Mercedes-Benz Catalog "D" questions

[michaeld]

I imagine many of you have accumulated a parts catalog for your w116s.

I have a question about the one that was included in the trunk of my car when I bought it.

It is the Mercedes-Benz Engine/Chassis/Units Catalog "D" for type 280S, 280SE, 450SE, 450SEL, and the 6.9.
On the top right of the black cover, the numbers PC 037, PC 041, and PC 045 appear.

When I called a MBz dealership parts dept, they acted like they had never heard of the book, and it had nothing to do w/ their current part cataloging system.  Am I just cursed w/ boneheaded parts employees, or are these catalogs relevant for obtaining parts?

Let me give one example:
On page 43, the oil pan gasket on the diagram is no. 171.  The MBz part no. is 116 014 08 22.  There doesn't appear to be any correlation whatsoever.  On the Elring brand, I do see another sticker w/ a column labeled "location" that has a no. S1718E7.  That is the only place I see any "171."  But I don't know how to reference S1718E7.

How would I use that Catalog "D" no 171 to actually identify the part?  Even being able to identify the part NAME would be nice.

A second question: On page 5 of Catalog "D," we're told that illustration set 037 applies to engines 110.921, 922, 984, and 985, and that set 045 applies to 117.981-986.  Okay.  That's clear.  But then what about set 041 that begins on page 71?  Am I correct to assume it provides to both set 037 and set 045 (i.e. all models)?  This seems to be the case, but I'd like to make sure before I depend on it.

For those of you who DON'T have the catalog, it is handy (even given my complaints above) because it basically provides an exploded diagram series for the entire car, section by section.  I'm glad to have it, but I would like to make the best use of the catalog that I possibly can.
Mike

[Papalangi]

I don't think that the catalogs cross over to anything.  I think they were provided so that you could point to the picture at the parts counter so that the parts guy could match it on his microfish thingy.

Michael,
waiting for someone to correct his spelling...

[michaeld]

Papalangi,

Well, dang.

In the 19th century a theologian named James Strong decided that the world needed a comprehensive concordance system listing every verse in the Bible that contained every word in the Bible, and vice versa.  It took him something like 30 years, but the fruit of his labor was the "Strong's Concordance."

Obviously, he passionately believed that the world needed a better Bible study system.  And he was right.

Would someone with a similar passion for Mercedes-Benz Catalog "D" please go through all the diagrams and cross reference the diagram numbering with the Mercedes parts numbers?  I'd really appreciate that. 

If it would help motivate anyone, that catalog isn't nearly as big as the Bible and wouldn't take nearly as long to finish...

[koan]

I have a pair of "ILLUSTRATED PARTS CATALOG"s for the 116, one for chassis and one for M100 engine, I assume other engines are covered there own catalogs. There's no mention of D on them any where, nor any actual part numbers. Each page has a group number and each part has an identifying number, these are same as the fiche or EPC group and part identifying numbers.

I did see an old Catalog D recently in a book shop, for a 300 SL, probably quite a collectors item. Content and format were much the same as my pair of books.

k