PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - engine running hot after getting work done

dieseldiehard · #6 05-17-2005, 01:12 PM

I thought about the fact you may have been running on a defective turbo, in which case less heat will be developed because the engine is not going to run as fast and use as much fuel (less air less fuel) but I still think the problem may be as you thought, with too much antifreeze. There are small testers that indicate the freezing point by testing coolant. Find someone that has one (they aren't cheap and you don't normally need one of them except for making a point) and have the coolant tested. If its over 50% antifreeze take the car back and demand they rectify the situation and please use MB antifreeze. Order a jug for $14 or so if you don't want to pay the dealer price. Give to them and ask them to replace the green goo before it makes a mess of your engine. I know a mechanic at the local dealership, he told me I should never use anything but MB approved antifreeze, based on the number of head failures he has seen, all aluminum heads BTW, in gassers and diesels, although we know there were a lot of #14 heads that fell into this failure mode, newer heads can also warp if overheated. I am religious about this stuff. Sorry for the rant but I hate to hear about new aluminum heads running hot. Its a time bomb, some hot day the head will warp and you will lose a gasket if your lucky, or worse you can lose an engine. If it's as simple as the antifreeze consider yourself lucky, if it's a bad thermostat (there have been cases where new Behr thermostats are defective) that is another story, something that is hard to prevent, but the coolant thing makes my blood boil, if that is what it turns out to be please don't tell us!