Radiator Leak
 

Hey i was out admiring my MB engine and recalled that the mechanic said i had a radiator leak so i searched around for it and i came across a pipe/rubber tube connecting to the top of it, and i could see a little bit of green coolent coming out. Should i replace the tube, grease the endings, or take it in and say i found it?

Thanks for your advice ahead of time :D

Is your radiator original?

On the 300E models, the original OEM radiators over time would crack at the plastic inlet neck (where the rubber hose from the coolant pump meets the radiator).

It may be time for a new radiator!:eek:

New OEM ones go for about $300 and is a DIY job that can be performed in an evening. The new ones have a reinforced metal sleeve that prevents future failures in that area!

Check the hose for a loose clamp or other signs of hose deterioration first...otherwise, the cracked neck is probably what has occurred...:(

Nooooo, i was afraid of that, i knew that was it i just didn't want to belive it....ahh there goes more money meant for performance parts:( ....Hey do you know if there are any aluminum radiators for the 300E to keep down the weight??:confused:

Thanks for your input :)

my impression is that the OEM MB 300e rads are very very lightweight already

although...if you can find some way to reduce 500lbs or more from the car while maintaining its integrity- then maybe it will feel a slight tinge quicker?


-fad

I agree that you will need a new radiator, however, I couldn't help but notice that you said you saw green coolant leaking.

The green stuff is not the recommended MB coolant and may not contain the proper neutral ph balance for your car's cooling system. After you change the coolant, be sure to go with the proper orange MB coolant.

I cannot, cannot, cannot, cannot believe that anything other than MB coolant is in anyway harmful to the cooling systems components.

BTW... when I bought my current MB, it was maintained by a dealership in Atlanta. I had a coolant leak on the side of the radiator, where aluminum meets plastic, and it was leaking green.

Let's just deal with the radiator problem, okay?

Otherwise this will turn into just another pink vs green, dino vs synthetic, Zaino vs Zymol thread!

But use MB coolant anyway!!!:D

As an aside, I bought 4.5 litres of coolant yesterday from my local M-B dealer in London, and the concentrate was blue!
My original ( 2 years old) is orange/yellow so I queried the colour.

The parts guy told me that all the coolant coming out of M-B in Germany now was blue (may go greener when mixed with 50-50 water, but it's a real deep blue now).

Each 1.5 litre bottle part number is A000 989 08 25.
Hope this helps

Bazzman
Surrey England
W124 E200 Wagon 94 103,000 miles.

I have the green coolant but I have my mechanic check the PH at oil change. As long as it is within MB specs. I don't change it.

That's an easy test. What is the spec?

Don't know the exact PH spec. My mechanic has test strips that he dips in the coolant. The color scale and MB requirements are on the side of the plastic strip container. Quick & easy, he doesn't charge me anything for this. You can probably pick-up a kit at your dealer.

Hey one more question, G-Benz you mentioned it was a DIY job, but i went and talked to my dad and he said something about the radiator compression and that we don't have the right stuff to do it. For some reason i think he dosn't know what hes talking about, so if someone could clarify this that be great.

Thank All for helping :D :D

I took my 560SEL in to get the top tank replaced but upon inspection the core was in need of replacement so they fitted a new radiator. Normally I would do this myself as it's not a hard job. No special tools are needed, the shop that performed this work took a total of 2 hours to remove, replace, refill and test etc. My top tank started leaking around the little return hose at the top of the radiator. This hose runs back to the tank with the radiator cap on it. I removed the hose from the radiator end and the plastic stem that it slides over had disintergrated. I had about 6mm left so I put the hose back on as far down as I could and that stopped the leak in the short term until I could get it fixed. Here is a link to a write up in the DIY section here.

http://www.a-p-group.com/ashman/radiator.html

Matt.

I saw that in the DIY section of this site and i never saw him use any special tools for compression, so i'll prolly just do it myself.

Thanks :D :D

Easy Fix and it's less than $4.00
 

Greetings Chris,

Seems like you have a forming crack in your radiator neck and unless it is severe I think I'd opt to get the most miles out of the current radiator I already have. Besides the $300 you don't want to spend on the new cooler, JB weld will fix your problem most likely for years to come. I've used this great goo epoxy on everything from metal to waste water holding tanks and everything I've used it on is still in operation today. Unless you just like spending money on engineered defects, I'd go with the JB Weld and correct the problem instead of buying another that will fail the same way.

Charles

The replacement radiators have steel sleeves inside the neck to reinforce them and prevent against a failure like the earlier ones.

Greetings,

Why not salvage what you've got if that is the only inherent problem with the radiator? Once again, money spent doesn't justify the results.

Charles

I agree with repairing where possible, in my situation I didn't want to repair the neck as it doesn't solve the problem and will reoccur. As well as replacing the top tank the core was found to be leaking during the pressure test so the whole thing was replaced. I do think it's best to do everything once, I don't want to go back and revist my cooling system again so I have replaced all hoses and belts as well. Overheating is a major pain.

Matt.

In short, you only need a screwdriver and a wrench to perform the entire operation. The fan shroud is attached and removed without tools, and the rad is held in place by a couple of metal clips that you pry off (with the same screwdriver you use to loosen the clamps on the two hoses). The rad sits on two round slots on the front body frame, and just lifts right out.

The wrench is for loosening the metal hose to the transmission cooler, which is part of the rad.

This was the first real MB repair I've done, and it took me about two hours total. Removed the old one in about 1 1/2 hours...was so tickled that I got that far in such a short period of time that I celebrated with a beer and left the remainder of the work for the next day. Installed the new one, added coolant, and had the engine fired up within a 1/2 hour that evening.

You'll be surprised at how easy it is to do!

Go for it!:)

After rereading Chris's post
 

Greetings All,

After reading Chris's post again, I think we may be steering him in the wrong direction. As he has posted that the green coolant is coming out of the end of his top radiator hose. If this is really the case, then his hose has broken down internally and is seeping coolant out of the thread ends. I've had this problem in the past, and generally a new hose fixes the leak.


Charles

I picked up on that too...AFTER I made the first post...:rolleyes:

The thing is, the original radiator WILL fail eventually...pressurized systems have a knack of initiating failures at their weakest component...which is the radiator.

Someone did post a thread earlier about repairing the core in the same place, but for all of the trouble, I would go ahead and replace the old rad anyway.

Just my 2 cents worth...

Hey Thanks everyone for your help, first an inexpensiveway i'll just replace the hose, then once more damage occurs i will eventually do the whole radiator.

Thanks again:D :D

Sorry we didn't pick up on it sooner
 

Greetings Chris,

Sorry we didn't pick up on what you were saying sooner. We all, at least those of us with the 300E series automatically think broken radiator neck when you start talking leak in that area. I believe mine to still be the original in my '86 300E and still no hint of breakage. I actually think a lot of breakage occurs when folks use the neck as a leaning spot when removing the air cleaner housing. Seeing as I do my own maintenance, I understand that weak point and avoid using it for such purposes. I wouldn't change the core either, chances are if you take care it will most likely last another five or more years.

Charles

I think the debate about conservative vs. definitive repair could go on forever. I usually like to try the least-expensive fix first myself, but I think when it comes to our cooling systems, this is probably NOT the right approach. There are a few things I know which can fry an MB engine: running it out of oil or severely overheating it. We have oil pressure gauges and low-oil lights for the former. However, a radiator neck blowing off while you're tooling down I-80 at 80 mph can EASILY fry your engine before your engine temp gauge clues you in (remembering that it is registering COOLANT temperature, and if you ain't got coolant, it's registering air temp.)

Mine blew last summer in the driveway, fortunately; when it blew, it BLEW and I lost a ton of coolant VERY VERY fast.

Fix what's wrong, not anticipated failure
 

Greetings 400E,

The original post was misread by several of us, but if you reread it, the problem is a deteriorating upper radiator hose not his radiator neck. There is no need to change out the radiator if it has no signs of leakage and no apparent stress cracks.

Charles