Hey all, long time no post, but I haven't had an issue until now.

I was meeting my wife and one of my friends out for lunch the other day after a half day of work. Driving up to work and back (70 mph highway driving for an hour), didn't hear a thing.

But as soon as I started up, it sounded like like a squealing belt and scraping plastic at the same time. So I moved the car quickly to a back corner of the parking lot and popped the hood.

The radiator fan looked like was trying to dance it's way out of the engine compartment. And I noticed a coolant steadily streaming out from somewhere. So I killed the engine ASAP.

And that is where it sits. I can wiggle the radiator fan back and forth an inch or two pretty easily by hand. And the coolant seems to have stopped leaking.

My thought is that since the radiator fan shaft is doing something funky and coolant was leaking, it's an issue with the water pump.

Thoughts?

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1983 Benz 240D - 263,060 (Current)
1983 Cadillac DeVille - 130,000 (Scrapped - Stupid HT4100)
1992 Dodge B350 - 150,000 (Sold)
1984 Mazda 626 - 299,997 (Scrapped)

I think you nailed it, with a bad water pump.

Possible the fan clutch is bad as well, but that would not cause the coolant leak.

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Gary
Experience is something you get, Just after you needed it....
'99 E300 295K, '83 300D 220K, '75 240D 185K sold
'80 MCI Bus Conv DD 6V92TA, w/4 cyl. Kubota diesel GenSet 12.5KW

No fan clutch on a 240D.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Correct, on the 240 the fan is just an extension of the water pump shaft, no clutch involved.

Be VERY CAREFUL with the 5 bolts holding the pump into the pump housing, they are easy to snap off. Don't ask how I know this. Use a 1/4 inch drive ratchet and very little torque. Hit the bolts with AeroKroil or PB Blaster and let them soak first.

However, if this happens to you, the housing can be removed from a junk engine (and that housing is shared with a 617) and swapped in without too much difficulty. BTDT.

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech