hi im from the tropics and would like to share on how to improve your cooling system for a 110 fintail 200 gas. with airconditioning.Usually during really hot days and with heavy traffic my engine goes up to 200F -210F with aircon on. Now i made some changes:

(1) install a 16" aux. elec. fan
(2) change the original engine fan to a 6 blade fan
(3) make sure thermostat is working if not replace it with a 71 C thermostat
(4) replace water pump it noisy
(5) adjust fan belt
(6) custom built a 3 rows radiator
(7) replace radiator cap if broken ( i use 120 cap)
(8) check timing
(9) put distilled water plus one bottle of water wetter


now during traffic with aircon my temp stops between 180-185 F

Wow thats an amazing improvement. My car used to have a broken fan clutch all summer and it was running anywhere from 200 to 212 ish. Now with the fan clutch the needle has never left 180, once when sitting in traffic on a warm day it went all the way to 185 .

Now I would like to ask you how to make it warm up faster. I get through half my 20 min commute before it hits 175. Is there anything I can do to make it warm up faster, its only been in the 60s in the mornings and when winter rolls around thats gonna be scary.

Peter

I'd like to hear more about the custom 3-row radiator..... Is this built from Japanese car parts? My Benz is a 123 model with the crummy plastic Behr radiator tank. One day I will replace it and an option I've heard is getting a Subaru or Mitsubishi radiator.

Peter, if the car runs too cool you can put carboard in front of the radiator for quicker warm-ups and look for a hotter thermostat, like something around 78 or 80 degrees if you can find it.

If it DOES take that long to warm up, it's almost certianly a bad thermostat. Mine took forever to warm up in the winter (and would cool to 150 or so on the highways) until I put a new thermostat in. Now it heats up fast and stays on 175 all the time!

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Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

yes check your thermostat and replace it with a higher temp. rate . about the radiator they only replaced the core and still uses my existing radiator brass head and bottom . from what i know they built and fabricate from scratch using local parts.

I used to have a 15 minute commute and of course the car never warmed up. So I started putting an electric space heater in and turning it on 20 minutes before I left. (Keeping the car in a heated garage would work just as well.) This is so much better than driving with fogged windows that you won't believe it. I'm driving a 240D that also has an engine block heater plug and a heater plug for the coolant. (Right- I installed the block heater before realizing the water heater was already installed.) As the guys say, if you live where it's really cold, put some cardboard in front of your radiator.

Hey thanks for the advice, I changed the coolant just yesterday to an exact 50/50 ratio so that will prolly help and im swapping the 20w50 oil out for some 10w40. I live in toronto and it hasnt been that cold but it takes a long time to warm up, or maybe im just paranoid. I may install a block heater but the car is in an underground garage and they dont have plugs or anything of the sort but I see that there are some pretty big heaters so I may be stepping into a warm car every day...

Peter

GAsoline engine should warm up pretty fast.

Diesel won't idling, will stay lukewarm until you get it under load.

Slow warm up is a bad thermostat not closing, nothing else will do that. You should have the heater on in no less than two miles, and a couple minutes idling before you drive off will help quite a bit. It's not THAT cold now -- in the real winter, you won't get any heat at all!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

I definately recomend a 3-row recore !! My 280SE 3.5 (tobias) still had the original 2-row radiator and started showing signs of age as some of the cores started to degrade and leak, the clutch fan didn't engage and reached the upper temp limit where the aux fan cut in before the red (i think it's 222 deg).

The radiator specialist gave me a choice of a secondhand(tested and 6 month warranty) rad or to use the same tanks and recore with the two rows or three (with 3 year warranty for both). I went for the recore and then considered the 3-row since it provided more cooling potential and since it was only a cost difference of AUS$ 50.00. I don't know if this what is ment as a custom job but the new core was listed for MB 280SE 3.5 out of the box and not cannibalising from another make. The overall thickness of the core is the same as the original but the rows are slightly narrower and arranged with the middle row offset by a column...if that makes sense, thus more cooling area.

After the job, the clutch fan started to work to spec as well as the thermostat (I didn't replace it with the new one I bought). The rad specialist advised the this usually happens as the radiator degraded in the area in front of the clutch fan. I didn't question it further, I'm just happy that I don't have to recondition the clutch fan as well...

Another point is to make sure the radiator cap is the correct one for the model. I found out that the PO put on a later model cap on mine which was rated at a higher pressure which contributed for my cores to burst !!!

It's pretty amazing when you do get the engine to run to the specified temperature (governed by the thermostat, I still can't believe owners pull it out), my engine temperature hovers just on or a whisker above 175deg Fahrenheit even when I have the AC on in bumper to bumper city traffic and then falls below the 175 deg line when travelling. The engine feels solid and has a lot of power plus I'm getting better fuel economy and I haven't checked the timing yet !!!!

On another note, is it good to take on the motto of 'if its not broken don't touch it' - which what the original mechanic made me swore to take on!!

...pretty hard when there are alot of great advice to compare with and on problem solving in these forums.


Happy Cruizing,

ysmael

ptoro, as Peter said, you definitely have a bad thermostat. They're easy to change, though I've never done one on an MB, but at least they are on GM's where they even put a bleeder valve on top of the housing.
-David

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2000 Honda Accord V6 137k miles

1972 300SEL 4.5 98k miles

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