Help . Broke down in Hudson, FL
 

Hey . Took family on trip to visit in laws in Holiday FL. 12 miles from the end of our 740 mile trip turning at a red light fan comes off and jams in the radiator and we hear clink , clang and pull over in a nice parking lot. All our coolant is on the road. The fan blades are broken and the radiator has been murdered by the fan. It was brutal. Belt and tensioner system is all good it seems. (That broke on the way home from the last trip)

I think the 8MM bolt on fan worked its way out. Anyway, I need a radiator and maybe a fan. Anyone in nearby area with a radiator and a fan or know a good junkyard nearby? I'm checking Ebay and stuff. As luck would have it, i didn't pack my spare radiator or fan ;( Advance can get a radiator by tuesday for 275.00 or so. :eek:

Also, since i'm on interstate on the way home driving at night mostly and its pretty cool, will it be ok without the fan to make it home. I don't want to buy a whole new coupler and fan. Maybe i could gut the thermostat if it starts to over heat? Can you just remove the Tstat completely or how would i make it fail open? I left my failed open thermo at home to that i just replaced on my friends 300D . Note to self, that would be a handy spare part for a road trip.

Thanks for any help

Sorry to hear your troubles. I don't have a part to help but have something that may be of interest. I once was going to rig a t-stat myself on an old tractor by essentially leaving it out. I learned that actually with the thermostat in place it creates a slower flow through the radiator and gives the fluid more time to cool. Kind of makes sense after I thought about it, but at first it seemed counter intuitive. If you gut it too much, it may be worse and run hotter than leaving a normal T-stat in place would be my guess. The fluid hauls thru the radiator too fast and doesn't have time for heat exchange. That's just my free advice and it's probably worth what it cost you :rolleyes: Good luck though, hope you find some parts.

Not sure about your engine but the 617 has a bypass thermostat. You don't want to leave it out if you want to run cool. I'm guessing you should be able to run without a fan unless you get stuck in stop and go traffic.

While waiting on parts I've been running the silver 94 E300 without a fan clutch or fan. As long as I stay out of traffic it is fine.

Thanks all. I won't worry about the fan then and give it a try. All i know is anytime a thermo is stuck open on any car i've had , its always runs cool.

Bypass thermosats behave differently than their full-flow brethren.

Rick's European Connection - Largo, FL, 33773

(727) 546-5347
6720 114th Ave
Largo, FL 33773

You could try this guy. I haven't been there in years, and, his website is down. You are about 25 miles from there if you are in Holiday. I would give them a call. Some people love him... ...some hate him. Just be on your toes. Do you have transportation?

I sent you a PM, I am 1.5-2 hours away and will do what I can.

You can hot-wire the aux fan by shorting the high pressure switch at the rec/dryer.

or

have the blower on full heat inside the car and leave the window open.

Answer
 

1987 300TDT

Radiator
MB# 1245003103 superseded to
MB# 1245000002
FastLane $233.53

Screw, Fan Clutch to Water Pump
MB# 000912010078 superseded to
MB# 000000004138
FastLane $5.29

Fan blade
MB# 6062000023
FastLane $58.00

Fan clutch
MB# 6062000022
FastLane $100.00



.

OK,
first, do you still have the 8mm bolt? I have a spare set of everything but the radiator... and I could be persuaded to pull the radiator from my spare car and ship it all to you. I may even have the upgraded plastic fan, but I'm not sure.

DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR WITHOUT A SOLID COOLING SYSTEM!!!!!
the #14 head on the car will NOT survive.

I just got off the phone with him and we are going to try to get him home with my parts car radiator...the car of which held temps better than my own before I began taking it apart :-)

I should have everything he need though it sound like his fan clutch may not have been working.

Fantastic
 

:thumbsup: Members helping members, this forum is great. :thumbsup:
Good luck on the repair.

.

Yeah Thanks Jon. Looking forward to it . I wanted to order from fastlane but doing it this way is more fun :) Jon's paying it forward for next guy broke down in TN .

On the road again. The fan bolt backed out causing teh fan to fly off and impale the radiator. Jon hooked me up with radiator, fan and bolt. Amazingly, thats all thet was bad. What caused the fan bolt to back out was ether the baaring on fan busted or some piece of old serpentine belt got wrapped around and caused it to back out somehow.

Thanks Jon. Was a lot of fun hanging with you and talking shop.

blue locktite?

Made it home great!
 

Thanks again to Jon. I made it home without incident. Damn forgot the blue locktite at autozone before i left. But i'm going to pull it again soon and put it on on. I really wish i had the 602 in this car. Anyone have a 602 they want to swap for a 603 let me know :) Seriously, we can do it in my garage . I have a lift. :cool:

Where was I when all this was happening????? I live 9 miles south of Tarpon Springs, and could have at least retrieved you and your family, and even have a couple of good diesel mechanics in the area that would have helped out. Great you had someone to provide the parts, as I gave my spare parts to Peter in a trade some time ago, but would have provided transportation to the junkyards, or jon's to get radiator, fan, etc.

Glad you made it home OK.

Torie

I am just catching up with this, but ... what a great story! Kudos to Jon, and congrats to biopete for making it home. The hassle is unfortunate, but... there but for the Grace of God, etc., etc.... What a great resource this forum is!

And, by the way, I am a big believer in 'Paying It Forward"! Nice job folks!

Happy New Year to All!

Kudos to Jon . . . actions like this make all of us look good!!!!

Jon changed me. Thanks everyone for the replies. I love this forum. I've offered to sell parts on here but not give them away unless someone really needed it. That was such a generous gesture. Good timing for me too. Cause I'm broke building a garage. I'm ready to help anyone broke down it TN now :)

I'm a convert on the pay it forward concept. Anyway, next spring when i visit my father in law again, i'll holler and maybe we can plan a gtg in the area. Does anyone have a W210 or W211 ? I want to test drive one of those :) I can bring some parts down from my W124 parts wagon if anyone needs them.

I tried to get my father in law to buy his 18 yr old daughter a mb diesel or bettle tdi. But he went with a scion instead. Newer is better if you don't like messing with cars . But i think that a he could have gotten a pretty new mb diesel for the same price. Cheers and looking forward to my next trip to Holiday.

I like the idea of the GTG on this side of the sandbar!!!! Let us know when you're coming in and you can count me IN!!!

I had the parts lying around...the fan clutch I gave him was flaky before for me, despite it being only a few years old. It was however, much better than the three-piece version he would up with after the incident!

If you decided to get a plastic fan, I will try to get the metal one back from you just in case :-)

The way I see it, the only thing that matters in life is "relationship", on EVERY level. We had a good dinner and discussed all sorts of things both MB and non. I am glad I was available and had the parts on hand!