Hello, all

I did a search but couldn't find the info I was looking for. I'm doing the final push of repairs to get my 240D done and on the road.

While I have the radiator out and the front of the engine accessible, I'd like to replace the water pump, just for preventive reasons. I don't have any paperwork from the previous owner and don't know how old it is.

I've owned and driven W123s for almost 20 years, and do all my own repairs on all my cars (have done so for almost a decade now), but I still run into a lot of repairs on the W123 that are new to me. For example, I've done countless brake jobs on Subarus, my Volvo, and Volkswagens, but recently I did my first Mercedes brake job. Not all that different, but the brake pad pins were new to me, as was the front wheel bearing/hub/rotor setup.

As such, I've done plenty of water pump replacements on other cars, but not the Mercedes. What's puzzling me is exactly what and how much I'll need to remove. The idea of a separate water pump housing is new to me. It looks to me like I can just unbolt the pump itself from the housing and not disturb that. Am I wrong on this, or does the water pump housing need to come off the engine block?

At the moment, I have the pump accessible and the pulley off. It had a bunch or surface rust, so I cleaned it up and shot it with some fresh satin black paint.