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I did not know this was an option. Any helpful links? It looked like there are a number of allen bolts holding the entire blade assembly on. you are saying you can remove one fan blade?
Sorry, you would have remove all fan bolts to shift the fan to the side. Might be enough to get idler pulley bolt out. If the fan clutch tool is available then removal of the fan clutch with blades attached is preferred.
A bit late to respond about trans fluid level, but I have a quick tip. With the pan drop/ filter replacement, fill with 4 quarts of fluid. Although I have a dipstick, I have done countless trans services (I used to work at an independent MB shop part time back in college) and so far 100% of the time, if you don't drain the torque convertor, it will be the correct fluid level.
A bit late to respond about trans fluid level, but I have a quick tip. With the pan drop/ filter replacement, fill with 4 quarts of fluid. Although I have a dipstick, I have done countless trans services (I used to work at an independent MB shop part time back in college) and so far 100% of the time, if you don't drain the torque convertor, it will be the correct fluid level.
Hey, that's a good quick tip. Do you know how much fluid is left in the torque converter?
2002 F-350, 1999 E55 AMG, AMG Orphans Club International Member #118
Seeing as how this thread wandered back to the transmission, this is what I found when I did mine. Fortunately, mine had a drain plug on the torque converter. In order to get the drain plug in the right position to remove and drain, I simply took a long bladed slot screwdriver (8" -10" blade), inserted it in the slot in the inspection cover, blade pointing towards the front of the vehicle. Once it is in, feel around until you find the teeth on the ring gear. Engage the blade and the teeth and pry so that the rotation is clockwise (as you look at the engine from the front). You don't have to jam it in place, and it is not hard to spin the t/c. There are three locations on the rotation that you feel resistance, not a lot, and you just have to work through them. Sooner or later the plug will show up (obviously less than one full turn of the t/c). If you aren't sure if you have a plug, mark the starting point with a felt pen or similar. If the mark shows up again, you will know for sure that you don't have a plug.
Quick update on this thread. I replaced the battery on the vehicle a few weeks ago (went with Advance Auto's AutoCraft brand - part # H8-AGM is an exact replacement for the OEM battery and used a coupon code to save $50 on the purchase) to get rid of the "BAS" light I was receiving on cold starts on very cold days (that would go away on subsequent hot starts). The battery did solve the issue, but I was not aware that the Becker radio would need to have its radio code re-entered after installing the new battery. Of course, the PO threw an owner's manual from an E430 into the glove box at some point (presumably because the original manual was long gone), so I didn't have the radio code.
The good news is you can call Mercedes Benz Customer Assistance at 800-367-6372 to get your radio code (assuming it is still the factory radio - if it isn't, you will need to pull the radio to get the S/N on the unit). BTW the customer service reps I have spoken with are some of the most pleasant customer service employees I have ever dealt with.
As an added bonus, the the customer service rep sent me the build sheet for my vehicle, which was awesome. See that below. He e-mailed it to me after I registered as the owner of the vehicle (requires name, address, and e-mail). Pretty cool!
The vibrations I mentioned earlier where due to a shot motor mount on the driver’s side. I should have taken pictures when I removed the old one but it was completely collapsed.
Be warned that our E55’s have three different styles of motor mounts depending on your chassis # (which is the last seven figures of your VIN), and I purchased the wrong mounts which has led to excessive engine movement and my mechanical radiator fan contacting the radiator over bumps going downhill and on hard stops.
Basically, here is what all W210 E55 owners need to know when buying motor mounts. Pasted below I have included the chassis number (which is the last six digits of your VIN), together with the correct Mercedes part number for the motor mount:
> Chassis #: below and up to A840001 – Mercedes Part #: 202-240-29-17
> Chassis #: A840002 through A962231 (instead of ‘A962231’ sometimes the part lookup states “through 6/1999” or June 1999, I guess to refer to the fact that this was the cut-off for this chassis style?) – Mercedes Part #: 202-240-44-17
> Chassis #: A962232 and up (instead of ‘A962232’ sometimes the part lookup states “from 6/1999”) – Mercedes Part #: 202-240-49-17
I went ahead and ordered Corteco branded motor mounts from Pelican Parts tonight with part # 202-240-44-17. What a PIA this has turned out to be.
I spoke to a rep from RMEuropean and from Mercedes of Chantilly about the nuances in parts, and neither of them knew what the difference in the part I installed was (for earlier chassis - part 202-240-29-17) and the newer part. However, they both affirmatively told me I had installed the wrong part.
I also confirmed by build-date by looking at the sticker in my driver's side door jam (April 1999) to be sure I didn't require the newerst style (part 202-240-49-17).
I will post up pictures of the differences in the motor mounts when I receive the new parts from Pelican and post up when I resolve my issues.
Another recent update. I finally bit the bullet and purchased all new rotors and pads for the E55, and replaced them this past Saturday. I had been experiencing shuddering when braking, particularly after the brakes were running hot from a long drive. While I didn’t want to admit it, the most likely culprit was warped/uneven rotors. This turned out to be the case. After I replaced my rotors and brake pads, the vibration is gone.
I did a considerable amount of research on what rotors to purchase. For those of you who might not be familiar, the E55 requires high-performance two-part rotors. Most forums I read people recommended going with the OEM/Mercedes rotors for about $275 a piece. I opted for Zimmerman Formula Z rotors, which are an OEM replacement, at $185 a piece roughly.
Be aware that the front right and left rotors have different part numbers, and are not interchangeable. I believe this is due to the design of the venting inside the rotor, that is angled in one direction only.
The good news is that while the rotors are expensive, all other parts (brake pads and rear rotors) are plebian and can be purchased almost anywhere.
Here is what my shopping cart looked like:
From Partsgeek.com:
> Zimmermann Brake Rotor - Front Right (Part # W0133-1598550) – Price: $188.33
> Zimmermann Brake Rotor - Front Left (Part # W0133-1598569) – Price: $187.33
Install was pretty straightforward if you have done brake jobs before. If you have never done a rear brake job on a Mercedes, just be aware that the design is slightly different than your typical disc brakes. You’ll need a punch to tap the pins that hold the clip (that then holds the pads) in place through the rotor. You can then use needle nose pliers to grab the brake pads and wiggle them out of (towards the rear of the vehicle) of the rotor.
Also regarding the rear rotors, they are double-pistoned, meaning you will need to compress both pistons. To do this, I opened the brake fluid reservoir under the hood to release pressure, used a c-clamp to compress one piston and then placed a shop clamp on that compressed piston to ensure it did not push out again as I compressed the other side with the c-clamp. This seemed to work just fine.
I was able to reuse all three of my brake wear sensors (one on each front pads, and one on the passenger side rear pads). I had to use an angle grinder in the slot on the front new brake pads in order to make the wear sensor fit into the groove designed to hold it. I find that on most Advance Auto brand brake pads the tolerances on the machining of the metal is never very good.
I will post back with updates as I get more driving time with these new brakes. I am still trying to figure out my motor mount situation which is why I haven't gone very hard on the brakes yet.
The Zimmerman rotors (pictured below) seem to be of good quality. Only time will tell.
FWIW, I cut into the fan to get the pulley off over a year ago and have had the engine at near redline plenty since then. No issues so far. That being said, I did cut a near equivalent amount away from the other side of the fan in the same location, for balance.
Another quick update in this thread. I have had a slow oil leak from my breather covers (typical for these engines), that recently went from a slow "seep", to a decent "spurt" of oil after driving that would leave about a six inch, expensive puddle of 0w-40 Mobil1 on my garage floor.
I won't walk you through it step-by-step, but a couple of tips:
> I didn't end up replacing any of my breather hoses, even though they likely could use replacement. If you are OCD, you'll likely want to order those hoses in advance of this job. Mine were not leaking.
> The KEY to this job is absolutely removing any traces of oil from the little ridge and valley lip that runs the length of the rim of the breather cover and the valve cover. If there is any trace of oil - it will leak again! Ask me how I know? I ended up doing this job twice because I wasn't patient and didn't take time to clean the oil and COMPLETELY DRY THE AREA USING A LINT FREE TOWEL AND BRAKE CLEANER. As soon as I drove the car after doing this the first time, the leak was still there. FYI - I did not apply brake cleaner directly to the valve cover or the breather cover, rather, I sprayed a bit onto a paper towel and used that to methodically clean the edges of the covers.
> I used Permatex Ultra Black out of a large 16 oz container, and my caulk gun. Made life very easy (as easy as applying caulk can be) to the breather covers. I can't imagine doing this with a tiny squeeze bottle - save yourself time and spend the extra money for the larger container built for a caulk gun. Some people recommend using only the MB brand sealant, but having worked on Jeeps with Permatex for years, I was comfortable with the Permatex product - never had issues with it.
> At my mileage, I was surprised to find that all of the little aluminum bolts (not the long bolts that thread deep down through the valve cover) were still in tact. YOU WILL SHEAR THESE BOLTS WHEN RE-INSTALLING THEM IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL. Ask me how I know. The good news is that they really are not very essential. MB actually replaced the aluminum bolts with a different metal in later years. I sheared two of my bolts. Since I had to re-do the job anyway, I extracted the bolts fairly easily after removing the breather covers again using a small set of locking-pliers, and didn't bother replacing. After installing the breather covers I put a dab of Permatex over the hole. It appears to be holding (i.e. no leaks).
This is a pretty quick job - just be patient and take your time - and make sure to remove all oil from the lip of the breather covers before applying the sealant!
Did my breather covers within the last year as I discovered a leak over a couple of plugs on my passenger bank. I went ahead and changed the plugs, valve gasket, breather hoses, cleaned MAF and cleaned the throttle body at that time as well. My breather hoses were brittle so I decided to replace everything plastic- hoses and connectors.
I completely part cleaned my valve and breather covers inside out. Made sure the tiny breather pin holes in the breather covers was cleaned out too as mine was clogged upon removal. The tedious part was also removing the old sealant from the channel completely which I used a plastic scraper. I like you used a caulk gun which simplified the task though chose the MB sealant which is basically Permatex. Cutting the sealant tip to the closest width of the channel helped. What I did however was to add an additional amount of sealant to the out side of the breather where it met the valve cover and scraped it like a bathtub to ensure a thorough seal. It also looked cleaner/professional when compete and ensured a single run.
I went ahead and replaced all bolts since they were cheap also the torque wrench by the book made sure the bolts were safe. They are really sensitive even with the new part no. so nerve racking when tightening. I snapped a valve cover bolt by hand tightening on another car one time and never bothered to extract the bolt so lesson learned.
Oddly on the driver side the breather cover right beneath where the breather hose comes from the engine I had deterioration and the magnesium cover is separating near the valve cover. I think this is where coolant travels? It was bulging/ opening up/separating. To prolong, I stuffed some sealant to plug the hole. I was not too worried as this was the top side where leakage is unlikely.
I agree with take your time. I marathoned the job time but it is dry as a bone and functioning as intended.
Did my breather covers within the last year as I discovered a leak over a couple of plugs on my passenger bank. I went ahead and changed the plugs, valve gasket, breather hoses, cleaned MAF and cleaned the throttle body at that time as well. My breather hoses were brittle so I decided to replace everything plastic- hoses and connectors.
I completely part cleaned my valve and breather covers inside out. Made sure the tiny breather pin holes in the breather covers was cleaned out too as mine was clogged upon removal. The tedious part was also removing the old sealant from the channel completely which I used a plastic scraper. I like you used a caulk gun which simplified the task though chose the MB sealant which is basically Permatex. Cutting the sealant tip to the closest width of the channel helped. What I did however was to add an additional amount of sealant to the out side of the breather where it met the valve cover and scraped it like a bathtub to ensure a thorough seal. It also looked cleaner/professional when compete and ensured a single run.
I went ahead and replaced all bolts since they were cheap also the torque wrench by the book made sure the bolts were safe. They are really sensitive even with the new part no. so nerve racking when tightening. I snapped a valve cover bolt by hand tightening on another car one time and never bothered to extract the bolt so lesson learned.
Oddly on the driver side the breather cover right beneath where the breather hose comes from the engine I had deterioration and the magnesium cover is separating near the valve cover. I think this is where coolant travels? It was bulging/ opening up/separating. To prolong, I stuffed some sealant to plug the hole. I was not too worried as this was the top side where leakage is unlikely.
I agree with take your time. I marathoned the job time but it is dry as a bone and functioning as intended.
Thanks for your input - I noticed those pinholes but didn't take the time to unclog them. Didn't think much about it, but I assume those are some type of pressure relief holes to let excess pressure escape? I guess it would probably be fine for me to clear them while the breathers are already installed with a small paper clip or something similar. I can't imagine any significant amount of old gasket would fall down into the breather reservoir area.
Quick update to this thread - after tracking down my fan rattle, I am ready to tackle removing the headliner and taking it to an upholsterer for replacement. I weighed my options and got quotes from a number of upholsterers ranging in the vicinity of $350 for the headliner and an additional $75 for the sunroof cover. If I bring them the headliner myself it will be about $200. Will keep this thread updated as I move out on that endeavor.
Additionally, I am planning to have my wheels professionally refinished. Anyone have experience with this? I only need three wheels done because not too long ago I swapped my spare OEM rim out of my trunk with the original monoblock on the passenger front wheel. I received a number of quotes: $400 for three wheels, or another shop was $215 per wheel, and the last quote was $99-$125 per wheel.
This sounds pretty about what I have expected. Any input on the pricing? Thanks!
It's been awhile since I have updated this thread as I haven't done too much work on the E55 recently. I guess I was sick and tired of the motor mount/fan rattle debacle from this summer and had other projects crop up.
I was looking to upgrade the rear tail lights but read the only real aftermarket options for us pre-facelift guys is buying a set of post-facelift tail lights or going with the aftermarket LED housings that you can find on eBay. The LED housings have received mixed reviews, with the most common complaint being that the LEDs don't have bright enough light output and can be difficult to see except when you are directly behind the vehicle.
After looking online, I found the LEDs for $110 shipped and couldn't pass up that price. I figured that I also have the DEPO front headlight projector assemblies and have been pleased with those (while others denounce them for poor light cut-off), so I guess my standards are lower than some .
When I received the box it had "Eagle Eyes" marked on the packaging and the housings, which I read is the preferable brand. Although it strikes me that they are all just made in China anyway.
Install is very easy if you are at all mechanically inclined and have a flashlight, 10mm socket, and socket extension.
I posted some pics below of the results. I would agree with others that say the light output is not the best, and that is only compounded by the fact that you don't really see the LEDs very well unless you are directly behind the vehicle. This doesn't bother me too much as from the perspective of a fellow driver following my vehicle, the lights are very visible. Additionally, the light output is on par with the stock tail light housings, with the one caveat being that in daylight I think the stock housings are easier to see (when the brake is applied, however, the light is clearly visible. It's just when the lights are in "running" mode it can be difficult to see during daylight).
The only thing I think I will do is use some red transparent vinyl to cover the clear parts of the tail light housings. You'll note my pic below comparing the old versus the new, and I really like the look of all red housings.
New versus old assembly:
Garage helper:
The lights are actually on in this pic but the brake is not applied (see what I mean about not as bright in daylight):
Old light is on the left in the below pic - LED light is on the right:
Just wanted to post a quick update that I am now receiving a "LAMP OUT" fault on my gauge cluster LED display, from what I can assume is triggered by the Eagle Eye lights. The first time I drove the car after the install (two complete cold starts), there was no fault. However, now the past several times I have driven the car I receive the fault immediately after switching the headlights on. I have already contacted the eBay seller for any recommendations on what it might be caused by. Otherwise I likely will return them. You get what you pay for I suppose
Just a separate update about keys. When I purchased the car I received two key fobs from the PO - one was the original all black fob, and one was a replacement fob (the more common Mercedes version these days that has the silver trim).
When I first started driving the car after purchase, I was using the new-style key, and maybe I am just misremembering this since it's been a while, but I believe I switched back to using the old style key as I was noticing intermittent unresponsiveness from the ignition when using the new style key. At the time, I was just happy to have two keys on this old car and since the old-style key was working I promptly forgot about it.
Flash forward to two weeks ago. I guess my key ring was bent just enough to allow my old-style key to slip off the key ring at some point along the way. Unfortunately I have no idea when it occurred - and after scouring all of the usual spots I determined the old-style key was utterly lost.
Not wanting to have only one key, I called up my local Mercedes dealer, Mercedes of Chantilly, and got a quote of $242 for the new key. Given that this was more or less on par with what I read online to expect, I placed the order for the new key and plan to pick it up tomorrow.
However, in the meantime the past two mornings I have noticed that when I go to start the car from a cold-start with the new-style key in my possession, it will start up but then stall out after running for about a second. On the second try of the ignition, it fires up and stays running. I read about this symptom online a bit and it appears it could be a number of things, including:
>K40 relay needs to be checked for solders/replaced
>bad solders on certain pins of the PCM (?)
>bad MAF
>bad CPS
>bad starter
>bad battery (my battery is brand new from this spring)
>potentially a key related issue
The only reason I think it could be key-related in my case is because this symptom only started after using the new-style key, and my recollection of troubles with the new-style key when I first bought the vehicle.
Have any of you had issues similar to this with additional keys?
Turns out I spoke too soon about the new LED Eagle Eye rear tail lights throwing a lamp out fault. Through process of elimination by connecting my OEM lights, I was able to determine the LED tail lights were not causing the code, but actually recently installed license plate lights. The license plate lights are LEDs with built-in resistors but I guess one of them failed quickly (light was on, but triggering fault code).
Check for your bellhousing port covers! No start issue resolved
Hey Guys - quick update in this thread - wanted to share a quick fix I found for what I otherwise thought was going to be a fairly involved issue.
Recently I had noticed that every 2-3 times I went to start my E55, the engine would turn over and run for about 1 second, before immediately dying. No hard start, no weird noises to report, just "Engine ON > Car dies". No error codes.
Apparently this is a somewhat common issue on the M112 and M113 engines when the teeth on the flywheel and starter bind due to lack of lubricant/corrosion. It took me a few days of searching on line to figure this out, but sure enough I looked under my engine and found that at some point in my E55's life (it now has 175K miles) the rubber covers that cover the access ports on the bellhousing had been removed/fallen out (who knows) and not replaced. Obviously I was not pleased with this as it can allow road debris, humidity, wet, to get into your bellhousing - NOT GOOD!
Here is a pic of where I am talking about (refer to the two blue arrows):
The fix to this problem is to lightly lubricate the flywheel. There is actually a a MB bulletin for this issue that involves removing the starter (which is a PIA on these cars) and lubricating the starter gears with a MB approved lubricant - I have attached the bulletin for reference. However, others have simply used anti-seize lubricant applied directly to the flywheel teeth through the port covers on the bell housing. Just don't go crazy with the anti-seize (i.e., you don't want globs of the stuff, just a light coating), and it will fix the problem!
So basically for a few cents of anti-seize I fixed a potentially aggravating phantom issue that could have costs me hundreds in diagnostics and labor at an indy or stealership. Thanks internet~!
And to ensure this issue doesn't come back, I purchased the MB rubber gaskets that were missing from my bellhousing. The part # is 163-271-00-80.
Hope this helps someone!
Here are some of my sources for learning about this issue:
Haven't posted in a while but recently did a small/easy mod that made a huge difference for me and wanted to share.
Since I bought my E55 I have been tracking down vibrations while at speed and idle. Resolved my idle vibration with new motor mounts, discussed elsewhere in this thread. However, up until yesterday I could not pinpoint what was causing an oscillation/vibration between certain speeds on acceleration.
I had read a thread about adjusting the OEM factory-installed shim that sits between the differential front mount and the differential a while back - this thread: http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/wheel...-issues-3.html but had ignored it. I finally got tired of the vibration, which was particularly bad around 40-55mph on acceleration, and finally thought to revisit this.
Well, I started by removing the factory installed 3 degree shim. This is what others in the above-linked thread had done to counteract the sagging of their sub-frame bushings as a stop-gap measure until new bushings were installed, and it seemed to help. Well, after a short test drive I realized I went the wrong direction, the vibrations were much much worse. Okay, so I actually had another thick metal washer, slightly thicker than the 3* shim - I would say it is likely 3.5*/4*, that just so happened to have the perfect hole size to allow the mounting bolt to slip through. I installed this new washer and I was extremely pleased to find that my vibrations are 90% improved!
Long story short, if you are experiencing vibrations tied to acceleration (think of your driveshaft - linked directly to acceleration), before replacing your entire front-end as many users suggest at the first sign of vibrations, try adjusting your differential shim. This DIY mod takes about 30 minutes and costs $0 (or the cost of several new washers/shims if you don't have something on hand like I did).
Here is a pic I swiped from the above-linked thread of where the shim is:
All you need to do is remove that 8MM HEX BOLT on the bottom of the mount (you'll need to use a socket or wrench to prevent the nut on the top from spinning, which can require a bit of contortion if you don't have the car on a lift), let the diff sag a bit down from the frame to leave enough space to remove the existing shim and swap in a new one.
03-06-2015, 12:10 PM
I ended up doing this job twice because I wasn't patient and didn't take time to clean the oil and COMPLETELY DRY THE AREA USING A LINT FREE TOWEL AND BRAKE CLEANER. As soon as I drove the car after doing this the first time, the leak was still there. FYI - I did not apply brake cleaner directly to the valve cover or the breather cover, rather, I sprayed a bit onto a paper towel and used that to methodically clean the edges of the covers.
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