r/w123

Image 1 — turbo 5 intercooler routing
Image 2 — turbo 5 intercooler routing
▲ 57 r/w123

turbo 5 intercooler routing

here's my setup for anybody curious. i'll be running a turbo blanket to minimize the heat soaking. as this is not a race or drag car, just a humble street built 617, i couldn't be pissed to do an air to water.

he221w (can use stock turbo clocked upwards with a 90° elbow)

the he221 goes up to a 2.5 at the mouth of the elbow so you'll need a 2.5-2.25 reducer to fit it to the intercooler inlet

renault turbo 5 intercooler with 2.25" inlet and outlet. tilt backwards so the flanges are level

2.25 aluminum 90° elbow. if you run my setup, you'll be cutting a little bit off the intercooler end to make sure your elbow clears the inner wheel well and shock tower. it should meet at the manifold dead center between the first pair of exhaust runners.

i had a shop plug, cut, and weld a new flange off the intake manifold due to my lack of aluminum welding equipment.

i think with an original 300d with an expansion tank, this'll clear the tank and the coolant hose to the radiator but you'll have to bypass one of the aux water pumps. this is a 240 swapped with 300d parts so i had the expansion tank mounted more forwards. it needed to move regardless.

u/Arthurshreds — 1 day ago
▲ 16 r/w123

Rubber plugs under spare tire wheel well

I’ve never actually noticed these before today, but saw the one plug dropped down about 2” and there wasn’t a plug in the other hole at all. I imagine these need to be resealed but don’t know the best approach to take.

u/banzai_institute — 2 days ago
▲ 10 r/w123+1 crossposts

Pierburg CD 175 Solenoid Leak on W123 200 Petrol

My pierburg 175cd carb have a bit leak after I set and turn the solenoid. The leak came from the upperside, how to fix this? and which parts should I change?

u/baanggaa — 2 days ago
▲ 1 r/w123

Car cranking but won't start (waste oil)

hello people!

well this is an interesting one. I have been running my w123 on a quarter tank of waste oil for over a year now. it is thoroughly filtered and strained and then it sits for weeks before use. it has always worked great and no big deal.

well the other day I did my usual and filled her up with just a couple gallons oil and some diesel along with a bit of liquid molly I had laying around and it just cranked. no start. crank crank. Assumed the fuel filters must be clogged so I replaced both of them and still nothing. I am assuming probably a clog in a fuel line but wanted to know what you guys think!

This has been a farm car over a decade and is more rust than car BTW. thanks!

reddit.com
u/FreedomDiesel2000 — 2 days ago
▲ 188 r/w123+1 crossposts

Found my mom's original 1980 W123 tool roll in the basement!

Hey everyone, just wanted to share this little time capsule I uncovered in the basement. It’s the original tool kit from my mom’s 1980 W123 230E.

It’s been sitting down there for years, so there is some rust on the pliers and the spark plug wrench, but the Matador wheel wrench and the rest are still intact. Brings back great memories. Thought you guys might appreciate a look at some factory equipment!

u/Dotcom995 — 3 days ago
▲ 3 r/w123

Windshield Replacement

Definitely puzzled here...

For a W126, is it similar to a W123 where I need a new rubber gasket too?

Google and searching around has conflicting answers and I rather know before buying a new windshield from Seattle.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

reddit.com
u/PerryEA — 2 days ago
▲ 3 r/w123

Question/help

Hello, iam thinking about buying a w123 and I would like your help. In my area is only a few ones for sale. The most good looking one is 200D. So i wanted to ask about it and if it is really that reliable. I know it is slow and would like to know if it is "hard to drive" i would say? And secondly, i saw some not bad looking deals on mobile.de. mainly 230E. So are deals there good? Or would you reather stick to the 200D. In my eyes it looks like the 200D is a slow reliability and 230E is faster risk.

reddit.com
u/komoj_ — 3 days ago
▲ 6 r/w123

Where is the 80amp glowplug fuse on a 77 300D?

The 77 has the old loop style plugs and my car has not been converted. I’m not getting power to my glowplugs and the GP light isn’t illuminating on the dash. I want to check the 80amp fuse but I have no idea where it is on the older 123s. The #5 glow plug wire leads to this place on the firewall but I don’t see a fuse there

u/Puzzled-Tear-4135 — 4 days ago
▲ 3 r/w123

Has anyone replaced the idler arm bracket?

I just picked up a w123 240D. Previous owner hit a rock and it damaged the mounting bracket that the idler arm bolts too.

My initial though is to bend it back into approximate position, but im also wondering if it may be easier to try and replace it.

Has anyone on here done this before?

reddit.com
u/Distinct_Chair3047 — 4 days ago
▲ 5 r/w123+1 crossposts

Alternator cooked. Anything else damaged?

was putting a new battery into my 300D, and in my rushed state I failed to realize the previous owner had used red wire as the ground and black as the positive and I reversed the polarity. Smoke came out of the alternator, and now the battery light is illuminated when the key is out. Take a look at the video to see what I mean. Will I just need a new alternator? Car still starts and electronics seem to be working

u/Puzzled-Tear-4135 — 4 days ago
▲ 3 r/w123

Tire replacement

Need to replace my tires very badly, its been dry rotted and has been on the car for the past 11 years, I’m running on 205/60/15 on 15 inch Bundt rims, living in the Philippines, I discovered that a lot of tire stores don’t carry this size anymore, should I go 195/65/15 or 205/65/15? Thanks for your inputs

reddit.com
u/Evo_2-3 — 4 days ago
▲ 19 r/w123

Becker 754 Reprogrammed without Becker or Dealer Tool

Hello friends!

Today I have a guide to share!

I have successfully revived a Becker Grand Prix 754 - Serial Number 6725525.

I want to document this before I forget.

As we all know, the security harness screws a lot of people over when removing their radios for behind dash maintenance.

So if you forgot and your radio dumped its RAM, this guide is for you.

Please be advised... This is not for the faint of heart.

You will need:
Solder
A Soldering Iron
A 3.6v replacement battery with solder leads
A DIP8 chip clip
Jumper Cables
A variable bench power supply
A programmer
An AI chatbot of your choice. (Optional... just helped me calculate the serial values in hex.)

This hex block below can be saved and modified by an AI. Just give it this, tell it you're reflashing a Becker 754 RAM module, and tell it you want to use <your serial number here>.

[Original Factory Hex Dump (Serial #6729669)]

Addr: Data

0000: A4 AA C2 3C C0 12 10 AF 48 48 05 E0 8C 11 00 7A

0010: 2E 52 02 21 2C 12 18 20 11 14 5A 0C 88 9C 4F B8

0020: 38 10 03 00 21 0C A2 00 40 05 20 5C 51 89 AC 43

0030: 00 50 04 5C 51 34 20 1A A2 92 12 C0 80 81 48 42

0040: 4D A4 4A 1B 80 A8 13 EC 27 65 DD 20 80 02 01 28

0050: 22 01 5B 70 BB 84 18 28 B4 91 F0 04 0E 75 A3 50

0060: 42 4C 50 13 01 10 60 16 D0 3D B0 21 80 05 86 01

0070: 10 50 A2 D4 03 14 1D 56 43 3E 00 45 00 20 01 50

[Mathematical Re-encoding for Target Serial #3725525]

The Becker architecture stores the indexing word for the unique serial profile suffix at Row 0000, Columns +1 and +2 as a 16-bit Big-Endian word.

* Original Words: AA C2 -&gt; 0xAACC = 43,724 (Decimal)

* Suffix Formula: Core Offset + RAM Word = Serial Suffix

* Isolated Core Offset: 6,729,669 - 43,724 = 6,685,945

* Target Underflow Calculation: 3,725,525 - 6,685,945 = -2,960,420

* Two's Complement Remainder (Modulo 65,536): 0xCCDC

* Modified Bytes: Column +1 becomes CC; Column +2 becomes DC.

[Modified Target Hex Dump (Serial #3725525)]

Addr: Data

0000: A4 CC DC 3C C0 12 10 AF 48 48 05 E0 8C 11 00 7A

0010: 2E 52 02 21 2C 12 18 20 11 14 5A 0C 88 9C 4F B8

0020: 38 10 03 00 21 0C A2 00 40 05 20 5C 51 89 AC 43

0030: 00 50 04 5C 51 34 20 1A A2 92 12 C0 80 81 48 42

0040: 4D A4 4A 1B 80 A8 13 EC 27 65 DD 20 80 02 01 28

0050: 22 01 5B 70 BB 84 18 28 B4 91 F0 04 0E 75 A3 50

0060: 42 4C 50 13 01 10 60 16 D0 3D B0 21 80 05 86 01

0070: 10 50 A2 D4 03 14 1D 56 43 3E 00 45 00 20 01 50

[Power Requirements]

* Voltage: Regulated 12.0V to 13.8V DC supply.

* Current Rating: Minimum 2 to 3 Amps required.

- Idle/Wakeup state draws roughly 200mA - 500mA.

- Driving audio speaker loads pushes current requirements up to 1.5A - 2.5A.

* Safety: Install a standard 5A inline fuse on the positive rail to protect old-school trace geometries.

[Chassis Pin Connections (Without Factory Wire Harness)]

* Switched +12V (Ignition): Feed to the individual recessed round female bullet receptacle hole located on the back panel plate next to the primary fuse capsule.

* Constant +12V (Memory Rail): Feed to the separate individual flat male spade terminal projecting out of the rear frame (stamped with a '+' symbol).

* Ground (GND / Negative): Connect the power supply ground clamp directly to an unpainted part of the solid outer steel casing frame or to the threaded copper grounding lug on the back.

* Note: Avoid the 5-pin inline anti-theft block to prevent microprocessor short-circuit faults.

I also referenced this youtube video I found. Got VERY lucky!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0fxASPGSw8

https://preview.redd.it/trgp090ofs1h1.png?width=221&format=png&auto=webp&s=da21022982d183ca305f15a893899fe414b19bd5

Take the above board and some jumpers. Wire them according to the following diagram below:

Pinout diagram. Ignore other components.

Your board, once disassembled, will orient the chip upside down versus this diagram. Please keep that in mind!

BEFORE PROCEEDING: SET YOUR POWER SUPPLY TO 5V 0.300 AMPS. Turn it back off.
Once the chip is hooked up, plug your power supply into the boards VVD for positive, and GND for negative. Make sure that jumper board is connected to the programmer with pin 1 of the board in the closest slot to the latch lever.

Pin 1 position

Flip your power supply on and plug in the programmer.

https://preview.redd.it/8tqyh9amgs1h1.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=55bd54f91b40e01f4b9b0a89046d612517040dee

Use the settings in the left menu.

You should see Connected or File in the bottom left.

For my radio, the below is the hex I flashed.

A4 9A 9C 3C C0 12 10 AF 48 48 05 E0 8C 11 00 7A
2E 52 02 21 2C 12 18 20 11 14 5A 0C 88 9C 4F B8
38 10 03 00 21 0C A2 00 40 05 20 5C 51 89 AC 43
00 50 04 5C 51 34 20 1A A2 92 12 C0 80 81 48 42
4D A4 4A 1B 80 A8 13 EC 27 65 DD 20 80 02 01 28
22 01 5B 70 BB 84 18 28 B4 91 F0 04 0E 75 A3 50
42 4C 50 13 01 10 60 16 D0 3D B0 21 80 05 86 01
10 50 A2 D4 03 14 1D 56 43 3E 00 45 00 20 01 50

Ask Gemini or ChatGPT to modify it for your serial if you really want. Totally optional.

https://preview.redd.it/97qa971ygs1h1.png?width=769&format=png&auto=webp&s=4905454b2ac1d72a9d00464950752e74a9ceb745

Copy and paste that hex. Ensure you have Hex text checked. Click ok.

Then validate all your wires and leads, click write.

(I did this like 4 times to validate it worked.)

Wait about a minute.

Click read.
As long as you get the same hex you put in when you wrote, you are golden!

Disconnect all leads and power down. Close and screw back in the top circuit board.

On the rear of the becker, hook up your power supply positive like so and se for 12v, 2.5Amps

https://preview.redd.it/wexcj1bghs1h1.png?width=1171&format=png&auto=webp&s=9a3e32f2a01a940562893bdc7c07fd1688561388

The blade is for the power antenna signal.

You will need to jump pins 4 and 2.

DO NOT TOUCH THE 5 PIN CONNECTOR! You risk wiping your RAM and starting over with the Dashes of Doom.

I was able to hyper extend my alligator clip to bite both 4 and 2. Take your negative clip and attach to the screw below the 4 pin socket.

Power on your PSU and click the on button on your radio.

If successful, you will see 87.5 FM on the screen and have no presets in RAM.

Thanks to rick601a and Becker's ridiculous reset pricing for inspiring me to try this on my own.

Happy Restoring!

reddit.com
u/PerryEA — 4 days ago
▲ 4 r/w123

Vacuum Line Mess

New to me ‘85 300D; there is a screw plugging one branch of a four way connector (magenta) and a check valve with the end exposed (green). Should these be connected?

u/andale_guey — 5 days ago
▲ 5 r/w123

Thinking of selling

Hi all,

Bought 1983 240D with 131,000 miles on it as a single guy two years ago. I’m the fourth owner. Well, a wife and a kid later, I don’t have time/effort to keep up with it. It now has (drum roll) 132,000 miles. Issues: trunk won’t open even after ordering new key from MB. Doors don’t lock. AC worked last year quite well after it was fixed but no longer. Fuel gauge is glitchy. Some rust in wheel wells, did get it painted original color. Engine runs great!! Any thoughts on a possible price point if I were to put it up for sale? Thank you in advance!

reddit.com
u/Neat-Finger197 — 5 days ago
▲ 7 r/w123

Best way to tension this belt?

The AC belt on my 300D gets its tension from this pivoting idler pulley. Now that I have the new belt on I’m having trouble getting enough upward force to hold the tension, and can’t get a pry bar to work. Any ideas?

u/Puzzled-Tear-4135 — 5 days ago
▲ 15 r/w123

thermostat stuck closed?

as you can see i point the laser on the thermostat housing. the side which has the hot coolant interacting with it at all times is showing 70°C. The side which only has coolant flowing thru it after the thermostat is open is showing 30°C cooler. This was after a 30 minute drive on a warm night so it definitely should've opened, which would've made the temperature much more similar. The block temp was 90°C.

The thermostat was tested in stovetop boiling water before we installed it and it did open.

I think this means its stuck closed, its at 47°C probably because of ambient temperature.

Please let me know what you guys think.

u/deeo2468 — 7 days ago