96 C Class Diesel Pump

[David1166]

Hi guys
I might be a candidate for the shortest membership of your forum ever. I bought a 1996 C Class diesel from an old family friend who’d decided that at 84 he was stopping driving. The car had been SORN for a couple of years and only had 67k on the clock. It’s a automatic 2.5 normally aspirated diesel.

I got it home and kept it SORN over the winter until last month. Unfortunately it’s got a bad diesel leak and everyone I’ve spoken to about fixing it has quoted eye watering amounts to put it right. I wanted to check with you chaps before I give up and let it go to the breakers. Here’s what I know so please correct me if any of it is wrong.

There seems to be little option for getting the current pump refurbished without spending a fortune, and they don’t seem to be easily sourced second hand. Mercedes have the part in stock but it’s more than £2k plus VAT. Stripping out the old one and putting the new one in and resetting the timing is around a 10 hour job: at £55 per hour plus VAT (the cheapest quote I’ve had) that’s £660. That’s not including anything else they might find whilst they’re in there: did I mention I’m a pessimist? It also needs a new set of tyres from a previous MOT advisory so that brings us up to around £3k. I paid £600 for it which seemed a bargain at the time.

I really wanted the car for weekend runs and intended looking after it and keeping it as long as it’s previous owner (20 years), I’m only the third, but at that price it’s not an option. All I’m asking is for you to check my argument and see if I’m missing something blatantly obvious, as I really don’t want to see it go.

Failing that does anyone know a breaker in the South Yorkshire area who would offer a reasonable price for it? It’s too good just to scrap: it has a stainless steel exhaust that’s not very old and the interior and body work is excellent and just needs a general fettle.

Sorry for the ramble but I wanted to ask people who’d care that it doesn’t unnecessarily get broken up.

Regards
David

 

[a111r]

A photo would be useful. These pumps can leak from a few areas but none are really serious or costly to fix, IME.

 

[Joesoap17]

if its not diy fix try a diesel or merc indie/specialist, sounds like its worth spending 3-500 quid on?
And £200 should get a set of tyres there are some good deals at tyre shopper.

 

[a111r]

Pipe and O rings are DIY, bit fiddly..stop solenoid O ring is similar.
Delivery valve seals need a special socket, maybe not DIY.
First thing is to clean it up and identify the source of the leak.

Any Commercial diesel place or a Bosch agent used to old technology could also fix it.
I doubt it'd cost more than £200, worst case?

 

[David1166]

Thanks for the replies guys. I’ve tried several diesel and old Bosch specialists and they all say the same thing about the cost. The ones I quoted were the cheapest. If it was £300 -£500 it wouldn’t be an issue but they’re quoting me upwards of £3500 and I can get one that’s almost show quality for that. I don’t mind spending money on it but I can’t justify that kind of outlay on a second car.

I’ve spoken to a lot of helpful people and they’re all saying the same thing. They all work on the assumption that it’s a new pump job and at £2000+ that’s a deal breaker. It might not be and could be a simple fix but they’d still need to take it out to find out. At £55 +vat per hour with all the estimates coming in at 8-10 hours that’s a big gamble for me. If the pump could be repaired and the labour was the only big cost I’d go for it, but they might get there to find I need to buy the new pump which takes it to another level. The problem there is I’ll have spent £600 finding out either way.

I can’t provide photos as the initial problem was diagnosed by the guy who works on my regular car and he had to remove a fair few bits to get to it: he put them back and it’s not something I’m confident in doing myself. I did see the leak and it really was squirting out whenever the engine was revved. I’m a topping up oil and water driver and that’s it as far as mechanic skills are concerned.

I’ve been offered £100 from a merc breakers in Leeds and to be honest I think that’s where it’s going to end up. It’s a shame but I’m not a DIY person so I’ve reached an impasse. I just didn’t want a nice car going to the scrap yard so at least this way it’ll get recycled. If I knew someone locally who was into restoring them I’d even give it away but I don’t so that’s that.

As I said thanks for the replies. I think if I was into working on my own car it might be a different story but it’s not my forte.

 

[David1166]

Ignore my last post please. I’ve decided I’m going to have a go myself. It’s not going to be any less broken once I’ve had a mess with it, and I might surprise myself.

So if the forum can stand me asking daft questions over the next few weeks I’ll see if we can’t bring her back to life.

I’ve ordered a Haynes manual from amazon so I’ll read up on it first.

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

[Joesoap17]

Good stuff, its amazing what you can learn along the way.
Pretty sure there will be loads of help and motivational talk from this brilliant forum!!

 

[a111r]

Good to hear...you might even find it's the leak off hoses on top of the engine, under the cover.
The pump won't be 'squirting fuel out', if so, it wouldn't run ... or that'll be a new one for me!

Pics please!

 

[David1166]

Thanks for the replies again. I’ll keep you posted.