It appears that my Auxiliary Water Pump is leaking.





From what I can see, the coolant is leaking from the body of the pump rather than one of the hose connections.

Here are my questions:

1. The genuine Mercedes part (2038350164) is about $200 from on-line sellers. Does anyone know of a good quality aftermarket part?
2. Does anyone know whether this is a common failure item? (I haven't found many other threads indicating that other board members have had this problem.) I should be able to find a used pump from a parts car with about 140,000 miles on it that I have been scavenging. If they all fail around 150,000 miles, I will likely prefer to just buy a new part.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or feedback.

 

Maybe throw this one in?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/03-09-MERCE...QAAOSwhBNdkg2A

or this one?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-W2....c100930.m5375

Your pump looks a lot like what my headlamp washer pump looked like when it failed!

Sorry about the failure...this w203 is lucky to have you!

Check that overflow pipe into the engine...those little plastic adapters seem to be known to fail...

 

Thanks for pointing those out.

I decided to buy the second one you linked rather than scavenge from the parts car I’ve been using. The Ebay part is from a car that is 3 years newer.

There is also a convenience factor. The parts car is about 40 miles from where I live, but only about 7 from where I work. Unless I make a special trip on the weekend, I must pull parts after work. With the onset of winter it almost dark when I leave, so I would be working by flashlight in a muddy yard.

 

The eBay part arrived on Thursday, but there was a glitch:


eBay part (top) had two hose fittings, the one on the car had three. I've already contacted the seller to request a refund.

Although the eBay part was listed as the correct part for a 2005 C230 sedan, it was missing one of the needed hose fittings. I picked up the correct part after work from the car I've been scavenging since the summer. The seller was helpful and agreed to remove the part for me. (It saved me the trouble of removing it from the car in the dark on a rainy evening while wearing a dress shirt and a tie.)

I thought I might run into some difficulty removing the hoses from the pump since they have been on the car for 15 years. That was not the case and this turned out to be the rare job that was as easy as it looked. (Usually Mercedes hides a fastener or connector in an odd or awkward to access place. I guess they had run out of creative ways to thwart the DIYer.) The only tip I can offer is to reinstall the bottom hose first, but I think most people will figure that out. It did help to have the correct tool to remove the clamps:


Fortunately, I had purchased this tool for a previous job.

I'll drive it tomorrow and check for leaks, but for now this looks like the job is done.

 

I literally am having the same problem, I'm trying to find the correct part off fcp euro but I can not, I'm looking at aftermarket options please update when you find a solution

 

I see that you have a C55. Your 8-cylinder engine may use a different part than the little 4-cylinder motor in my C230. I was able to find the part I needed on a car I had been scavenging for parts. That may be more difficult for you since the C55 is a relatively rare car. However, I believe the same engine was used in other models and you may be able to find the part on one of those cars. You may want to develop a list of the cars that used the engine in your car and see if you can find any in a salvage yard in your area.

If you use eBay as a source, please note the problem I had with a mismatched part. I suggest that you look at your pump from all angles and verify that the one you buy has the exact configuration as the one in your car.

Good luck.

 

That is correct, I have the pump with the 3 outlets so I'm not sure if it's different but I might just go to the dealer to get it, thank you for your help.

 

also I was wondering have you exchanged your coolant for the mercedes blue or have kept the green I have the green now and was told to change it.