I had an interesting experience yesterday with the "new" 300D. I was returning from Alexandria VA, running late and in the mountains on I68 during the hotter part of the day when I'd planned on being many, many miles further on (combination of a traffic tie-up on I70 at Frederick and my elderly mother running VERY slow in the morning after 4 days in the hospital with pneumonia -- my life has been like that lately). I'd driven through at night the week before with no problems -- engine temp running around 95C on the steep grades, nothing abnormal, but this time suddenly the temp climbs up to 110C or so, so I slow way down and crawl up the truck lane. Coolant level and oil level light came on (it uses oil, so I'm not surprised there), and the temp dropped right back to normal and the coolant level light went off as soon as I got off the upgrade. Stopped at the next gas station and got ripped off for a quart of cheap oil and a gallon of pre-mix coolant, only used a quart of so, but I wanted the reservoir totally full so I wouldn't boil it out.
I assumed I had a bad radiator cap, as that is the typical failure I've seen when the car runs too hot on grades or boils when stopping from a hard run (not typical on the diesels, as I idle the turbo down for a couple minutes when I stop. However, when I cleaned up the oil- soaked cap from the wrecked car and put it on, it did not seal, instead bubbling out around the neck of the tank. I pulled them both, and in the bottom of the new car's tank there was a metal ring. it appears that the neck is roll crimped to the plastic tank, and the crimp failed on my car, leaving the neck loose in the plastic, at least loose enough to leak pressure off. Hence I was boiling the coolant on that steep grade -- didn't let it get above 100C the rest of the trip (I turned the AC off on long grades), but I think swapping the tanks will fix it. Peter _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
