Ok, now I REALLY need the forums help Broken Water Pump

[ja17]

Hello,

The fan shroud  can be unbolted and moved onto the front of the engine so that the radiator can be slid out.  The radiator mounting holes are slotted so by loosening them, the radiator can be moved forward slightly also.

I like to use the box end of a good quality 10mm wrench to remove the viscous fan clutch bolts. Remove three, loosen the fourth and slide the viscous clutch off. If yours is the short water pump with the spacer and long fan clutch bolts you will have a bit more difficulty, since removal of the fan assembly will require a little more space and all the bolts will need to be installed and  removed at the same time.

[Witt]

..........ops......there is a fan shroud? Am I supposed to have one on my 1970 280SL North American version? Needles to say My car does not have one, but it does not seem to affect the coolant temperature....

CHEERS !
WITT !   

[mbzse]

.........a fan shroud? Am I supposed to have one on my 1970 280SL North American version?

As I understand it, a fan shroud was fitted to W113's that have an Air Condition unit installed.
At what point in time these were introduced, I am not sure about
/Hans in Sweden
.

[ja17]

Hello

There seems to be a lot of inconsistencies with the fan shroud issue. I know some USA cars that never had AC but do have fan shrouds? One of them is the original Dark blue with red int. 280SL of Bob F. (at PUB). 

[johnshenry]

My 69 never had AC but has the shroud.

FedEx confirms that the pump is on the truck, and I met with a young guy who runs a new shop in town and he will help me put it in.  Hopefully all goes well.  We plan to drop the rad out of the bottom for the job.

Does anyone know if the oil cooler is attached to the rad and has to come out with it?  Looks like it is.  I presume we just have to drain the cooler and disconnect the lines. 

[Naj ✝︎]

Yes, the oil cooler comes out with the rad.
Draining the oil cooler with the bottom hose removed should serve the purpose.

naj

[tuultyme]

It has been a few years ago now when I replaced my water pump.  I removed the fan and the pump without removing the radiator or even the hood.  Just took my time and used open end wrenches to unbolt the Fan.

[johnshenry]

Well I made it home.

I was VERY lucky to have found a shop run by a young guy who just opened up his own shop (after working at a residential shop for many years) and agreed to let me "help".  FedEx delivered the pump by 10:30am to my surprise.  We had the old pump out in about an hour.  About 2.5 more hours to carefully install the new one, and put everything back together.

Total cost of the adventure:

Pump $210  (I know know I probably didn't have to pay that much)
FedEx $95
Night in the hotel $129
Dinner, breakfast and lunch $60
Labor: $165
Tip for the shop owner: $40

My first real engine experience with my W113: Priceless.

What I learned:

Taking the radiator out of the bottom isn't really "easy" but probably still better then messing with the hood.

That shroud is a huge PIA.  I came real close to just leaving it off.  Trying to keep it out of the way while sliding the radiator back in from the bottom really sucked.

The oil cooler does not need to come out, the radiator slides along next to it and is secured to it by 2 carriage bolts.

Putting the fan/coupler back on the new pump is a real PIA.  Trying to place all 4 bolts in the fan flange, fit it up to the pulley and hope that the pulley, spacer and pump flange holes all line up is near impossible.  One idea I came up with was to put a rubber band around the bolts, just below the heads, but on the fan side of the flange to hole them there while you fit it up to the pulley/pump and get one of them started.  CLEAN the bolt threads well, spray some WD40 on the threads so they go in real easy.  That allows you to spin them in most of the way with your fingers.  Once you get them in, grab the rubber band with a pair of needlenose and just yank it off.

I was on the road at about 3pm, 186 miles home, the car ran VERY well.  Stopped and checked for leaks a couple times, temp stayed rock solid on 190 the whole time.  No leaks.

Here's a pic for ya:



Thanks for all the tips/support/help.  Hopefully this thread, like many others will help someone else....

[johnshenry]

Here's a video I made of the weekend adventure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWrgTciCMw0

[J. Huber]

Fun stuff (not the water pump but the video)... Your wife looks right at home in "her 280"... although I bet at some point about Sunday she was calling it "your 280!"...

Good lessons learned. I hate to bring up that we mentioned AAA on your pre-trip thread... but towing it would have made the adventure a lot less rewarding I think.

Still trying to figure out how you taped the driving footage -- did you hire an elf to stand on the bumper?

Glad you made it home safely -- Vermont is sure pretty.

[bpossel]

I believe that MB tows for "life", free.  They also supply a small amount of gas if you run out.  Of course, they would tow, flatbed to the nearest dealer.  But at least it's then in a safe place until you figure out what to do.
Bob 

[Louis]

Excellent video and your adventure is priceless. That's the bottom line !!

[mdsalemi]

Well done video.  I recall Tom Sargeant bought some kind of suction cup camera mount, looks like you got the same kind of thing.  Too much body torque at the beginning, I had to hold on the the arms of my chair.

Now you can redo a similar trip "in confidence" during the leaf peeper season, right?

[johnshenry]

Its a cheesy digital video camera and a $33 suction mount.  Not real stable, but it is fun thinking of places to stick it on the car.  And yes VT is very, very pretty.

Here's a video I did on an intra country Vintage VW trip in '09.  I love the "behind the wheels" shots going around the rotaries in those little German towns.  I drove a 1949 Beetle with cable brakes and bias ply tires over 500 miles in that weekend, between Belgium Germany and back again....

http://www.youtube.com/user/zackajaz#p/u/14/dZFSpNm-GH8

[Garry]

That is a great video, now I wish I had done something similar for my drive across the USA to the west coast coming back from PUB with Art last year.

[Witt]

........let's have a big hand for the "young mechanic that just started his own business". Reminds me on myself when I started out with my own  VW repair  shop: "The Bug Stops Here....!" Above and beyond the call of duty...

CHEERS !
WITT ! 

[reggie]

great video - i feel like rushing out to buy camera mounts etc - but living in the uk it would probably piss it down or snow - fantastic well done
Reg

[johnshenry]

........let's have a big hand for the "young mechanic that just started his own business". Reminds me on myself when I started out with my own  VW repair  shop: "The Bug Stops Here....!" Above and beyond the call of duty...

CHEERS !
WITT ! 

Yeah for sure.  Clyde Kaiser at Auto Diesel Service in Stowe VT.  Nice guy.  His "shop" although formerly a service station, was last used as a pizza joint, and the floor is black and white linoleum tile.  He brought in a new lift, parts washer, compressor, etc, build it from the ground up.  I was most fortunate to have found him.  We spent 4 hours and he charged me for only 3 (I tipped him well though).