1998 C280 Water Pump Replacement
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 8
From: Austin, TX
1998 C280 Water Pump Replacement
I just replaced my water pump as my bearings were bad. I was hearing a weird noise from the front of the engine and could detect little bit of wobble on the fan pulley. Used an stethoscope thing to confirm the noise was coming from the water pump. I was kind of surprised that the seal was not leaking (it was leaking a bit, but not enough to even drip on the ground).
Replacement is pretty straight forward and once you have the fan shroud out, everything is pretty accessible. My biggest challenge was getting the fan clutch off. The bolt on the fan clutch is 36MM. Is should have been relatively easy as I rented a clutch removal tool at Autozone. Trouble was that I could not break the bolt loose. The wrench just spun on the bolt. The tool was well use and when I measured it, it was closer to 38MM. Took the tool back to Autozone, and rented one from Oriellys, same problem. These tools are not the highest quality and the wrenches have a tendency to expand. I used a sledge hammer and anvil to get the wrench back to 36MM, but it would just open up and spin when I tried to remove the bolt.
I ended up removing the water pump with the fan clutch intact (makes access some bolts more difficult, but still doable). I took the pump to a repair place down the street and they took it off. I did not see how they did it, but they did it at no charge.
The bolt on the fan clutch IS NOT reverse threaded.
To remove the idler pulley just pry off the little cover plate, then take it off with a Torx wrench.
Repair documentation on these vehicles is sparse. I shelled out $100 for a manual from Bentleys. There is some good stuff in there, but half the damn book is electrical diagrams. They don't even have motor mount removal instructions or diagrams, and the belt removal instructions are not quite right for the '98 C280.
Mine has a spring loaded belt tensioner. You'll see a place on the bottom left side of the tensioner were you can put a 13MM socket. I use a 1/2" drive 13MM deep socket on that to relieve the tension and remove the belt. Peace of cake.
I also replaced the thermostat while I was in the. That is easy with just 2 bolts.
Overall a straight forward job that should have taken a couple of hours if the fan clutch removal didn't turn into a science project.
Replacement is pretty straight forward and once you have the fan shroud out, everything is pretty accessible. My biggest challenge was getting the fan clutch off. The bolt on the fan clutch is 36MM. Is should have been relatively easy as I rented a clutch removal tool at Autozone. Trouble was that I could not break the bolt loose. The wrench just spun on the bolt. The tool was well use and when I measured it, it was closer to 38MM. Took the tool back to Autozone, and rented one from Oriellys, same problem. These tools are not the highest quality and the wrenches have a tendency to expand. I used a sledge hammer and anvil to get the wrench back to 36MM, but it would just open up and spin when I tried to remove the bolt.
I ended up removing the water pump with the fan clutch intact (makes access some bolts more difficult, but still doable). I took the pump to a repair place down the street and they took it off. I did not see how they did it, but they did it at no charge.
The bolt on the fan clutch IS NOT reverse threaded.
To remove the idler pulley just pry off the little cover plate, then take it off with a Torx wrench.
Repair documentation on these vehicles is sparse. I shelled out $100 for a manual from Bentleys. There is some good stuff in there, but half the damn book is electrical diagrams. They don't even have motor mount removal instructions or diagrams, and the belt removal instructions are not quite right for the '98 C280.
Mine has a spring loaded belt tensioner. You'll see a place on the bottom left side of the tensioner were you can put a 13MM socket. I use a 1/2" drive 13MM deep socket on that to relieve the tension and remove the belt. Peace of cake.
I also replaced the thermostat while I was in the. That is easy with just 2 bolts.
Overall a straight forward job that should have taken a couple of hours if the fan clutch removal didn't turn into a science project.
Last edited by Hookster; Feb 2, 2010 at 08:14 AM.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
kanio
Mercedes E Class
1
Sep 15, 2006 04:25 PM
