Sounds like fun. I hate it when things don't line up *quite* right
--FT On 6/8/19 7:57 AM, Daniel Penoff via Mercedes wrote:
Been putting this one off for a long time, like since January. It’s the wife’s car, I never drive it, so out of sight out of mind, sort of. However, it’s been nagging at me with all the time I’ve been spending on the ML, so last night around 7:00 I decided I would tear into it. If you’ve ever done mounts on an M119 engine in any chassis, you know that the driver's side is usually the worst side to do, as there’s typically lots of plumbing to deal with like the AC and power steering lines. Mercedes even has a special spanner made to get to the top bolt on the mounts because it’s so tight. Don’t attempt this job without one - they’re under $20 and money well spent. I usually start with the passenger side mount as a confidence builder, as it’s usually in and out in short order. Not on this car. The passenger side mount was a total pig to remove. I got all the fasteners out without an issue, but getting the mount out of the engine compartment was another story. I ended up having to unscrew the oil pressure sender to get enough clearance to get the old mount out and new one in through this area. Messy. Very messy. So the passenger side is done. Expecting the worst, I start in on the driver’s side. Fasteners come loose without a lot of effort, this is good. Lots of plumbing, but the return line for the PS is the only thing really making it tough, and it’s soft and pliable enough I can squeeze and push to get the mount clear to remove/install. Nice. Then the top bolt starts to cross thread. Grrr. Pull the mount, clean the threads in the mount (OK, no damage) and on the bolt (threads are slightly buggered, have to hit them with a file to clean them up.) Rinse, repeat. Again. Pull mount, clean up threads. After the third time I’m ready to call it a night and head to the Ace Hardware in the morning for a new bolt. One last try and it goes! Huzzah! And now to get the small bolts on the bottom in place. Front one goes in, no problem. Back one doesn’t line up. Grrr. Move things around as best I can, no joy. Still off just enough that I can’t get the bolt started. Multiple tries pressing and moving things, no deal. It’s now almost 11:00 pm. I call it a night. I’m getting ready to head back out and tackle that last bolt. I still have a transmission mount to do, but (hopefully) they’re rarely an issue, so it should go well. And then I’ll be done with this beast. And it definitely needed mounts. The old ones were completely collapsed, but I knew this as you could feel the engine and drivetrain vibrations in the cabin. After this it's back to some much needed low impact work on the Finnie. -D _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
-- --FT _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
