"...and for 5 beautiful seconds, it ran smoother than he'd ever seen it. Then...it sputtered and died. He tried it again, it turned, ran for 2 seconds, and the same thing happened."
That's what played over in my head last night around midnight after I finished the job. Looking for help on diagnosing it. Could be pretty easy, but I don't have a tremendous knowledge of these vehicles (or any, for that matter, really), though I've been working on this one and reading the forums for the last 6 mos.
I was able to get started w/o removing the radiator. I wish I would have tapped the hex key in with a hammer to make sure it was all the way into the hex bolt, because that's when I rounded one out and then had to remove the radiator. Feeling crunched for time, I rushed getting the a/c unit out, and ended up cutting the main hose line, figuring I could put a coupler on it when I got it back together (bolt connectors appeared to be frozen together, and I didn't want to break the copper part). I left the oil cooler on while taking the a/c unit off, then, surprise, ended up breaking 2 copper lines while pulling it out (please reserve judgment). Then, with the space now clear, had to drill out the one hex bolt; the rest came off with a "pop."
Getting the crank bolt off by bumping the starter was amazing. Balancer came off with the kit I rented, no problems there.
Had to go to the local Mercedes shop to get the crank seal; NAPA and Auto Zone both gave me one that was too small, though it showed up in both of their systems and the seal for all Mercedes 1980-1990. :/ It was $25.
I ended up taking off the top oil pan cover as well. When putting it back on and tightening the bolts I broke 2 and ended up having to drill one out. One, about a centimeter long, fell into the oil pan. I had already drained the oil. I felt like crying, but figured since it fell straight down to the bottom it'd be ok and below the line for where the oil goes back into the system (please reserve judgment).
The guy at the local shop told me I could just flip the spacer ring over if it hadn't been done already. It hadn't, so I did that (but had to use the same methods to get it off/back on).
Ended up replacing the water pump (prior to taking the main bolt off), put the top oil pan cover back on w/ a coat of gasket maker, put it right on top of the seal so I knew it was already seated, put on new belts, then put it all back together. Couldn't get the a/c unit back on, decided, hell, it wasn't working anyway, and just left the whole damn thing off, not knowing if it would affect the running of the vehicle, but figuring it wouldn't (no judgment please). The started it up, and...back to the first sentence.
Um, help? Please?
