This truly sucks. I'm sure many of you have been here before. I just spent a 95 degree weekend on a black driveway replacing the front brake system on my 83 300D. Drives and stops GREAT now. Guess what, I come home today after a little celebratory suckin' down a few and am greeted with a nice green puddle under my newly braked automobile. From what I can see, it appeares to be along the bottom seam and is NOT worth trying epoxy or any other tricks. I just want it to be fixed. I'm curious about the Nissens radiator. It looks exactly right and is a whole lot cheaper than the Behr. Is the Nissens radiator any good? Advice appreciated.
Thanks.

My benz had a Nissens in it when I got it and for a long time before that, and it worked and looked fine (I replaced it because I was overhauling the cooling system with all new components). After removing it, I sold it for $60 on ebay, which is about a third of the purchase price, and the buyer said it was working great.

My replacement was also a Nissens, and it works flawlessly. I figure that if it costs half as much, you can go through two before you wind up paying for one Behr. Since their service life seems to be very good, I imagine it will wind up being the better alternative money-wise in the end.

__________________
"I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brillaint blaze
than it should be stifled by dryrot.
I would rather be a superb meteor,
every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time."

-Jack London 1876-1916

1983 300CDT (running WVO since 12/05)
1981 300SD (parts car)

I replaced my leaking Behr about a year or so ago with a Nissen... works great - no leaks as of yet and the car runs at normal temps )between 87 and 100 degrees celsius depending on driving conditions) in this sweltery Florida heat.

Well, this is good to hear. That's what I'm going to do. Now, this car is being sold so keep that in mind when answering this. Now that I've got the radiator out (easiest thing I've done so far) what else should I work on while I've got the room. The water pump isn't leaking, car never ran much above 85C. I'm probably going to do the hoses just to be safe. The tranny lines came off with no trouble. Are they prone to start leaking after the radiator replacement? No signs of leaking now. I am concerned that if I go after the water pump I may shear off a bolt, is that a legitimate concern? I suspect I should leave well enough alone and put in the radiator and sell it. So the new radiators come with rubber parts (upper mounts), how about the clamping pieces for the oil cooler? Are they orderable? And I'm putting in MB coolant, the good stuff. Thanks Much

Just take a few minutes and blow out the condenser from the rear side, now that the radiator is removed. You can't properly clean a condenser with the radiator in place. Use compressed air and/or water. The fins are not all that tight.

Thanks Brian. And I wish to nominate myself for idiot of the board. Never one to leave well enough alone, since I have all this room now, I'm going to replace my hood latch cable. Brian, I think you either sent me something or I found a thread about this job. I printed it out and will be using that. One question though, how do you get the hood latch thing off the cable? I moved without breaking the sort of safety hook. It appears as though there is a pin through the clevis like fitting that has to come out and it's just not moving. Got it soaking in PB Blaster now and have stopped for the evening. Sick of feeding the mosquitoes. This on a car I was planning to sell and already have people wanting to see it. What a PITA!!!!

I can't be sure about the 123, but the SDL has a permanent steel attachment at the end of the cable. It is larger than the cable and it sits in a slot. If you remove the latch, you will immediately see how the latch disengages from the cable. There is no screw or any type of hardware for retention.

YMMV. The 123 might be different.

I can relate to PITA. I was underneath the SD attempting to remove the oil filter housing. I have to tell you that my XXL hands are not suited for this procedure.

Finally got it done, but it took nearly 90 minutes.

I'm going to get a gearwrench and short and long section of 6 mm hex rod to put it back in. The 1/6 of a turn (about 30 times) using the allen wrench is pure BS.

If your car still had the original trans lines, without the "springs" around them, I'd replace them.

For me, they will leak about 50% of the time after putting it back together.

__________________


1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

Finally a good W123 day. The radiator turned out to have a small hole where it appears there might hve been a screwdriver slip. Shop fixed and pressure tested and gave me a 12 month warranty = 30 bucks. The hood cable is ADJUSTABLE!!!! I didn't know that. It's been adjusted not replaced. I know, I know but the car's being sold so cheap is good, easy is even better. I don't see any tranny fluid leaking so I'll just inform the buyer to keep an eye pealed. MB coolant put in. Tomorrow I will adjust the valves, change both fuel filters with a load of diesel purge in the big filter and do some interior cleaning. The car's pretty good now with new brakes etc. If I can't get a decent amount of bucks for it, I'll keep it and have the AC fixed. Knock-on-wood a generally good day of car work albiet 110 degrees at black driveway level. Probably lost a few pounds too. Corona is good beer.

................are you young or just plain stupid?

................in any case, you are a better man than me if you can work in this heat.

Congrats on the progress with the 123. I've put the work on the SD on hold until the temps. drop a bit.