thermostat leak
 

I replaced the themostat (82 300td). There is leakage around the 3 bolt thermostat cover. I had replaced the rubber gasket with new. There is no gasket between the cover and the housing. The surfaces were cleaned before re-attaching. Should I fashion a gasket. It looks like the rubber one (fits around the t-stat) should provide leak protection, but it doesn't.

If anyone has had and fixed such a problem I appreciate a reommendation.

Hi Nevrem,when I recently replaced my t-stat I found a lot of corrosion on the sealing surface of the o-ring/t-stat housing.The PO had used RTV sealant on the outer area of the o-ring to stop it from leaking.I cleaned off the corrosion and filled the missing areas with some JB weld and haven't had any leaks so far.BTW the t-stat housing bolts are small and only need to be torqued to about 10 ft-lbs,use loctite to keep them from vibrating loose.Maybe all you did was overtighten the bolts and squeezed the o-ring out.Good luck and welcome to the best MB forum on the web:D