Thank you!!

I was able to get a hose on there without taking the water pump off.

What I did is I went down to Autozone and bought a hose and cut it 1/2 the length as the hose from the dealer.

I then sprayed the hose with liquid grease(from Gunk). To my surprise, it fit on with not too much difficulty. As because the length was shorter than normal, I used 3 clamps instead of 2.

So far so good.

I still have the new-stock hose from Mercedes and plan on replacing if and when the water pump eventually goes. I can't remember when I replaced that pump last so it must be awhile. To my surprise the Mercedes hose is quite thinner than the ones from Autozone. My hunch tells me that the ones at Autozone will last even longer if thickness = durability.

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1990 Mercedes 300 SEL (320,000 miles)
1994 Mercedes E420 (140,000 miles)

what do you have to loose...?

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J.H.
'86 300E

Is the hose from Autozone of two different diameter at each end? I was down this road recently and bought a hose from the dealer. The two ends has different diameter; one is larger than the other. I backed out of pulling the pump at the last minute so I still have the hose sitting in the closet somewhere.
So if the hose is the same diameter I wonder how you resolve the fact that the pipe from the engine block is different diameter than the pipe from the pump.
But I am glad you did it though, if I have to replace that hose I will attempt your method prior to pulling the pump.

No the hose from autozone was the same diameter throughout. but note, the diameters of the block pipe and water pump outlet are not that much different and not sure if the accuracy of hose diameters have to be that accurate to work.

In general, the key is to use 3 clamps instead of two. one on both sides, and one in the middle, over where the gap is.

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1990 Mercedes 300 SEL (320,000 miles)
1994 Mercedes E420 (140,000 miles)

DEAR MATT NO NEED TO FRET I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT ENGINEERS BUT THEY DON T HAVE TO FIX THESE CARS IF YOU REMOVE THE CLAMPS AND THEN CUT UP THE OLD HOSE AND TEAR IT OFF YOU CAN THEN HACKSAW OFF AS MUCH OF THE PIPE ON THE CYLINDER HEAD AS YOU NEED TO TO SQUEEZE IN THE NEW HOSE AFTER SPRAYING PLENTY OF SILICONE ON THE HOSE OF COURSE YOU NEED TO ESTIMAATE THE CUT CAREFULLY SO THAT THE HOSE CAN CLAMP CORRECTLY ON BOTH SIDES IF YOU BUY A HACKSAW BLADE HOLDER INSTEAD OF A REGULAR HACK SAW IT MIGHT BE EASIER BETTER NOT CUT THE WATER PUMP PIPE AS ALUMINUM MAY BE MORE DIFFICULT TO HACK THAN THE STEEL PIPE THAT IS PRESSED INTO THE CYLINDER HEAD TAKE YOUR TIME THE CLAMPS CAN BE COMPLETELY AND RE-JOINED IF NECESSARY

cool I was afraid of buying a car with this engine,because of that.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt