Benzmac - You are eeriely awesome!!! I now have to agree with your diagnosis of why the pump failed. Last night I just thought I was missing one bolt and that was why I couldn't get any slack in the belts. With pulling the fan to access one bolt, I was able to remove the water pump pully, releasing the belts. This afternoon in bright daylight, I could see that I had in fact loosened every bolt on the pump, and when I looked closely at the bottom adjuster, I could see why I could not get any slack. The pump was bottomed out as low as it could get.

Best speculation is that one of the prior owners got a couple of belts that "looked like they'd fit" and forced them on. The deflection I could measure was after untold miles/years of use. The belts were probably too tight from the time they were replaced. Since I'm gonna hafta remove the remaining belts, to replace the two pump belts, I might as well do the entire set.

Steve - I have a line on a pump with a separate resevoir. Would I be able to simply bolt my resevoir onto that pump body, is that how they were/are interchangeable? It looks like there is one 10 or 12 mm bolt and a larger allen fitting set off-center holding the resevoir to the pump body. I assume the off-center allen fitting is where the return line would attach to the body and the bolt is securing the resevoir.

Also what is the hard ring under the steady plate? It is approx one inch tall and two inches or so in diameter. Seems to be made of a hard fiberous material. Is this the steering fluid filter I have heard about?

Again, Thanks for all the advice and help. It is very appreciated!!!

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Mike Tangas
73 280 SEL 4.5

[This message has been edited by MikeTangas (edited 05-02-2000).]