I try to avoid "free" inspections.

I bought a new Superbeetle VW in 1971 that included four free inspections. These were mandatory in order to keep your warrenty in force. The warrenty was for 24,000 miles.

Each 'free' inspection cost me $32. At that time that was almost two days take-home.

I was actually glad when the warrenty period was up.

Pooka

Johnhef wrote:
Its got my spare AC compressor on it, so I know it at least worked after I put that on there. As for the heat, what do you mean by off? blower motor inop or just blows cold? if it blows cold, did you check the monovalve yet?
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Niki says: one of the things the dealer found was mising AC belt (they want $200 to replace it). Heat: all the controls stopped responding--nothing blows. fuses are fine.

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84 300D anthracite grey, tan interior "Lola"

Diesel smells like farvegnugen!

Tell us, Chas, should we rip out the section of the W123 FSM that addresses wheel bearing service?

or

Where can we buy wheel bearing grease with a lifetime guarantee?

There's no mention of regular wheel bearing service in the owner's manual is there?
If you care to rip out a section of the FSM, go right ahead. Do I need to tell you what to do with it?
I'm not aware of any parts of a Benz with a lifetime guarantee.

The FSM says to re-pack the bearings every time you do a rotor change. (I don't see why anyone wouldn't do that, its so easy to do)

Its easy work to assure you don't have a wheel lock up someday at 75mph.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Have you had a wheel lock up due to a catastrophic bearing failure?
In over 45 years of driving I have not.
In the 30+ years I was in the auto repair business I witnessed one case of a failed bearing-because the mechanic adjusted the bearing too tight and the bearing failed while the customer was driving home.
Re-packing the bearings when replacing a rotor is fairly standard. But the OP wasn't having the rotors replaced.

My 300D had a bad wheel bearing when I bought it. It was 10 years old and had 43k miles on it. The life expectancy of the wheel bearing grease had clearly been exceeded.

Repacking the wheel bearings when the rotors are changed could be as often as 10,000 miles to 100,000 miles depending on driving habits.

I repack mine about every 20,000 miles or maybe sooner sometimes.
I figure my life rides on those little bitty bearings, and I do like to check them.

The cost of new bearings and grease seals is not all that much, and a repack is very simple to do. I have one grease gun with just wheel bearing grease and a bearing packer that pushes the grease through the bearing.

DIY and it just the cost of grease and seals plus your time, plus you can clean and check other stuff the $100.00 per hr shop monkey won`t do.


The closest I ever came to losing a wheel because of a wheel bearing, was back about 1970. we were driving a Ford F-600 truck. the three of went down to watsonville to have breakfast, there was a place to get it for 99˘.
we were hauling butt back to Santa cruz to get back to where we were suppose to be working (about 20 miles), before our forman came out to check on us.

started to smell the odor of hot breaks, so pulled over. the L/F wheel was at the end of the spindle at a 45deg angle ready to fall off.. never felt anything in the steering to indicate a problem, but I was 25 and an expert back then.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

My 2 cents worth:
I have discovered Front Wheel Bearings going bad that were making no noise; or not enough noise to hear while driving the car. I found them during a Brake Job where I decided to check them since the hubs were already off.
However, I never routinely check the Front Wheel Bearings on any of the Vehicles I have owned since 1968.
The closest I come to routine is that when I buy a used car I always check the brakes really well. As part of that inspection clean out all of the old grease, check an repack the bearing. I also change the Differential and Transmission oil when I get a used car as I know prior owners neglect those things.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Please note that you won't lose the wheel off of your Benz like you would in a '70 truck. Your car has disc brakes and the caliper will keep the wheel on the car for long enough to slow down. It will be noisy, but you will have all four wheels.

Our 300D had bad vibration when braking up front and so I checked the bearings, the grease was burned and the bearings were scorched as well as very loose/falling apart. I put in new bearings and grease and it rides MUCH better now....that was an accident waiting to happen.

The bearings were completely discolored from heat. Pretty scary!

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

You need a gauge with the little lever (i forgot what it's called) and a magnetic mount - I got mine at Harbor Freight for under $30 i think. It took a little math to convert the metric units in the manual to the gauge units but basically you are checking for play outside the spec. It's a pretty damned precise way to set wheel bearing load - on mine, an eighth of a turn of the nut was all it took to make it go out of spec. Otherwise, new seals, Mercedes green grease if you like (one tube for two wheels I think it is) and off you go.

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kalpol
79 280SE
82 Fiat Spider 2000
81 Fiat Brava
04 BMW R1150RT
96 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Wheel bearings are a service/maintenance item.

I like to do mine every spring, just a habit from owning the 70's cars while in High School and college during the 80's.

A week after I bought my MB the left front bearings began making noise. I prefer to do the maintenance prior to noises being heard.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D

Not all Benz have disc brakes. A customer of a shop I was working in brought back a wheel from his 190SL with brake drum attached. It had fallen off the car as he turned into his driveway. The adjusting nut had been made too tight after a brake job and the spindle melted in two.
But please, this melodrama of wheels coming off or even bearings going bad if not serviced on a regular basis has absolutely no ground in fact.

Only seen one case of bearing failure? In my ten years of exprience of mercedes repair,I have had: 3-4 123's, 2 210,s , 1 140 and 1 107 car.I know thats not a lot compaired to the hundreds of cars I have worked on,but dont make it sounds like it never happens.ou mush have worked at a light duty shop or something.
And yes, I have had 2 catastrophic wheel bearings happen to me personally (not m.b.'s though)
310 bucks Is not too far off at dealership prices- I am sure they are 100 bucks an hour. They charged 2.8 hours to just replace the disks- Plus removing the hub, replacing the seals and packing the bearings . Its simple work, but it does take time and know how to do. Just depends if you want to get your hands dirty