My S320L is a tropical version (Version for Hong kong and Singapore...etc.My friend'1994 E320(New Zealand version)has a working temp. of 85-95c and never drops below 80c on motorway.A non-Mercedes mechanic advised me to replace the thermostat suitable for NewZealand climate.(I didn't get advise from Mercedes mechanics since I had a horrible experience with them.They seem to know servicing Mercedes but NOT FIX THEM.)Any idea??Please,Any help is apprceiated. From Davis Lo
1994 S320L
1995 Honda Prelude VTi-R

[This message has been edited by DAVIS (edited 09-24-1999).]

Davis,

Woah! I have never heard of that happening before! Now your question about the temp, yes, the car will run at about 80*C and the temp will drop on the freeway a little because of the constant cold forced air (ram air) under the hood. Actually, now that I think about it, it might be stalling beacuse the FI isn't metering the correct air/fuel mixture because of the temp. I can't say for sure, just a guess.

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Rgds,
Aaron Greenberg
MB technician
'67 250SE Cabriolet
'77 450SL
'79 6.9
'79 6.9
'80 300SD
'81 240D
'85 380SE
'89 420SEL
'93 300E 2.8

For the last few days when I drove it at night(outside temp. was around 13*c,the working temp. kept 70-75*c and never rose even in city-driving.I find my car taking a very long time to warm up and always stays at 75*c and then rise very slowly.Is that not good for the engine if the working temp.is too low??And the car would be stalling at night with headlights on only.Any idea??
Please help,it is too annoying!!
from Davis Lo

As you say its only with the headlights on, I'd imagine its an electrical fault, possibly the ground to the engine block? When I cleaned all my sensors, the apparant engine temp rose from 70degC (it was lying!) to 87degC... Perhaps when the headlights are on, the electrical system goes to pieces (too much load/ground 'leak')

Any thoughts anyone?



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Brian Drought
1991 300CE
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drought/
ICQ: 2180069

The first thing is to find out if the temerature gauge is correct. You can do this by using an infrared heat gun (display) to show the tempaerature and they do it in both
celsius and Fahr. The themostat controls the water flow but if stuck in the OPEN position then the water would flow too quickly through
the radiator and be cooling too much. This scenario does happen but not as often as stuck closed which blows head gaskets. It would be nice if they would be designed to always stay open when defective!

TobiasMB
300SE, 300CE, 190/5.0

I am going to replace the thermostat and the coolant tank cap to see how it goes.Thanks for the help.
One more question is under what conditions or temp. do the electrical fans start to operate? I notice that the fans of my car seldom turn on.Is that normal?