1984 Mercedes-Benz W123 280E from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

7th Jun 2007, 04:00

"A pleasure to drive"

What things have gone wrong with the car?

Steering box overhaul.

Heater/demister corroded - disconnected.

Starting problem after a short trip.. eg., a short trip to the local grocery.. sometimes you have to wait 10 minutes before it will start for the return journey.. there is no spark delivered to the distributor.. definitely an electrical problem.

General comments?

This is an incredible car for its age. The motor has never been overhauled, and although it is a little bit of a growler around town (not to mention quite thirsty), out on the highway, the turbine like qualities of this magnificent in line six come into play.. it's smooth and quiet and unfussed.. seemingly perfectly balanced at any speed over 100km/hr right up to its top speed of around 215km/hr.


8th Jun 2007, 16:50

That starting problem -- have an electrician check on the relay that controls the fuel pump. My previous '85 Audi GTE had that problem, and as it turned out there was a hairline crack on the PCB of the relay. He soldered it, and off it went, no problems ever.


11th Jun 2007, 09:38

Agreed with the previous comment regarding the hard starting issue, other sources of gremlins may also be the ignition coil and or the spark ignitor (silver box located right front of engine bay) These are usually quite reliable though.

Check out relay (fuelpump) first as per previous comment, then ignition coil. The hard start currently experienced will eventually turn into a no start!

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