W124 Repair Blog

[Guest mr w124]

Hi MMB n Homer ripper. Ya i guess its better to change the tensioner now rather than later. makes the ride feel better too. Going down to mazda later to do a testdrive with my friend for the new mazda 6. see if it tempts me. but i hope to stick on with this old girl, barring any extreme circumstances. next is to fix the rear axle to get rid of the aeroplane sound, then fix up the exterior and lastly to spruce up the interior.

Hi Sir benz. Cant remember the exact address but its at blk 3006 ubi rd 1. once u turn in, it should be one of the first few on the right. it has the nology sign on the front of the shop. RS Automotive. retail with installation is abt 180 i believe. i got a slight discount since did it with 2 other friends.

[Guest sirBenz]

Hi MMB n Homer ripper. Ya i guess its better to change the tensioner now rather than later. makes the ride feel better too. Going down to mazda later to do a testdrive with my friend for the new mazda 6. see if it tempts me. but i hope to stick on with this old girl, barring any extreme circumstances. next is to fix the rear axle to get rid of the aeroplane sound, then fix up the exterior and lastly to spruce up the interior.

Hi Sir benz. Cant remember the exact address but its at blk 3006 ubi rd 1. once u turn in, it should be one of the first few on the right. it has the nology sign on the front of the shop. RS Automotive. retail with installation is abt 180 i believe. i got a slight discount since did it with 2 other friends.

thks 4 the info, do keep us posted on ur car's fc. I'm in shanghai now, will be back in 3weeks time and my teenager is all by herself in company's basement car park, i hoping she won't get cranky with me for leaving her for so long.

[g8crasher]

Anyone ever swapped out the steering box ? Steering is exhibiting a little more freeplay than usual. Preparing the wallet for major service and possibly the box.

[Guest mr w124]

My steering box freeplay quite loose as well. i guess that should cost quite a bit. saving all the really expensive stuff to do if i decide to keep the car past 2011 when the coe expires.

By the way MMB, my new belt, tensioner and tensioner damper as well as some engine stand cost abt 300.

[Guest mr w124]

By the way guys, my armrest is dangling quite low now. when i put my arm on it, it touches the top of the console box. have resorted to lowering the passenger seat to stabilise it a bit. any idea if propel would have one in good condition? or do i have to get a new one? n how much would it cost?

[Guest sirBenz]

Anyone ever swapped out the steering box ? Steering is exhibiting a little more freeplay than usual. Preparing the wallet for major service and possibly the box.

Bro, I did replace before around 1.5yrs back, 1 to 1 replacement (refurb unit). Damage $250.

[g8crasher]

tks bro the 3 figure sum is comforting! I keep reading about this C36 M104 3.6ltr engine swap this guy did to his W124 TE. Fantasy haha! Its already so hard to find a C36 W202 half cut.

[Guest sirBenz]

tks bro the 3 figure sum is comforting! I keep reading about this C36 M104 3.6ltr engine swap this guy did to his W124 TE. Fantasy haha! Its already so hard to find a C36 W202 half cut.

C36 in a W124 ..ultimate sleeper .. btw any good place to do wheel alignment?

[g8crasher]

City Auto @ Sin Ming. They've got a Beissbarth machine operated by a Chinese Uncle and an Indian or Malay chap. I can't remember both their names but they are experienced and only deal with wheel alignment jobs. Will cost you $64.20 incl 7% GST. I don't usually ring for an appointment as the wait is quite short in the morning.

Blk 8 Sin Min Road #01-60/62

Sin Min Industrial Estate

Singapore 575643

Tel : 6453 1235

Check out the transplant - http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w202-c36-amg-c43-amg/728198-c36-engine-transplant-into-w124-wagon.html

Tell you what, if I score a $50.00 COE to extend the ownership by another 10 years then it's certainly some food for thought. Have to keep an eye out for the M104.941! www.mbspares.com.au might have something interesting lying around.

[Guest sirBenz]

HomerRipper ]

City Auto @ Sin Ming. They' wrote:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w202-c36-amg-c43-amg/728198-c36-engine-transplant-into-w124-wagon.html[/url]

Tell you what, if I score a $50.00 COE to extend the ownership by another 10 years then it's certainly some food for thought. Have to keep an eye out for the M104.941! www.mbspares.com.au might have something interesting lying around.

Thks bro, if $50 ..count me as ur project member.

[Guest millionmilebenz]

Anyone ever swapped out the steering box ? Steering is exhibiting a little more freeplay than usual. Preparing the wallet for major service and possibly the box.

Hi Leon! I've swapped my steering box on the W126, bought a unit at Propel for $200 IIRC. John was helpful in picking one with the least freeplay and also still with space available on the "screw" that can be used to tighten the steering.

It changes the driving feel of the car quite a bit!

[Guest mr w124]

MMB, how can we tell whether the steering box is loose? i have some freeplay but not sure if it should be changed yet.

[g8crasher]

As MMB and SirBenz may already know, I've been trying to find some beige interior bits for the car. Finally found a pair of beige used door panels on eBay for US$85 excl shipping which is damn reasonable. Shipping costs just as much!! so the total price is around SGD$250.

I am contemplating clicking the Buy It Now button but would like to know what the other colours are worth! I forgot to ask the other day.

[Guest mr w124]

Guys, i'm seriously contemplating repainting my car cos the bad paintwork is a real let down. with only 2 yrs n 11 months of COE life left, would you consider this to be a good idea? i would like to get another COE for the car and keep it so painting it now would not really be a wasteful move in my book. would like your opinions.

I read in another thread that a member got his ride painted for abt 1.8k at some ws in alexandra. you guys know of any good ws for painting? mine is white and i would like to change to some other colour like the 380 sec that was on sgcarmart(not there anymore). Kind of a dark gold kind of colour. or gunmetal silver. something shiny.

What do you guys think?

[g8crasher]

Guys, i'm seriously contemplating repainting my car cos the bad paintwork is a real let down. with only 2 yrs n 11 months of COE life left, would you consider this to be a good idea? i would like to get another COE for the car and keep it so painting it now would not really be a wasteful move in my book. would like your opinions.

I read in another thread that a member got his ride painted for abt 1.8k at some ws in alexandra. you guys know of any good ws for painting? mine is white and i would like to change to some other colour like the 380 sec that was on sgcarmart(not there anymore). Kind of a dark gold kind of colour. or gunmetal silver. something shiny.

What do you guys think?

Yup I'd definitely go for a paintjob. Gunmetal silver is really appealing! I kind of like the shade of gunmetal silver in the Honda S2000 catalogue.

Maybe you might want to consider putting on a subtle AMG Gen II front lip ? A fresh chrome S600 style grill will really set off the colour. Lower it just a little, say 2 inches. Slap on some sweet period specific Carlsson wheels. Weld a nice exhaust tip on. Damn you're good to go for another 20 years. Instant classic.

Are you looking to do an inside-out job (bare metal respray incl engine bay, inner panels etc) ? An inside out job might cost a wee bit more I reckon. The job done on my car was just purely external to cover up the years of blemishes. A recent wax session has revealed overspray on some areas of the car which were previously undetectable but that's what I get for a $950 superficial job!

[Guest mr w124]

Wow. what you've described sounds really good homerripper. i would like to do an inside out paintjob since mine is white. how much would that cost? i think my car is already lowered. cos its lower than some of the other 124s. or could be that the springs are old n worn out.

Speaking of the front lip you were talking about, my front bumper is pretty cracked underneath. would they fix that up too when doing repainting? The s600 grill sounds good. is that the kind that kel has?

I would really love to keep this car. went to testdrive the new mazda 6 the other day with a friend. Cant compare to this car. light steering, light accelerator, brakes. just feels like it wont last v long.

[g8crasher]

mr w124 -

The front lip I was talking about is just mounted over the lower half of of your existing bumper. At least that's what I understand if you're fitting the AMG or Wald EX kit. Have a closer look at the AMG Gen II bumper here. This car belongs to Chris D Pham from the US. It's an awesome car! He's got C32 AMG brakes on the front on 18" rims. Very clean job.

[Guest mr w124]

Thats a really cool looking car man. I realise that i already have that grill on my car. i thought u were talking about the one with the benz logo in the centre of the grill. I wasn't too keen on putting the bodykit on my car but the one in the pics looks really cool. Seriously considering it. by the way, where did you get your paintjob done?

[keltanky]

i wonder how much will WALD ex kit will be..

[Guest mr w124]

Homerripper, could you pm me your workshop for the painting? thanks man. By the way, i have the shiny frille but mine has some scratches where the bonnet release catch is. think i got to sand down the bonnet release catch as mentioned by a friend.

[Guest Mike]

mr w124 if don't mind doing the repainting in JB i can recommend my cousin to u...

[Guest mr w124]

That would be great Mike. you did your painting there?

[Guest Mike]

my previous car is done there and i reccomended a couple of frens there and they r happy with the workmanship as all the job is done by my cousin himself. and often u can see singapore can being done there.

[Guest mr w124]

is it very far into jb? can pm me the cost of the job? my car is white now. would like to change it to silver or black. thanks.

[Guest Mike]

its at Johor Jaya. near the Jusco Shopping Centre... price its better that u talk to my cousin when we r there cos i m not sure. =)