Short hose between Tstat housing and water pump...
 

...on a W123 240D-- what's the hose diameter that I need?

TIA
-nate

I have no idea, I just took it to the parts place and matched it. 1.5"? sorry. since you have to remove it, assuming you have another car, take the housing to the parts place and get the hose that matches. you gotta buy an entire hose though... they are persnikity that way...
John

At the dealer, its around $80 for a meter. My parts guys just cut me off a few inches for free.

I went to th dealer, and had to buy a foot of it. I cut the first one two short, then one too long, then trimmed that one to fit. I've got two pieces left, around 3 inches each. If you want one, let me know where to send it, Chuck

Napa guy said 2", I believe. they sell by the foot. call them up, the parts book should say.

EPC says its 40mm in diameter, which comes to a little more than an inch and a half hose. Maybe you can get that to fit on there. I love the EPC:cool: .

edit: oops, thanks for the diameter info...

...so I could grab it from my parts guy on my way home from work without removing it from the car, first. It doesn't really matter now, since I managed to ever-so-gently twist the head off of one of the three thermostat housing cover bolts this evening.

I went really easy on them, turning only an 1/8 turn at a time, but I could feel the resistance (corrosion), and I twisted the head off the second bolt while turning it with really light pressure on a wimpy little 1/4 inch ratchet. Must have been the cold, I guess....

Anyway- I've been unsuccessful in finding the thermostat housing from an online parts house. I'm assuming that it is NLA from the dealer, and even if it was available would be out of my parts budget. Am I right?

If so, is a helicoil a reasonable fix for this part? Or alternatively, anyone have one that they would be willing to part with for a reasonable fee?

-nate

there's a thermostat housing for a '78 240D listed on ebay right now with a buyitnow of $25-- that should be the same one as my '83, right?

often the clamps on that hose will work loose.

it may be worth just trying to tighten the clamps.

also the quality of the factory hoses cannot be beaten. i wouldn't use auto parts house hoses.

tom w

..........or new OE hoses for that matter.........:(

A longer bolt with a nut on the back side might be an alternative.

tom-

Before I started to remove the tstat housing cover, I wasn't sure if it was the cover or the hose that was leaking. A closer look before I broke the bolt off in the housing showed that the housing cover was leaking and dribbling down onto the hose. Regardless, the housing now has to be removed and that hose has been oil-soaked from the vent catch can leaking on it and looks a little suspect. So, I'll replace it while I'm there. Will I have better luck finding a good hose at a euro parts house or the dealer, do you think?

-nate

The "78" is different than yours but should work.

brian seems to think the oe hoses are suspect now too.

i will just say that the oe hoses are so high quality that i would not replace one unless it were for sure failing. i have had many that were well over 20 years and going strong.

tom w

I have had success removing those broken off bolts by carefully heating the surrounding aluminium if theres enough bolt left to get vice grips on.