I fixed my cooling problem with a citrus flush (20 degrees cooler) and now I have a lot of coolant leaking from god knows where. It's on the passenger side somewhere under the turbo. It appears to be gaskets and hoses leaking as the freeze plugs/block drain seem dry. It does not appear to be the water pump. I'm losing about the same amount of coolant running or sitting cold. I can't get at the source without taking something apart that I don't trust myself to get back together.

I would normally never use a stop leak product, but I'm wondering if there's a more benign one that might work to reseal the hoses that I can't reach?

I only ran the flush for 15 minutes and then flushed twice with water. I'm guessing it just ate buildup around the hose clamps? I'm at my wits end with this!

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85 300D 180k

The heater supply line runs under the turbo....sorta....and up to the monovalve.....

SB

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Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG

Is there a block heater on the car maby it is leaking there.

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1976 240D
1976 240D parts car
1970 220D daily driver

Most likely any stop leak won't seal if its that big of a leak. It will start to clog your system and may make you run hot again. You flushed it to make it better don't put garbage back in to make it worse. As for how to fix it if you can't; all my friends would just call me. I'm not sure who you can call. my 2 cents Thanks and all my wifes friends just call her and ask her to ask me.

Heater supply line would be my first guess. Stop leak products (of any type) are at best a temporary solution.

Best advice I can give is, get in there and fix it, learn while doing. Take lots of pictures while you take things apart.

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1983 300SD 467,000 km - 473 champagnermetallic

location: 34°5' N 106°53' W (Socorro NM, USA)

My indie is pretty negative on the citrus flush as it can (as you discovered) open up a can of worms. I think the best cure will always be maintenance, flush system every two years and replace with proper coolant. For those of you considering a citrus flush, you have been forewarned . . .

The guy that charged my A/C has a couple heater cores that he displays. They were in cars that had stop leak used on them. He says when the product hits the air in the heater core it plugs the core up. I'm not sure if that is true, but I would try and fix the hoses and clamps first.

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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 was very hesitant to do a citrus flush... I did it for the first time last weekend following the procedure on the dieselgiant site to the letter.

No leaks yet and the car does not cool any better... it never got hot anyway.

So right before you add the citrus acid you flush out all the soap that was added before. You flush the system till clear water runs out of the radiator.. and I did that...Then the citrus flush... when I drained the radiator the water was black. I dont know what was in there but its all gone now. I feel pretty good about the citrus flush right now.

I wish my temp would sit at 80 and not move, om603, but it still does not ever brake 100, stays at about 90....so I am not too worried

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08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

I was going to do a citrus flush, but since I smashed the radiator, etc. in a rear-ender I guess I won't. My indy thought I was crazy wanting to replace the lost coolant with G-05. I had to push him to get him to do it. Anyone else have this problem?

yeah, my indy thinks i'm crazy/weird for putting it in. he thinks it's just a way to get people to buy more expensive fluids. of course, he thinks i'm crazy for all the stuff i do/want to do to my car as he's a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of guy. i told him about this site and he thinks everyone on here is crazy too.... he's just an old school kind of mechanic i guess.

threads like this one are why i didn't do a citrus flush when i flushed my system. just poured hose water through the block and through the radiator (with a reverse pour through the radiator too), then filled it up with distilled water drove it around, drained, filled with distilled, drove around, drained. then new 50/50 G-05. fixed all my problems except the chipped thermostat housing....

good luck!

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

I think that's an unrealistic expectation, unless you live in Kansas. The thermostat isn't open all the way at 80.

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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

You are the first person here that I remember flushing out with distilled water after the hose water. good move.
I have run 50/50 distilled water anti-freeze for years. cuts down on problems.
I don`t think the original radiator in my Datsun PU with 455,000 miles on it would have made it this far if I hadn`t used distilled water. It just reciently started leaking along the top tank for the first time. not bad for almost 28 years.

Now back to the program:

I don`t believe Citric acid will make a hose or a clamp leak. the clamp is on the outside of the hose, not near the acid, and does not attack rubber.

there could be a problem where the aux water pump hose connects to water pump housing. I have seen where there are holes between the hose and alum. and pin holes all the way through.

There is the metal pipe that runs from the aux pump up to the mono valve that could be the problem. my 85 has this, and I have see some some good rust where the hose clamps on.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

Thanks for the replies.

The leak is not coming from the monovalve, the aux pump, or the metal hose leading to it. It's not coming from anything at the firewall. It seems to be coming from the passenger side of the engine block directly under the turbo. I can't find anything that runs there! Is there another freeze plug other than the one near the block drain that I am missing?

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85 300D 180k

I would think there would be several freeze plugs.

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1976 240D
1976 240D parts car
1970 220D daily driver

So I went in last night and took out things to get access to all the hoses. I used heat resistant RTV around and bypass hose below the t stat to stop a small leak there. I also used a little RTV on the t stat housing as I have now partially threaded one of the screw holes and am also leaking from it. Tightened everything up and let it sit overnight, drove it, and I am still leaking like crazy from the block... it must be freeze plugs.

I think I'm just going to go ahead and add some bars stop leak to stop the bleeding. I don't care if it kills my radiator and heater core at this point, I'm leaking too much to drive the car.

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85 300D 180k