I had the 560SL jacked up to do an oil change and decided to try to find the coolant leak I've had for a while. It's not a huge leak, just a dribble, but pesky, so I wanted to fix it.
Here's the odd thing I found while looking around under there. It's a cover on the left side of the transmission housing, just behind the steering gear box. It's a small piece of sheet metal with a half circle at the top and a tang with a hole at the bottom where the lower fastener should have been:
In this next photo, I've moved it to the closed position so you can see what I'm referring to.
I can see the flywheel inside there. The only thing I can find that in a parts diagram is a "Cover. Starter Motor Opening," part #1072710005. Which is odd to me since the starter is on the other side. Maybe that's where the starter motor goes on a RHD vehicle? That would make sense, since on a RHD vehicle the steering gear would be on the other side where the starter motor it for a LHD car. There is no gasket on the inside, so it may not be a source of a leak. It also does not close up the opening that firmly, so I'm guessing it's just a cover to keep crap from getting in through the starter motor opening.
Why is it open? The bottom fastener is there, screwed into the tranny housing, so it didn't just fall out.
My hypothesis is that a number of years ago when I had the steering redone at my indy shop, that the guy unscrewed the cover to move it aside to get to the steering gear box, screwed the bottom fastener in so it wouldn't get lost, and then forgot to close it back up when he finished.
The real question is, if it's been sitting there open for some 3 years, could it be a source of trouble? I can see rust on the flywheel, though I'm not sure if that could be a problem, since a Google Image search shows MB flywheels with some rust. The good news is that the M6 hex screw to secure the bottom came out easily. I've had problems with stripping those in the past.
It's always something, isn't it?
Here's the odd thing I found while looking around under there. It's a cover on the left side of the transmission housing, just behind the steering gear box. It's a small piece of sheet metal with a half circle at the top and a tang with a hole at the bottom where the lower fastener should have been:
In this next photo, I've moved it to the closed position so you can see what I'm referring to.
I can see the flywheel inside there. The only thing I can find that in a parts diagram is a "Cover. Starter Motor Opening," part #1072710005. Which is odd to me since the starter is on the other side. Maybe that's where the starter motor goes on a RHD vehicle? That would make sense, since on a RHD vehicle the steering gear would be on the other side where the starter motor it for a LHD car. There is no gasket on the inside, so it may not be a source of a leak. It also does not close up the opening that firmly, so I'm guessing it's just a cover to keep crap from getting in through the starter motor opening.
Why is it open? The bottom fastener is there, screwed into the tranny housing, so it didn't just fall out.
My hypothesis is that a number of years ago when I had the steering redone at my indy shop, that the guy unscrewed the cover to move it aside to get to the steering gear box, screwed the bottom fastener in so it wouldn't get lost, and then forgot to close it back up when he finished.
The real question is, if it's been sitting there open for some 3 years, could it be a source of trouble? I can see rust on the flywheel, though I'm not sure if that could be a problem, since a Google Image search shows MB flywheels with some rust. The good news is that the M6 hex screw to secure the bottom came out easily. I've had problems with stripping those in the past.
It's always something, isn't it?