Mercedes Benz is and always has been the ultimate German luxury brand. Sure, there’s Maybach and whatnot, but we’re talking about the all-time average. That being said, the history of Mercedes has two distinct eras – cars made before W124 and cars made after.
In all of its glory, this legendary model represents the peak of Mercedes Benz’s engineering prowess. Everything that came after, excluding a few isolated cases, was on a downward slope. However, even the most legendary of Mercedes Benz cars have their flaws.
A Different Era of Mercedes
The postwar Europe was a humanitarian catastrophe waiting to unfold. Everything had to be rebuilt, including the most vital infrastructure. Bombers, both allied and axis leveled entire cities, rear logistical routes, and most industrial zones along with them. The manufacturing capacities that took decades and sometimes even centuries to develop were reduced to ashes. Not once, but many times over in the span of a few years.
Europe had no resources, no manpower, and no time to spare. Such a dire situation had ingrained the need for quality into all aspects of life. No one was ‘rich enough to afford cheap goods’ when every penny was to be accounted for.
The same applied to cars. Transportation was essential for the recovery process, both commercial and private. Different car manufacturers gave their all to build machines that could handle the workload and resist the sub-optimal conditions the continent had to offer at the time. Some were more successful than others.
Mercedes Benz had recognized build quality as a means of getting back in the saddle. During the war, they made cars for the losing side, which ended up being a PR nightmare once the gunfire stopped. If only they could make rock-solid cars, maybe people would forget that the fuehrer himself rode under Daimler’s three-pointed star? And so they did.
The W123 – the Grand Daddy
The plan had worked out for Mercedes in the end. Their cars were back on the menu and were in service of many heads of state around the world. However, the real story begins with the W123. These cars, including most models, engines and body styles, came in like a wrecking ball, bringing reliability, performance, and overall durability likes of which were simple unusual for the time. This is especially true for their engines.
Naturally, no one could have known just how resilient these cars would prove to be in 1976 when they were first launched. However, by the end of their production in 1986, it was apparent that this car was simply a beast that would stay on the roads for decades to come.
Even so, it was time for a brand new model. The W123 had run its course, and the Mercedes design bureau had massive shoes to fill. They came up with the W124, or what is now known as one of the absolute legends of the automotive world.
The W124
It is still debated which of the two cars was more iconic, the W123 or W124. However, that debate is contained on the subjective plane. Up here in the factual, objective world, W124 takes the cake in literally every way possible.
Back then, Mercedes used to learn from their shortcomings, not perpetually disregard them as was the case with a few models in recent history (looking at you W220). They recognized the W123‘s affinity for rust, its lack of comfort, and rare but present safety issues these cars had.
They fixed everything mentioned by the time W124 hit the streets. The new car was everything W123 wanted to be and more! The range of available engines included a selection of frugal diesels as well as beefy petrol motors. As expected, the car ran a rear-wheel drive setup with Automatic Locking Differentials available for the diesel side of the family.
That being said, it’s exactly the diesel side of the family that is responsible for most of W124’s current reputation. The 2.0-liter OM601 engine, as well as the OM602, and OM605 were all terrific engines. Lazy as a wombat and not so great on speed in case of the OM601, but legitimately unbreakable.
Nearing the end of w124 production, Mercedes had decided to introduce their class system with this car being the first-ever E class Merc!
85 Trips Around the World
Mercedes had built such a durable machine that they started issuing badges for high mileage cars, with milestones ranging from 155,000 miles to a whopping 1,000,000 miles. Yes, there’s a Mercedes Benz out there with 1 million miles on the odometer, still kicking.
The world record for Mercedes belongs to one Magnus Sæle from Norway who managed to drive over 3,400,000 km in his car. The model in question? You’ve guessed it, the W124 fitted with the OM601 2-liter diesel engine. Speed was a tertiary issue for Magnus, as these cars took 20 seconds to reach 60, but boy was his luxury sedan durable. Although quite drastic, this case is far from being the only instance where a diesel W124 managed to sustain such high mileages without suffering a catastrophic failure of some sort.
W124 ended up becoming the go-to vehicle for taxi services all around Europe and Africa. In fact, it was so popular in Albania that it has the highest number of W124s per capita in the world. You could still take a stroll through Tirana and find that five out of 7 cars are old Mercs, and 3 out of those 5 are a w124.
Who knows how many extremely high mileage cars are there in these faraway places, ticking like Swiss watches in the middle of harsh winters and scorching hot summers. We’ll never know!
Not Without a Fault
Mercedes Benz W124 was produced from 1984 to 1995 for the sedan version, while the overall production ended in 1997. During those 13 years of production, several issues started appearing on higher mileage cars. One of them was the ball joint issue.
Namely, the ball joints don’t go bust very often, but when they do, it’s a show. The reason for this can be traced to the way the ball joint is constructed. After building the entire car to survive harsh Martian terrain, Mercedes did something very odd with the front suspension.
They designed the whole thing so that the lower joints are always under tension. That’s never a particularly good idea. They didn’t stop there either. The way everything is packed together has the ball pins facing upward. Although not guaranteed, there’s a solid chance of water incursion, rust, failure, and you get the picture.
Once again, this isn’t something that happens all the time, but depending on where you drive, you might run into issues.
How to Swap the Ball Joints?
Under the premise that you’ll sometimes experience this issue in the future, if you haven’t already, it’s worth knowing how to replace the ball joints. Following Mercedes Benz’s guidelines would mean finding a specialized tool that might have been a good idea for dealerships to have in 1995, but hardly a good investment for private owners.
The problem is that your generic alternatives barely work. Some screw and plate tools mimic the specialized tool reasonably well, but those are niche to a point where you’ll hardly have one handy when you need it.
Can you perform this repair without said tools? It’s absolutely doable. The only issue is that you’ll have to butcher it out of the A-arm. No worries, though. All you’ll need is a chisel and a hammer or a pneumatic tool if you have one. You’ll also need a Sawzall.
The Procedure
The way most of these ball joints fail is fairly dramatic. The ball tends to literally push out through the top of the casing, leaving you with a hollow casing that is stuck in the A-arm with only a knife-edge rim left for you to press against.
As you can probably tell on your own, that’s no walk in the park. The solution starts with violence. Take your hammer and a chisel and try to knock the sheet metal seal out of the bottom of the now-empty ball joint. Once you’ve managed to get that done, after plenty of convincing in most cases, you’re entering phase II of the process.
Here is where you’ll need surgical precision and steady hands. Imagine that you’re trying to remove a brain tumor and save a critical care patient’s life, not a piece of metal out of your car’s A-arm. Take the Sawzall or any other reciprocating saw and get ready to make surgical cuts in the ball joint itself. The idea is to cut two notches in the ball joint, without touching the A-arm.
If done correctly, all you’ll need to do is give the remaining pieces a good whack with your hammer/chisel combo, and you should have one completely free A-arm.
Replacing the ball joint is fairly easy and can be done with just about any standard press tool. Make sure to get quality ball joints, though. You don’t want them rusting out in a few years.
Where to Find W124 Parts and Accessories?
Being one of the main suppliers of Genuine Mercedes Benz parts in the United States, we’re proud to offer a wide range of products even for their older models. To find what you’re looking for, simply head over to our navigation tool, input your car’s year, make and model, and you’ll be presented with all the products that match. If you’re still not sure about compatibility, you can always get in touch with us via email, and we’ll make sure to check everything for you.
Mine have been squeaking away for a good 6 months. I better replace them before my indestructible Merc ends up very much deconstructed!