It's supposed to be 43-0618, but that job doesn't appear in the CD manual - weird. I'll check the printed manuals (and WIS) tonight. Definitely pull the upper radiator hose, fan clutch, and serpentine belt assy to make room. Trust me - it saves time in the end. BT, DT. Set the crank at TDC, this may have the pump on the low side of the cam/ramp so it's not under too much pressure as you unbolt it. Don't use the "dam" gasket with the timing basket still installed - the bolts interfere. And finally, if your engine doesn't need the dam gasket and you have an extra, I'll buy that from you... I can't get them anymore for my early 603 engine. For some reason they're only supplied with new pumps now.



:fork_off:

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Sure enough, it's in the printed W124 manual, Chassis Vol 1, job 43-618. No idea why it's not in the CD manual. It's a 1-page diagram that tells you basically nothing other than to remove the fan & belt, and have the pump at BDC of the lift curve. Doesn't even spec tightening torques. Go figure.

There are two highs and lows on the timer pump drive so if you set a low to coincide with crank TDC you'd always get a low at TDC, right?

You wouldn't try that with only the vacuum pump off unless the number of IP splines is a factor of the number of timer cogs.

Sixto
93 300SD 3.0

W126 CD manual has section 43-0618. Zero useful info as Dave said. Use the pictures of the gasket to figure out which bolts to remove. They all take a 10mm socket or wrench. The 3 bolts that take a 13mm socket or wrench hold the IP to the block. Don't loosen those.

Sixto
93 300SD 3.0

Ok got the new pump in. But broke some peices along the way...

Well i need a new expansion tank hose, new vacuum line that goes to the pump and the vacuum hose that goes from the pump to the brake booster. The nipple on the check valve broke off as i removed the hose from the old vacuum pump.

neither fastlane or ******** list the check valve but fastlane does list the booster vacuum hose so ill probably just buy the entire hose.

http://catalog.eautopartscatalog.com/mercedesshop/sophio/wizard.jsp?partner=mercedesshop&clientid=catalog.mercedesshop&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&cookieid=1ZH1ESC5320R05R2IT&year=1987&make=MB&model=300-DT-002&category=All&part=Booster+Vacuum+Hose

The removal of the serpantine belt was easier then expected, actually it seemed easier to remove then the belts on the 617!

I only removed the fan shroud and radiator to do the job. I left the fan on there as it wasnt in the way of removing the vacuum pump or the belt. The old belt was defenetly past due for a change! the belt was cracking and a good chunk of tread was missing on the belt!

I do have some radiator questions though. When i turned over the radiator to get any excess coolent out some orange goop spilt out. My dad was worried about rusty water. It had the correct MB coolent in there not the green stuff.
My guess was that the orange goop was the anticorrosion additive in the MB coolent?

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2004 E55 AMG
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1978 300D
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With the right tools, it's much faster to leave the radiator installed, but remove the fan+clutch assembly. And yes, the serpentine belt is fabulous compared to the awful V-belt fiasco on the older engines!!

BTW - that check valve is not available separately. You have to buy the whole Tecalan (plastic) hose assembly with the check valve in the middle. It's brittle after 20 years under the hood anyway, probably a good thing you're replacing it.

Hey guys Ive read this thread twice, and I still need help with the vacuum pump gasket issue. Ok I have an early engine, so therefore Im supposed to use the "dam" type gastket which isnt sold individually. my 87 parts engine already has the updated style vacuum pump, so im not going to buy a new pump just to get the "dam" gasket.

Is there any way with the early engine to leave the basket in place, and use the new style gasket.

Does anyone have an extra gasket that they will sell?

Does anyone have the vacuum pump PDF file listed earlier in this thread, the links are dead.

Thanks

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1984 Euro 300SDC, (4spd standard)
1986 Toyota Landcruiser Diesel HJ60 5spd X2

Gone but not forgotten (some sold, some stripped)
1983 300 SD, 1985 300 SD, 1983 240D, 1986 300 SDL, 1985 300 SDL, 1983 300 D, 1984 300 D, 1985 300SD, 1987 300 SDL, 1983 300 SD, 1985 300 TD Euro, 1983 380SEC, 1990 300 D, 1987 300D, 1982 300D, 1982 300D, 1994 E420, 1987 300 TD, 1987 300 D, 1984 300 D

I believe the dam type gasket and the basket occupy the same space, so no, you must remove the basket or use the old style outline gasket.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

earlier in this post, it says that the dam style gasket must be used in order to supply enough oil to the pump, So there is no possible way to keep the basket in place on an older style engine, thats not good..... I dont understand, how can the car have survived all this time...

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1984 Euro 300SDC, (4spd standard)
1986 Toyota Landcruiser Diesel HJ60 5spd X2

Gone but not forgotten (some sold, some stripped)
1983 300 SD, 1985 300 SD, 1983 240D, 1986 300 SDL, 1985 300 SDL, 1983 300 D, 1984 300 D, 1985 300SD, 1987 300 SDL, 1983 300 SD, 1985 300 TD Euro, 1983 380SEC, 1990 300 D, 1987 300D, 1982 300D, 1982 300D, 1994 E420, 1987 300 TD, 1987 300 D, 1984 300 D

I did this repair (3 years ago) and hopefully can clear this up because I too was confused until I did some research.

1. Keeping the basket in the engine is not necessary. As GSXR indicated it is only useful for R&Ring the IP. If you are putting in the new vac pump the benefit of having the basket in is VERY marginal at best. Having seen it I doubt it has actually saved many engines from exploding vacuum pumps. I removed it (but saved it in case I need later).

2. Very early versions of the OM603 had the gasket with the dam to help keep oil in the vacuum pump. On these early engines the pump didn't always get adequate oiling so the dam was designed to hold a pool of oil at the pump to assure proper lubrication. Not long into the production of the engine the oiling system was redesigned slightly such that the oil dam was no longer necessary. At that time I believe the factory no longer used the gasket with the dam. My '87 had the original pump and a conventional gasket from the factory. If you want to you can use the one with the dam but it is not necessary. I chose to not use the dam version because I reasoned I'd be getting fresh oil to the pump rather than from a pool of oil that might accumulate sludge.

From what I understand very few of the very early OM603 engines with the weaker oiling system made it to the US so it's unlikely you really need the older style gasket with the dam but to be safe if you have the original pump with the dam gasket I'd replace it with a dam gasket. Regardless, you can use the gasket with the dam or the basket (or neither) but not both, because the basket will interfere with the dam gasket on reassembly and cause a leak.

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LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold

LRG pretty much covered it. Engines prior to the break point really should have the dam gasket, but the problem is finding one to install. You can find your engine number on top of the block, behind the main fuel filter, or decode it from the VIN using the EPC. That will confirm if you have an early engine or not. Very few engines fall into this category though. At the moment I still don't have a source for new dam gaskets.

If you install a dam gasket with the basket in place, the pump won't seat, as the dam hits one of the basket mounting bolts. If you started the engine it would dump oil all over the place. It's fine to leave the basket in there if you want, on a later engine, with an outline gasket.

Anyway - I fixed the link in the earlier post (thanks for letting me know!). Here's the link again to the PDF with more details:

http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/OM60X/OM603_vac_pump_mod.pdf

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Dave,

I've joined the club. Now to check this and a bunch of other things.

:-) neil

Neil, did you get the 2.5 listed in the cars forum?

Sixto
87 300D

1987 300TD contingent on passing a PPI

:-) neil

I must be lucky, bad lucky. I checked all 3 of my 603 ( '86 or '87 300SDL) engines and all 3 had the old style (smooth end) vacuum pump.

What are the chances of that happening?

P E H