It’s true. Yes Virginia, you can change the aux fans in a W124 E Class without pulling the radiator or the bumper, or even the headlights. At least this is true for the dual fan version. I had researched it on the site, but there seemed to be a variety of opinions.

My car is a ’95 E300D. There are a couple of tricks I learned this weekend. Here are the basic steps. This all goes easier if the car is lifted in the front somewhat, so you can work on it from underneath when needed (which is not often), and also just not have to bend down so far. I did most work while sitting on my $29 Sam’s Club office chair with adjustable height, in front of the car.

Remove the horns. They are bolted to an odd shaped brace which is located in front of the aux fan shroud. One nut and you’re done there. You’re going to have to remove that brace, too. Now look at the top of the radiator. There are two big spring clips, one on each side, holding the radiator to the front structure of the car. Lever the clips up and off, and this will allow you to tilt the radiator back towards the engine. You need to do this to gain access to the top bolt for the brace, which you reach from the engine side. It’s invisible until you tilt the rad out of the way. I used a ¼” drive ratchet and socket.

The bottom bolt for this brace is best done with a wrench from above or below. It’s centrally located and a bit hard to see, but not hard to remove. Hardest thing is starting the bolt again when you are re-assembling. There is a third bolt which is obvious, which also holds down a bracket for the trans cooler pipe loop running in front of the aux fans. Undo that one and now you’re done with the brace and you can remove it.

Now undo the bottom bolt on the trans cooler line so you can be able to move that line up and out towards the front of the car when you’re dealing with the aux fan shroud. Don’t bend that line excessively, but it will be able to move as you need it to.

The aux fan shroud is the biggest PITA of this whole operation. It’s held in by six plastic rivets. From another post about this subject, the MB part number is 123 990 0092. I was able to lever out/off the top four rivets using two small screwdrivers, one on each side, and get them out intact. The bottom two are real PITAs. I just went ahead and destroyed them using a large screwdriver from underneath, levering on them until they broke and came out. The bottom of the aux fan shroud is just held in with tabs into slots, so no more fasteners.

At this point you can start to work the aux fan shroud up and out. It is all just thin plastic and quite flexible. It takes a lot of bending, moving, and grunting and groaning to get it out, but it will come out. Mine cracked slightly in one place, but no biggie at all. It doesn’t seem like it will work around the bells of the fan motors, but it will. Just work at it.

At this point, it’s handy to have a shop vac. If your car is like mine, about 2 pounds of bugs and leaves and grass and flora and fauna will either fall out or need to be vacuumed from the bottom of the A/C condenser. I’d bet that a good 10% of the condenser (and consequently the radiator) air flow was blocked by all the crap in there! I took a toothbrush, an air blow gun, and also my shop vac, and worked all the crap out of the fins. Just doing this alone has gotta help cooling efficiency a good bit.

Now you can see the actual fans. The two are held together on a surrounding figure-8 (or “infinity figure”) shaped frame which is bolted to the A/C condenser itself. There are two 8 mm bolts on each side, all slightly different, and two in the center. On the driver’s side you can easily undo the two bolts which are running fore and aft, which are actually attached to a small bracket which stays on the aux fan frame. Don’t undo the two other bolts on the driver’s side which run side to side – no need, yet. You can undo the center two bolts easily also. Very obvious. Now on the passenger side are two PITA bolts, running side to side. The top one has a nut, and the bottom one is threaded into the fan frame. You just have to work those two carefully, using a thin 8 mm wrench. It is VERY handy to have a ratcheting box end wrench for the bottom of the two bolts. There is not much room to work as the headlight frame is close by, but you can do it.

Once you get all six bolts out, you’re golden. Work the fans up and out and you can disconnect the wiring harness. You can disconnect each fan independently and leave the main harness in the car.

Assembly is the reverse of removal as they say. Getting the bottom passenger side 8 mm bolt started on the fan frame is another PITA but it can be done. IMHO you don’t even need this bolt as the other 5 are plenty.

And getting the plastic shroud back in is another PITA, but it can be done. Don’t forget to put the radiator back forward and put the two clips back on, or else you’ll chew up the rad with the mechanical fan, which you don’t want!

Hope this helps someone out there. I think all the W124’s are reaching the age where all these fans seem to be failing.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D