Well I finally found a '87 300TD-T. I had been looking for a while...

On my second day of driving I noticed the coolant low light on and the engine temperature increasing... one of these by itself is a potential problem, but both at the same time is a really a bad sign! I pulled over and shut down. Exiting the car I noticed fluid pouring from the front bottom of the car. When I raised the hood I noticed that the top radiator hose was not connected... As I was trying to re-attach the hose I noticed that there was no ridge in the nipple to clamp the hose to. Upon further search I found the missing ridge and about 1" of the end of the nipple inside the hose (it had broken off inside the hose).

I moved the clamp up closer to the end and clamped it "real tight." I then re-filled the coolant (lost the bottle of red line water wetter I had just put in the day before...) and headed for the dealer.

The local dealer says that the right hand side of the radiator (the vertical part that has the nipple attached) can not be replaced separately and I must replace the whole radiator! Is this accurate information or is there a more cost effective way to handle this tragedy?

Thanks,

Steve A