Since we (was my car, now moms car) have owned this car (1988 300SEL - M103 engine) since 2007, it finally needs its first major repair - the water pump. It has slowly been starting to fail and now starting to leak.

My mechanic said it is about a 5 hour job labor wise and will do it for around $250, plus price of water pump. I have found pumps within the range of $99.00 to $549.00. I am leaning more toward the $99.00 pump.

This is just an older car, far from a show car and we are wanting to just make it last a couple more years. With that said with the water pump removed and that far into the engine, should anything else be replaced while in there? It had 156k when I bought it and the odometer stopped about a month later when I reset the trip odometer when driving. I estimate that the car has about 200,000 miles on it now. It does have a slight leak from the front of the engine that it has had since I bought it in 2007. I am guessing it is the timing chain cover gasket that is leaking? Could this be easily accessed with the pump removed?

Should the timing chain (and/or guides/rails/tensioner, etc) be replaced while in there as well?

Thanks!