I was a bit fearful about tackling this job after reading many write-ups on it. The bottom bolt of the shock interferes with the water pump pulley as you back it out. Some said theirs came out OK, others talked about grinding down the bolt to shorten it a bit, but at least for my bolt there was no way to access the end on the engine side to try to file or grind it.

So I just went for it. Pull the fan shroud and the plastic piece it mounts in to give yourself some working room. I then started on the problem bolt at the bottom of the shock, and sure enough, not enough clearance to be able to pull out the shock. So I just started loosening the water pump pulley bolts to enable the pulley to move forward and give that bolt some room. It is a tight fit for a wrench on the pulley bolts, but my 10 mm did fit in there.

To be able to loosen the pulley bolts, you'll have to have tension on the belt, so I just kept the tension on and started two bolts loose, slacked tension and rotated the pulley by hand to access the remaining two bolts, then tensioned again to start them loose. Once they are started, you can slack the belt and rotate the pulley by hand.

I did have some fear about loosening the pulley bolts far enough that they would come all the way out, which would be a PITA because there is no way to gain access to re-insert them. I did about 1 complete turn on each bolt, moved the pulley, and tried the shock bolt. Lather, rinse, repeat, carefully. I think I wound up with loosening each pulley bolt maybe two turns plus a bit to allow the pulley enough room to be able to move the shock bolt enough to free the shock. Just do it a bit at a time and try the shock bolt each time. Patience helps here!

Once the shock bolt backs out enough to free the shock, you're home free. New shock goes in very easy. Installation is the reverse of removal, as they say.

The reason for doing this job was that at idle, my car had a very loud vibration noise which seemed to be transmitted through the structure of the whole car. It would disappear if the idle was increased just a bit. I could see the old shock vibrating at idle together with the pivot arm. Lived with this for a couple months, but decided it was time. Should have done it much sooner, now I have a nice quiet, Benz-like idle!

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 251K