PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - '92-300CE

hispassion · #54 01-06-2010, 08:34 AM

Knowing it's behind me is a sigh of relief, however, I'm still stressing over a couple of things... The cooling system won't build pressure, so I'm thinking the radiator cap failed when she blew all the coolant out through the overflow hose. And there's oil floating in the coolant plastic tank, not much, but enough to warrant a flush. The other thing is... I asked every parts store I knew for longer heli-coils in the M12x1.75 size and they all said, "nope, don't have that size". Well, I found out - after the job was done - that there are longer heli-coils available. So, now I hope the ones I have in there hold. If this were a car with an M103, I'd be selling it, but have no intention of it. If she breaks again, I'll be fixing it again.

I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough room for the drill and had no choice but to remove the plastic firewall pieces to allow access. If the wiper motor had been in the way, I would have removed that too. Removing the engine was not an option at this time. I suppose I could have jacked up the tail of the transmission to give more clearance for the drill, but didn't have to. I did however have to remove the side handle from the drill to allow room.

Back in the late 70's and early 80's I was a mechanic then I got into appliance repair and now I'm teaching back-up generator repair and basic electricity. So, even for those of us with mechanical experience I must say this repair can be difficult and is not a somthing for newbs.

The lessons learned here (for those just reading this thread) are this; just as it takes all of the ingredients to make a cake, it takes all steps to be done correctly to ensure that the job is done properly. One mistake with the cake ingredients and you get soup. One mistake with thread pitch, you end up with near disaster. Check and double check everything yourself.