wrenching tips

I will share my experience of 30 years wrenching as a car mechanic. I try to mix old and new school tricks.
I use a lot of Mercedes sealer, because i'm working for the company since many years, i have a lot of experience with them and they are easy to reach. Most of them are equivalent with Loctite products.

To use the black silicone MB part N° 003 989 98 20 10, you have to clean the gasket surface with an anti silicone product.
I put a 0.02" silicon rope on the surface, don't touch it with your greasy fingers! and put the parts together. It seals scratches like an O ring. But study carefully the surface and the directions you put it on!!!
Excessive use of sealer can cause plugged oil holes.

I seal threads,plumbings and oil plugs (engine, tranny) etc. with MB n° 002 989 47 20 10,
it seals the oily threads perfect, no more drips on the oil pan drain plug! Cleaning the threads is not so critical.

For the low pressure fuel system and intake gaskets around the ports,i use the Hylomar blue,
a fuel resistant sealer.

I often use Loctite blue and green (strong) for locking screws on brake and suspension. Many of you are afraid and think they can not loosen the nuts and bolts. But you're wrong, it seals also against rust, no water and air has access to the threads. Contact corrosion is also solved. if you have trouble to loosen it, heat it up.

I prefer narrower hose clamps instead of really wide clamps, because they have more clamping force on a smaller area! Install the clamps as close as possible to the hump! I like the design of the original spring hose clamps, they are narrow and self adjusting, so they don't leak if the rubber hose shrinks.

Thanks for sharing. Kim

The only gasket sealer I use is The Right Stuff, been working on muscle cars since 1977

The right stuff is great. It has it place. Any MB, Audi, Beamer etc have their own sealing products that work great with our old iron. Modern vehicals cannot use right stuff cause they are machined to such close tolerances there is no room for them. Kim

Looking for a small oil leak? Can be very hard to detect it!
I clean everything with brake cleaner, then powder it with talcum powder ( the same thing as for installing tube or the stuff ).
Check it periodically, 10 minutes, half an hour, hour, day. The leak will be visible when the powder starts to get darker. You will see
every small crack, bad weld or bad gasket.

If you want to check your intake manifold/ carb for an air leak, use a water bottle with a small hose. The engine will stall when it sucks the water in. The good thing is, it doesn't burn. i lighted an engine with brake cleaner as i did the same.......