r/w123

Driving our girl up the middle of Australia and arrived in Alice Springs from Adelaide heading for Darwin.

She’s been a tank. We lost the alternator to water and mud in some river crossings, and were beyond lucky another w123 had a spare. Once started of course she just keeps going … limped into camp with two portable LED lights zip tied to the bumper.

She’s got 900km tomorrow on bitumen and then two more days on gravel before we reach the finish line. Fantastic

Car ran fine today, and every day for a long time.

Needed a jump this morning, but I think that's unrelated (left my lights on). Drove it highway after that.

Battery is 12.8v at rest. Everything I describe from here out was also done with a jump box, too, so I don't think it's battery.

B+ lug on starter is getting power.

No crank whatsoever, not even a click. Batter goes down to 12.1 when I do that.

With car in run, bridging lugs on starter gives me a tiny click that sounds like it's coming from the driver's side (that I'm not getting when I turn the key). No crank.

Man oh man, not a great moment to have this go out on me... anyone have any ideas?

3 weeks of my labor and a flux core mig welder just bought my wagon a few more years of life. Now to enjoy it for the rest of the season.

Left indicator is not talking to my bike rack, just another fix added to the list along with power steering drip, reverse gear bush and clips, front door lock mechanism and interior trim.

280e manual, built in South Africa, electric windows and sunroof, aircon working. 😎☀️

Couldn’t ask for better. 👌🏻

My 1985 280ce auto giving me plenty of enjoyment this past month… let’s see your 123s!

Video is all four cylinders.

Finally got around to a compression test on my 82 200D with 155,000 miles, done a few hours cold. Seems like good results! Redid my first cylinder and got about 300 like the rest. Still experiencing quite a bit of white/blue smoke on startup and a lot of shaking and I haven’t drove another 200D but I pretty much top out at 55 on flat ground and have just no power on hills, usually in second and sometimes first on any hill. Maybe normal for tiny ass 200D but it feels to me I could get more from it. Already done glow plugs and filters, diesel purge and valve adjustment. Starts super well. Now I’m thinking just injectors might be my last hope/maybe throttle linkage. Or maybe just accept my slowness. Any suggestions/observations with compression test or trying to get more power?

What’s a good idle range on cold, hot, in drive and in park? Just got my first 123 and wanting to check it all out.

Cheers

Hey all. Bought an 84 300d for cheap. Transmission was not shifting into 4th. It would shift OUT of 3rd and into...nothing. Just revved like it was in nutral. I pulled the K2 piston and found that the spring was in multiple pieces. Seems like a smoking gun to me. Luckily the bore is still in good shape.

I am having a hard time finding a p/n for a replacement k2 accumulator spring. Seems like there are some options available for k2 springs for w124/w126 and later cars with the 722.3 transmission, but I havn't found much information about compatability. Some folks onlione said the k1 shift improvement kit (126-270-44-77) could be used in k2, so I got that, but found that the spring was not only waaay heavier than the original k2, but it was also larger in diameter and would not fit in the k2 piston. A lot of these parts can only be bought as NOS, and I don't want to keep dropping $50-$100 on springs until something works.

TLDR: Does anyone have a part number (for a part that can still be bought, lol) for a K2 accumulator spring I can use in an early 722.3 transmission?

I was looking for a small restaurant in a very remote area of Tenerife in the Canary Islands and I found this abandoned gem, rust is eating it but you can still imagine it in its glory days.

The car is well equiped and seems to have been imported from Germany

I can't really tell if it is a 230CE or a 280CE (cannot be a diesel as we did not get those in coupé in Europe) as I did not have the chance to check under the hood. I might go in the future and check if someone knows the owner, as it could be a nice parts car.

Does anyone have any advice before I buy this car? This would be my first car. I’ve fallen in love with this model based on the reviews I’ve seen and its reputation. The car is located in Nicaragua—I live in Nicaragua—and it’s priced at $1,650. I’d like to know what I should check before buying it. The owner says it has the following issues: electrical system, starter motor, rust in some areas, and deterioration of the tires and seats. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Best regards

Short clip. This is a 1982 240D that's been swapped with an OM617 turbo. Recent valve adjustment and diesel purge, but have not inspected the injectors yet. Accelerates to 60 in 13.9 seconds and gets 26 MPG, no obvious performance issues besides minor shaking, but was curious if there is anything out of the ordinary you guys can hear.

I've left a picture of my engine bay in the comments. You can hear it start to flutter after 2,200 rpms usually and this started out of the blue. The last thing I did was the valve adjustment, thermostat, and deleted the EGR. I drove it for a week or two and wasn't hearing this until I started it up today. It's got an air filter straight off of the turbo but I've had that on for a while.

No junkyards around here had it and I can't find anyone selling it on marketplace or similar in Norway. Prices on eBay are brutal with shipping and import tax. I'd be paying more than what I gave for the whole engine.

Hello, my trunk is locked on my w123 200d and I tried opening it via the drill method but failed.

I am assuming I drilled it wrong. Has anyone had success with this and do you have any advice?

Thanks.

I can't open the trunk via the first aid box as the latch is covered by that pesky little cover plastic