Some time back my father commented that friends of his no longer drove Mercedes due to continually suffering faulty water pumps. I replied that I was not aware of this being a real issue. Yes, I had replaced mine in my '73 350SLC a couple of times in the 22 years I have owned it, but I did not consider this unreasonable after around maybe 350,000km. As far as I am aware the pump in our '90 300TE is still the original at over 180,000km and my 190E had one replaced by the PO shortly before I purchased it at around 210,000km.

Not long after, the pump in my father's '93 E320 (W124 M104) at around 130,000km started leaking and I had to replace it earlier this year. My parents have just returned from a long trip in their '96 E230 (W210 M111) complaining of a rumbling noise from the front of the engine. I fixed it yesterday. You guessed it, another water pump. This one in a car that has travelled less than 120,000km that they have owned from new. All the cars have either been dealer serviced or I have more recently maintained and genuine MB coolant has always been used. My father is now convinced that MB water pumps are rubbish and I am losing confidence. Incidently, in each instance I have fitted a Laso brand pump as a replacement. For the M104 it was little more than half the price of genuine and for the M111 it was only one third the price of genuine.

What are the water pump experiences of others here?

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107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.