Okay, in the slow but sure progress on my '88 560SEL something struck me.

When I had been driving it and used the wiper fluid, it had a green tint to it. Now that I just removed the resevoir it struck me what may be happening. There are 4 hoses going to the tank, 1 for fuild to the windshield, 1 for fluid to the lights, and the other two out the top, presumably to and from a heat exchanger in the coolent system.

Is there a common failure point for me to look for in this circuit that would allow coolant into the washer fluid circuit, ie is typically a seal or a heat exchanger?

Any and all help is appreciated. Also I have the W126 CD so if there is a job # to reference I overlooked (other than the 20's) , please point me in the right direction

Thanks in advance!


Scott

Well, I've seen green windsheild washer fluid, so you don't have to panic just yet! The grees stuff isn't antifreeze, so get rid of it by winter.

However, if you have green coolant, you need to get rid of it, it won't protect the engine and radiator from corrosion. Use the MB coolant or Xerex G-05 (the same stuff) only.

The coil is a heater, circulates coolant, so if it is leaking, it will dribble coolant into the windshield washer tank. This won't dry, and is very streaky (and smells like used coolant!) so it should be obvious. If you DO have coolant in the tank, replace the heater coil.

Peter

__________________
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!

psfred-

Thank you for the relpy. I have never seen a green washer fluid before, but then again, I've only lived in the south (where we used pure windex) and in the west, were we've used undiluted blue washer fluid and this car (which I bought out of New York) has green. My experiance says green where you expect blue is bad, so I appreaciate the heads up.

I've become sevierly disappointed in the Mercedes Dealership which origionally sold and maintained this 560SEL until I purchased it. They used Penzoil, green coolant, etc etc ad nausium... El cheapo all the way! You do NOT want to know the ammount of sludge I've pulled out of the heads of this 70k origional mile engine!!! YUCK!!! Yes, I am having to do a top end rebuild on it already due to excessive oil burning and a spark plug hole in dire need of a helicoil.

Thanks again for the reply and I'm releived to know it may not be as bad as I thought!



Scott

Prrestone makes a green summertime windshield washer fluid that is supposed to work better for removing bugs, etc. it is is just one of their products. They also make a de-icer that you probably wont find in the south. The de-icer is yellow. (Rainx (sp) makes a de-icer that is bright orange)