The best thing that ever happened to her?
My emissions saga has been interrupted... by the catastrophic failure of my viscous clutch bearing bracket. (A bowl of bearing and seal soup)
I had just gotten my new water temp sensor installed, oil change, and Techron. While getting ready to do the O2 sensor I noticed a flock of chickadees chiseling away under the hood.
I had been wondering what the red flakes of dust were that coated everything oily (and that’s a lot) in the engine compartment for some time. But now, with something loudly chirping in there, I noticed aluminum shavings, like a light snow, falling directly up from the water pump. It took me a while to see the fan pulley rubbing itself to bits against the crank pulley (held in place only by the Poly-V belt) but luckily I did so in the driveway and not the far end of East Kabibbel.
Took it off between 11:30 PM and 12:30 AM (as we must act when opportunity presents itself, praised be to a break in the weather) and got to thinking. Since I have the fan and rotor off this might be a good time to do the front U seal as I seem to be on my way past the Mercedes approved barrier of 1qt./1,000 miles, in a hurry. Maybe I should tackle the valve seals as well and replace the rotor and cap for good measure.
My daily driver is going to take an unscheduled vacation, which I can handle. Actually feels like a relief to get some R&R for the old girl. I knew she needed it already, and now I know so even more.
Guess I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to: other items that don't require much in the way of part$, and my labor would be just a few wrenches away at this point.
Also my fear of valve seals is in search of some good threading to allay it.
Open to suggestions,
Marty
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