Hey Guys,

Just bought a 1990 560SEL. My first Merecedes .

The guy I bought it from had it imported from Japan so the owner manual is in Japanese and I have no idea what it means!

I was going over the car trying to make sure that everything is in good working order and I noticed that there is a hose disconnected from the over flow tank. The hose looks like it feeds into the passenger wheel well. I blew into the hose to see if it was just an overflow to the ground or if it was hooked into something. There is a gurgle so I think there must be a second tank? Should this second tank be hooked up? Is it just a secondary overflow tank or does it serve some other purpose?

On a side note (possibly related?) the rear vent will not make heat. It blows good and hard but only cold air can never get heat from it, is there supposed to be a rear temp adjust somewhere? Does it by any chance use coolant from the second overflow and maybe a second heater core to produce heat in the rear?

One last question what the heck are the dash lights? I got most of them figured but there is one that is a circle with dashed lines around it and one that looks like a light bulb with an ! in the middle that I don't know what they are.

Any and all help/insight/tips into this fine old girl would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers =D

Welcome..

The second tank is there to catch any excessive overflow...yes it should be connected..ie; bad rad cap.

The rear vent is for fresh air OR A/C only...the heat for the rear will come from underneath the front seats..there are ducts there.


The warning lamp with brackets is for brake pad wear warning.

The bulb lamp is for a "burnt-out" exterior light bulb.

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Thank you very much for the help. It is greatly appreciated.

Should the first overflow tank be filled all the way then to allow for the second one to be used or is it just there in case it's really hot?

There is an arrow with something in German that points to where the mounting bolt for the first overflow tank is. It is also about where the seam that joins the two halves of the first tank together so I had assumed that this was supposed to be the fill line.

At this rate I will have to learn Japanese and German to figure my way around this car

Thanks again.

Kalt Wasser - cold water = fill line.
Enjoy Great Car