Genuine Repair Parts are Your Mercedes’ Best Friends
Don’t buy the cheapest part available to complete a repair.
Last year, MBWorld had a write-up DIY article for repairing and replacing the waterpump on your standard non-AMG M112 V6 engine. It’s a motor found in a number of Mercedes vehicles, so the step by step process would serve as a useful guide to many. The author made clear it was especially useful to point out the easy mistakes that could be made along the way. It was a warning so you wouldn’t repeat any of those follies. Except one mistake crept up a year and a half later.
The repair was done with the cheapest water pump available.
Instead of going to a place like FCP Euro, a budget had been made when shopping around for a water pump. So long as it fit, it would replace the ailing original water pump and the step by step process would be complete for repair. However, after about 14 months, the pump started to show signs of a leak. In an attempt to fix simple problems first, the hoses were removed, cleaned and replaced. This didn’t work, because the problem was with the internal pump seals.
As such, the pump’s weep hole was leaking inside of the pulley, which then flung coolant everywhere when the car was running, creating a nice crusty white mess. In short, don’t waste time chasing down a leak that could have been prevented with an OEM or OE quality pump. With no extended warranty and a vendor that wouldn’t stand behind their product, luck had run out.
A smarter method would have been to purchase an OEM or OE Quality replacement water pump from FCP Euro. Since they carry the same kinds of water pumps at the dealership, and also carry the brands that supply Mercedes with water pumps, you’re guaranteed a quality item. And they stand behind their products with their lifetime replacement guarantee. As a DIY’er, that’s nice to know that you won’t have to replace another water pump after 16 months.
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