Washer fluid leak R230/SL55

drmw

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Morning - no week would be fully complete without something else failing on this "magnificently engineered" pile of c**p.

Easy to describe - it's dumping washer fluid on the ground. Windscreen and headlight washers appear to be working fine (when there's some water available) but its dropping about 2 liters/day. This has only just started this week, so I haven't had time yet to crawl over it, but I can see the exit route which is about 12" in from the offside front wheel inner and about 12" back from the bumper.

However, as we all know water finds its own level so I would be grateful for any pointers or indeed (thanks Malcolm) diagrams of the washer system.

As a kid I had bikes - Norton, Triumph etc and consequently, semi permanent oily hands because they always broke. I thought these days were long gone - perhaps that could be a subtle new strap line for Mercedes Benz "Buy a Mercedes and regain your youth" (because you'll spend much of your time repairing it)"

Joy upon joy :(:(:(
 

television

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When you fill these things, water will run out as the top pipe is not a tight fit in the tank pipe.

I have known several of these tanks to fail.

To do the job you have to remove the rear section of the wheel arch liner.

I can let you have all of the details on doing this.

Wtih the wheel arch liner off you can see most of it and the pump seal,,but the tank could be split.


I am waiting from an answer from MB about having all 4 struts fail on my pipe of crap at 40k miles
 
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drmw

drmw

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When you fill these things, water will run out as the top pipe is not a tight fit in the tank pipe.

I can let you have all of the details on doing this.

Many thanks Malcolm - david at autonomed dot co dot uk - I will feed back as always on what it was this time
 

moosehead

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We've had the same thing happen twice on the SLK. Each time is was the washer pump that started to leak. They seem to be an all plastic sealed unit and are only £20 from MB. You can buy cheaper ones off ebay but not sure if they are any better.

On the SLK it's a bit of a pain to replace as you need to jack up the front offside, remove the wheel and inner plastic wheel arch to get access to the washer bottle. The pump plugs into a rubber grommet in the bottle so it's a good idea to fit a new one of these. Re-fitting is a bit of a fiddle with the hoses and cables.
 

television

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We've had the same thing happen twice on the SLK. Each time is was the washer pump that started to leak. They seem to be an all plastic sealed unit and are only £20 from MB. You can buy cheaper ones off ebay but not sure if they are any better.

On the SLK it's a bit of a pain to replace as you need to jack up the front offside, remove the wheel and inner plastic wheel arch to get access to the washer bottle. The pump plugs into a rubber grommet in the bottle so it's a good idea to fit a new one of these. Re-fitting is a bit of a fiddle with the hoses and cables.

The SL is worse to get too with all of the pipes :(
 
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drmw

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Hi Malcolm - before the 50k message champagne corks pop, please could you email me the diagram / instructions for getting to the reservoir?!?

I feel it would save me some considerable time tomorrow (and possibly Sunday by the sound of it!!)
 

television

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I have sent both papers,,when the wheel arch liner is off,,check for leaks before you go any further
 
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Malcolm - thanks for the drawings. Faced with what is obviously not going to be a 15 minute job, I had a mooch under the car after filling up the reservoir.

My driveway slopes up, so the front of the car of higher than the rear. Looked for where the water was coming out and to my surprise (bearing in mind basic laws of physics!) it's dripping out in front of the front wheel per the attached image.

I pulled the rear inner wheel arch away from the wing - dry. I pulled at the joint between front & rear inner arch - dry. The only leak is right at the front.

My only logical thought is the water could be tracking down the line taking water to headlight washers & dropping off at the lowest point, but surely I would have some drips from the back, under the reservoir ??

Before going any further (and the rain's come on again), if anyone's looking at the moment, any other possibilities spring to mind?

Thanks as always
David
 

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television

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When you fill the tank up water can come out from everywhere, as before the top fill pipe is not fixed to the tank and any overflow can go anywhere.

Is the pipe to the lamp washers leaking,,would water still siphon out even through the pump. there must be a T piece in the so that the pipe can get to the nearside lamp
 

happyval

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Slk 230 kompressor - washer leak

When you fill these things, water will run out as the top pipe is not a tight fit in the tank pipe.

I have known several of these tanks to fail.

To do the job you have to remove the rear section of the wheel arch liner.

I can let you have all of the details on doing this.

Wtih the wheel arch liner off you can see most of it and the pump seal,,but the tank could be split.


I am waiting from an answer from MB about having all 4 struts fail on my pipe of crap at 40k miles

Just going through the forum, we are having the same problem with the washer bottle, could you let me have the details thanks.
 

happyval

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When you fill these things, water will run out as the top pipe is not a tight fit in the tank pipe.

I have known several of these tanks to fail.

To do the job you have to remove the rear section of the wheel arch liner.

I can let you have all of the details on doing this.

Wtih the wheel arch liner off you can see most of it and the pump seal,,but the tank could be split.


I am waiting from an answer from MB about having all 4 struts fail on my pipe of crap at 40k miles

sorry just noticed date on forum,
 
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drmw

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I'd forgotten about this one - as in 3+ years and 2 SLs, I've only ever used the headlamp washers once (just to see if they worked!) the temporary fix is still in place.

The problem was one of two things depending on how the valve works - either the pump for the headlamp washer should have a valve that's closed when not being used & it's stuck open, or the headlight washer nozzle has one which is stuck open, but the bottom line is the water was literally siphoning from the reservoir to the washer nozzle & pouring out.

I pulled the front inner wheel arch lining off & simply clamped the feed pipe closed. That was ages ago, car has been serviced & MOTd & nobody even noticed and as I said, i had forgotten about it until I saw this thread.

The pipe runs along the inner wheel arch above the wheel - it is much more heavy duty than I expected - almost like a fuel line. I got two strips of steel about 3" long, a hole at each end, placed one above & the other below the line, ran up a couple of nuts & bolts until the two strips were tight enough to close off the pipe. (I actually flattened out a couple of those little "L" shaped brackets for joining timber - already pre-drilled).

Crude but effective.

Now it will annoy me again :mad::mad:
 
B

Bandaid

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2000 slk230

Greetings all
I have just bought a SLK230 and so far very pleased with it. However I took it to the garage today to fill up the screen washer bottle and noticed the water was happily pouring out from just behind the off front wheel wheel arch liner.
Not knowing much about this car but I am wonder if there is a leak at the bottle/pipes or whatever or if I overfilled the bottle and and it began to leak out out but on previous cars when its full the water comes up the filler tube.
Is this an easy job to do? I've read some threads on here and it seems I have to remove the wheel and liner. Its this difficult?
Thanks for your help and any advice will be greatfully received.

Malcolm
 

television

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Its easy to remove the wheel arch liner front section just held by plastic 10mm nuts, you can then see it all

Welcome to the forum
 

orb the Impaler

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I had my arch liner off last week and saw this was happening to me too - only a very slight leak, but I'm sure it will get worse since my SL loves to have new parts and gets upset if it doesn't spend time with its friends at MB Leeds :(
 

wiltsandy

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Greetings all
I have just bought a SLK230 and so far very pleased with it. However I took it to the garage today to fill up the screen washer bottle and noticed the water was happily pouring out from just behind the off front wheel wheel arch liner.
Not knowing much about this car but I am wonder if there is a leak at the bottle/pipes or whatever or if I overfilled the bottle and and it began to leak out out but on previous cars when its full the water comes up the filler tube.
Is this an easy job to do? I've read some threads on here and it seems I have to remove the wheel and liner. Its this difficult?
Thanks for your help and any advice will be greatfully received.

Malcolm

I've posted a few times on here about this on the R170 - if the bottle leaks when filling its probably the fact that the filler neck is not sealed to the bottle body. Once the washer fluid reaches this level it just pours out of the joint. MB obviously thought they could save a few Euros by not putting an o-ring in the joint!

If the bottle is leaking without filling then I would suspect that either the bottle is cracked, the pipe has come off the pump or the grommet holding the pump into the bottle has failed.

If you remove the offside front wheel and wheel arch liner the bottle is tucked in the gap at the back of the wheel well.
 

television

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I've posted a few times on here about this on the R170 - if the bottle leaks when filling its probably the fact that the filler neck is not sealed to the bottle body. Once the washer fluid reaches this level it just pours out of the joint. MB obviously thought they could save a few Euros by not putting an o-ring in the joint!

If the bottle is leaking without filling then I would suspect that either the bottle is cracked, the pipe has come off the pump or the grommet holding the pump into the bottle has failed.

If you remove the offside front wheel and wheel arch liner the bottle is tucked in the gap at the back of the wheel well.

Just the same then as the 230:(
 

100%Bitch

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I had my arch liner off last week and saw this was happening to me too - only a very slight leak, but I'm sure it will get worse since my SL loves to have new parts and gets upset if it doesn't spend time with its friends at MB Leeds :(

Take it to an Indie to meet much nicer friends.
 

chris_uk82

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When you fill these things, water will run out as the top pipe is not a tight fit in the tank pipe.

I have known several of these tanks to fail.

To do the job you have to remove the rear section of the wheel arch liner.

I can let you have all of the details on doing this.

Wtih the wheel arch liner off you can see most of it and the pump seal,,but the tank could be split.


I am waiting from an answer from MB about having all 4 struts fail on my pipe of crap at 40k miles
Hi Television,

Could you let me have this info as well? I think my 2002 SLK 320 has the same problem, I have tried to remove the drivers side front wheel arch liner but I can't unhook the part that goes down underneath the car under the washer bottle to get a proper look. I don't want to force it and risk breaking anything if there are any more screws.

Many thanks in advance!

Chris

cunitt at gmail dot com
 

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