My Mercedes, C Class W201

[devils_smile]

This is an older stock item listed as New Old Stock. The click feel is exactly the same as the original.

And yes, threadlock on the main screw and torqued it. And a small blob made it on the 3 screws holding the stalk in place

[Xulfiqar]

That satisfying mechanical click of the indicator stalk is a very important part of the driving feel of a good car.

[devils_smile]

New Coolant Expansion Tank + Glysatine G48 Coolant

Got some work done today. Swapped the new Mahle Behr Coolant Reservoir. Included was the new Mahle coolant sensor, cap, screw + new mounting grommet. The old one had seen better days + it developed a small leak recently so it went in the bin. Also ordered a new washer fluid reservoir now since it wasn't in stock when I was ordering all this stuff

Removed all hoses including the heater core and engine block drain. Filled up the system with distilled water, ran it for 10 mins, flushed everything out again. Filled the engine first from the top hose with Glysatine G48 (2L) and distilled water until the coolant started coming out of the top radiator pipe. Put back the hose and Filled up the Reservoir.

[devils_smile]

I was also facing an issue with the oil level sender unit due to the fact that there was a small oil leak. I ordered the seals for it and simply swapped them and put everything back together. Also cleaned the gung of the oil pan for a clean install

The correct parts come in pairs from MB for both the big and the small seals

The old ring on the left vs the new ring on the right. Explains the oil leak

[devils_smile]

New Hirschmann Radio Antenna

Installing the Hirschmann radio antenna. Apologies for the dust covered car. Been working on it for the whole week and never put the covers on it. But here it is, out goes the generic universal antenna and in goes the Hirschmann.

I also had to remove the old wiring for a cleaner install. Installed the new wall grommets and zip tied all the wires. The new wires were soldered for a perfect finish with heat shrinks

A look at the old wiring. Going to get rid of this and get the original wiring sorted out

The new Hirschmann antenna sits nice and flush. The old unit had an outside module that didn't fit in the space and the antenna always had a bit of a weird angle. The wiring also comes with the correct grommet for the wall where radio antenna and wiring pass through

Checking the angle with the hood open

Test fitting the wires to see the functions. Had to cut off a lot of the old wiring and install the new wires properly, soldered along with heat shrinks for a cleaner install. These also included the speaker wires and power remote wires to the bluapunkt radio.

[devils_smile]

Rear Sway Bar Bushings Update

Last time around, I swapped the front swaybar bushings which I was able to find here in Pakistan. Not so much for the rear bushings which I got in Germany. So it's time to swap those. This is one of the easiest jobs you can do. It took me around 30 mins to do each side and I was in no rush.

Febi Bilstein Rear sway bar bushings x 2
13" ring spanner
3/4 Torque Wrench (20Nm) - Bushing bolts
1/2 Torque Wrench (110Nm) - Wheel fastening bolts
WD40
Carb Spray to clean any dust and grime
Blue Medium strength threadlocker

I first removed the wheels and sprayed WD40 on the 2 bolts holding the bushing bracket in place. I could see the gap between the bushing opening and the rod pretty clearly.

Here's the replacement bushings

Here's a side by side of the old vs the new bushing. The new bushings were lightly lubricated when put on

Since there were signs of threadlock on the bolts, I went ahead and redid it before putting them back in and torqueing to spec. The MB manual does not mention if the bolts have to torqued under normal load but I went ahead and torqued them after the car was back on the ground

And we are done

[Xulfiqar]

The unwritten rule of suspension repair is that any bolt that traps a bushing is only to be tightened at normal drive height.

Mercedes mention to replace the bolts as they sell bolts with pre-applied vibratite on them. You can suffice with cleaning the bolts and applying low strength threadlocker on the bolts.

That swaybar vibrates like a tuning fork when the car runs on road. Threadlock is mandatory and it also forms a seal to prevent the threading rusting.

[devils_smile]

Yup, cleaned the bolts and applied Vibratite threadlock since I didn't have new ones. MB does mention to get new ones like you said but hopefully this will suffice.

The manual does mention normal ride height when torqueing the individual multi link suspension parts but it didn't say that for the torsion beam bushings. But i'm glad for the info about torqueing everything at ride height

[Xulfiqar]

Read the steps again, they are mentioning proper ride height. The part where the torsion bar is “offered”

Meaning they are asking to disconnect the plastic linkages from both sides, install the bushings, rotate bar so the ends are horizontal, then tighten the bushing case. This arrests the bar at ride height, then push the bar to tighten the plastic end links.

They call it bearing because the bar “bears” on the rubber, just like engine mounts are called motor bearings (its a direct translation perhaps)

[devils_smile]

Missed that one, didn't realize o my bad. Something to learn for a DIY'er.

[Xulfiqar]

The liquid on the threads look like generic blue threadlocker and not vibratite, vibratite (brand) is orange or pink and is gloopy.

[devils_smile]

Bought these in Germany from their online store. Might be a newer product and had some mentions on forums since Loctite isn't available ( is usually shipped from the US or is damn expensive ). It's what I've used when doing the suspension work

[Xulfiqar]

This is vibratites version of usual blue threadlocker. It also is from the USA though.

[devils_smile]

Correct, but it was readily available at their store and on amazon so went for it

[Xulfiqar]

Henkel are also based in germany, they are the brand holders of loctite, quite odd they couldnt be found.

[devils_smile]

Henkel HQ is in Dusseldorf, 15 mins away from me. I've actually interned there for 2 months ( Persil ). But back then, I never checked for loctite products and when I finally did try sourcing it online, it wasn't going to be delivered before I left for Pak. Plus their on site store is hella expensive ( from what I heard )

My last suspension components that need changing now are the rear track rods, the engine mounts and the transmission mount.

I also have to mount the new front damper struts cuz there is a hairline crack in one of them. But this will round off all the rubber bushings/ suspension parts on the car from front to back

[Xulfiqar]

You want to redo the rear suspension bushings?

Best rip out the subframe from the car and build it on a bench. Repairing it in situ is like building a ship in a bottle. New fresh rubber in the back mulitlink suspension gives this car the taught yet comfortable ride its famous for.

Front strut job is super duper easy on this car, 20 mins per side with hand tools. 10 minutes with powetools.

I would also replace the balljoints and repack the wheel bearings too. Takes another hour at max.

[Xulfiqar]

Ill try to dig out the old german language repair manuals I had for these cars.

Fun fact, the whole library of the mercedes benz sedans was translated to english except the “automatikgetriebe”

It had such fine intricate details that it even defined turns of screws depending on 3rd level sub types of the transmission.

For suspension I recall they had a kerosene based install fluid for the rollbar bushings and for the rear arms, they had springy steel crush inserts and thread sealant to prevent rust locking.

[devils_smile]

Lets see, Post 332 and 333 show all the suspension parts being replaced but here's a run down

1) Front swaybar bushings x4 ( Swapped )
2) Front Control arm bushings x4 & ball joints x 2 ( Swapped )
3) Front tierods x2 ( Swapped )
4) Idlar control arm ( Swapped )
5) Front spring rubber mounts x2 ( Swapped )
6) Driveshaft flexdiscs ( Swapped )
7) Front Rear rubber mounts for rear axle x4 ( Swapped )
8) Rear Control arm bushings x4 ( Swapped )
9) Rear sway bar tie links x2 ( Swapped )
10) Rear sway bar bushings x2 ( Swapped )
11) Camber / Pulling & Pushing strut bushings replaced x12 ( Swapped )

UPDATE

12) New rear Track Rod x2 ( Swapped )
13) New rear spring rubber mounts x2 ( Swapped )
14) Transmission mount ( Not swapped ) due to the wrong part that I ordered. Have ordered the correct part now
15) Engine Mounts x2 ( Swapped )
16) Front Damper struts ( Swapped )
17) Brembo brakes & pads ( Swapped )

[Xulfiqar]

That green grease is made by fuchs btw, But honestly its not that special. Any gc-lb rated grease works great. Just make sure not to mix up the chemical make up of it.