I recently bought a 1987 300SDL and had made changes to accomodate the extreme heat in the summer. It is possible to wire the fan to kick in right when you turn on the AC and to redirect the windshield wiper fluid (that's just filled with water; no soap) to his the AC condenser. It makes a big difference! Spraying your AC condenser with water should help too.

Jump the connector at the dryer and see. That fan is refrigerant dependent.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Uh, why?

How about repairing the issue properly... That means a new radiator, fan clutch, 606 fan, etc.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

What is the advantage to the 606 fan and clutch? Just the lower mass and thus cheaper clutch?

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

About 1/2 the price, works slightly better.

Hows that?

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

That's why I asked, so no need to replace original if it's working properly. I noticed that the '91 SDL had a plastic fan, original?

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

It is typically the clutch that fails, not the fan. If you replace the clutch with one from the 606, than you need to use the lighter plastic fan. My Indie replaced mine before I read about refilling them. GSXR has written about fixing them like that.
I guess the hyper milers might change the aluminum fan for the plastic one. Think about the huge mpg gains from the weight savings.
You probably already know this, but the vacuum pump is one part on the OM603 that should be replaced before it fails. It can not be rebuilt like on the 123.

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1987 300TD 309, xxx 2.8.2014 10,000 mile OCI


Be careful of the toes you step on today, as they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. anonymous

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter won’t mind.” Dr. Seuss

Thanks on the vacuum pump, mine is original and I like to tempt fate though (not really).

Does anyone know how much the plastic fan weighs? I just tossed a plastic one (damaged), and felt that it was heavier than the alloy one, ... I can weigh an alloy one if someone can weigh a plastic one for me. There really can't be much (if any) difference in fuel mileage based on that small amount of weight, and its rotational inertia is insignificant also IMO as it is usually not cycling on/off like an electric or air clutch, mostly off, and occasionally faster/slower. The alloy fan being more rigid probably has better airflow characteristics at higher RPMs.

On my 190Dt I polished and teflon-coated the fan for airflow improvement, bet that's worth more than the small weight gain.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I was joking about the fuel savings.

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1987 300TD 309, xxx 2.8.2014 10,000 mile OCI


Be careful of the toes you step on today, as they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. anonymous

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter won’t mind.” Dr. Seuss

And why didn't I get that, ??

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I knew you did, but you know how some people read these threads and ....

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1987 300TD 309, xxx 2.8.2014 10,000 mile OCI


Be careful of the toes you step on today, as they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. anonymous

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter won’t mind.” Dr. Seuss

I have been trying to find this thread lately and can not seem to get the keywords right in the search, can someone hook me up with a link plz? thanx!

Do you mean this one?

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1987 300TD 309, xxx 2.8.2014 10,000 mile OCI


Be careful of the toes you step on today, as they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. anonymous

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter won’t mind.” Dr. Seuss

I have to agree with BigT.
As a Canadian and this car not having been in the heat very much I think our fan clutch was inoperable for a long time. For probably 100,000 miles drove with no problems AC operating and only adding 1 qt/ of engine oil 2000 miles.
I was however chasing down oil leaks from various places and crediting the oil on the front of the engine to crankshaft seal.
This spring when in California it became apparent only with AC on and slow or stopped traffic that something was amiss.
Went first for the fan clutch.
What a difference.After replacement when Jacket water temp gets around 90C or 190 the fan becomes quite suddenly fairly noisy. I had never heard this before.
Another clue was that the fan, which I thought was covered with engine oil was, in fact covered with the very vicsous fluid from the clutch. It doesn't leave easily. Just sticks like the devil.
So now this 603 doesn't see over 190 F under any driving conditions.
What's notable is the when the engine has been stopped for 30 min regardless of the temp the fan is always engaged on startup; indicating to me that the fluid all runs in to the engaging area and is only moved out by rotation. It takes about 1 min of engine operation at about 2000 rpm to make it disengage and then it does so fairly suddenly.

By the way the oil consumption was tracked down to crankshaft seal and oil level sensor leaking. It's unnerving to have almost zero consumption in 3000 miles.

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Retired Marine Engineer
2005 E320 CDI
1987 300 Turbo Diesel @ 300,000 kM going
1974 240 D 300,K Miles when given away gone
1970 200 D gone
1969 190 D gone

Possible Hijack here.....

Temp guage on my 92 300D reads just below 80 almost all the time (sometimes hits 80). I have a new MB Tstat in it. Measured the head after driving for a while at operating temp - 71C. Hmmmm.

How could this be? New Tstat always open?

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1983 240D Silver/Blue "Sadie", unknown miles. 100k miles on WVO single tank, converted to 2 tank about 10k miles ago, FPHE, Injector Heaters, Aux Fuel pump. Alcohol/Water injection. Frantz oil bypass filter
1992 300D 2.5 Turbo Green/Tan "Jade" 267K miles Stock.
1992 300D 2.5 tan/tan "Rocky" on 2 tank WVO. Pressure actuated Turbo "rat's nest" surgery completed. 197k miles