'87 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 Maintenance

02/19/10

The Benz is fairly easy to maintain by the mechanically inclined. And this is a good thing, for if you walk into your friendly MB service department you will be raped.

E.g. I recently helped a friend change pads & rotors on his ML-320. This task is not too difficult and the parts (OEM, Mintex) for it will cost < $400. However, the dealer will charge you between $1,500 and $1,800 to perform this service, which they probably can complete in 1.5 hrs or less. What exactly are they thinking ?!?!? Who do they think they are? Brain surgeons? Do I look like a complete imbecile? I'm sorry but that is way beyond robbery.

Alternator Brush Renewal
Brake Rotor Change
Brake System Flush
Cooling System Flush
Valve Clearance Adjustment

Alternator Brush renewal

So your alternator quit running. There's a pretty good chance that the brushes are worn out. Assuming that this is the case, there are several courses of action:

1) You can simply waltz into the dealer and let them fix the problem. They will replace the alternator with a whole new unit (despite the fact that your perfectly good alternator simply needs new brushes). They will then demand a ransom of $650.

2) You can go to a generic shop and get a rebuilt alternator for about $300.

3) You can buy, from the Benz dealer, a new set of brushes, which they sell for $11. Then you can easily replace the worn-out brushes and be back on the road. Note that the dealer is not very forthcoming with this. They will not even suggest that you swap the brushes, or even mention that they actually sell the brushes. In fact, when confronted, they have the audacity to refuse to simply change your worn-out brushes.
In the 190 the process is so simple that, if you have small and careful hands, you could probably swap brushes without even taking the alt off the car! Screw the dealer.

Sorry, no pix. Next time I swap them, I'll take some.

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Brake Rotor Change

Coming soon...

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Brake System Flushing

There is a trick to flushing the brake system that neither the Benz shop manual, nor the Hynes book tell you. Not knowing this trick will lead to immediate frustration during this process. So here: the reservoir (see picture below) is internally divided into 2 chambers. A small rear chamber feeds the rear brakes while the main (front) chamber is used for the front wheels. The catch is that in order to get fluid into the rear chamber you have to fill the main chamber to the very top. If you don't know this, most likely you will introduce air into the rear brake system. Other than that, the bleeding / flushing is perfectly cursory except for the fact that you need a 9mm open end wrench (a crescent will almost certainly be too thick) for the bleeding valve on the calipers. This is not a very common size wrench.