so, this past saturday, i actually fixed my over heating problem.

I drained the radiator from the plug and then drained the block from the bolt. i didn't find the fact that with a turbo, YOU HAVE TO GET AT THE PLUG FROM UNDER THE CAR, anywhere on any of the threads or write ups. i flushed the radiator with a garden hose, then back flushed it the same way. i then flushed the block from the line that comes out of the top of the engine to the firewall. i pulled the thermostat, replaced the gasket, filled it up with distilled water, and drove around with the heat on. let the car cool down, and drained it and flushed it with the hose once again. based on what i was seeing in the flush, i didn't do a citric acid flush, it wasn't necessary. then i got to replacing all the hoses and clamps.

this was relatively simply and straight forward, until i got to the firewall. these hoses were a pain in the butt. and, with new clamps from NAPA, it was even worse. the clamps that came with the car, with the mercedes logo on them, have a much lower profile than standard hose clamps, making the firewall that much more difficult to deal with. it was during this wrestling around that i made my only mistake, breaking the line from the banjo bolt to the ALDA. oops. once they were all replaced, i filled it up with new distilled water, and drove it off again. got back, drained it once again, put in a brand new Wahler thermostat (made sure it was stamped Made in Germany, NOT china) and filled it up with Zerex G-05 50/50 pre-mix that i got from NAPA. i "filled" from the expansion tank first, then pulled off the top radiator hose and poured coolant into that to fill the block, and attached it again. it now runs at 80* to 82* all day, up hills, and takes a good while to get there! it's like a brand new car to me, one that i don't have to watch the guage and worry about. it might just be me but it sounds, feels, and drives happier now. maybe i'm just reading into it.

things that i noticed that could have been the culprit:

the green coolant, a problem to begin with, had a VERY off mix. the stuff that drained out was almost straight coolant without water, bright bright green. i guess in all my filling and re-filling, spilling, and blown bypass hose clamps, the mix got off and stayed that way.

i've never filled the system from the top radiator hose. i will do that from now on. no air bubbles messing things up, no need to burp at this time. drove it all day today with no heating/burping issues as well.

wahler vs. behr tstats.....might have to go wahler from now on.

i took the bottom radiator hose heater that i installed from diesel giant. i don't know if this was part of the issue but it was one of the worse looking hoses in the whole system. maybe it's just the closest to the road salt in the winter but it looked really bad. rusty-ish, caked on coolant, leaky? don't know if i trust it in the system anymore.

replacing all the hoses? looks good, great piece of mind, hopefully will last another 26 years. worth it to me.

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