I was talking to a friend the other day about my experience working on
the PSpump on the truck (which still does not have the pulley repressed,
I am going shortly to get a "proper: tool as my 3/8" bolt sheared off)
and contrasted it to working on the Benzes. While some Benz jobs are
somewhat involved, they are usually straightforward and not too
difficult to do. And they are documented. And they require maybe 3
wrenches/sockets. The Hun actually think through these things (or used
to, I guess) and expect(ed) their cars to last, and to be maintained in
remote areas. Whatever the reasons, it is almost a pleasure working on
the Benzes compared to the idiocy involved in a Gummint Motors product.
--FT
On 5/20/17 8:27 AM, Meade Dillon via Mercedes wrote:
Dan, I haven't heard of that, but it sounds pretty awful, installing a
starter (that will fail several times over the life of the car) in a hot
place to shorten its life. Maybe they are so disposable that it doesn't
matter?
Curley - I suspect this is the way of most car makers now. How long should
a rack and pinion steering gear last? In the 90's I had a Honda at about
106k miles and the steering rack was clunking. This gussied-up Nissan is
over 220k miles now. Neither of my MB's with 370k plus miles needs a new
steering box, but on The White Whale the play is annoying. Not dangerous,
no imminent danger of complete failure like this steering rack, just
annoying.
Here's an example of how poorly written the service manual is for this
car. Prior to removing the steering rack, one is supposed to remove the
ARB (Anti-Roll Bar) and the rear center motor mount, AND remove the
steering wheel and the clock-spring for the airbag from the steering column.
Max's method: Tie the steering wheel in place so it won't accidentally
turn more than 2.5 turns in either direction (the FSM offers that caution
as justification for removing air bag, steering wheel, and clock-spring).
I did end up removing the ARB, no way around that one. It is simply too
tight between the engine and firewall.
I removed one steel hydraulic line from the steering gear, instead of
removing the engine mount, which really means removing the exhaust system
first because that completely blocks access to the mount and prevents
moving it anyway even if you could remove the nuts/bolts securing it. One
line (two fittings), instead of an exhaust system and a motor mount and
rigging support for the motor while that mount was out.
Clearly, this service manual was written by people who did not actually
perform this procedure on a real car, starting from a fully assembled
version.
-------------
Max
Charleston SC
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--
--FT
Winston Churchill:
“Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or
petty,
never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.
Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the
enemy.”
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