This crud is on the front of the radiator, but behind the AC condenser, right?? Where you can't see it, and you really can't blow it out!? I have been advocating the pulling of the radiator every 6 to 8 years, especially you guys that drive where the bugs live, and the deer and the antelope play(open fields,etc).
Jim in Phoenix It's always something. This does give us a chance to get the radiator cleaned, though. Packed full of crap and oil, I'm surprised it didnt' overheat! -----Original Message----- From: Peter Frederick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com> Sent: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 10:51 pm Subject: [MBZ] Today's OM 603 adventure My brother's SDL has had a persistant vibration at idle for quite a while. We've replaced the belt tensioner and belt (big improvement, since the belt got oil soaked during a previous adventure involving the chain tensioner), but it still thumps away. I asked him if he'd checked the crank pulley, since when that comes loose the harmonic balancer does too (it's held on by the six pulley bolts) and I didn't want his wife to beat the font cover in. He checked, but said when he shoved on the balancer, it felt like it moved, and the idle got better for a while. So he decided that he needed a new balancer, and a new crankshaft front seal since the old one was obviously leaking (oily balancer and drenched alternator). He got the parts from our friend the semi-retired German Indy, and we tore it apart this afternoon. First bit of fun was the lack of the ring gear locking tool, which Hans doesn't have (none of his customers drives an SDL anymore). The crank flange bolt is torqued to 320 Nm, needless to say you aren't going to get it loose without holding the crank somehow. We improvised -- since he's got a new balancer anyway, and the rubber on the old one is VERY soft (the source of his vibration, I'm fairly certain), we just welded a piece of angle iron to it so that it hit the floor after the old balancer was bolted back in place. I figured the very worst that would happen is that we'd tear the rubber off and have to weld the angle iron to the remaining part. Bolt came right out with the help of a length of square tubing. The flange came out easily with the help of a gear puller, and so did the seal. Big old slot worn in the seal surface, seal was rock hard after 250,000 miles. Oil everywhere, as you would expect. Went to put the new seal in, and haha, wrong part. Listed as correct on the receipt, but it appears to be the one for an M117, not the 603! No way it's gonna fit -- inside is correct, but the outer diameter is 15mm to large. A search of all the local parts stores resulted in "we can get it for you Monday afternoon" -- no one stocks that size, its' right between a couple common ones (45mm inside, 67 mm outside, common sizes are 65 and 68 mm outside.....) So the car is sitting partially dismanteled until we get the part on Tuesday (the Benz remplacement seal is offset a couple mm back to sit on a fresh part of the flange seal surface. It's always something. This does give us a chance to get the radiator cleaned, though. Packed full of crap and oil, I'm surprised it didnt' overheat! Peter _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
