No hole for fan clutch tool?
 

93 e300 3.2

Thought it was going to be a simple job of changing out the fan clutch. Nope. Do the early m104s not have a hole to lock the pulley? Used a mirror to see if I can line up the clutch lock tool to a hole and couldn’t find one.

Mine had it. It has been years, IIRC the hole is in the the same place as a 103 but the locking "ears" to prevent the tool from moving was on the opposite side of the car from a 103. Bring up an image of the bearing bracket for your car and you'll probably see it.

Good luck!!!

You can make a tool to hold the fan pully with an old fan belt or serpentine belt, cut a length enough to go right around the pully and fit it to a flat bar or strong piece of wood bolt them together like a noose . A lot like oil filter removal tool .

I have a bunch of strap clamps and didn’t even think about that. I had to bend a flat bar to lock the pulley bolts. I have 2 other w124s and was expecting an easy job. Then the boltS that hold the fan blades on were seized and stripped. Had to grind them out. I know the 93 is a one off car. Hope I don’t have too many surprises like that

Was the hole in the pulley to lock it? With everything thing off it should be visible. I bent a 3/16 rod from a hardware store to lock it, worked like a charm. Also recall using an Allen key, in the notches on the bearing bracket.

My 93 was retired at over 360,000 due to a head gasket. Circumstances didn't allow time to fix it or I would have...what an outstanding car!!!

Good luck!!!

I have the lock tool. Shined a light and rotated the pulley to see when the hole would line up and only saw the 4 spots for the pulley bolts.

I would’ve fixed the head gasket. It’s not a huge job with the proper tools. Done it about 6 times

Could it be a wrong bracket/pulley?

129 and 140 with M104 use a different locking tool for a fan clutch:

http://w124-zone.com/downloads/MB%20CD/W124/w124CD1/Program/Engine/104/20-3120.pdf

In other circumstances I would have fixed it also, just couldn't. Lost count of the number of cylinder heads I've R+R'd, miss that car. Green with parchment leather interior. Did a compression test around 180k, recorded the results which were excellent. Did another one around 320k with the same gauge, the results were slightly better than the first test.

Always used premium top tier fuel, synthetic oil changed HOT, OEM filters and drove it hard.

Good luck with yours!!!