Could someone who has replaced a water pump in an 86-89 560SL tell me if removing the harmonic balancer is required? My Haynes book (written for the 350/450) says that there are notches in it for water pump bolt access but the MB manuals say remove the balancer. I really want to avoid removing it. Thanks.

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86 560SL
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85 380SL
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http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

I never did the job on a 560 but I am currently down in that area so I took a picture of the situation. You will see in the photo I have my crankshaft at TDC the notch is 90° to the right of the TDC mark. There is also one 90° to the left but its not visable in the picture. By the looks of things the notch is not deep enough to get a straight shot at the lower bolt. But it does apear that if you remove the water pump pulley you may gain axcess through the notch with a flex socket. Especially if you go at it with a 1/4" drive. The real problem might occur if you back out the bolt so far that you no longer have room for the flex socket. Hopfully once you crack the bolt loose you can spin it by hand.

Hope this helps
John Roncallo

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