mbgator

Happy Monday all! Hope you had a spectacular weekend. I have an 08, CLK550 with just at 150k. Codes indicate I need to replace my camshaft position sensors (according to my dealership) I bought a set of 4 from Pelican and ready to replace. The two on the passenger side head are easily accessible and will be a snap to replace. But - on the drivers side cylinder head, it appears that a coolant line (hard line, not flex) will need to be removed.

Is there another way, shortcut, magic trick that may work, or am I also in for a coolant flush when I do this?

As always I appreciate all the assistance received here.

Thanks!

Kelvin Bellrose

I managed to replace all 4 without removing anything. It is a real pain, but doable. Use a box end wrench, and the solenoid has to be rotated and manipulated but it does have about half a mm of clearance.
It took me an hour at least to get the one out. Just take your time.

Rudeney

Are these the sensors or the solenoids you are replacing? The sensors are easy to access, but much more expensive. The solenoids are easy to replace, but as you found, the right bank is blocked by the top cooling hose and the oil cooler. I have heard that some members have been able to replace theirs without removing the oil cooler, but I was not. I could remove the bolts, but the solenoid could not be manipulated from behind the oil cooler. I did also remove that top metal cooling hose as it made the job easier. It might take an extra 30 minutes to drain a bit of coolant and remove these parts, but it's all easy wrenching. I would suggest replacing the gaskets. They will might be OK if you don't, but it's always a good idea to prevent leaks. Also, the oil cooler gaskets have been known to fail and allow coolant and oil to mix, mimicking head gasket failure.

Fatz

You might want to check that the driver side ones need replacing. I think it is the intake one on the driver side that is a real pain. I was going to change all 4 but someone had partially stripped one of the bolts holding that coolant elbow. So I replaced only three. The codes I was getting were for the exhaust and I found in my records that the difficult one had been changed by my indy at around 60K miles, so I left it for another day; and a code. The indy was probably who partially stripped the elbow bolt.