Looking for Early Fuel Sending Unit 230SL - can't find one

[charledl]

I'm looking for part A111 542 11 04 - early fuel sending unit for '63 230 SL. Have checked with several suppliers and all have the later unit, but nobody has the early unit. Can the later unit be adapted? Any ideas? Thanks!

[ja17]

There are actually three versions. First is the lever type which has the float on a rod. Second is it's replacement which is cylindrical but has three contact wires inside. The last is the latest version and is a cylindrical unit also, but it has only two contact wires inside. The contact wires are the vertical wires that that contacts and guides the float. The first two versions are interchangeable. The last version cannot be used in a car which had version one or two unless you change the fuel gauge also. In other words, the latest version can be used in the early cars if you install a late fuel gauge also.

[ja17]

We can figure this out. But we need to know what version M130 engine is in your car and specifically which injection  pump is on that engine. There is a plate on the side of the injection pump. We need the two digit number after the "R" (eg R11, R18) etc.  Once we get this information we can figure which version starting aids you need on that engine. 

[charledl]

Thank you ja17! Will look up the injection pump number after Christmas (car in the shop). I didn't realize that there were three types of units. The one I have is the old one with the float - guess it lasted for 50 years which isn't bad!

[Benz Dr.]

We had a similar problem in a 220SE cab last year. It had the three wire sending unit which I was unable to fix. We used a 190SL sending unit which worked OK but the car kept running out of fuel  :-[even though the gage said it was a quarter full. Once we figured out that the 190SL sending unit faces to the left ( which will hit the flower pot ) we made a simple modification. Since the sending unit is located, we drilled an extra hole in the base plate so that we could rotate the assembly 180 degrees. Works like 10 men.