so i head to my dad's this weekend with my youngest son, 150 miles each way, half way there, i feel a shutter in the car, i look in the mirror and see a puff of blue smoke, look at the gauges and the temp is pegged. i pulled over immediately and shut the car down.
the bolt holding the fan to the water pump broke, fan went into the radiator, radiator had multiple holes.
fast forward 4 hours. i'm at my brothers trying to get the radiator to seal with whatever snakeoil i can find. but the water is not circulating now, will the overheat ruin the water pump, i have backflushed the system and it flows ok.
does anyone have a radiator around that they will part with for a fair price?
thanks everyone for your help

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rodney

If you're driving a 300SDL with the aluminum head,,, the radiator is the least of your worries,,,

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Closing the store
Benzbonz.biz on your smart phone or tablet.

true, but i have to start somewhere and the radiator has a hole. yes it is the #14 head. one thing at a time is all i can manage

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rodney

Phil will ship you one, click on the Buy Parts tab.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Amen to this sentiment, these OM603 engines do not take kindly to high temps.

How are you checking for flow? When cold the t-stat will not allow flow through the radiator.

Start the engine and turn on the heater, see if the heater hose is getting warm at the firewall (into core) or by the aux pump (low and below the reservior).

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

hi Jim,
the gauge was pegged for i'm guessing 3-5 minutes till i shut it down. the car is at my brothers house 100 miles east. i'm going back over in two days. i didnt know this car had the aux pump. i havent checked it. would it be plugged or just not functioning. do they go out often?
in my anger over the weekend, i never even thought about the thermostat.
the small hose from the firewall would never heat up. i had the monovalve out and water still wouldnt circ

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rodney

Water will pass through the aux pump if it is not turning, so if you are not getting flow through the heater, you might have an air bubble.

Chances are you will not get flow to the heater core unless you have bypassed the bad radiator, since the heater core is higher on the car than the radiator.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

When we lost the haed gasket on our 300TD W124 climbing hills in West Virginia, it took a good 45 minutes to get the system burped, and full of water.

To elaborate on my previous post, if you have any leakage out of the damaged radiator, it will be difficult, if not impossible to fill the heater core.
the heater core on the w124 is at a high point of the cooling system and if you are leaking water at the radiator, you may also be introducing more air into the system.

The t-stat only closes off the water from the radiator, the water pump will still draw water/air into the lower hose and circulate it.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

thankyou Jim,
do you think the best way to clear the air(after i get a new radiator in) would be to dis connect the upper rad hose and plug the rad end and fill with a hose?

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rodney

Upper hose goes to t-stat, which will close (if not already) when cold water contacts it.

I've had good luck getting the right front as high as practicable, and feeding in the water as required. Kick on the heater so you get circulation to purge the air in it as well.

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

After the car cooled down you did start it and check if the blue smoke was still there? It would restart? Smell your oil to see if it burnt a little?
I really wish some young guy on site would engineer a very simple low cost system to enable a loud buzzer . So if either oil pressure dropped below say I bar or coolant temperature exceeded say 220 the alarm would trigger. It is my belief if simple and all fittings are incorporated in the kit for a reasonable price it would sell.
I would buy four kits myself as I am too casual about changing out rad hoses, belts, and those pesky oil cooler lines. I do inspect them from time to time yet that does not really mean they will not fail suddenly. There are many other things that can cause either oil pressure to drop or coolant temperature to rise quickly.
The cost of missing it and my thought is one easily could as a lot of people do are just too expensive to ignore. The essential strength of the kit is the individual could source out all the required odd parts. The design is simple. Perhaps I should ask one of my friends to take it on as it is overdue. I do not have time other than perhaps for getting a simple as possible design together.
When the buzzer fires believe me you are going to instantly look at your temp and oil pressure gauges. Possibly across north america one old mercedes diesel engine per week would be spared. Idiot lights are not good either unless extremely bright.
I fired a serpentine belt the other day on our toyota. In bright sunlight I did not catch the dim fault idiot lights very fast. Yet still caught them before the rad had boiled out more than a few cups of coolant. The time interval would have been a little more critical at highway speeds.

It has been my experience that if you take the top rad hose off at the rad and fill it full of coolant, then put the hose back on and fill the overflow and rad, the air bubbles take only about 3-5 minutes to work through the system. I have done that 3 times on my sdl.
I have heard, but have no proof, that if you would retorque the head after overheating, it will save the head. But, as I say, I have no proof, but a $150 rotorque job will be a lot cheaper than a new head (even IF you can find a used one), and all the gaskets and such you would need.
My 2 bits. Hope they help.
Btw, check out the threds on putting a 606 fan and clutch on. you might have to change it anyways, and supposedly it's cheaper as well as better.

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All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

first thing that hits me, is you put in "snake oil" to stem the flow from the leaks. what did you put in? the copper/nut/aluminum flake stuff will plug up the aux pump, and make it very difficult to burp the system. I would disconnect the heater hoses, flush them manually with a garden hose, with the heat in the full hot position. pull the block and rad drain plugs. flush the daylights out of them, fill with a double dose of SUPER FLUSH and rinse well, then do a citric flush. you don't need the cooling system blockage that those snake oils will introduce on a car with a #14 head! get it clean. check your Water pump, and replace the radiator. sorry.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

the car does start and run, it produces no blue smoke, the oil smells ok, i just changed it three weeks ago, still smells the same. i will do a good flushing when i get it home, its 100 miles away at my brothers with limited tools and necessary items. i have a new radiator and waterpump, i'm heading over tomorrow. hopefully all goes well.
thanx for everyones input

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rodney

Jim,
when you say get the right front high, you mean the passenger side right? just want to make sure were looking at the car from the same position

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rodney