112 Water Pump Removal

[dlssmith]

My trusty 99 E320 has the tell tale signs of water pump failure now that she's at 179k miles. Clackity clack bearing noise, only intermittant now, but sure to get worse.

Has anyone changed one of these and is there any specific advice? What about refilling the coolant? Are these coolant systems difficult to bleed?

There aren't any threads on 112 water pumps that I could find. I'd like to do this myself, and it seems like with all the room in front of this engine, it should be a fairly easy job. Though my indy mechanic told me that the all data shows 3.5 hours.

[dlssmith]

I'll give the answers along with update:

With the 112 engine and all the room available a water pump change out is easy. Probably as easy as any I've ever done. I also replaced the thermostat and all hoses and the belt. My one comment is that if my indy was going to charge me for 3.5 hours, they must have planned a good coffee break too. I'm not fast and have to screw around with finding my tools and all and still only took around 2 hours to complete.

[Skid Row Joe]

There ya go. I do much of my work myself too.