so today i got around to doing some more work. i completely removed the thermostat housing from the car and found it to be completely gunked up around the ends of the hoses. i took a wire brush and a razor and scraped it all off, washed it, and reattached it. while it was off i noticed a pretty good sized chunk taken off of the edge of the hose going to the upper radiator hose. it's about an eighth of an inch in diameter and sits right in the middle of the lip on the hose. i have concluded that this, coupled with the gunk, has led to my leaks. i re-clamped the hoses and filled it back up. it keeps perfect temp and didn't leak on the drive to bring it back up to temp so i've got that going for me. tomorrow morning will be the real test to see if any leaking occurs.

if it's still leaking from the upper radiator hose i think i'll have to buy a new themostat housing.

the leak from the firewall has stopped completely, it just took some clamping and re-clamping to get it right i guess....

as for all the talk of the hose quality, i got all of mine as a kit from another parts source online. all of them seem like great quality EXCEPT the upper and lower radiator hoses are definitley thinner than the originals.

__________________
1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)