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Another DIY intercooler pump guide (without deleted pictures)
Just replaced my intercooler pump so I thought I would do a writeup. Yes there are dozens of them but very few still have working pictures. Hopefully that is a thing of the past now that images can be uploaded directly to the forum. This is directed at people who have done little work on their E55 before. This is to replace the stock pump with a new oem bosch pump. If you have an aftermarket one then you will need to splice the two wires and mount it somehow.
First press this magic button on the left to raise the car up. I love the airmatic, it makes working under the car so much easier (of course I have yet to experience an airmatic failure).
You need to find 8 of these bolts that are holding the black plastic front engine pan under car. Four are easy to find under the car orientated vertically upwards. They take an 8mm socket.
The other four (two each side) are in the wheel wells, easy to reach with the car raised. Massage the plastic cover/pan out of there. I found that this is one of the more annoying ones to remove of the cars I have worked on.
The pump you are replacing. I found it easiest to undo this 10mm nut first so the pump can be wriggled around to get to the hoses. This is all that holds the pump to the frame. Undo the electrical clip at the back of the pump and the vacuum hose.
Next I found this the easiest hose to undo. Coolant will drain everywhere so get ready to catch it. I planned to change the coolant. If you don't want to do this then put some hose pinching pliers on further up.
Next is the hard to access hose vertically facing. It is easiest to pull the pump downwards since this is the only thing holding it in the car. You will have more room do undo the hose clip. I hate these clips but I am guessing if I had the proper tool I would find them awesome.
Mess time. Wait while the car evacuates itself.
New updated “010” Bosch pump. I got mine from fcpeuro.com but either them or pelican parts and you can't go wrong. I try to never buy parts from ebay any longer as I never trust what I am getting with reports of counterfeit items.
Slide this rubber boot and metal bracket off the old pump. I needed a large screwdriver to gently pry it downwards but it came off fairly easily. Take note of the orientation as it will need to be approximately the same when put on the new pump. The O hole in the metal mount should roughly align with the metal slit along the metal housing of the pump.
Original looking pump. Definitely pre-update looking at the 003 part number. Might be original (I only have 40,000km). No idea how well it works. I just thought it should be updated regardless.
The newer pump doesn't need the same vacuum line (no idea what it was for). But they have kindly supplied this ***** thing to take care of that for you.
New vs old.
Reverse the procedure. As before it is easiest to do the verticle hose first.
I used about 2.3L of mercedes coolant and about the same volume of distilled water. My dealer sells coolant in 1.5L bottles. You guys in the US will have much better availability and prices. Only use OEM coolant.
Now we need to bleed the air out. This cap needs to be removed, preferably before refilling with coolant.
Run a clear hose to the radiator tank with the cap off.
This allows coolant to circulate through the system with air being dumped through this hose and back into the tank with coolant until the air is all out of the system. I taped the hose in place in case it moved and coolant went everywhere. 1” into the tank is sufficient.
You need the intercooler pump to run for the bleeding procedure. There are many opinions on how hot the car needs to be to engage the pump, whether drive or park is sufficient, whether you need to drive and reach boost first etc. Some even try and run power directly to the pump itself with those tiny pins. I found a post where someone just jumped the relay in the rear SAM. Couldn't be easier and you can do this entire replacement and bleed process on a cold car. In the trunk (left side for my market), take off the cover to expose the fuse box. Remove the black 20A relay in the lower right from position “A”.
You will need a jumper cable. I made one. I got a standard 10A fuse (any amperage will do, just needs regular sized prongs) and cut it in half. I remove the plastic and got the two prongs, found a spare bit of thick wire, wrapped it around and secured with electrical tape.
Worked perfectly. You do not need the fob in the ignition or the car running at all. Put the cable in the two right verticle slots. Pump is now going!
Clamp off the lower large black return line. This forces most of the coolant through your clear hose instead of returning to the intercooler pump/heat exchanger. It doesn't need to be 100% blocked, just enough to direct enough coolant through the clear hose. You can even do it with your fingers but I bled the system for 4-5 minutes. If you use your fingers you can feel the air bubbles going through the black hose before they are eliminated entirely.
Check the coolant level as it will drop 1” or so as the air is removed. Continue until all air is removed and take your clear hose off, replace the black cap with clamp, check coolant level again and put the cap back on the tank. Remove the jumper cable, replace relay and apply boost.
The one thing i'd add to this is to turn on your heater. This should open the valve that runs to the heater core under the dash as there is fluid in there too.
The one thing i'd add to this is to turn on your heater. This should open the valve that runs to the heater core under the dash as there is fluid in there too.
I didn't drain any of the coolant in the engine or radiator but yes that would be correct if doing a full coolant change at the same time. I realize the two systems mix and I will do a full change later down the road with an upgraded heat exchanger. It just didn't feel right to put that small amount of used coolant back.
Thanks. It is definitely the easiest way I think. Otherwise you can try and jump the pins on the pump but they are tiny. Or some people find it comes on after making some boost in park or warming the car up first.
completed the i/c pump replacement a few weeks ago and this thread in conjunction with the DIY video by amgeister on youtube were a great help. there were a few times where i wasted some time that hopefully can be of help to anyone else who wants to tackle this diy:
1. use vice grips on the hose clamps and slide the clamp up the hose once loosened. makes it much easier to pull the hose off. I fiddled around trying to get the clamp loose with just a pair of needle nose pliers in one hand while trying to get the hose off with the other for way too long
2. getting the electrical connection disconnected while the pump is still bolted to the frame is damn near impossible. This diy has it right - once unbolted it makes snapping that thing off simple. amgeister kept the pump connected to the frame in his video
for those of you who were not doing a full fluid change at the time, how much coolant did you lose? i was worried about clamping the hoses too tightly and damaging them and i probably lost 20-25oz. i purchased more coolant along with my pump so it wasn't a big deal but it was a little unnerving as the hoses kept leaking. is that normal?
also - the old pedal to the metal trick kicked on my pump and worked perfectly to bleed the air out. just be sure to pinch the lower hose while doing this or else you won't get much action.
People go through a significant amount of air bubble gymnastics to bleed a system that self bleeds in ten minutes. I drained my entire car --- low pressure, and radiator, and heating system --- and within 10 minutes of self bleeding it never dropped again.
The jumper works just fine I know a lot of guys do not have access or money for a star system. Us lowly grease monkeys have been building and modifying our own cars for decades an no need to spend money that you dont have on a tool you may use once in a blue moon like a vacuum coolant pump. If u can afford a star they are great and come in handy but the jumper wire works perfect. Unless you cant insert something properly in a hole well then u got bigger problems than your car 😉
So you say lower, and the DIY also says lower...but the pic looks as if its the upper (the same line that has the bleeder) that's pinched off …?
The bleeder hose, but the portion of the hose.... below(lower) than the bleeder is where you pinch. Water is leaving the SC, if you pinch above the bleeder you just block off all flow.
The bleeder hose, but the portion of the hose.... below(lower) than the bleeder is where you pinch. Water is leaving the SC, if you pinch above the bleeder you just block off all flow.
Ah I see...thank you
well anyway, above the bleeder is metal, so how would you would pinch it there?...
There is another rubber hose on the upper side of that metal under the SC that connects the SC outlet to the metal portion with the bleed... I dont even know if you can reach it to try to pinch anyways though
Lol and to get my pump started I just plumbed the wire to the res from bleeder nipple, started the car, smashed the car 20m down the road and back, popped the hood and clamped the hose...no need for pricey star here..
People go through a significant amount of air bubble gymnastics to bleed a system that self bleeds in ten minutes. I drained my entire car --- low pressure, and radiator, and heating system --- and within 10 minutes of self bleeding it never dropped again.
Can you please back up your claim that the E55 is self bleeding. As I said above, other AMG models have a bleed hose for the intercooler as stock. I believe the E55 is different.
Can you please back up your claim that the E55 is self bleeding. As I said above, other AMG models have a bleed hose for the intercooler as stock. I believe the E55 is different.
the e55 has a closed system as soon as the pump goes on. So it's not self bleeding from what I have heard.
the e55 has a closed system as soon as the pump goes on. So it's not self bleeding from what I have heard.
I bled my pump for about 10-15 minutes I just let the pump run with the overflow hose to the radiator bottle. Still had some very, very small bubbles and called it quits.
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