I came upon this posting on 'sistership'
OzbenZ recently and felt our membership might benefit as well.
John Green is a well respected Mercedes enthusiast from Down Under and regular contributor to that forum.
I have yet to see a better explanation.
Thank you John.
MBL
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Had to type this out for someone else so thought I would share it here as well.
- All W126’s can be broadly categorised as “series 1” and “series 2”
- The change is October 1985
- From October 1985 the 560SEL and SEC could be ordered with option code 822
- Code 822 ran from October 85 to March 88 and applied ONLY to the 560SEL and SEC
- Code 822 was never used for the series 1 W126’s
- Code 822 could not be ordered with a 420 or 500 engine.
- Vehicles with code 822 were 10.0:1 compression and 220kw, the standard engine was 8.5:1 compression and 185kw
- Engines with code 822 have the letters HV stamped after the engine number.
- Code 822 was NEVER offered as an option for Australian delivered cars
- From March 1988 there was a mini model update, if you like you could call it “series 2.1”
- This was from chassis A 363799 onwards, with the exception of the following chassis numbers
A 360603,A 360655,A 360679,A 362163,A 362184,A 362368,A 362452,A 362494,A 362538,A 362542,A 362553,A 362557,A 362601,A 362610, A 362621,A 362626,A 362630,A 362635,A 362640,A 362648,A 362651,A 362654,A 362660,A 362662,A 362673,A 362680,A 362687,A 362690, A 362696,A 362698,A 362732,A 362736,A 362737,A 362747,A 362770,A 362787,A 362791,A 362799-A 362802,A 362810,A 362814,A 362820, A 362824,A 362834,A 362838,A 362845,A 362847,A 362853,A 362867,A 362872,A 362879,A 362883,A 362899,A 362913,A 362914,A 362916, A 362918,A 362923,A 362928,A 362930,A 362932,A 362934,A 362937,A 362940,A 362942,A 362948,A 362950-A 362954,A 362958,A 362962, A 362967,A 362972,A 362974,A 362980,A 362984,A 362986,A 362989,A 362992,A 362994,A 362995,A 362998,A 363001,A 363009,A 363015, A 363020,A 363024,A 363030,A 363031,A 363033,A 363037, A 363039,A 363041,A 363043,A 363045,A 363047,A 363049,A 363050,A 363053,A 363055,A 363060,A 363061,A 363066,A 363068,A 363071, A 363073,A 363075,A 363079,A 363085,A 363090,A 363091,A 363095,A 363102,A 363109,A 363111,A 363112,A 363114,A 363122,A 363127, A 363129,A 363131,A 363134,A 363138,A 363139,A 363143,A 363148,A 363156,A 363157,A 363161,A 363162,A 363167,A 363168,A 363175, A 363176,A 363182,A 363186,A 363188,A 363190,A 363201,A 363202,A 363204,A 363215,A 363220,A 363226,A 363229,A 363231,A 363235, A 363237-A 363239,A 363243,A 363245,A 363247,A 363253,A 363254,A 363258,A 363261,A 363266,A 363272-A 363275,A 363279,A 363284, A 363285,A 363290,A 363291,A 363304,A 363306,A 363309,A 363310,A 363311,A 363314,A 363320,A 363324,A 363331,A 363334,A 363335, A 363339,A 363340,A 363347,A 363350,A 363353,A 363359, A 363366,A 363371,A 363377,A 363379,A 363383,A 363387,A 363388,A 363395,A 363396,A 363404,A 363406,A 363412,A 363415,A 363417, A 363419,A 363427,A 363435,A 363437,A 363439,A 363450,A 363455,A 363456,A 363459,A 363462,A 363464,A 363468,A 363469,A 363474, A 363475,A 363479,A 363482,A 363485,A 363486,A 363489,A 363492,A 363497,A 363501,A 363505,A 363508,A 363517,A 363518,A 363527, A 363533,A 363540,A 363543,A 363548,A 363550,A 363551,A 363553,A 363555,A 363557,A 363559,A 363561,A 363564,A 363573,A 363579, A 363583,A 363585,A 363593,A 363595,A 363598,A 363604,A 363605,A 363611,A 363618,A 363620,A 363622,A 363629,A 363631,A 363641, A 363643,A 363651,A 363653,A 363661,A 363664,A 363670,A 363675,A 363680,A 363683,A 363690,A 363703,A 363705,A 363714,A 363716, A 363721,A 363723,A 363730,A 363734,A 363745,A 363754, A 363758,A 363760,A 363764-A 363766,A 363771,A 363774,A 363776,A 363779,A 363782.
- The code 822 was cancelled and was no longer a “tick the box” option for someone ordering a new car.
- The 420,500 and 560 engines were now all available in either 8.5:1 or 10.0:1 compression
- If the engine was a 10:1 compressions engine it was stamped after the engine number, the term HV was no longer used.
- The engine that was supplied in the car was dependant on the country the vehicle was ordered in.
- Countries with restrictive emissions laws got 8.5:1 compression engines, countries that didn’t mind killing off baby seals got 10.0:1 compressions engines.
- The following counties had 10.0:1 compression engines as standard:
UK, Hong Kong, Japan, RSA, all of Europe except Switzerland.
- The following countries had 8.5:1 compression engines
Australia, USA, Canada
- As code 822 no longer existed, you had to look for country of delivery and the build sheet (what parts were used) to determine if it had a 10:1 compressions engine.
So as a summary:
- no such thing as a series 1 W126 with an HV engine
- before chassis A363798, you could only get a 560 HV engine and it was expressed as a code on the datacard and HV after the engine number
- after chassis A363799 you could get a 10:1 compressions 420, 500 or 560 engine if the vehicle was ordered for delivery in certain countries and it had 10:1 stamped after the engine number.
-
Kind regards, / Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
John Green, Member Institute Automotive Mechanical Engineers
MB Spares & Service, supporting Australian Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts - Supporting Australia's Mercedes-Benz Enthusiasts.
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