I cannot seem to locate the crankcase coolant drain plugs for a 91 560SEL? the manual points to one on the driver's side and another one on the passenger side. Are the drain plugs supposed to be 17MM? or are they allen head type? can someone describe where they should be at?

thx ,
emmy

Try reading all of the following thread. Maybe it will help.

Can't find the engine block drain plug!?!?

__________________
Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"

On the 560 the drain plugs are big, maybe 22mm or so, but they only take a 6mm allen IIRC. The small allens such as these are very easy to strip out, proceed with caution.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

thank you to both Mikes for the replies. I think I now know which ones these are. These are the vertically positioned (facing up) allen head botls. I mistakenly loosened a 17MM bolt close to the allen head bolt but no coolant poured out so that was not the correct one.....

Actually they face down. Sometimes when you remove the plugs nothing will come out. This is because a layer of crud has formed plugging the hole. An awl or small tipped screwdriver can be used to break the crud plug and get the coolant flowing out. Use caution if pulling the plugs when hot.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Just as a precaution, when I drained the coolant from the block of my old 500SEL, I purchased two drain plugs in case I strip the ones on the car and have to drill them out or something. You may want to exercise that backup as well.

__________________
1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

thx..i went under the car to look at the drain plugs again, and they appear to be quite difficult to get to. On the driver's side, it looks like I need to remove the engine shock absorber, and even then there is still very little room to work on. On the passenger side, it appears more difficult because the drain plug is tucked way up on the block , close to the engine schock and in front of the mount.

any tricks on how to tackle this job? do i need to jack the negine up to get more elbow room? and do I need a special tool?

thx

Nothing special for this job. Use a long extension on your ratchet.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Yep. I learned that I needed an extension the day I started to do mine. I ran down to Sears and picked up a solid one for a rather nice price of $6.

__________________
1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver