With the help of much that has been written in the past on this board I finished replacing the water pump on my 190e 2.6 this morning. It is, as others have said, a pain you know where, but a very satisfying job to have finished. It takes such a long time mainly because so much has to come off to get access to various bolts.

Much of the help for this job on the board is written about other cars that use the M103 engine. 190e owners need to know that wherever a post says that the fan and its shroud and the tensioner don't have to be removed, or the ps pump doesn't have to be unbolted and moved aside, these luxuries do not apply to the 190e. It's all got to come off.

And anyone who has done this job on this car without removing the radiator is a wizard. I tried to figure out how to do it with the radiator in place. If I ever have to do this job again, I'll take it out first thing rather than wasting time trying to figure out how to avoid it. You can't get to the lower rear wp mounting bolt with the tensioner in, and you can't get the tensioner out with the radiator in, because there isn't enough room between the radiator and the tensioner to get the 19mm bolt out with the radiator in. The whole job is like this: you take a hundred things off the car mostly to give you access to something else that has to come away so you can do what you're in there to do.

All in all, I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's done.

MDB

You'll be gladder still if it doesn't leak

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

I have heard people with 190's and 2.6 say they remove the whole front bumper and radiator just to give themselves room.

I was once considering a 190 because you can access a bad evaporator easier.... but when I heard that other story, I said I'll take my chances with the 300e's evaporator.

__________________
1989 300ce 129k
( facelifted front,updated tail lights, lowered suspension,bilstein sports, lorinser front spoiler, MOMO steering wheel, remus exhaust,stainless steel brake lines). (Gone)

1997 s320 154k (what a ride). Sold with 179k miles. Replaced with Hyundai Equus

1994 e320 Cabriolet 108k



1972 280se 4.5 153k Owned for 12 yrs, sorry I sold it


[/SIGPIC]

I have never put a wrench on a gas engine 201 car, but I have seen the 2.6 and how it is shoehorned in place. This is a great engine and it seems to make a great car out of the 201, but it makes the limited amount of room between the radiator and engine in the 124 cars look spacious.

Have a great day,

This makes me love my 300SE. So much room!

I am glad you got it done.

I did my waterpump 2 summers ago on the 300E, and I still found it to be a royal PITA.

Now my AC stopped working, and I have a very bad feeling that it is the evaporator. Crap, I get chills just to think about all the trouble to R&R it, and that in itself (the chills) keeps me from doing it.
North Carolina summer without AC.

__________________
1999 Porsche 996 Carrera Convertible
1994 420E - SOLD
1986 300E - SOLD, what a car
609 Certified

That's quite true. I drove it about forty miles round trip to a funeral this afternoon, and, as you say, I was gladder. The engine came up to temperature and stayed there quite a while, so I think if it was going to leak it would have.

I did mine a year ago last January. It was 35 degrees. I removed the radiator and the PS pump. Bolt access was great then.

The funny thing was, a man was doing some work on my house. He said he was very impressed I was working on the car. I told him I was very impressed he was standing on my roof. (No snow or ice, but it was really cold!.)

__________________
Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

Having just swapped a belt and tensioner on a 300E and then looking at the components on my car and looking at the service procedures for the 190E 2.6 I wholeheartedly concur.

I recall having the front bumper off my car a few years ago and IIRC the entire front bumper and lower valence is secured to the chassis with only four bolts. It's easy to take off. Then you remove the radiator, which according to the service procedures is not all that complicated. The upper radiator support is secured with about four bolts and once it and the hoses are off, not much is left to pull the radiator.

Now you can actually get to the fan hub and tensioner bolts to get them off, and once they're off, the pump should be easily accessible.

The first time you do a job is always the toughest because you start at the bottom of the learning curve. The guys who have done the jobs learn all the tricks and can save the rest of us a whole lot of heartache and time.

Thanks, MDB, for providing your insight.

Duke