Hose clamps on oil cooler hose W210 E300D T??

[pmari]

I'm looking at a 98' E300D Turbo, The oil cooler was just changed, I looked up though the access door and saw hose clamps holding the oil cooler lines (and leaking)??? This can't be the stock set-up Aren't these hoses supposed to be swaged or compression fitted???? Anyone know or can take look, the EPC from the dealer is not clear and at $175.00 a hose, I can't imagine hose clamps

[rrgrassi]

IIRC, MB does not use hose clapms on oil cooler lines, period.

[Diesel911]

You did not say who changed the Oil Cooler.
If a shop did it I would be thinking that the shop did the Clamp Job.
Dose it look like the hose or the clamp was recently replaced.

[pmari]

It was done by an indy, the cooler is shiney new, as well as the hose clamps. Not sure if the hose is new or not. I'll ask the guy selling if these are MB parts. I'm very suspecious this is a after market parts hack job. Other than this issue I'm ok with car.

[pawoSD]

If you buy the car I'd switch it back to the proper setup ASAP....or bye bye engine when it blows.

[TMAllison]

So you got me curious. Where are you seeing those lines with clamps?

Teh oil cooler lines appear (stupid manifold blocks your view) to be rubber lines with pressed on fittings as per the detail (#2). The lines lead from filter canister to in front of the left front tire. Cant see anything from above. Mines put away for the night (as am I) and I dont feel liek crawling under it right now. Maybe this will help. http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.asp?TP=1&F=210025&M=606%2E962&GA=722%2E608&CT=M&cat=19T&SID=18&SGR=075&SGN=03

There are trans cooler lines that traverse the lower rad that have hose clamps connecting rubber to hard lines......maybe that is what you are seeing???

[Joe Marroso]

"I can't imagine hose clamps."

At the risk of being excommunicated from the diesel brotherhood, let me try to explain. Again.

The hose fittings that screw into the cooler body "weld" themselves into place after 2 decades or so. When removal torque is applied, the fittings strip the inside threads of the cooler and a whole host of problems follow, not the least being that your cooler is now shot in the ass.

This apocalypse doesn't even factor the Torquemada-like preparations required to change the hoses in the first place. Chief amongst the prep items is the loosening of the corrosion prone motor mount so the hose can slip under the hold down fastener! I am not making this up, do a topic search.

A clever dog MB dieseler pictorially chronicled the grinding off of the leaking pressed fittings on the cooler hoses and replacing the the whole shootin' match with (gasp) high pressure oil hose and worm clamps.

Now, any course of action that circumvents a mechanical chamber of horrors is at least worth, I think, a second look. So, I did....look. And I tried it. I bought high pressure oil hose from a hydraulic shop that is tested for operations in excess of 200 degrees. After you grind the pressed fitting off, the hose end reveals an undulation (smooth barb) midships. I worked the hose over the undulation and worm clamped on either side of it.

Now, I may not get into the Grand National Roadster Show, but I will tell you without fear of contradiction that my 40W Rotella does not leak from those hose retros. Maybe some other attempts do leak. And I am prepared to respectfully accept that a sober purist may call my non-leaking oeuvre a Mickey Mouse job. Nevertheless, before any of you knuckle busters get judgmental read all of the horror stories contained in the forum regarding this topic.

I live in Las Vegas. If anybody wants to see how I did it, I would be glad to show you. If any of the purists (who consider clamps on a MB an anathema) are disturbed by my pronouncements, I would be willing to let them put stock hose replacements on my 300SD. Really.

Joe Marroso

[Diesel911]

Originally Posted by Joe Marroso

"I can't imagine hose clamps."

At the risk of being excommunicated from the diesel brotherhood, let me try to explain. Again.

The hose fittings that screw into the cooler body "weld" themselves into place after 2 decades or so. When removal torque is applied, the fittings strip the inside threads of the cooler and a whole host of problems follow, not the least being that your cooler is now shot in the ass.

This apocalypse doesn't even factor the Torquemada-like preparations required to change the hoses in the first place. Chief amongst the prep items is the loosening of the corrosion prone motor mount so the hose can slip under the hold down fastener! I am not making this up, do a topic search.

A clever dog MB dieseler pictorially chronicled the grinding off of the leaking pressed fittings on the cooler hoses and replacing the the whole shootin' match with (gasp) high pressure oil hose and worm clamps.

Now, any course of action that circumvents a mechanical chamber of horrors is at least worth, I think, a second look. So, I did....look. And I tried it. I bought high pressure oil hose from a hydraulic shop that is tested for operations in excess of 200 degrees. After you grind the pressed fitting off, the hose end reveals an undulation (smooth barb) midships. I worked the hose over the undulation and worm clamped on either side of it.

Now, I may not get into the Grand National Roadster Show, but I will tell you without fear of contradiction that my 40W Rotella does not leak from those hose retros. Maybe some other attempts do leak. And I am prepared to respectfully accept that a sober purist may call my non-leaking oeuvre a Mickey Mouse job. Nevertheless, before any of you knuckle busters get judgmental read all of the horror stories contained in the forum regarding this topic.

I live in Las Vegas. If anybody wants to see how I did it, I would be glad to show you. If any of the purists (who consider clamps on a MB an anathema) are disturbed by my pronouncements, I would be willing to let them put stock hose replacements on my 300SD. Really.

Joe Marroso

Here is my version of the job from last year; no problems so far.




I have located a source of better T-bolt type clamps that have a small enough inside diameter at around $7 each but as long as it is not leaking I will leave what I have alone. I could not find any when I was doing the job.

[Joe Marroso]

Diesel911,

It is you I have to thank for the pictorial instructions. Well, let me take this opportunity to thank you for this clear-headed "workaround."

By the way, where are the T-bolt clamps for sale? I always wanted better clamps, but mine, like yours, never betrayed me.

Thanks again,
Joe Marroso

[Johnhef]

Is the hose rubber disentigrating?

[KarTek]

There's plenty of ways to properly connect a hose. Just because the manufacturer did it a certain way doesn't make another way wrong.

pmari, just a side note, while evaluating this car, make sure you get to start it cold and it doesn't knock/nail. Check visually to make sure all the glow plugs are in place where they belong.

[Hatterasguy]

Someone cheaped out.

Buy the car if you want, but tell him that kind of repair isn't going to fly with you so XXX is coming off the price to get the right lines.

[pmari]

I spoke to the guy told him either fix it with MB parts or take the repair off the top. I was able to see this from the access door for changing the bumper mount fog lights. from below (always worth giving your indy $25.00 to put the car on a lift. I got nothing against a DIY repair, but this repair job was lacking, which was eveident by the oil leak. If a perspective buyer sees such a repair, it could be a deal breaker.

Yes it also has the cold start stumble and I can see some air bubbles comming from what might be the fuel heater. I know these cars are plauged with bad fuel line seals and o-rings on the fuel heater any further imput is appreciated. She starts fine after warmed up...now you have me wondering about glow plugs. Supposedly the fuel lines and seals had just been changed.

The car has no codes and the message center is clear after she starts (other than a service alert, saying 700miles over due, ya think you'ld want to clear that before trying to sell a car

[KarTek]

Just to give you an example of the crap some people pull: On my car some previous mechanic had broken a GP off then wired another one in (from an OM617 no less, not even the same part number) as a dummy load to fool the computer which will sense if even one GP is bad...

[Hatterasguy]

The fuel lines are cheap to fix, but play the bubbles and poor starting up as a problem. Maybe a bad IP, play dumb a bit.