I called MB for the parts today and they had trouble finding the washer with that part # then I told them what it was and they found it!!! I will try to put up some pics

Removing the res is MUCH easier the pulling the pump, the gasket I got online for $3.75 same gasket as the dealer! The hose I still need to find the hose I allready bought was to small!

Thanks. I found the gasket for $2.34 on line.

I measured the reservoir line intake nipple diameter on an old ZF pump from a 400E and it is 15 mm or .59 inches in diameter.

MB sells a special hose for that, I wouldn't mess around with different hoses, get the right hose! Best bet is to try to find a dealer that has it (MB of course sells it by the meter) and buy the length you need. You might need to ask the parts guys if they can ask in the shop if they have it laying around, the place I worked just left it in a cabinet, instead of asking the parts dept for a few inches of it every time they needed to do this job.

Yeah, I think someone may have mentioned that removing the reservoir was the way to do this job.:rolleyes:
Gilly

Good idea. Asking the tech for 3" of hose would definitely save me $59 as this is what the dealer wants for a meter of it and they wont sell any less than a meter.

I apologize for skipping over your prior posts where you were trying to tell us that it was easier to remove the reservoir than to take the pump or bracket off. You are right. Thanks.

I don't have anything useful to add but this is why I am not touching my leaky pump with a ten foot pole. Sounds like a HUGE PITA. I will just keep pouring atf in there every week. I am sacrificing my 400e for the interior next spring anyway.

PS.. I thought I was going to drive it in the winter... but driving it in the rain has proved the non ASR 400E is down right dangerous in wet conditions.

Goodluck with the leak.

ashedd, I guess you realize you should only be using Type F ATF in your power steering pump, otherwise power steering fluid.

Yes I am aware of that.. I bet type F is getting in there at least half the time :)
It's an old car I bought for the interior. No worries here.

I finally changed the hose on the bottom of my reservoir today. The directions in the post above are pretty straight forward. The hardest part was getting the old hose off. It was hard and brittle and I ended up having to take it off in two pieces. The replacement hose was 15 mm ID.

You will have a lot more room to work with if you take off the plastic cover for the left distributor, the left air intake hose and the poly v-belt (to get to the hose and clamps below). I thought I had run into trouble when I got to the big hex plug/connecting pipe at the bottom of the reservoir because I didn't have an Allen that big. It turns out that a T-60 torx worked perfectly. The v-belt required an E-10 torx socket for the tensioner. The four bolts at the bottom of the reservoir require an E-8 torx socket. I unscrewed the long stud in the center of the reservoir so I had room to get a ratchet and torque wrench on the plug.

Getting the connecting pipe back into the hose was initially difficult until I realized that I could use the handle end of a 1/4 ratchet to line the hose up with the hole from the inside of the reservoir. I coated the connecting pipe and the hose with a light coat of Vaseline and it slipped right on.

The gasket at the bottom of the reservoir was in good shape and I think I could have reused it if I had to. Also, the aluminum washer under the connecting hose plug could probably have been reused as well, but since I had the new parts I went with them.

Thanks to Gilly and 88260E, it turned out to be a fairly easy job. All of it can be done in a driveway without jacking up the car. It took me about 2 hours, but almost an hour of that was wrestling with the old hose trying to get it off.

(Pictures)

More pictures.

The trick to getting the hose off for me was removing the clamps getting an old kitchen knife, and a hammer, and go at it!! You need to take care not to cut into the hose nipples underneath, it came off real easy then pulled it off with long needle nose. Over a week now no leak!!!! Today is caps and rotors day, and new plug for passanger side head light!!!!

I used a sharp screwdriver and a hammer from the hole inside the reservoir to split the hose down the center.

Mine isn't leaking yet either, but the silver bead of sealant that appears around the circumference of the original gasket in the picture below caused me to wonder if I should have done the same with the new gasket.

Possibly just had that "silver lining" on one side?
And a comment I have, is that I don't remember the hose being hard to remove, of course when I did it the cars weren't so old either :rolleyes:. What I recall was the hard part being getting that top "nipple" in to the new hose and the thread started. I tried different tricks as well.

Gilly

I remember getting the old nipple removed, then grabbing the hose from underneath with a pliers and twisting it off, again the rubber might have been more pliable then.

Gilly that's what gave me them most trouble to, getting that top nipple in the hose, took some twisting, pulling, a couple F-bombs then it was in! new caps and rotors last night!!!! Its runniing smoooth for 18yrs old is a great car