The Europa 596 was the lower end radio supplied by Mercedes Australia.  It was the main radio supplied in most W123 models from 1979 to mid 1981.   It has mechanical radio presets, a cassette player and AM/FM function.   The Europa 596 does not have the ‘wunderbar’ auto seek function or the auto-reverse feature as found on the Becker Mexico cassette 374 that was installed in my 1979 Mercedes 280SE.

These radios have a black plastic face with the ‘washing machine’ style knobs.   Personally I don’t think they are nearly as elegant as the pinstripe radios.   They do it in well in a base model like a 240D that has the black plastic console.

In order to test the radio properly, and send it off to be repaired, I decided to remove it from the car.

Removal of these radios is similar to other Becker analogue radios.   The knobs pull off, allowing the face to be removed.   Unlike on the pinstripe radios, the surround stays on the radio.   Hiding behind the face are the two brackets that secure the radio to the car.

The 240D is very original in that it still has the original radio, and the factory fader is still in place.   However, when I removed the radio, I noticed something rather odd.   Screwed to the back of the radio was a relay controlling the antenna.   This is rather odd, as the power for the antenna is just a trigger, and the antenna gets its power from a separate harness.   In principle, there is nothing wrong with it, but I didn’t like how it was getting the power from the hazard switch.    The power to the radio and cigarette lighter would have been a far more sensible approach.

I wondered if the antenna in the boot had been wired up to take power from this setup, so I checked the antenna in the boot.   While the antenna didn’t look factory, it was wired up as I would expect with a grey trigger wire and a power wire.    Going back to the radio, the additional relay had two blue wires going through the centre console.    One was blue/grey and the other blue/brown.     Turns out the blue/brown wire was the antenna trigger.    Not sure what the other one is for.

I decided to remove the whole setup.   While the Europa 596 was out to be serviced, I installed the trusty old Europa II I had in the 250SE for a while.   The Europa II is also a once piece unit and has basically the same connections as the 596.   It certainly wouldn’t do to drive the W123 around with no Becker.    The Europa II is what was installed in US Market 300Ds in this era (the 240 getting the Europa Mono).

The Europa II looks great in the dash, and and it’s tempting to leave it there.   However, the 596 is the original radio, and I will re-install it assuming it can be fixed.

While I was playing around with the antenna trigger, I accidently blew the fuse.  When I went to change it, the fuses were badly oxidized, so I decided to change them all.   This is something I like to do with a newly acquired Benz.

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The challenge is that these are intermittent problems, and so hard to diagnose.   I started by checking the basics – the fuel filter, tank and so on.  I also changed the plugs.  This had no impact.    My mechanic thought it was ignition related, so we’ve changed most of the wear components of the ignition system – points, cap, rotor, condenser, coil, suppressors and so on.   When the car is running well, its running better than ever.   But when it runs poorly, it stalls and stutters.

Based on that, I’ve got the car booked in again for another look early October.   I haven’t been driving the car much this year, as its just not very pleasant to drive when its running this way.   This is a shame, as I normally really enjoy driving the W111.

I took the car out again last week to see how things were going, and it ran quite poorly.   It stalled a couple of times and felt like it wasn’t getting enough fuel.     I’ll have to see how the visit to the mechanic in October impacts the car.   The more I drive it, the more I think its fuel injection related.

I had hoped to take it on a drive to Victoria I am doing in November.   Even if it seems fully fixed in October, due to the intermittent nature of the problem, I will probably not take it on that trip.   I’ll likely take the 560SEC instead.

While I was there, I also removed the Becker Tribute radio.   I had been having problems with this also.   The radio would just lock up and stop responding to inputs.   I took it out last year and even sent it away to Classic Auto Sound to be checked.   They kindly looked at it, and on their bench could find no fault.    I don’t know if its the car or the radio, but it stopped working for me earlier this year.

I took the radio out to do my own testing and put in one of my Beckers in its place.    Its a mid series Becker Europa II.   Its a radio that I need to have serviced anyway, so if my car is eating radios its better to try this one.    While the serial number tag has been lost, this radio would have most likely been manufactured between 1974 and 1976.    It has the newer style of speaker connectors, the larger stereo light and other features that place it in this date range of radios.    I don’t think this is the radio I will put in the car long term, but it looks great in there.    Even if the car is still running poorly, I plan to display it at the all German show later this year.

The Becker Europa II has a crack in the dial scale, but reproduction dial scales are available.    The advantage of the Europa II is that it is a one piece unit, so very easy to fit.    This era of Becker’s are DIN sized, but use their own mounting system of metal rods to hold it in place.   Those rods are often missing with second hand backers, but not hard to find.     The radio is installed in the dash without the knobs or the dial scale.    Outside the two knob shafts are the slots for the rods which are easily inserted and tightened up.     While I was there I also threw in a USB charging port.   The modern charger is very ugly in the beautiful W111 dash.

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