My 1987 230E has developed a coolant leak somewhere around the thermostat housing.

I rarely drive the car but I'm losing about an inch of coolant a week and have only managed to see the leak a couple of times as it leaks after it's been driven and is cooling down, but it is definitely coming from somewhere around the thermostat area.

So far my mechanic has 'found' the leak in the main hose from the radiator to the thermostat and most recently they 'fixed' it by replacing the O ring seal in the thermostat. Neither of these 'repairs' worked.

A radiator specialist I took the car to for pressure testing of the system, suggested replacing all the hose fastening clips as they have a 'memory' and shouldn't be used again once removed. I'm planning to do that but in the meantime, anyone got any idea where else it might be coming from?

If you're standing facing the engine, the leak runs from the right hand side of the thermostat onto the block where it leaves a wet trail and pools on the tray on the right hand side of the engine.

I'm aware that finding these leaks can be very difficult but any help would be gratefully appreciated.

BTW, I finally got around to removing that annoying beeping device from my indicators yesterday. Pulled the trim around the ignition and light switch and took great delight in snipping the son of a ***** off.

How old is the water pump, is it original? Another obvious place other than hoses is the pump itself. I'm not familiar with the clamp memory argument. If they are screw-down clamps I have a hard time buying it. If we are talking about those spring clamps then yes possibly. I'm also assuming it's not leaking around the temperature sensor where the thermostat housing is, that would be pretty obvious.