Help, ye good fintail kindred. - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

todds · #1 03-26-2009, 04:46 PM

Arrgh! It's "The year of the fintail" and mine JUST started running hot. I pulled the radiator, had it cleaned and the good folks at J.P. Carroll told me it was full of stuff when I got it back, looking sort of sullen at the same time. The hoses were mostly clean with only a few tiny hard mineral crusty pebbles present. The thermostat housing had more crust, but not as hard. I pull the water pump, and the device itself has perfect blades, and was pretty clean but when I probe around in the motor passages with my finger I get a bit of gooey coolant-mayo back along with more mineral crust. Think I might have lost a head gasket... sigh.

Any tests I should run before pulling it? One issue is that my garage has no running water, so running a garden hose through it is a real PITA. I might be able to rig something up temporarily though. My manifolds really ought to come off anyway due to a small exhaust leak off the aft cyls. Is it worth putting it all back together to do a leak-down or comp check? Might I fill my newly clean radiator with goo if I do that? Advice gents?

Mark DiSilvestro · #2 03-26-2009, 06:19 PM

Put the repaired radiator back in and recheck it. Maybe it's OK now.
Also, you mentioned the thermostat housing, but not if you checked the thermostat itself yet. If you still think there's a leaky head-gasket, I'd try and find a shop, or somebody that has a CO sniffer to check the radiator cap opening while it's running for signs of exhaust gasses.

Happy Motoring, Mark

meltedpanda · #3 03-27-2009, 08:45 AM

were you loosing coolant prior? white puffy exhaust prior?
foamy oil prior? these would be signs of possible head gasket. Since you have a manifold issue, this may be the time to get it all sorted out. However, Marks suggestion is a good one , put it back together and see what happens. I dont think a few miles of circulation is going to ruin the radiator, plus it would not have enough time to actually clog, a simple reflush should work. Short of that , and to rule out head gasket you could rig up some kind of closed loop you could presurize and do a leak down test.

todds · #4 03-27-2009, 10:33 AM

Thanks for the suggestions. I believe I will just put it all back together, see what the gauge behaves like and look out for the tell-tale signs. I haven't noticed anything like that thus far although I did see some evidence of coolant splashing out of the overflow hose and bottle, most likely just because it got hot. It never hit the red, but got way too close for comfort. It's never smoked out of the tailpipe or foamed the oil or anything. The oil is always really steady in this car. I haven't noticed bubbling in the radiator prior to this either, although the coolant did not have a good color to it. Not oil contamination so much as a pale "way past it's prime" color. Besides the hot running, the car has behaved excellently, so perhaps I was hasty with my assertion. Maybe it's from owning a few vintage alloy block cars that I've got an over sensitivity to the dreaded coolant mayo. I suppose a little is something I can overlook. Based on the condition of the coolant and the barn-find condition of the car when I got it, I still hold a (perhaps undeserved) suspicion that my head passages could be as gunked up as my radiator was.