QUICK! Which Radiator with reinforced neck?
 

1995 E420 needs a new radiator... like five minutes ago.

The two choices as we know are Behr and Nissens. I know the behr has the reinforced neck (aluminum sleeve in the neck) but its more expensive than the Nissens. does the Nissens have the sleeve?

The Nissens has the reinforced neck as well.

I did this swap years ago on my W124 and purchased the Behr. While i believe the Behr is a better quality radiator, formum members that purchased the Nissens version haven't mentioned any negative issues with that product...

The Nissens I just installed on my 300E did NOT have the reinforced necks... I'd go Behr...

-GH

Behr as stated above:)

Jonathan

I bought a new Behr from a reputable euro supplier a few years ago - no reinforced neck. Contrary to all of the yack here, not all Behr's have this feature.

One of this forums founding techs(Benzmac) posted a technique for tightening the hose clamps.

Install hoses/clamps and snug down fairly well, but not very tight. Start car and let it warms up, as it' warming up, the hoses will leak at the hose/pipe connection if the clamps are too loose. Slowly tighten the clamps just a hair. Keep doing this 'til the leak stops, tighteneing ever so slightly each time you tighten the clamp.

The necks break 99% of the time because people get heavy-handed with tightening the clamps.

After the neck broke on the SEL, I epoxied copper pipes in all my radiator necks (not the 430 yet). That's also how I fixed the SEL neck over 5 years ago.

I just put a Nissens in my 201 a couple of months ago. I chose it over the Behr because it was about $80 cheaper, and Phil (parts guru from MercedesShop) said he's never had a complaint on them.

The one thing I did notice is that the Nissens does not have the nice draincock with a hose nipple -- I really miss that from my OEM Behr. If you need to drain coolant, you can drain it into milk jugs straight from the radiator. No splashing, no mess. If you're re-using the coolant, you don't have to worry about the fluid getting contaminated by running down dirty greasy parts into the drain pan. And you don't have to pour from a drain pan.

I'm not sure a quality valve and a plastic nipple are worth $80, but I will miss them.

jp

I bought a Behr in january. It has the aluminum insert. It was made in Germany. It has drain plug. Seems to be high quality. I would buy another.

And hopefully you won't have to!

:D

Behr is OE, at least the original I took out of my W126 had Behr stamped on it.