w123 280ce auto starter motor

[Llewelyn]

seeing as there may be a problem* with my starter motor on the 280CE I got hold off another one (allegedly recon) off the internets for a good price.

So, today, as for once it's dry I thought I'd have a go at fitting it. And got precisely nowhere. Has anyone ever succeeded in removing the starter from a 280CE auto? I did actually succeed in modifying a 10mm allen key to fit the top bolt and I even got the modified key *in* the socket, however the bolt is sufficiently tight that the key broke rather than loosening it. There is no way I can see of accessing that bolt with any normal tool, short of cutting an access hole in the bulkhead, which is kind of drastic - however the other option, which would seem to be "remove the engine and gearbox" doesn't look attractive either.

any thoughts would be welcome

* intermittently it turns over very slowly, as in so slowly that the engine doesn't start. Generally, so far, it then behaves and works properly. However being an auto, one day it will stop working and then the car won't go, seeing as I assume it isn't the clever kind of auto that can be tow-started - the only 2 of those I know of are the AP unit fitted to the minis and the BW35 as fitted to older rovers, fords and such which had a rear oil pump driven from the output shaft.

 

[Ted]

Before starting all that malarkey, put a decent voltmeter between the starter main terminal and starter body.
If the voltage is less that about 10 whilst cranking your problem is prolly elsewhere.

If your allen key broke then either it's crap, or the leverage you put on it was too much

 

[jaymanek]

If its turning slow I would be looking at wiring and or battery.

 

[Llewelyn]

hmmm yeah I'll try the voltages. And the allen key broke 'cos I heated it to alter the shape, so it was incorrectly tempered. However it took quite a lot of force to break it, and the bolt didn't shift. The battery is good but the wiring may be iffy.

question still remains, though, it looks to me that it's impossible to get that bolt undone with the engine in the car. It's not possible to get a standard allen key on it, hence my modified one - had the bolt not been seriously tight/stuck that would *just* have done the job, I think.

Being an auto makes it slightly harder as the fill/dip tube is in the way as well. But there is seriously no access to the bolt with any normal tool.

The particularly silly thing is that it doesn't actually need an allen head bolt in that place, if it was a normal hex head it might be possible with a spanner.

 

[jaymanek]

Are you sure its not accessible with a wobbly attachment on a half inch allen socket?

Mercedes didnt have design flaws when the W123 was invented.

 

[Llewelyn]

Hmmm. Well so far percussive maintenance has made the starter work OK again. It might just be possible to access the offending bolt from underneath the car with some wild combination of extensions and stuff, using a socket-type allen key, but I wouldn't bet.

 

[Bellow]

If you can tap the bolt head around with a cold cut - you might loosen it enough for it to be removed by Allen key. I have no idea if there's access enough for a hammer and cold cut though.
(The 'shock' helps greatly in breaking free a tight bolt).

 

[grumpyoldgit]

Is it a torx headed bolt?

Could you access it easier if you lowered the back of the gearbox a tad?