Ha ha. Your picture brought back memories. We "repaired" my brother's old Accord in exactly the same manner. After careful research, we decided Oak was superior to Pine for automotive repair.

Our "repair" was done in Marietta (John Ward Rd.). Must be a GA thing.

lol...Dutch - that picture made me laugh as well! I guess quite a few of us have done the old "tree" repair before. Had the trunk of my old '71 250 knocked in once. I tied the trunk to a big maple on our yard with some heavy rope and put it in Drive and gave it some gas. The trunk popped right back out, almost perfectly. The neighbours gave us some weird looks though...

haasman - good luck with the Viagra, er...car repair....er...whatever.

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

Gives new meaning to the term, "shade tree mechanic".

Was Monday a Holiday? We didn't get the day off.

:-) neil

This thread makes me laugh. A little humor goes a long way right now!

Discovered AFTER installing the heater core that I had a mismarked vacuum control (the one that is partially covered by the heater core unit) soooooooo had to take the core back out.
Well at least it wasn't the whole dash!

Hopefully tonight I will have the opp to start the assembly again.

Several nieghbors have come by to "see it" (the car with the dash that exploded ......) Geesh! Where's the love?

I'll keep you posted,

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

It is done!

Whew, I am very glad to have finished the job. Heater cores .....!

Everything works but a long process spanning several weekends (not continuous work) and multiple evenings.

Besides the heater core I upgraded the radio which required some rewiring to bypass the central fader switch and changed the console. I checked all the bulbs in the instrument cluster and of course the climate controls. The vacuum controllers all got changed.

It took several used push button units to find a good used one.

Would I recommend this to someone ..... hmmmm .... I would say yes, but .... Be sure to have a lot of time, patience and be a student of the subject. Really come to understand exactly what is required to pull the dash.

Additionally, all the suggestions from the forum members made a real difference. I remember one member who had done this and said to be sure and install the little square nuts into the new heater core before installing in the heating/ventillation central unit. Easy thing to miss or forget and a total nightmare when one discovers you can't secure the coolant tubes.

Its late, I'll post pictues later.

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

Haasman

As an owner of a 95E320, how about making a posting of all the special notes you received, kind of a summary. Although my hvac system is working, I do forsee the day that I to will have to apply major surgery. Your experiences would greatly assist the next surgeon!

Ron

PS happy to hear its together.

If you have any parts left over, just throw them down the intake, I'm sure they will find it's place after a few miles.
good luck
Ticobenz.

Haasman,

I though I was in for the same job with my 190E. Ever since I purchased it early this year I have been chasing coolant leaks. First was the coolant expansion reservoir and then the radiator. The remaining one was the coolant that dripped from above the transmission and the coolant odour through the vents when the heater was operating. Then I noticed the heater control valve leaking (near the wiper). A new heater valve and no more coolant odour, and hopefully no more coolant leaks. I didn't fancy having to replace the heater core, especially after seeing your pics.

Greg

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107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.

I will try and type up a recap of what I have learned from all this, but in the short-term, be gentle on the tubes going through the firewall to the heater core.

Yes, they are secured directly to the heater core and "located" by rubber gaskets and plastic holders, but they are not robust.

I can see where simply trying to remove and existing heater hose off the tubes could cause a problem on an old or original heater core.

Haasman

__________________
'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)