Passed MOT first time. couple of questions on the advisories

[tpv01]

first car i have had that has passed the MOT first time so big thumbs up to my 1994 W124 E300d multivalve

i had 2 things that the guy pointed out to me which either he let me off becuase not serious yet or put as an advisory.

1. rear break pipe rusting. small section of the brake pipe starting to corrode and lost its covering. not serious yet. he told me to cover it with some thing but wasnt clear on how and with what. how should i do this? is it best to get rid of the surface rust with wire brush and wet and dry or should i leave as is incase i take too much off and cause it to leak. What should i cover it over with? only a small area so dont want to buy a whole tub of waxoyl.

2. ball joint on front drivers wheel. when turned to full left lock can see a connecting rod to the wheel hub with a ball joint when looking from the 9'o'clock direction of the wheel. the rubber was split exposing the joint. i think he said this was called a crack/crank rod. is it clear what joint im talking about? i can take a picture. what is the procedure to change this
and where should i get the part?

 

[grober]

Waxoil would be best for your brake pipe. I wouldn't give it more than a gentle rub with say a nylon pan scrubber to remove the loose rust-no sense in weakening it any more than necessary or you may wish to replace it . The ball joint mentioned sounds like your steering track rod end. Its best to replace both sides at the same time. They can be difficult to remove for the inexperienced. They set the suspension toe in so altho they can be replaced by duplicating the previous settings by careful pre-measurement the car should be tracked after their replacement. Any competent garage can do this-its a very common MOT failure/advisory.Any damage to the joint boot means accelerated wear which will lead to failure the next time around. LEMFORDER are OEM for Mercedes so a couple of track rod ends by them (EUROCARPARTS or GSF) or genuine mercedes ones would be best.

 

[Dieselman]

You were lucky to not recieve a fail for the ball joint boot, it should have, and both items should have been listed as advisories.

You can buy new joint boots to fit from parts shops.
As grober give the pipe a rub and waxoyl or similar. Do all of them while at it, to ensure long future life.

 

[bolide]

In my experience rusty brake / fuel / self-levelling pipes are the #1 cause of MOT failures, particularly down here by the coast

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[Number_Cruncher]

>>You were lucky to not recieve a fail for the ball joint boot, it should have...

Strictly speaking, a torn boot should not result in an MOT fail. The wear in the ball joint is all that is being tested.

Of course, a torn boot should attract an advisory notice, and it's a good thing to take action now before the joint becomes worn.

Cleaning and greasing the self levelling suspension pipes will, SWMBO permitting, be keeping me quiet this weekend!

 

[tpv01]

the guy called over another tester to have a second opinion on the ball joint so it must not be showing signs of serious wear at the moment.

dont know if he gave me the benefit of the doubt but i go to a council dept MOT centre which MOT's all council vehiceles and has to be open to the public. however they are not allowed to do repairs the public vehicles so they dont give you a long list of fails as they think they get extra work out of it.

anyway, the joints must be ok at the moment but boot is split. the MOTer told me to replace the whole joint but seemed to indicate it wasnt a big job. said nothing about doing both sides or redoing the tracking.

i want to do all the work on this car myself so how hard is the change? what exactly do i have to do? and what are the exact parts i need?

PS i will get the tracking done on after i have changed the ball joint. is it worth getting 4 wheel tracking done on these cars?

 

[Dieselman]

Just change the rubber boot, it's cheaper, easier and there's no need for tracking to be set as you won't alter the adjustment.

 

[tpv01]

good call. i will change the ball joint or possibly both at some point, i.e. before the next MOT would make sense!

bit of guidance on changing the boot then please. what is the exact part i need? can i change without removing the joint? what is the grease in the boot? moly? does it come in the boot kit? should i get it from MB or ECP/GSF?

i am guessing it is #65 or #71 in the diagram linked below??

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GM=717.433&CT=F&cat=44Q&SID=46&SGR=120&SGN=06

 

[Dieselman]

The ball joint is item#65. You won't get he boot seperately from Merceds or probably not ECP or GSF, but will from a local parts shop. They tend to do things line this.

Just undo the nut where it pokes through the hub unit and knock out the taper, or use a proper ball joint splitter.
A sharp clout on the side of the cast hub unit usually shocks the taper free.

Pull off the torn boot, grease and replace, etc.
Grease should be Molybdenum.

 

[bolide]

Are you talking about a track rod end or a ball joint? The balljoint is the lowest suspension joint from the wishbone to the hub. The track rod comes off the steering gear to the hub and the lateral position of it changes as you turn the steering

If it's a ball joint I'd do both at the same time and replace the front anti-roll bar bushes while you're in there

If it's a track rod end you need to check the tracking afterwards

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[tpv01]

i will take a pic and post it up tomorrow.

it is in the 9'o'clock when look face on at the drivers front wheel and can be easily seen as the first thing infront of you when looking through the back side of the wheel (sitting with the drivers door on your left) when the steering turned to full left lock.

 

[grober]

A new trackrod end costs £16+vat. Its a safety critical steering part. Why bother renewing a boot which involves dismantling the joint anyway without renewing the part? Doesn't make sense to me? Renew the track rod ends at both sides at the same time would be my advice.

 

[Number_Cruncher]

There is a boot kit for the track rod end - number 95 in the parts picture in the link (£3.07 each).

If there's any slop at all, or roughness in the ball joint, I agree, it's much better to replace it.

If after inspection, the ball joint is actually found to be tip-top, then, replacing just the boots avoids having to re-align the steering afterwards. With a good ball joint splitter, this boot replacement job is something that would only take 10 minutes for each side.

 

[Dieselman]

There is a boot kit for the track rod end - number 95 in the parts picture in the link (£3.07 each).

Thanks, Missed that.

 

[Number_Cruncher]

The way that Mercedes made these cars easy to work on, and the excellent parts availability are two things that I'm beginning to appreciate more and more.

Many years ago, I worked as a mechanic in a Vauxhall garage, and I remember being rather upset at being told by the partsman that my 6 year old mkI Astra was now needing so-called "obsolete" parts!

 

[tpv01]

A new trackrod end costs £16+vat. Its a safety critical steering part. Why bother renewing a boot which involves dismantling the joint anyway without renewing the part? Doesn't make sense to me? Renew the track rod ends at both sides at the same time would be my advice.

i havent got alot of time at the moment to spend on the car so even though changing the whole joint wouldnt take much more work, having to track it after tips the balance in favour on getting a new boot for now and putting the ball joint towards the top of the to-do list which also coincidentally contains getting the tracking done.

what are my chances of openning the ball joint without a splitter? do you need a splitter when replacing the whole joint or does it come ready together?

 

[Dieselman]

Whether changing the joint or not it makes no difference as to whether a splitter is required.
The splitter assists with parting the joint taper from the hub carrier.

A few good clout normally does the trick but a splitter is guarenteed and a more elegant soulution.

 

[bolide]

W124 track rod ends can be swines to free up & remove. One way to do it is to heat them up on the car. Another way is to take the whole link off (there's a TRE at each end) and remove the end with the link held in a vice

If it's done this way it's possible to count the turns as it's removed and then replace it nearly spot-on by winding the new one in the same number of turns

You'll still need to check the alignment, though, as it was probably wrong anyway...

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[Number_Cruncher]

>> what are my chances of openning the ball joint without a splitter?

Just buy yourself a splitter - they are only £20 or so. By doing the job yourself, you're already saving much more than this in garage labour costs (especially once they've added VAT to them).

By trying to do without the correct tool, you're making the job much more difficult than it needs to be. There's a name for people who inflict needless aggro and pain upon themselves!