water pump w201 help/tricks?

[opossum]

Hello all,

Went to help my dad replace the water pump in his 190e with the 2.6 six banger.. Dang that thing is kind of buried. Are there any tricks to doing this or do we really have to pull off everything that seems to surround it? IE, radiator, power steering pump etc? From what I have heard its like an 8 hour job... then again, I have also heard these things never go bad.



thanks guys, Opossum

[lee polowczuk]

Originally Posted by opossum

Hello all,

Went to help my dad replace the water pump in his 190e with the 2.6 six banger.. Dang that thing is kind of buried. Are there any tricks to doing this or do we really have to pull off everything that seems to surround it? IE, radiator, power steering pump etc? From what I have heard its like an 8 hour job... then again, I have also heard these things never go bad.



thanks guys, Opossum

figure 5.5 hours..... all of that stuff has to come off.... ps pump only needs a couple of nuts loosened.. there should be a step by step on here somewhere... i have done 3..... not difficult just very time consuming. Be deliberate and patient. I have had water pumps go bad anywhere from 125k to 180k.

[Ivanerrol]

There is very little squeeze room in the 190e 2.6, so, as suggested everything has to come out. If you have a digital camera, take images as you go so you don't get confused for what goes where when reassembling.
Your first water pump will probably take 8 hours - if not more. The second much less time.
Make sure you buy either a Graf, Lemforder, Behr or Laso pump. There are el cheapos out there on the market which are less than satisfactory in operation.
You will probably be better off also getting
New thermostat and gasket
New hoses
New tensioner,
New serpentine belt.

The job is stright forward and logical. The hardest part will be figuring how to get the fan clutch off. Search the threads here.
You will require the right tools.

[sptt]

Check the DIY for the M103 water pump on this site for some good pics. I used that and was able to do myself in about 5 hours. You'll need a stiff piece of steel wire bent to about 45 degrees to fit behind the clutch fan pulley to lock into place or it may not come off (do an internet search to see what it looks like first). Remove air intake assembly and housing. Remove radiator hoses from WP and Radiator after draining radiator from the bottom front right. Remove Thermostat head and thermostat (may not be necessary). Remove / reposition the fan housing to access the front of the fan clutch first. After you get the fan and clutch off as ONE unit, loosen tensioner and get serpentine belt off, wires and distributor off next, then bypass heater hose (underneath it running across to pump loosened and pulled out of pump), PS Pump Pulley off, WP Pulley off, tensioner bracket bolts removed, tensioner bolt removed, 13 mm brass tensioner loosened, remove bolts of PS Pump and bracket and swivel PS pump down to the right, remove large center bolt down below WP and PS pump pulleys and then remove tensioner bracket and then tensioner assembley. Then take out 3 bolts and one allen head holding PS pump in (a couple tricky angles for back and back bottom bolts...use extensions and flexable angle sockets). Wiggle PS pump out and note how it comes out to be able to easily wiggle a new one back in the opposite way (pay attention!). Use a little grease on the back of the new O-ring to hold it into the pump or it will keep falling out when trying to reinstall.
Hardest parts of the job...fan clutch (struggling with tool to get pulley locked in), removing pulley bolts (may want to try and loosen before removing serpentine belt as last bolts of each requires pulley to be held firm), getting flex angle sockets on back top and back bottom bolts of WP, and wiggling WP out and back in.

I think I covered it.