I'm stumped!!! My 1988 190E, 2.3 is eating coolant. Here's the situation:
Daily the light comes on and the level is low. When the engine is hot there is no pressure in the hoses- I checked the cap, it's bad. We then pressure checked the system and it held pressure for more than five minutes with only a slight pressure loss. We started the car and it ran rough, blowing white cloud for about three minutes down the road.
The next day it was low but started and ran normal - no white cloud. I haven't replaced the cap yet but as long as I keep topping it up it runs normal. My question is if it were a head gasket or cracked head wouldn't the car be blowing white and running rough all the time? Surely the compression of the engine would be way higher than the cooling system?!