W124 300te-24 ,airpump,water pump and fan?

[Drift202]

Hi, was wondering if i could get some advice,my car is a 1991 300te-24 sportline manual. My water pump is leaking, and while i am in there changing it i though it would be a good time to resolve some other issues. Firstly my viscous fan has been roaring away and is not working properly so i am going to lose it all together and run an electric fan. Undoing the clutch from the pulley doesnt seem to be easy. I am going to also lose the aircon pump, havnt really looked at this yet but i am guessing should be easy enough with a shorter belt. Also the air pump? not sure what this is even for, is noisy so ideally i would like to remove this too, what does it do? Any advice on any of these matters would be great. thanks

 

[jaymanek]

Its not the easiest of jobs... It was discussed just a day or two ago and I linked to a couple of sites that have the job instructions step by step.

There is a special holder to hold the fan pulley to allow the viscous coupling bolt to be undone... I made my own... Also a very large pair of plumbers grips held by an assistant also works fine.. but leaves teeth marks on the pulley so not the best.

The viscous fan works very well and I would advise against going electric... Just adds in unreliability.
Replace with either genuine MB or OEM brand such as Sachs. The cheap ones are to be avoided, they fall to bits covering your engine bay in goo.

The air pump can easily be removed, its just an emissions control thing and is pointless. Remove it and blank off the pipework that runs to the head.
You will need a shorter V Belt.

 

[Drift202]

is an quality electric fan going to be unreliable? The car is mainly for track use and i was thinking the less i have running off the engine the better. Also i like the control in being able to switch it on as is needed.

This special tool? is there anywhere i can get a picture? so i know what i am trying to make?

good to hear i can lose that noisy airpump

 

[chrisd87]

I recently replaced the fan clutch on my 190e 2.6 - the engine is slightly different as it's the M103 engine (as opposed to the M104 in your car), but I'm guessing the job is similar. Here's a link to the thread mentioned earlier. The biggest problem is the lack of space between the fan and the radiator, which makes the job very fiddly. As someone mentions on that thread, the job would be a lot easier if you removed the radiator, but obviously that makes more work overall. Locking the fan pulley in place is tricky - I just used an allen key rather than any special tool, and it seemed to work OK.

An electric fan is a possibility I suppose, but if you've gone to the trouble of removing the viscous fan clutch, you may as well replace it as you'd have done 9/10ths of the work anyway.

I'm also rather intrigued that you've bought an estate to use as a track car!

 

[Drift202]

I recently replaced the fan clutch on my 190e 2.6 - the engine is slightly different as it's the M103 engine (as opposed to the M104 in your car), but I'm guessing the job is similar. Here's a link to the thread mentioned earlier. The biggest problem is the lack of space between the fan and the radiator, which makes the job very fiddly. As someone mentions on that thread, the job would be a lot easier if you removed the radiator, but obviously that makes more work overall. Locking the fan pulley in place is tricky - I just used an allen key rather than any special tool, and it seemed to work OK.

An electric fan is a possibility I suppose, but if you've gone to the trouble of removing the viscous fan clutch, you may as well replace it as you'd have done 9/10ths of the work anyway.

I'm also rather intrigued that you've bought an estate to use as a track car!

I have the radiator and the aircon rad out, thought i may aswell as the aircon rad wont be going back in. I couldnt find anything in that thread other than saying the job was a pig? its late so i could of missed something.
I am sure its minor but always been lead to believe that viscous fans steal a bit of power, i will take every bit i can.
I didnt get the estate out of choice, at least i would of got any 124 shape 3.0 with a manual gearbox. I like the wagon, i have never seen a 24v sportline with a gertrag in england before. I have only just got it so got a lot to do it.

 

[Drift202]

Well.....I have removed air pump and air con pump and a lot of the air con piping today, and have been having a lot of fun trying to un-do the water pump. so far i have removed the power steering pump and the tensioner system and have been able to undo 3 of the 4 bolts, the two left hand and the lower right hand. I have taken them out, just cracked them off. the upper bolts are 13mm standard bolts and the lower 2 are 6mm hex keys. the right hand upper 13mm is proving very difficult as its under the inlet manifold and is at an upward angle making it very hard to get a nice seat on even with a wobble thing. This is not an easy job! Hopefully i will succeed in removing it tomorrow. The only other issue is still removing the clutch from the pulley for the fan, the center of the clutch had collapsed completely and it was spinning off center, not the best. Again hopefully i will sort this tomorrow. I will be needing a shorter serpantine belt, not sure how long tho. Also behind the air pump was a rubber tube connecting to something under the exhaust the was a bit floppy, i am guessing i just need to bung up that rubber tube to stop it drawing any air?

 

[Niks]

Ah so your the chap who bought that estate! Estates are the best to drift.. I've let the rear loose mine a few times around roundabouts.. fun!

I've removed the air con pump on mine too and will be ditching the viscous fan for a good proper Kenlowe electric fan too. You can calibrate to your own setting to kick in whenever you want.

 

[Drift202]

i was just going to have the fan on a switch, dont know how clever i was buying this car to be fair, I always knew it would have some issues having 268k on her, but i think i am going to end up rebuilding the whole car lol

 

[bolide]

My old 250TD used to drift nicely on a big roundabout. A big lift then back on the power…

Nick Froome

 

[Drift202]

i have a welded diff, so quick kick of the clutch and a bit of steering angle and she will slide anywhere

 

[Drift202]

ok, so it turned out 2 weeks ago when i was last working on the car i got a bit of crap in my eye and managed to scratch my cornea. very painful and has meant i have only just been able to go out and get stuck back in. I have managed to remove the water pump, I had to remove the whole tensioner system and the bracket thing that holds the tensioner and power steering pump. Turns out i think the water pump wasnt the problem, the short pipe that connects from just under the thermostat to the head had a split underneath it. I have bought a new pump anyway and got a new pipe, thought i may aswell change it all while its in pieces. Also with the help of a strap oil filter wrenchI have got the clutch off for the viscous. I bought a 16" electric fan that i have put on the outside of the rad as the aircon rad is'nt going back to give me as miuch room between the rad and the engine as possible. So tomorrow its going back together. if theres anything i should be taking into account it would be good to know, also i need to work out what length serpentine belt to use with the aircon and air pump missing.