Armpit surgery on a 300D Turbo (W124) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Jeremy5848 · #1 08-20-2008, 01:33 AM

One of the forum members had mentioned to me that hidden in the right front wheel well, behind a plastic filler panel, was the vacuum reservoir and coolant overflow tank that I had read about but never seen. With the front wheels off of my 1987 300D Turbo (W124, OM603) so I could install some missing pieces, I decided to pull the filler panel and see what was there. These pictures will help you if you ever have to do this job. I'm sure mine had never been apart in 21 years.

The panel was easy to remove, just a few screws and nuts. I washed it off first, made the hardware a lot easier to work with. The panel drops down onto the wheel hub once you get all the screws out. This is a good opportunity to clean the panel and replace the weatherstripping on the inside of it.

The vacuum reservoir and the coolant overflow tank hide back in the rear corner. The vacuum reservoir must come off first. The overflow tank was full of crud and the hose was rotten.

There is no way to get a brush inside the tank so I poured a mixture of water and chlorine bleach inside and left it for a couple of hours. It worked great, removed all of the crud (must have been something like algae). I found that 5/16 inch fuel hose fit perfectly to connect the expansion tank to the overflow tank. You'll need a couple of feet (I didn't measure exactly, just matched the old hose.) Yes, fuel hose is overkill for this application but I had some lying around. The other drains to the right are a water drain at the edge of the hood and the battery breather hose.

Jeremy

bob_98sr5 · #2 08-20-2008, 02:21 AM

jeremy

make sure you check those welded in screws that the plastic wheel well cover bolts into. all my rust problems started right there. somehow, the rust gets in there and grows big holes from there.

bob