guys,

kerry and jeff: turbo and diesel vehicle, so i appreciate the good info, thanks. i'm going to unplug the KD switch and report back results.

kurt: i changed out the nasty green stuff for the mbz formula coolant the week after i bought this car. however, i am going to change out the gasket and the thermostat within the coming weeks. i actually purchased one about 6 months ago, but can't find the damn thing now :bang: last night i was doing some "spirited" driving, doing some 0-60 runs and some long uphills while flooring it, most of the time with the AC on as well as manipulating the kickdown switch w/ some pedal modulating to allow it to downshift. I was purposely trying to see how fast the engine temps rise and fall. since it was night time, it didnt rise as quickly as the other day, but i still got it above 100C. however, it did fall pretty quickly, so i think i'm ok here. i will change the coolant out when i replace the thermostat though. do you run zerex by chance? and if so, do you find zerex 05 better than the mbz coolant? i suppose there's probably a long thread about this somewhere

sixto: ok, i'll add that to the list of things to do when i recondition the cooling system. at one point, w/ my harbor freight dental pic in hand, i contemplated cleaning the fins out w/ it!