No MB content because I have a head cold and put off the exhaust on the TE for another day, likely next weekend.
Had a growl in the Golf, and some play in the drive train on the driver's side, so got a replacement axle as the inner joint is known to go bad and cause vibration/growl worse at 50-60 and sometimes directional, but got a bearing kit just in case. Started in and got the axle out (which involves unbolting the carrier for the ball joint, the sway bar link, and six bolts on the axle flange plus the main axle nut) and found that indeed the wheel bearing was bad, not the axle. Too much slop in the differential, but no noise so I'll wait on whatever that issue is. Sadly, replacing the wheel bearing is exactly the same as a rear wheel bearing on a W124 (and my old Audi Fox from 40 years ago) -- big bearing pressed into the steering knuckle with the hub pressed in. First sideways event was that the end of the tie rod fitting was buggered and we could NOT get the nut off, so had to make a trip to FLAPS for a replacement tie rod end while my brother hacksawed the nut off the old one. My nephew works at AutoZone these days, so off we went, and he keyed in the wrong side, didn't figure that out until we got back, so by the time we made two trips we were done for the day, hot as blazes and I'm not feeling all that lively. Went back at it today -- First issue was that the ABS sensor was well and truely stuck and would not disconnect from the harness, banged and twisted and eventually got it free (plastic into cast iron, stuck like hell). Second problem was that after we got the hub pressed out we could NOT get anything to grab onto the race that stuck on the hub, so we had to split it to get it off, took 20 minutes of grinding, but it snapped easily and slid off. Getting it back together wasn't too bad, the tie rod end wasn't rusted horribly for once, and everything else went in pretty well. ABS faults, so had to buy a new sensor, will get that in when I get it, it's a three minute job once I get the old one off the harness, and we lucked out, the alignment appears to be better than it was to start with since it no longer drifts to the left all the time. Have to watch my speed, it's so quiet now I end up going much faster than I intended. Once I get replacement bolts and nuts and finish extracting the stub of the center muffler from the rear pipe I'll crawl under the TE with a grinder and get the rusted out center muffler off and re-install the exhaust. Will be great to have another quiet car. Plenty more work to do on it when it cools of a bit -- need a new regulator for the right rear window (the one I bought has the wrong wire ends on it), new vapor barriers in three doors, and a few screws to hold the armrest on since the hooks were broken off and it pulled free. Found one, glued it back together with some marine epoxy and stainless wire re-enforcements in the grooves, so the armrest will now stay in place. Some Goo-gone will probably remove the duct tape residue from when my mother taped it up. Then it's on to getting the gas struts for the lift gate replaced, figuring out why the lock system doesn't work (most likely a broken or mouse eaten line, the pump runs) and a wiring/resolder/KLIMA relay rebuild so I have AC compressor action again. I'd like to keep my current vehicles running for another four years, at which point I will retire and probably replace the Benzes with a small pickup for working my expanding apiary, I don't want to burn up a newer car with the 25,000 miles I drive to work every year! _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
