Hello,

I am contemplating a DIY rebuild on my W124 Power Steering pump in the next month or so. The reason for the rebuild is a leak on the pump body located at the middle connecting seal, currently I am loosing about 3-4 drops with the car sitting over night, this is including a high pressure hose leak which I will probably replace at the same time.

How hard is it? The service CD's procedure is 42 pages long, do I need to disassemble the whole pump to do the seals? Is this better left to the professionals?

Please help?

There is an easy way to do this on a 500, but you have to get the right tools. You will need a 12mm allen wrench and some inverted torx (on some of them).

You can take off the belt and then the pulley. (You may also want to take off some of the plastic around the distributor cap area for access>)

Next take off the small connector hose that is below the reservoir but above the pump (you will replace this hose).

Next you will remove the hoses that connect to the pump body then the 4 13mm headed bolts on the pump body.

DO THIS CAREFULLY AND HOLD ON TIGHTLY.

CAREFULLY slide the body from the rear portion leaving it on the car's engine.

You can now install the seals and reassemble the same way.

Good luck.

This is NOT how the manual says to do it, but it WILL work and will save you countless hours.

__________________
Benzmac:
Donnie Drummonds
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 11 YRS

Thanks Donnie,

Just wanted to post an update. I have the pump out of the car and disassembled (the front half ), only problem is now I have to goto the machine shop and get these stubborn seals pressed out and then have the new ones installed (2).

Anyone have any neat tricks concerning removing these little booger's?

If anyone is thinking doing this, so far my costs have been $47 for the O-ring kit through PartsShop and the cost of the special tools. The 12mm was $8 as Sears and the Inverted Torx sockets where $13 at Harbor Freight Tools. So far I have invested 4 hours.

Still debating on biting the bullet on the High Pressure Hose and Return Hose.

Roas & Donnie,

I have my 500E down for timing chain, tensioner, & all the rails. We noticed that the power steering pump shaft appears to have more movement than would be expected. The service records show this is the 5th power steering pump in this car. Should we rebuild the unit now while its accessible? Will the rebuild eliminate shaft end play and how much end play is acceptable?

Also, While I am info searching...
can you replace the timing chain cover without pulling the heads?

If we do pull the heads (95K miles) what kind of guide wear is expected & should we have the heads redone while they are off?

We are also now taking the opportunity to complete a few items on my wish list (1) resealing the tranny
(pre-existing leaks that we can now have fixed), (2) replacing the shifter bushings (very worn), replacing the rear main seal (minor leak)?

Is there anything else I should consider while the beast is dismantled? Preventative or performance related?

Thanks

Dwight


Thanks

Dwight

[Edited by dwight hinton on 05-17-2001 at 02:17 PM]

__________________
dwight

Update - The Power Steering pump rebuild is complete.

The job was going great, I was 95% done with the job when guess what happened?? I was reinstalling the reservoir bowl and dropped one of the torx bolts down the damned hose!

Aaaarrrrggghhhhhhh! I had to completely remove the pump and tear the pump apart, not like the fast track method I used the first time. What a pain in the #%^ to remove the mounting bracket to get the complete pump out. It was worth it though, I did replace one last O-ring and cleaned the back half like I did with the front.

While the car was out of commission, I also replaced the Fuel Filter, and did a Oil Change with Mobil1 Synthetic. Of course, the buttom oil pan started leaking like crazy from the oil switch, so I replaced the Oil Pan Gasket too. The only other thing that needed replacing was the Tensioner Adjustment Rod, the thing started getting stripped, so that was a quick swap out as well. So far I can't complain, the whole job cost less the $100 including parts and I also have some more neat tools in the Toolbox! Best of all, no drips to speak of, so far that is. (Knocking on wood as I type)

If I keep this up, a Head Gasket swap will be next, ...... Not!

Next on the list, Transmission ATF change with Redline fluids. Then maybe the Slip ring under the steering wheel, mine is getting a little squeaky at parking speeds.

Thanks for the tip Benzmac, your method was fast! One last question, is it possible to rebuild the Air Pump?

I forgot to mention what the oil pan looked like when I changed the gasket.

I have only put about 4k of the 164k miles on the car, and this is the second oil change I have done, but the PO records indicate that the car had the oil changed every 5k like clock work.

I wasn't sure of what to expect, boy was I surprized! The pan on the outside looked like it came off a jeep from WWII with all the grime, but the inside looked like it was brand spanking new! No signs of ANY sludge, not even the remotest sign of a sludge ring.

How do you completely remove the bracket out of the car? i plan to replace the power steering pump, but the bracket is stuck onto the head.

Haven't had to do this yet, but some online MB doc might help:

http://mb.braingears.com

Also - go to "DIY Article" section at this forum. There might be something writen up there.

__________________
Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"

tried both sites, there is nothing on it. the manual said there is only 2 bolts holding the bracket. I got both of them off, but the bracket is still stuck to it.

there must be a third bolt holding this on. i think it is on the driver side and on the bottom of the bracket. I will check on this tomorrow.

Skip down to post #15... photos are posted there. No need to remove the bracket from the head, you can pull the pump off the bracket:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=164607

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

Dude! You replied to a thread that was started 9 years ago!

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

You bet I did!

Some of these old posts have great reference information that is still helpful years later... and linking them to other threads, with additional information, can be helpful. It saves people time when searching for this stuff. And, it can prevent the same questions (and answers) from getting posted over and over and over in dozens of different threads, cluttering the forum.

Ok, I accept that, but it is still funny!

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

How about tandem pump reseal? DIY scale of difficulty?

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2016 Monsoon Gray Audi Allroad - 21k
2008 Black Mercedes E350 4Matic Sport - 131k
2014 Jeep Wranger Unlimited Sahara - 62k
2003 Gray Mercedes ML350 - 122k