W123 Mercedes Star Replacement
On my 1981 240D I had a problem. The sheer accelerative power of the OM616 engine was causing the Mercedes star to lie flat against the bonnet at high speeds. It is rather embarrassing to be driving along the motorway with a limp Mercedes star.
Todays job was to replace it. I had a couple of spares, as this part is shared with the W126. However, they were a little dull. While the original part number of 1238800086 is now NLA, All the sites listed 124880008667 as fitting the W126 and W126.
I understand the preferred way to change the star is to remove the grille. However, given my star was already floppy, I wasn’t too worried about damaging the old one, so attempted to remove it in situ. I used a large set of long nose pliars to turn the collar anti-clockwise. If the collar is turned anti-clockwise and sits on the tabs on the bottom of the star, then it should slide out from the top. In my case, pulling against the spring tension of the collar to get it to sit on the tabs caused the little metal strip that holds it together to fail. The collar then separated from the star and I was able to get it out easily.
I had left the new star on my desk at home, so had to drive the 240D back with a star installed. It is a strange feeling to drive a W123 with no Mercedes Star. Kind of odd because I drive the C126 and C107 all the time that don’t have them.
Unboxing my shiny new star soon showed that 124880008667 is a little different to 1238800086. The base of the W123 part is quite a bit larger. The newer part fits, but it was obvious where the larger star had been there before.
to compare, I got one of my spare W126 grilles and removed the star. It was the older W123 part with the larger diameter and fit well, but was rather dull. I then went to look at my 1987 560SEL – it had the newer style star installed. Owning the car for 5 years I had never noticed this.
I have a couple more W126 grilles in a box that could have yielded a better Mercedes Star. Since it looked good on the 560SEL, my first attempt was to get the new one to work. I got out a microfiber towel and some quick detailer and after a while, I was able to remove nearly all the evidence that the larger star had been there.
Installing the new one, I was pretty happy with the result. Its very nice driving the car with a lovely shiny Mercedes star at the front. The new one also has the staying power to withstand the massive acceleration available from the 240D.
