on your new car, btw! Maybe start a new thread in the "Owner" forum?


:deniro:
 
Thanks for all the detailed information. I really appreciate it. I am in San Fransisco now and take delivery of the 93 500E on thursday morning and will then hit the road for a 400 mile joy ride back to so cal.

I am attaching some photos here of the car when i first saw it last month and it was all black. I paid to have the cladding painted in the original color scheme. Gray interior and 114K miles. The car does have a salvaged title but my wife who is an insurance adjustor looked it up and the car was stolen, POE paid off and then recovered in as is condition about 3 months and 2500 miles more than when stolen and black cladding.
 

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Bob,
Awesome! looks like robert fenton's shop? I was there a few weeks ago to check out his two cars for sale.
I am new owner to 500es as of this weekend too and from Encinitas. Are you nearby? I've met several other nearby owners who have been quick to lend a hand and downright awesome guys.
Welcome!
Doug
 
" Or just shell out ~$600 for the Chinese SDS for use with your laptop... this will give you access to live data from the computers, along with reading codes. If you get the SDS, you don't really need the blink code reader, but it wouldn't hurt to keep the blinker box in the trunk or something (along with the code list), for emergency use."

Hi Dave...is the Chinese SDS an adaptor?

Thanks.
 
Thank you for the link. I have not run my 036 for faults yet but I certainly want to as I have a hunch all is not quite right after a recent ASR hiccup
 
anyone have a link to the schematics for building a blink reader?
Or
a direct purchase blink reader for reasonable cost? (I bought by OBDII scanner for $120 five years ago or so, so that's my point of reference on reasonable)
I've been using Glen's and would like to have my own. If they are reasonable, I don't my buying. But, wiring my own is fine, too. Figure it'll take me a bit of time to collect and wireup the parts, so buying may make sense.
Thank you,
Doug
 
anyone have a link to the schematics for building a blink reader? Or a direct purchase blink reader for reasonable cost? (I bought by OBDII scanner for $120 five years ago or so, so that's my point of reference on reasonable)

Click here. Remember to toss out whatever CD-ROM or code sheet comes with it, and ONLY use the PDF files in the "De-Coding" sticky on this forum...

:mushroom:
 
Hi Dave,
Thank you. My (early?) '92 doesn't have the diagnostic ports, only the 38 pin connector. I've been using Glen's 38 pin adaptor and blink code reader. Does such an animal exist in the combined form? Or do I have to buy the 38 pin adaptor and cut it up and build something to work with the tool to which you linked?

Doug
 
Hi Doug,

The blinker box for the 400E/500E sold by "porscheapriliafan" has 1mm pins which plug directly into the 38-pin sockets. You need to be careful to make sure you are connecting to the proper sockets. Having the breakout box (shown below) makes this much easier, but the breakout box costs and additional ~$200, and requires the use of a different blinker box with 4mm pins (i.e., for a 300E/E320).

http://www.parts.com/parts/index.cf...ext=140589146300&action=oePartSearch&siteid=2

proxy.php


:mushroom:
 
http://www.amazon.com/OBD2-Connecto...qid=1355367329&sr=8-1&keywords=38+pin+adaptor

What if I buy one of these and separate the wires and build my own breakout box? OR Can I pull all the codes from the different modules with an OBDII reader or just the LH codes?
Note there are 38 male pins but I bet there are only a dozen or so wires inside that skinny cable, and I am 99% sure that there won't be a wire from each of the pins you need. Most likely you'd have to slice open the 38-pin male connector, and solder a wire on to the appropriate pins. Might work with some surgery, if you have time to kill.

I do know that using an OBD-II reader with that cable will do absolutely nothing. Our cars are OBD-1 and the OBD-2 scanners don't speak the same language. If you want digital communication, you need a digital scanner like the Snap-On, or the Chinese SDS. Anything OBD-2 is useless on the W124, ditto for the cheap "Carsoft" boxes you may find.

:mushroom:
 
I have the W124 service manual on cd-rom in stock if anyone needs one. They work on older PCs up through Windows XP.
 

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