Turns out, for this era of W124, with the transmission interlock, they still are.    They are now NLA for the earlier cars such as the, W107, W126 etc.    I got one of the last ones for my old 300SE for example.    While I still could, I ordered one plus two new keys for the 300TE, matched off the data card.    I would encourage anyone who has a W124 of this vintage to order one while they are still available.   They won’t be forever.    The club price for the tumbler plus one key was USD$92, and an addition USD$30 for the second key.  This is obviously before shipping.  These prices are very reasonable.   I bought all this at the same time as the fan clutch a few months ago.

I thought this would be a very good solution.  Swap out the tumbler before I have the same problems on the 300TE as I did on my old W116 280SE.    After that, I would have a brand new tumbler, two genuine keys to use and the copy as a spare.

At this point I assume its going to be a very simple matter to swap the W124 ignition tumbler over.   I’ve done it a few times on the W126, and since it wasn’t stuck yet, I didn’t think I’d have the same issue as the W116.   Turns out I was wrong.

The later W124 tumbler is slightly harder to remove than the W126 version, as there are two tabs that must be unlocked on the tumbler.   This means two metal rods at the same time and then the cap should pop off instead of screw off.    I tried all sorts of different rods, but could never get the cap to come off.   As I persevered, I was often able to feel the tabs push back, but I’m not sure if the cap was stuck somehow, or the tabs were not quite releasing enough.

I went back to the factory manual a few times, re-reading the text each time to make sure I was not missing anything.   I even went to Bunnings (large Australian hardware store) to buy metal wire in the exact diameter specified in the manual.    Didn’t help.

I tried on and off for the next two months, thinking maybe a fresh try would yield some different results.  It didn’t.

In the end I had to conceded defeat and send the car to the professionals.     I hope it would be a less painful result than with the W116, as that required major surgery.

In the end it took my mechanic about three hours to get it out, but unlike me, he was able to get it unstuck.   A good example of how experience counts.    I’ve now got a new W124 ignition tumbler in the car.  I also feel confident that I won’t have a problem like with the W116.

The post W124 Ignition tumbler appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I was hoping he would find something I missed and get it out quickly.   It turned out not to be the case.

He first tried removing the collar and was unable to make it turn.   Next, he even got to the point of using a dremel to make a notch in the collar and using a big hammer and chisel.    He also tried cutting the collar, but the dash of the W116 gives little clearance and after making a mark in the dash wood (even after covering everything with tape) he was worried about destroying the dash.

In the end, to get the steering lock out, he dropped the steering box down to create enough clearance to then slide out the steering lock.     He then fitted my used steering lock and raised up the steering box.

I got the car back yesterday and fitted the instrument cluster and lower dash panel back myself.   The W116 instrument cluster is far more fiddly than the W126 version.  The speedo cable and oil pressure line don’t have a lot of slack.   At least it can be removed without taking off the steering wheel – in contrast to the 107 models.

After I got all that back in, I took the car for a short test drive around my area.    There is a W116 280SE D-Jet in a Coles carpark nearby.  Its not moved since May so is probably dumped.   A sad way to go for such a brilliant car.   I thought it would be interesting to get a few photos of the two 280SEs together while it’s still there.

This whole saga with the steering lock and ignition barrel in my 280SE illustrates why the easiest way to steal a Mercedes is to steal the key.   It also prompts a thought that with so many of these parts now no longer available, what the long term solution is here.   Perhaps a simpler ignition switch that removes the steering lock?  That would need to be backed up by some other kind of anti-theft feature.

The post Stuck W116 ignition barrel – part 3 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The first issue was getting the tool to grip the collar.   The collar just screws off, but I could not get a grip on it.   I found a cheap tool on AliExpress that seemed to do the job.   However, a couple of days before it was supposed to arrive, my order was cancelled due to lack of stock.   This happened a second time with another vendor.   As they sat in a pending state for a week or so before this happened, I figured I would order two more from different vendors and cancel the second one once the first shipped.   They shipped on the same day so I have two.

The tool actually worked quite well, in that it gripped the collar and I was able to put quite a lot of pressure on it.   I think in normal circumstances it is a good addition to the toolbox.   I’ll sell the second one though.   It still didn’t move the collar.

To make sure I wasn’t missing something fundamental, I went down and extracted the ignition tumbler from my 420SEL parts car.   Using the same methods as I had on the W116, I had it out in four minutes.   At this point I was stumped as to how I was going to get the collar off.   It seemed removing the entire steering lock was going to be necessary.

I picked up a used steering lock from a friend at the Eastern Creek show.   It’s the proper late W116 unit, identical to the one in the car.   Again, I tried getting the collar of this steering lock and I was off in minutes.  It also allowed me to experiment with the other ignition barrels I have, and I confirmed the W126 unit does not work in the late W116 steering lock.   It’s about 1mm too big.   They look identical, but they are not.

As I had the key in position 1, it should have been possible to remove the steering lock without major surgery.   Position 1 allows the locking pin to be pushed in, which lets the steering lock slide out of the jacket tube.   There is also a clamping fitting that has a bolt to hold things tight.   The picture below shows the bolt removed and the locking pin.    I had to use a small mirror to see all this even with the instrument cluster removed.

I was able to remove the electrical connector and push in the pin without difficulty.   The challenge was getting the steering lock to clear the dashboard.   With the collar, tumbler and key in place there was not enough clearance.   I even unscrewed the bolts holding up the steering column and let it drop a couple of centimeters.   This allowed some movement, but I had perhaps 2cm out of 10 clear.

At this point, I didn’t think my current approach was really going to work.   The second steering lock did offer an interesting possibility.   Since the steering lock was in position 1, and unlocked,  I should be able to plug the electrical cable into the second lock and drive the car.   This would allow it to move under its own power so I could get more expert eyes on the problem.

The electrical cable was even long enough to poke out through the bottom of the dash.

Before I tried, I at least connected up the oil pressure gauge so I would not have a face full of oil when I started the car.

It worked quite well.   The car started right up and I was able to drive it down to where I store the other cars and out of the way.   This is also close to the mechanic who is going to take a look at it for me.   So I don’t accidently turn off the original key, and create another five hours of work, I have taped over the other key.

This temporary fix allows me to avoid a tow truck and all the associated wasted time and risk of damaging the car. I’m hoping a set of more expert eyes will succeed where I failed and get the  ignition tumbler out.  At least the car is mobile.

The post Stuck W116 ignition barrel – part 2 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Sunday was a very nice day,  so after a week of rain,  it seemed like a nice idea to take my kids to a playground in the 280SE.  After getting their booster seats in the car, we planned to set off, only to find that I could not turn the key.    After trying for 15 to 20 minutes, we gave up and went in my wife’s modern car.   We couldn’t take the 560SEL which was also at home, because it was blocked in by the 280SE.

I had encountered a sticky ignition key once or twice before when using the car.   It didn’t seem too bad that I had to change it right away.  I had it on my list of things to do at some point.   In retrospect, that was a bit silly as the previous owner may have been experiencing problems for ages.    Once the key gets sticky, you really want to change out the barrel – I did this to both my 300SE and 280CE and avoided all the problems I was about to have with a stuck w116 ignition barrel on the 280SE.

On the way back from the playground I stopped and bought some graphite powder, and picked up a few tools.   In the afternoon, I tried for about two hours using all the tips in the various Kent Bergsma videos – like this one.   I used both keys I have for the car, I used pliers, I used the graphite powder, I used the base of my electric toothbrush, all to no avail.   I should note, that I only used the base and not my actual toothbrush. The video suggests the vibration from something like a back massager can help free the lock.   Turning the key is vital, as the barrel or even steering lock can’t be removed without the ability to turn the key.

As I needed to duck out and do an errand Monday lunchtime, I needed access to a working car.   Thus, later that evening, I went to my workshop and grabbed my vehicle positioning jacks, plus the floor jack so I could move the car.   I would need to first push the car sideways, drive the 560SEL out of the way and then push the car back into the corner.

Before I put a jack on each wheel, I thought I would try one more thing.  I used my floor jack to raise the front of the car, so both wheels were off the ground.  I figured that would ease some of the pressure on the steering lock.  Once I did that, I was able to feel like it almost releasing.  After about 30 minutes of trying, it eventually moved, and I heard the radio spring to life.   What a great sound!

With the key in position 1, I was able to insert a tiny allen key into the hole.    This should unlock the collar, that then screws off.   As my 280SE is a 79 model, it has the 3rd design of ignition lock.  It appears very similar to the W123.   Due to the design of the W116 dashboard, I was unable to grip the collar properly.   I tried for a while, but I was just scratching it.   As I was able to get the key in, I could start the car and move it out of the way under its own power.   Instead of turning it off properly though, I left the key in position 1 and disconnected the battery.

The car is no longer blocking anything, so I have more time to sort this out.   I was able to cheap version of a special took to unscrew the barrel from AliExpress.   For $16 including shipping, it was worth a try.   It should be here by the 7th of August.

I have a spare ignition barrel on hand.  It has a W123 part number and is very similar to the picture in the workshop manual.   It came in my 1986 300SE.  At the time, the ignition barrels coded to the original key for your car were still available.   I wanted to have a single key for both the doors and ignition on the 300SE, so I swapped it out.   There was nothing wrong the barrel.    Even if on inspection its the wrong one, once I get the old barrel out I can safely move it around without fear of getting the key stuck again.

So far, despite the wasted time, I feel I have been quite lucky.   A stuck W116 ignition barrel can cause people to have to start drilling things out.    So far, I have not had to do anything that drastic.

The post Stuck W116 ignition barrel – part 1 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

• Two square headed master keys.
• One round headed valet keys.
• A flat ‘wallet’ key.

The master keys were designed for everyday use and opened all locks on the car: doors, ignition, glove box and boot.   The valet key is similar, but does not open the glove box or boot if manually looked.   The premise being you can keep valuables in the car while being parked by a parking attendant.   The master key doesn’t have a plastic head.  Instead, it has a small flat metal one allowing it to be kept as a spare in a wallet.

The wallet key is usually lost over the years.  I’ve owned many of these cars over the years and never had one.   Normally when buying the car used, you get some combination of other keys.    In the case of the 300SE, I received only one original key – the valet key.   The ignition tumbler had been replaced by a generic unit which no longer matched the other keys on the car.

The main problem with this was that should I accidentally lock the keys in the car or loose them, I would loose access to the car.    The simplest option would be to have the valet key copied.   However, that would leave me with two annoyances: two keys for the car, and the inability to open the boot should the central locking fail.     At this point, the simplest solution was to contact the Mercedes-Benz Classic Centre in California! For USD$51, I could get a new ignition tumbler for the car and associated master key.

Changing the tumbler is a simple, but fiddly job.     The key needs to be in the #1 position.   There is a small hole between the black collar and the tumbler where a tiny allen key or micro-screwdriver can be inserted.   This pushes back a spring that allows the collar to be unscrewed.    The collar can’t really be unscrewed by hand because of the trim, but the factory tool is basically a short section of rubber hose the same diameter as the collar.  This tool protects the paint of the collar.   I didn’t have it, and the W126 trim hides the collar pretty well, so I used medium size long nose pliers.

The installation of the new tumbler is a bit more tricky.    The process is the reverse, but I ran into a couple of problems.    I wasted 30 minutes because the small hole on the new tumbler was slightly smaller than the old.   A paper clip fitted but was too weak.   In the end I found a micro-screwdriver that worked.

The tumbler with key attached, collar and ‘tool’ all need to be aligned and then screwed on.   This took a bit of fiddling to align.    Overall, the job took me one hour and I now have a single key for the car, at the expense of about AUD$100 (including shipping) and a few scratches on the black collar.

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