My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320 aka The Benz

[87gtVIC]

May 28 I did an oil change and coolant flush.

143,500 on the ol'gal.

The 1.5 gallon of coolant I got out still looked clean and pretty blue (silly European coolant) so I dont feel too bad about not entierly draining the system. Just opened the radiators petcock and sucks whatever was left out from the expansion tank and I refilled the system with distilled water and new blue European coolant.


Changed the air filters out today. Two for the engine and one for the cabin air. I dont think those have been changed since 94k by me. Woops. lol just under 50k. they didnt look horrendous. EDIT. Found a receipt for the cabin air filter...did that last at 113,500....

Engine air filters:



Cabin filter:

[87gtVIC]

The drivers side mirror had started to leak?...lose its mojo this past winter. Swapped in a replacement this afternoon.

It is heated and dimming..something was not happy any longer.

[gadget73]

probably bonded glass and it started to de-laminate. The original rear view on my Towncar did that. The reflective coating goes away once it gets exposed to oxygen. Same mechanism as CD rot if you've ever seen that.

[packman]

These new-fangled gizmos! Just roll down the window and wipe the mirror with your finger(s) :p

[87gtVIC]

These new-fangled gizmos! Just roll down the window and wipe the mirror with your finger(s) :p

Yeah..Cars is 17 years old though...old tech nowadays.


Had a creaking sound for the past few months after the car was good and hot. Think it is narrowed down to the passengers side upper ball joint. Could manually bounce the car by pushing down on upper shock tower and rad core support when cold and hear nothing. Do the same after the car has been driving a good bit and then get an annoying metal on metal creaking sound. Stethoscope says upper ball joint and after taking it out it needed to be replaced regardless if it was causing the sound or not. It had up and down movement (not a ton but it did move) and the joint could easily be moved around with a single finger. 146,123 miles on it. Drivers side fared better but it got swapped out too. One nut holding the joint to the spindle and three bolts holding the assembly to the upper a-arm. Nice and easy job.

New joint Boxes:



p.side new joint installed:



d.side new and old:

[gadget73]

nice that they put a hex socket in there in case some dingus breaks the taper loose before getting the nut all the way off.

[sly]

nice that they put a hex socket in there in case some dingus breaks the taper loose before getting the nut all the way off.

or the shaft breaks free before the nut does.

[gadget73]

same situation. usually means it wasn't properly seated to begin with. The holding power of a properly fit taper is incredible. Slightly mismatched tapers OTOH, useless.

[87gtVIC]

Swapped out the rear diff fluid. 146k on it. Wanted to do it. Used and pretty thin but not horrendous. Makes me feel better. While under there I noticed that two exhaust hangers rusted off right by the rear diff. Put on some 2" clamps with hanger straps and bolted everything in and all is well again. Wanted to swap out the third brake light and the alternator voltage regulator but rain came in. Third brake light has a couple LEDS out and the voltage regulator is a wear item that needs replacing before I run low on charging. Will get to that in the future.

OH and for some strange reason both drivers side (worse) and passengers side wheel bearings were loose. Popped the wheels off and knocked the dust cap off and tightened it up a smidge to get the play out of it. Don't know how I did not notice last week doing the upper ball joints. Its a nut with a pinch bolt kinda deal. no cotter pin or anything and you tighten it similar to box panther wheel bearings.

[gadget73]

surprised thats not a sealed hub bearing assembly type of thing.

[87gtVIC]

Backside view of a front hub assembly:



And a view of the nut with pinch bolt:



and some from 2016 when the install was done:

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?50716-My-2004-Mercedes-Benz-E320-aka-The-Benz&p=787723&viewfull=1#post787723

[gadget73]

so is it taper roller bearings like old style box brakes?

[87gtVIC]

Yeah. Inner and outers.

[Hillbillycat]

Ha funny, you donīt see many of these Mercedes around here in Germany anymore. This generation seems to be gone already.

[Arquemann]

Ha funny, you donīt see many of these Mercedes around here in Germany anymore. This generation seems to be gone already.

And this gen is probably one of most common to see in Finland. The next gen and it's facelift models aren't as common somehow.
Folks are still importing W211s from Germany and Sweden. No def shit and good engines. Not as prone to rusting as W210s.
A rust free W210 is an urban legend / joke in Finland.