Mine exhibits these same symptoms pulling the 2,000 feet up the mountain to school and the radiator's new within the last 3 years (when I crunched the oak tree the first winter we had the car), fan/clutch within the last year (converted to 606 parts).

I can *usually* make mine stop trying to overheat (I certainly never let it hit the red before I do something) by turning the air conditioner off. The spare horsepower this frees up seems to help the problem... the temp then just stops close to where it had climbed to (usually 115-117 degrees) and stays put until I give the car a break again. Turn the air on, and it's pretty much an instant increase on the temp gauge. Have never let it keep climbing to see where it'll stop but it was 115 and climbing when I killed the air last time.

Our Explorer and F-250 both had/have (we don't have the Explorer anymore) aftermarket radiators that had an increased cooling capacity compared to the factory standard original (more cooling loops within the radiator or something, I'm not sure). These extra-capacity radiators were intended for people that did heavy towing and pulling, and it sure showed on the average cruising temperature.

Anybody come out with something like this for the SDL yet? It's certainly a good idea, if you ask me, if somebody could figure out how to do it.

__________________


~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL