Is your W210 front belly pan missing? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Jeremy5848 · #1 12-14-2007, 07:52 PM

In my ignorance, I thought that the W210 had two belly pans like the W124. Well, the 210 actually has three -- in our new-to-us '96 E300D, the front one was missing. Looks like someone had an incident and tore the belly pan off, not to mention a piece of the driver's side inner fender.

The dealer told me that this is a fairly common problem and that many owners ignore it or check on the price ($163.77 + tax + installation as of today) and then ignore it.

The risk is that the next time you hit something, the item at risk is the lower radiator support, which is way too fragile for its exposed location. (Just one of the ways in which the W210 is less durable than the older cars.) Since the belly pan is just plastic, it won't help like the skid plate that is available for the W123 cars, but it's better than nothing.

If you are lucky, the collision just bends the support back an inch or so (like mine) and can be pulled back into the correct position with no harm done. If not, the bracket can be bent so far that the radiator goes into the fan, potentially causing the engine to overheat. Too many people then try to limp home and end up frying the engine.

The learning for all of us students at MBU (Mercedes-Benz University) is that the belly pan on some Benzes needs to be there. I suspect that this applies also to the W211 cars and who knows how many others.

Jeremy

pimpernell · #2 12-15-2007, 10:23 AM

that belly pan tends to keep a lot of road debris out of the engine compartment. When I got my "new" 96 e300d this past spring, the belly pan was hanging on by a thread. Went underneath, and found that all the fasteners were in place, but the prior owner had failed to keep tabs on his wife going up and down their steep driveway. Apparently she took it a little too fast, and kept scraping the underside of the belly pan. Got everything back together, and it is still holding tight. There was this other item that looked like some sort of plastic scoop that I think is used to funnel air out of the engine compartment. This was just laying in the bottom of the belly pan. After looking around for a bit, I found a spot were it just snapped in place and stands erect in the engine compartment adjacent to the motor mount on the passenger side. Good luck with your "new" car...

TMAllison · #3 12-15-2007, 04:18 PM

I've got the front one but my center pan is missing.

My front sheild has taken some past obuse; I suspect they tend to get rubbed off on parking stall bump stops. You can def bottom out the front of the car if you take a steep driveway entrance too fast. The lower rad takes the brunt of that impact and drives the bottom of it rearward.

raMBow · #4 12-15-2007, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pimpernell

There was this other item that looked like some sort of plastic scoop that I think is used to funnel air out of the engine compartment. This was just laying in the bottom of the belly pan. After looking around for a bit, I found a spot were it just snapped in place and stands erect in the engine compartment adjacent to the motor mount on the passenger side. Good luck with your "new" car...

I was thinking that it was pointed up toward the bottom of the turbo.

raMBow · #5 12-15-2007, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMAllison

You can def bottom out the front of the car if you take a steep driveway entrance too fast. The lower rad takes the brunt of that impact and drives the bottom of it rearward.

Previous owner did this on mine. Had to "manually" adjust this radiator bracket back into alignment. Could not tell it until I was taking out the eccentric bolt on the front bushings for the lower control arm.

I plan on replacing all the pans on mine, don't like the scratches. But I need to get the front bumper repainted and leading edge of hood due to chips...

Jeremy5848 · #6 12-15-2007, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pimpernell

...There was this other item that looked like some sort of plastic scoop that I think is used to funnel air out of the engine compartment. This was just laying in the bottom of the belly pan. After looking around for a bit, I found a spot were it just snapped in place and stands erect in the engine compartment adjacent to the motor mount on the passenger side. Good luck with your "new" car...

The "scoop" is indeed used to cool the passenger (right) side motor mount, because it is so close to the exhaust system. Since this is an NA engine, there is no turbo to cool.

Jeremy

raMBow · #7 12-15-2007, 05:23 PM

Well Jeremy5848 you forced me to venture out into the winter wonderland.

Mine does in fact go up to the mount just like yours, very difficult to see on mine, Turbo is in the way, but obviously well ahead of this ducting. Sway bar bushing also has a heat shield on it, noted that changing those bushings a few weeks back.

Parrot of Doom · #8 12-16-2007, 07:59 AM

Mine has all 3. What you need to remember is that while protecting the underside against debris, they also do a marvellous job of rusting away the crossmember and radiator support, due to insufficient drainage.

If you get a new one, drill holes in it so the water can escape.

E300TD99 · #9 12-16-2007, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raMBow

Previous owner did this on mine. Had to "manually" adjust this radiator bracket back into alignment. Could not tell it until I was taking out the eccentric bolt on the front bushings for the lower control arm.

I plan on replacing all the pans on mine, don't like the scratches. But I need to get the front bumper repainted and leading edge of hood due to chips...

I would also like to get my front end repainted to remove some of the chips. Do you have any idea what that would cost. I don't need the entire front end painted just the plastic parts?

Over the summer, I was on I -275 going back into ohio when a guy in a pick up from North Carolina was pulling a trailor full of boxes with games, toys, etc. He lost part of his load and I was one of the lucky ones that ended up running over a box about 15" X 12". It had something plastic in it but it ended up breaking my front bellie pan just below my passenger side fog light. It also took out the fog light. I got the guys liscense plate number cause at the time, I hit it pretty hard but didn't know if anything happened. I didn't know about any of the damage until just recently when under my car. I figure it was too late to go back now. No damage to the fog light itself, just a broken bulb. The lens was fine.

raMBow · #10 12-16-2007, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E300TD99

I would also like to get my front end repainted to remove some of the chips. Do you have any idea what that would cost. I don't need the entire front end painted just the plastic parts?

Sorry, do not have any idea on the cost, certain it is more than what I want to pay. Painting of the bumper should not be that much and the other plastic parts. I presume if I repaint the hood and leading edge of the fenders then it will be pricey.

raMBow · #11 12-16-2007, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parrot of Doom

Mine has all 3. What you need to remember is that while protecting the underside against debris, they also do a marvellous job of rusting away the crossmember and radiator support, due to insufficient drainage.

If you get a new one, drill holes in it so the water can escape.

I was also thinking of putting some little rubber spacers, like cabinet door bumpers on the crossmember, to give it some space to air out. As you say, mine has some rust on it so it got some sanding and POR-15 when I was doing the lower control arms and bushings.

Jeremy5848 · #12 12-16-2007, 07:02 PM

...but first...

There is minimal rust on the underneath of my '96, probably because of the drier climate here in central California, as compared to Manchester, UK.

I also have a chipped front end. The most recent PO looked into a repaint for that area and decided not to, after getting quotes. I don't remember the numbers. In my case, there's long scrape on the right rear fender and a solid ding under the left taillight that also would have to be fixed if I did the front. For all practical purposes, it would end up being a complete repaint, which to some extent defeats the idea of buying an eleven year old car in the first place.

Anyway, I went ahead and repaired the broken inner fender on the left side. The pictures show
(1) the broken part, with the new belly pan installed
(2) a cardboard pattern that I cut to fit
(3) the completed repair

After making the pattern, I cut the repair piece out of a sheet of aluminium (Parrot, I use that spelling just for you

) flashing material that I had on hand. It is very thin stuff, about as thick as 3 sheets of aluminum foil or the walls of the Apollo "LEM" moonlanding module. I threw on some paint and then attached it to the fender with pop rivets and to the belly pan at three points. I ended up repositioning one of the belly pan mounting points to fit the repair better.

By the time the paint is scrubbed off by road debris the aluminum will have aged to where it will be the same color as the inner fender, i.e., "dirty gray."

Jeremy

pimpernell · #13 12-17-2007, 10:10 AM

found this site regarding body parts for 97 and 97 E300ds.....

http://market.autopartsfair.com/mercedes-exterior_parts/catalog-item-20717.html