hi im from the philippines and the weather goes up to 95-100F everyday . i have a mercedes benz fintail 200 gas and my engine temp. goes up to 190-200F in traffic without airconditioning. Is this normal? i changed engine fan to a 6 blade flexifan, removed my thermostat and permanently covered my bypass using aluminum that i custom made so that water will circulate throught the radiator all the time. Is this right ? will it lower my engine temp. ? i installed a custom made fan shrud to maximize air flow to the radiator. i placed a elec.cooling fan if i use my airconditioning. i changed my radiator to 3 holes for more water capacity. but still my temperature goes up to almost 200F in traffic and without airconditioning. what more if i use it surely my temp will go higher . but if car moving steadily to 40-60 mph my temp is 160 F. or lower and my car runs better. i dont know but are older mercedes benz car designed and more suitable in colder countries ? Do u recommend using Mercedes benz coolant. will it not eat up my aluminum head? will it lower my engine temp. ? need help .

The engine should run better with a proper working thermostat in place. I can't say cooler but it will certainly get to operating temp more quickly... and that's a good thing, and it will stay closer to the operating temp setpoint... that's generally a good thing.

If you insist on running without a thermostat or if it appeases you mechanic, compromise on a thermostat jammed open.

If you believe that running without a thermostat is good, you might believe that running more than a 50% coolant mix is good. Water is as good a coolant as you'll find. Corrosion inhibitors and lubricants are added to turn water into coolant but the resulting mixture has less heat transfer ability than plain water.

Pull the water pump and check the condition of the impeller. If the cooling system was neglected at some point, the impeller might be corroded to the point of not moving enough coolant even if the pump doesn't leak. Or maybe it was replaced with a low quality replacement with an inefficient impeller.

Consider a product like Redline Water Wetter if you can find it there. You should be able to run a bottle of Water Wetter with 80% water, 20% MB coolant since freezing is not a concern (or even a possibility).

Good luck.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

I live in a climate similar to the original poster in this thread.

I've reduced the water/coolant ratio and the temps have dropped off 5-8 degrees F. I tried wetter water with the reduced coolant ratio and it made no difference.

Water dissipates heat much better than coolant.

__________________
Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"