Hi folks,
A couple of months ago, the wife informed me that her car, the 2000 S500, was making a strange noise. While I was outside working on one of the other cars, she pulled up. I heard something that sounded like a babbling brook in addition to the engine. So, I asked her to pop the hood, and it sounded like the fan. So, we watched it for a few minutes. Yep, the noise showed up when the fan would come on.
We shut down the engine and had a look. The fan was wobbling on its axis. Not good. Note that the fan motor was fine; this is the fan itself that was wobbling. Time for a new unit.
For this sort of thing, I believe in going new. That fan assembly served for 20 years, and it's going to be worn out by now. Pricing a Genuine-MB fan assembly, even with online discounts of 25-30% or so, we're still looking at over US $1,000. Ouch.
So, I went to FCPEuro and had a look. Turns out that Nissens, who I knew about for their radiators, also makes replacement fan assemblies for this car. It cost, with shipping, just a touch over US $500. So, given a $500 savings, I figured, what the heck, let's try it. Their radiators seem to be pretty good, so hopefully the fan assemblies are as well.
It arrived. Looks like it's pretty solidly built. Got it installed in the car. It does sound a little different from the factory part. But it's still pretty quiet. We'll see how well it does over time, but so far, the wife is happy. I'll keep the electric motor from the original assembly, since it seems to be fine.
A couple of months ago, the wife informed me that her car, the 2000 S500, was making a strange noise. While I was outside working on one of the other cars, she pulled up. I heard something that sounded like a babbling brook in addition to the engine. So, I asked her to pop the hood, and it sounded like the fan. So, we watched it for a few minutes. Yep, the noise showed up when the fan would come on.
We shut down the engine and had a look. The fan was wobbling on its axis. Not good. Note that the fan motor was fine; this is the fan itself that was wobbling. Time for a new unit.
For this sort of thing, I believe in going new. That fan assembly served for 20 years, and it's going to be worn out by now. Pricing a Genuine-MB fan assembly, even with online discounts of 25-30% or so, we're still looking at over US $1,000. Ouch.
So, I went to FCPEuro and had a look. Turns out that Nissens, who I knew about for their radiators, also makes replacement fan assemblies for this car. It cost, with shipping, just a touch over US $500. So, given a $500 savings, I figured, what the heck, let's try it. Their radiators seem to be pretty good, so hopefully the fan assemblies are as well.
It arrived. Looks like it's pretty solidly built. Got it installed in the car. It does sound a little different from the factory part. But it's still pretty quiet. We'll see how well it does over time, but so far, the wife is happy. I'll keep the electric motor from the original assembly, since it seems to be fine.
