So I was happily cruising down the road Tuesday when the low coolant light came on. A few second later, I'm smelling antifreeze and starting to see steam under the hood. Luckily I was passing a gas station so I pulled in to check it out.

As it turns out, the neck on the thermostat housing (connects the upper radiator hose) had completely snapped off. Luckily there was enough of a lip (abt 1/4"-3/8") left that I could push the hose up onto and tighten the clamp down enough to get back home.

The OE thermostat housing is made of a composite, plastic-like material. Not very durable. The replacement from Advance Auto is aluminum, only about $12.00 and very easy to change out.

Anyway, I thought I'd post my experience in case anyone out there still has the OE housing. It's probably a good idea to go ahead and change it out before it blows... Glad mine went at a good time and place.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Ty H.
'87 300E 135K Miles

I'm guessing this was on you '87 300E with am M103?

My M104 has an aluminum part.

Ya, my 87 300E. I wonder if all 103's had the composite part or if they switched to aluminum in later years... Just glad mine didn't blow out in the middle of no where...

__________________
Ty H.
'87 300E 135K Miles

My 1991 300CE with the 104 engine had the plastic thermostat housing. Replaced it with the aluminum style years ago to avoid having it fail at the worst possible time and place.

__________________
Fred Hoelzle

The new M103 thermostat covers are all aluminum now, they changed it due to your little problem happening, oh, a LOT of times!

__________________
Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay

Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold)