1997 E420. Hey all, I have a small leak coming from my power steering pump. Most likely from the front seal behind the pulley. I clean it off periodically using some Purple Power and high pressure water. But within a few drives the fluid starts flinging off the pulley and makes a mess. If I drive a long distance it will lose enough to start dripping from under the radiator. Not much but a few drops. The car has never leaked before and so now its getting to be an issue. Anybody here purchased a rebuild kit? I can rebuild it I am sure only need to know where to get the kit cheaply. Thanks in advance.
1997 E420. Hey all, I have a small leak coming from my power steering pump. Most likely from the front seal behind the pulley. I clean it off periodically using some Purple Power and high pressure water. But within a few drives the fluid starts flinging off the pulley and makes a mess. If I drive a long distance it will lose enough to start dripping from under the radiator. Not much but a few drops. The car has never leaked before and so now its getting to be an issue. Anybody here purchased a rebuild kit? I can rebuild it I am sure only need to know where to get the kit cheaply. Thanks in advance.
Jeff
Hey, Jeff.
I have to say I've never seen a rebuild kit for a MB. Without a good press setup I'm not sure how you'd disassemble and reassemble it but that's a different issue. When it first started you might have been able to soften up the seal with one of the additives on the market but if it's leaking that badly the seal is probably cracked (or the bearing is so worn it's allowing the shaft to orbit slightly, opening the edges of the seal). It's an expensive part ($260 or so online) but I'm going to bet you'll end up having to replace it.
If it's not your primary driver you might be able to pull the pump and remove the pulley and then carefully extract the seal and locate a new one; there is some level of standardization in things like that. Of course that's not going to help if it's the bearing, but if you get it out you might also be able to find the bearing.
Sorry I couldn't be of any better help.
Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg
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extract the seal and [if necessary] the bearing, he can go to a bearing specialty shop, similar to "Bearing Engineering" here in the Bay Area, and they will fix him up.
The input shaft should be checked for play as Greg suggests before investing a lot of time on a small scale "rebuild". Daimler Benz [and not Daimler Chrysler] used to make rebuild kits for PS pumps "back in the day"... a call to the dealer might turn something up... one never knows.
I just had the same problem. I took off the pulley and removed the front of the pump by removing the 5 or 6 bolts. You can then remove the clip holding the shaft in place. Once you pull the shaft out you will see the seal causing the leak. This seal should pop out with a little preasure.
Be careful ordering the rebuild kits. They don't seem to have this seal size included (33.33x15x8 I believe) for the 97 E420. I had to go to the dealership and the correct seal size was in a kit for a different model. The kit is Mercedes Part number A 000 460 47 80.
The recommendation from Mercedes is to replace the entire pump. So far so good with replacing the seal only.
todd557, boy that sounds way too easy. So, you pull the belt, remove the pulley off the front of the P/S pump, remove the front of the pump, then remove a clip and the seal is right there? Man, if thats the case I'll do it this weekend............
Thanks for the tip and correct part #'s....................
PS: how much fluid do you lose doing this? Does the holding tank drain to the seal level?
Jeff
Last edited by citruspilot : 03-20-2008 at 06:34 AM.
You remove the front hose first and drain the fluid from the resevoir into a large cup. The hardest part was removing the clip that prevents the shaft from coming out. I popped it off with two flat head screwdrivers.
Just go slow and have some patience. The last thing you want to do is scratch the metal and inner workings.
You will have no problem. Lets us know how it goes.
wut a coincidence, i got the same car, same yr, same model, guess wut same problem rite now, my dad who is the lead tech at the local MB dealership told me i would have to replace the hold thing, trust me my dad is all about going the cheap way if there is one, so let me know if that seal fix works. i love to prove him wrong sometimes. i was refilling it like once a week until i bought lucas power steering leak sealer, its been about three weeks now, so i guess its a fix for rite now until i can save for that $400 pump.
Jeff....one more tip.....loosen the three pulley bolts prior to removing the belt. You might find the belt holds the pulley snug enough for you to loosen them.
It has been 3-4 weeks and the new seal has solved the problem.
When it first started you might have been able to soften up the seal with one of the additives on the market but if it's leaking that badly the seal is probably cracked (or the bearing is so worn it's allowing the shaft to orbit slightly, opening the edges of the seal). It's an expensive part ($260 or so online) but I'm going to bet you'll end up having to replace it.
ohlord
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