The MBZ Repair I Have Hated The Most is???

[Whiskey Tango Foxtrot]

It's Official, Changing out the rear parking brake shoes is the biggest pita repair I have done in many years. The good news is that I am done and they work fine.

[Skippy]

I thought a starter change in my 240 was hard the first time I did it. The second time it flew by. Same for my first and then subsequent valve adjustments. Oil line replacement was a bit of a pain in the arsch, but I've only done one.

[charmalu]

I rank bleeding the clutch very close to the top of PITA jobs.


Charlie

[dude99]

Going to have to go with the first time I did the starter in my 79, took me two days to get the damned thing out.... Since then it's only take half an hour out and back in... definitely a trick to it... A close second were the rear shocks, should have been easy, but two of the bolts snapped off and had to be drilled out.. Very annoying to hold a drill upside down for an hour drilling......

[Chad300tdt]

I've enjoyed working on my cars and friends' cars. I haven't hated any repair. Some were more taxing than others, but most were learning opportunities.

The closest I've come to hating a repair is the one I'm currently involved in.

A blown head gasket on my '85 300TD has turned into replacing nearly every gasket, sourcing a replacement head, replacing the timing chain and all guides, cam sprocket, front main seal, oil pump chain and guide, water pump, hoses, power steering lines, exhaust down pipe, rack position sensor block off, motor mounts, transmission mount, differential mount, turbo drain gaskets and o-rings, and hours of degreasing and thread chasing.

[alamostation]

The power brake booster on my 1983 300SD. The whole damned car was build around this part. It took two and a half feet of extensions with swivels to get to the four mounting nuts. Even at that, it was a PITA because I couldn't see the nuts. It was strictly by feel. Replacement was as bad as removal.

[Whiskey Tango Foxtrot]

Originally Posted by Chad300tdt

I've enjoyed working on my cars and friends' cars. I haven't hated any repair. Some were more taxing than others, but most were learning opportunities.

The closest I've come to hating a repair is the one I'm currently involved in.

A blown head gasket on my '85 300TD has turned into replacing nearly every gasket, sourcing a replacement head, replacing the timing chain and all guides, cam sprocket, front main seal, oil pump chain and guide, water pump, hoses, power steering lines, exhaust down pipe, rack position sensor block off, motor mounts, transmission mount, differential mount, turbo drain gaskets and o-rings, and hours of degreasing and thread chasing.

That actually sounds like just some of the standard stuff for an engine "rebuild" on an 85...done it many times, but PLEASE change out the parking brake shoes on a 1995 E300D and tell me if you found it a particularly enriching life experience.
Some parts of a car have been designed to save money in production and a few dollars or cents more put into better design for repair make all the difference in the world.
When you do the parking shoes be sure to video it in real time I want to see all the joy and learning you expect to be experiencing...lol.

[Phil_F_NM]

So far the one with the most profanity and longest duration was the rear control arm bushings. I should have taken the advice of all here who are wiser and more experienced working on W123's and did the subframe bushings at the same time. But I did the subframe bushings then the control arm bushings a month later. Ugh.

Phil Forrest

[TheDon]

Differential mounts for the W124..sucks. The top hydraulics was a lot easier than the differential job.

[cook]

Replacing the AC evaporator took me many, many, many weeks. Taking the entire dash apart was not hard, but takes so much time. Then I kept getting new evaps that did not fit in the AC/heater box correctly. I tired 3 different evaporators and they did not fit. This caused a big delay in the whole job. Then I got smart and ordered one from Peach Parts. That one fit correctly. Working on it after work and on weekends made it hard to make any progress. And then putting everything back together takes much time too. And then there was the hot summer Florida weather that really made it difficult too.

[pwogaman]

Originally Posted by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

It's Official, Changing out the rear parking brake shoes is the biggest pita repair I have done in many years. The good news is that I am done and they work fine.

x2! Adjusting them is just abut as bad.

[Silber Adler]

I almost never like working on suspension, I don't seem to have the tools necessary. It is one thing that I almost always farm out. The exception is the rear sway arm links, a piece of cake.

[MBeige]

Changing the vacuum modulator in a W201...especially if you've got big hands.

[300SD81]

Rear window seal.

[Whiskey Tango Foxtrot]

Originally Posted by pwogaman

x2! Adjusting them is just abut as bad.

getting the pin back in the cable end was soooo much fun I just had to do it twice!
Too bad I can't post photos here as I can on other sites, I did take a few to possibly help others.