Since your car is a 1986, you may have the old version of the fan, I believe its blades were white. You need the fan with the black blades. I don't know if the fan clutch was also updated; Phil should be able to help you on that. I did this switch on my early production model 1988 300ce using parts from my later production 1988 300ce parts car and the overheating problem I had disappeared immediately. Hope this helps.

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87 300e (white/black; amg body kit)
88 300ce (red/cream; amg body kit)
93 300ce cabrio (white/blue/blue top)
93 300ce cabrio (black/grey/black top)
98 ml 320 (totaled @ 137,000 miles)
99 clk320 (black/grey/black top)

I do have the white fan blades, so I need to check into updating this?

Hrmm... my 1990 has the white fan, I assumed since it was late it was updated.

Have a PN handy?

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

x2 my 90 has white also

Here's what I found:

Up to 045442 - 103 200 03 23, black fan with eleven blades

From 045443 - 103 200 04 23, white fan with nine blades. Can be used on models up to chassis brake w/ fan clutch 103 200 04 22.



Whatever that means, I don't know

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

I'll check tonight which color is correct; I have the old one in my garage and the one that fixed the overheating problem in my car.

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87 300e (white/black; amg body kit)
88 300ce (red/cream; amg body kit)
93 300ce cabrio (white/blue/blue top)
93 300ce cabrio (black/grey/black top)
98 ml 320 (totaled @ 137,000 miles)
99 clk320 (black/grey/black top)

I have a mid 90 build date on my 300sel, so I'd venture to guess the white fan is the updated/late one.

Either way, I have no overheating nor do I have cooling issues. Most of these cars I have purchased all had original radiators, hoses, belts at times!, thermostats, etc. I dropped about 3-6°C when installing JUST a new radiator in my 300SDL. Significant drop.

I opted to go with the higher thermo for the M103. There's an 87°C or the 79°C, 188.6°F or 174.2°F. The latter just seemed too low for winter use for proper operating temps. With the 87°C I never get past 95°C at idle in traffic in the summer.

If you can't drop $600 into a cooling system rebuild, you should probably rethink these cars. Then people balk at spending a few hundred more to replace all the vac/rubber connections under the hood too... makes me wonder at times.

They're cheap for a reason, NEGLECT.

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

Well once problem solved... I think. Well I was messing around under the hood today and why I hadn't checked it I haven't a clue. But in the fuse box I opened it up and much to my surprise of course there was a blown fuse. This was the fuse for the Auxiliary fan... So 10 seconds later I start the car up and sure enough I hear the fan blown away. I sat in the car at idle for about 5 minutes and I encountered no real issues. The needle only reached the 90 degree line or so, but never breached like previously.

Then I decided I would go ahead and flush the radiator while I was at it, and to my relief the fluid wasn't too bad, some specs of things here and there, but no traces of oil like residue. Filled her back up and it appears to be cooling even a little bit better even after fixing the fan.

Still while sitting at a stop light for a little while the A/C isn't as ice cold as I would like, but I can settle, it still blows cold, just not ice. Plus I realize what car I am dealing with.

Still have the transmission flush to do, thats next on the list. I'll let you know how that one goes.