380SEL Coolant coming from somewhere...

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Derek P - 17 Jan 2006 21:03 GMT

I just had my rad checked out, and I was told that it was holding pressure
fine , thus being no leaks. So I had it flushed just for my piece of mind.
My temp guage in dash is still acting weird, although not as bad as before.
I was told off this site to clean the rad of bugs - I have done that I have
also been told to suspect a faulty thermostat. The only thing I'm wondering
is why temp. in dash drops to normal when I crank the heater? Am I looking
at a blown heater core? There is also coolant (small amounts) on top of the
rad itself and along some of the hoese - which are all tight. If this does
sound like a heater core to any experts, what is a ballpark figure of what
I'm looking at in way of price from your experiences?

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T.G. Lambach - 17 Jan 2006 23:29 GMT

The car's heater acts like an additional radiator and so, sheds heat
from the engine.

You apparently feel the motor is running too hot; it should be about 80
degrees C. with higher readings in slow traffic.

If the motor runs warm at freeway speeds then the radiator is restricted
or the coolant flow is constrained. If the motor runs hot in traffic the
fans should be checked.

The only other reasons are a bad temp. gauge and / or the engine's
ignition timing being too advanced.

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Richard Sexton - 19 Jan 2006 05:19 GMT

[snip]

>The only other reasons are a bad temp. gauge and / or the engine's
>ignition timing being too advanced.

A bad gauge would not be likely to fail so predictably as to always
read low when the engine is running. And gauges seldom fail, usually
it's the sender and usually that is just the multi strand wire failing
under work hardening such that it snaps off of the connector.

But, when, not IF the temp and or oil gauge stop working, take the
connector off, overhaul it and it'll be literally
as good as new.

http://articles.mbz.org/electric/126connectors/

But, at the age of these cars now any of them with an original
rad are probably on thin ice - and rads are prety cheap.

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Richard Sexton - 18 Jan 2006 15:22 GMT

>I just had my rad checked out, and I was told that it was holding pressure
>fine , thus being no leaks. So I had it flushed just for my piece of mind.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>sound like a heater core to any experts, what is a ballpark figure of what
>I'm looking at in way of price from your experiences?

Radiators for a 380 are cheap and if yours is original I'm not sure
I'd even bother thinking about it. Replace the rad and all the hoses.

Flush the whole thing with citric acid. Use new MB coolant. You got
evil green stuf in there? They generally don't clog and rust up if
you use the correct coolant..

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