Hi All,

I really want to know what year radiators, that don't have plastic inlets, will fit my 92 400E, and what price would be considered fair? To save you from reading what you may not want to, the rest of this message is about why I need a new radiator, and how well the quick fix of my old one worked.

About a year ago, the plastic inlet fitting on my 92 400E broke off. For a quick fix, I bought some abs pipe at a local hardware that was just a bit smaller than the radiator opening. After roughing up the pipe and the inlet, I gooped both the inlet and the pipe with pc 7 epoxy putty, placed one end of the pipe in the inlet and slipped the other end into the the old broken off piece on which the hose clamps. I then gooped the outside of all with about a sixteenth of an inch of putty. After sanding it smooth the next day, I replaced the hose, and to my amazement, that quick fix lasted a bit over a year.

Despite the fixes surprising longevity, I think I prefer buying a radiator with a non-plastic inlet rather than repeating the fix and waiting for it to break, so any help will be greatly appreciated. If location is a price factor, I'm located in the Seattle/Tacoma area of Washington State.

Thank you all for all your good advice.

Thos43

I don't think you're going to find it. Either a Behr or a Nissens should be good for 10 years and will likely outlast the car.

Thos43, new Behr radiators have a metal-reinforced plastic upper hose connection.

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Fred Hoelzle

Hi All,

I got so frustrated looking for used radiators, I tried a little alteration to my original fix, and it has worked for over a year now, so anyone having the problem of the top radiator flange breaking, here's what I did.

Got long plastic plumbing coupler pipe, about 3 inches long, as close to the same circumference as the radiator opening as I could find. It was a little smaller, which turned out to be a good thing. I coated the pipe with fiberglass resin and inserted it into the radiator opening, making sure no resin dripped into the core, then wrapped fiberglass around the pipe and over the top of the radiator for extra hold, then applied resin. I repeated this 3 times, and put a small amount of fiberglass into the front opening of the pipe I installed for extra support. The fix ended up being stronger than the radiator itself, and is as strong today as it was when I did it. The other thing I did, so the engine torque wouldn't put a strain on it was to cut my top hose in half and insert another piece of pipe as a spacer to lengthen the hose so when I step on it, the torque won't pull the hose in a way that would stress my new inlet pipe.

Thanks for all the advice.

Thos43

What you did is interesting and I wish you had some photos. However, I just changed the radiator on my car to a new Behr which set me back $300, and it has a metal insert inside both inlet and outlet tubes. The older radiators did not have the inserts. Also, if the engine places undue force on the radiator hoses, perhaps your motor mounts are worn or broken. I personally trust the Mercedes engineers and appreciate what they created, and try not modifying things.

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2004 E500 4Matic 138,000 miles