The other day I had a nice pool of coolant under the car. The water pump is shot, I also think the radiator is leaking around the plastic seam. The car has 132,000 miles and is a 1995. The head gasket leaks oil like crazy and the gasket around the timing chain also leaks. My question is should I go ahead and replace the gasket while I have more room or should I just replace the bad parts and wait for the eventual failure of the head gasket. One good thing is the wiring harness has been replaced so I should not have to replace that in the process.
Where is the engine number on this car? I have found several numbers on the block, but which one os correct so I can buy the correct pump.

thanks

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tgmiller77
1997 Land Rover Discovery 158,000
1995 E320 Wagon 132,000mi
1999 E320 Wagon 97,000mi

If you have other cars for transportation which your signature implies, then why not dig in and fix these items in one pass.

The head gasket is the "deepest item" so by getting that replaced will take care of the leak by the timing chain ( I believe thats part of the valve cover gasket). While your digging in, you can have the radiator sent to a shop to see if its repairable.

When done, you should be able to clean up the engine compartment and make it shine without fear of oil mist fouling everything.

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Brian G.

1994 E320 Wagon with many warts SOLD
1995 E320 Wagon with a beauty mark or two FOR SALE

Your engine is 104.992.

When I dug in to replace the upper timing cover seal on my car, so much of the engine was disassembled that I went ahead and replaced the head gasket as preventive measure. This also allowed me to remove the egr pipe and clean it out thoroughly.

Your job is an excellent candidate for taking care of all the issues at once. There is so much labor overlap for all of the stuff you have to do.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

Thank you for the replies. I have asked this question before about the head gasket, and was told just to let it go until it completely blows. Since the water pump and the radiator needs to be replaced now is a good time to fix and not worry. Parts are reasonable and I will be doing the work myself with some help fom a fgriend so labor is not an issue. I will be doing lots of reading from others who have done this job.
Still need to find the engine number because there are three different pumps that were used. Is there anything else that needs to be replaced while I have the engine apart? Thanks, Greg

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tgmiller77
1997 Land Rover Discovery 158,000
1995 E320 Wagon 132,000mi
1999 E320 Wagon 97,000mi

If it was my car (and I did have the same one for a few years), I would do the water pump and front cover gasket first. Then you can see if the headgsket leak is really an issue or not - that front cover blows oil everywhere and confuses the issue. In my case it turned out that the head gasket was basically a non-issue. I had at least that many miles and I'm sure it's still goin strong with the same head gasket. Just consider it a desgin feature: external self-lubrication.
The water pump and front-cover are not major "tear-intos" on the M104.

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Prost!

tgmiller77, I recommend buying a reconditioned water pump from your local MB dealer. With the VIN the Parts Department will be able to acquire the correct water pump for your engine. Be sure to use the MB sealant when replacing the U-shaped gasket between the upper and lower timing chain covers. It's worth the seemingly inflated price.

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Fred Hoelzle

Is the engine an M104.992 ?

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1996 E320 since 1/16/08, 171K miles as of Feb 2011

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1989 300CE - R.I.P. Dec 29 2007
Other MBs (sold): 1992 300E-24 - 1979 350SLC - 1984 230E - 1990 300CE

I found the serial number for the engine at www.mbclub.ru. It is in Russian, but there is an English version that will decode your VIN.
If I change the timing cover gasket that would take care of 50% of the leak. I could hold off doing the head gasket, it is leaking out the back corner and some on the side. I guess it comes down to spending a Saturday or possibly 2 weekends on the job.

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tgmiller77
1997 Land Rover Discovery 158,000
1995 E320 Wagon 132,000mi
1999 E320 Wagon 97,000mi