For those of you who work on your own cars, you know how it is…you go underneath your car with the intent to inspect or replace a specific item, but as long as you are down there with the car up in the air, you continue to inspect the system the part belongs to & then the parts & structures adjacent to this item, and so on & so forth until you exit from underneath the opposite end of the car a few hours later….
Well I’m glad I got carried away today. What started out as a quick & simple replacement of old broken Inner Fender Liner Nuts (p/n A 201 990 00 50), led to my removal, cleaning & replacement of the Inner Fender Liner (p/n 124 884 15 35) & seal; then an inspection of all the goodies hidden behind the Fender Liner. Upon reassembly, as I was preparing to tuck the lower end of the Fender Liner back into position behind the front portion of the Right Side Member Paneling, I noticed some grit falling out from where the various pieces fasten together. So I kept tapping the area with the palm of my hand, then I blasted the entire nook & crannied mating surface with an air gun. Here’s the result from just the right side…at least 10 years & 1 pound (0.45kg) of DIRT! The last thing the E500E needs is useless extra weight that holds water and will become a breeding ground for corrosion. Thankfully this car spent most of its life in arid Texas.
The dirt has been cleaned out from both sides now (in the pictures, the red lines depict where the dirt lurks within the bodywork). I installed more surplus seal (p/n A 107 884 01 98) stripped from junked W124s to prevent any new dirt infiltration. You may want to inspect this area of your car. Check if all the seals are present & functional. There’s a good possibility the same condition may exist with your car.
Well I’m glad I got carried away today. What started out as a quick & simple replacement of old broken Inner Fender Liner Nuts (p/n A 201 990 00 50), led to my removal, cleaning & replacement of the Inner Fender Liner (p/n 124 884 15 35) & seal; then an inspection of all the goodies hidden behind the Fender Liner. Upon reassembly, as I was preparing to tuck the lower end of the Fender Liner back into position behind the front portion of the Right Side Member Paneling, I noticed some grit falling out from where the various pieces fasten together. So I kept tapping the area with the palm of my hand, then I blasted the entire nook & crannied mating surface with an air gun. Here’s the result from just the right side…at least 10 years & 1 pound (0.45kg) of DIRT! The last thing the E500E needs is useless extra weight that holds water and will become a breeding ground for corrosion. Thankfully this car spent most of its life in arid Texas.
The dirt has been cleaned out from both sides now (in the pictures, the red lines depict where the dirt lurks within the bodywork). I installed more surplus seal (p/n A 107 884 01 98) stripped from junked W124s to prevent any new dirt infiltration. You may want to inspect this area of your car. Check if all the seals are present & functional. There’s a good possibility the same condition may exist with your car.
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