1990 300CE, sloshing water sound - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

jp*mc86 · #1 04-23-2008, 04:48 PM

Hi all, today I heard a weird noise coming from behind the dashboard of my 300CE. It sounded as if water was sloshing around behind the dashboard. There was no leakage inside the car, my heater core seems fine. I inspected under the hood, did not detect or find standing water. Later in the day the sound went away, now I'm more suspicious than ever. Does anyone know of a water collection point under the hood? There was no evidence of water leaking from beneath the car. Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any ideas and help will be greatly appreciated. Yes it did rain the night before and my car has been through many down pours without incident.

Thanks

z168 · #2 04-23-2008, 05:52 PM

any chance you checked under the floor boards if youre holding water?

land sea air · #3 04-23-2008, 06:53 PM

also, if the car has a coolant leak or if you recently added coolant you may just have air trapped in the system. I had a pretty bad coolant leak my 88 300E and since I was always adding coolant whenever I had the heat on it would gurgle. Once I got the leak fixed the gurgle stopped.

BENZ-LGB · #4 04-23-2008, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp*mc86

Hi all, today I heard a weird noise coming from behind the dashboard of my 300CE. It sounded as if water was sloshing around behind the dashboard. There was no leakage inside the car, my heater core seems fine. I inspected under the hood, did not detect or find standing water. Later in the day the sound went away, now I'm more suspicious than ever. Does anyone know of a water collection point under the hood? There was no evidence of water leaking from beneath the car. Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any ideas and help will be greatly appreciated. Yes it did rain the night before and my car has been through many down pours without incident.

Thanks

Not to worry. Many W124 vehicles of the same vintage as your 300CE make the same gurgling, sloshing sound. My 1989 30TE and my 1990 300CE both make the same sound. My previous 1991 300CE also made the same sound.

I believe that MB came out with an official fix for the "problem" -- there is a bulletin someplace regarding this problem. I believe that this issue is unique to the W124. I have never bothered to fix it and I have never had any problems.

Good luck....

Johnhef · #5 04-24-2008, 12:09 AM

I'm dealing with a similar issue on my 87 300D, with the heat on the gurgling is more noticible and the temperature of the heat drops off a bit when I come to a stop, but comes right back when I start moving again. The heater valve is good.

I believe it to be my auxillary water pump causing both problems, but have yet to test this theory.

iwrock · #6 04-24-2008, 12:28 AM

Whoa, Benz-LGB, where you been???

I had that noise for a short time after swapping the motor in my wagon.

Hard cornering, heater on full blast made the gurgling go away.

BENZ-LGB · #7 04-24-2008, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwrock

Whoa, Benz-LGB, where you been???

I had that noise for a short time after swapping the motor in my wagon.

Hard cornering, heater on full blast made the gurgling go away.

Three preliminary hearings and two trials, all back to back, have kept me away....

Dee8go · #8 04-24-2008, 10:39 AM

Damn job! I hate it when my job starts cutting into my forum responsibilities . . . Good to see you here again, Ernesto.

BENZ-LGB · #9 04-25-2008, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp*mc86

Hi all, today I heard a weird noise coming from behind the dashboard of my 300CE. It sounded as if water was sloshing around behind the dashboard. There was no leakage inside the car, my heater core seems fine. I inspected under the hood, did not detect or find standing water. Later in the day the sound went away, now I'm more suspicious than ever. Does anyone know of a water collection point under the hood? There was no evidence of water leaking from beneath the car. Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any ideas and help will be greatly appreciated. Yes it did rain the night before and my car has been through many down pours without incident.

Thanks

What year is your 300CE?

The gurgling issue is addressed at MBNA's Service and Information 83/33a and Diagnostic Directory, Topic 83-91011. The gurgling is a known issue for the W124 cars and MB has already addressed it.

If your car was built from April 1988 through May 1990, then you can get a special anti-gurgling kit made by MB.

If your car was built after May 1990, then you need to follow the procedure outlined on the service bulletins. You cannot use the gurgle kit on cars built after May 1990.

Hope this helps.

BENZ-LGB · #10 04-25-2008, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dee8go

Damn job! I hate it when my job starts cutting into my forum responsibilities . . . Good to see you here again, Ernesto.

I know, darned work!!!

mr300ce · #11 05-14-2008, 12:44 AM

Mine had the gurgling kit installed with a recall (I suppose). I removed the entire thing (tubing and all) when doing the oil-to-coolant oil cooler replacement/repair.

I heard the gurgle a couple of times, then it quit. The problem is: the top of the heater core is the highest point in the cooling system. Any air in the system gets trapped there, and it will gurgle until the coolant flows thru for a few minutes and fill the core completly with coolant.

My MKIII Toyota Supra does the same thing, and is common to that model. Much air bleeding is done by Supra owners to remove as much air as possible from the core.

But.....when coolant gets hot in the engine, air bubbles can form in the coolant (oxygen seperates out), and the problem can come back.

I've learned to live with it, as it only lasts for a few minutes at most.

BENZ-LGB · #12 05-14-2008, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr300ce

I've learned to live with it, as it only lasts for a few minutes at most.

Yep!

BTW, have you posted pics of your 300CE?

olpos · #13 05-16-2008, 01:57 PM

Is this a gurgle noise or a noise like water slowly sloshing from one side of dash to the other.Sounds like the inside of the dash has a water tank in it and the water sound goes from one side to the other some what slowly.Both of my 1990 coupes had the same noise and only at times.Just when the car felt like it.The noise could not be made to happen,did it only when the car wanted to.
Both cars did not leak and never had a problem with the noise.Radio fixed it
Thanks
Rich