Hi,

I have a 1996 C280, 120,000 miles. Almost every week I will find some coolant like liquid on the ground.
My coolant warning light will come on and coolant reservoir will be empty. and
I will have hard time starting engine, it feels like engine is not having enough gas. I have to step on gas paddle to start engine, As soon as I add more water into the reservoir the problem goes away.
But the lights will come back in about 1 -2 weeks. I do not see any coolant leak in the engine.

Can someone please tell me what is going on with my c280 ?

Thank you.

Are you sure there isn't a leak? Have you really, really examined for leaks all around the engine? You state a number of problems which, if accurate, are kind of odd to be related and so actually may or may not be related. The leak could be as simple as cracked expansion tank or other unnoticed leak from a connection. At the other extreme, it could be very major like a leaking head gasket (common on the 96). What is odd is that you say adding water to the resevoir affects how the car starts. If this behavior is true when it is cold and you try to start, the amount of water should not matter. If it only happens when the engine is hot, then it might point to an overheating engine.

When the engine is fully warmed up after some real-world driving, if you pull over and have another person watch the tailpipe while you give the engine some good revs up and down, do they see any steam/white stuff coming out of the tailpipe?

Any water in the engine oil?

Any chocolate milk like residue in the overflow tank for the radiator?

Could be simple or a really extensive job, especially since it sounds like it has been going on for a while. I'd check out the coolant/oil to make sure there is no mixing, then go about pinpointing the leak with detection dye.

I just had oil change. There are no water in engine oil, however, there are few chocolate milk gooey stuff like residue in the reservoir ( Is it same as the overflow tank ? ) most of them are gone when I over flow the reservoir.

One thing I forgot to mention is the engine runs around 100 degree on daily driver. Normally, it should have been 80 degree.

I know I have oil leak but not sure from which gaskets.
Sometimes I see coolants puddle like liquid when I pull out of parking lot and the light will come on..

where do I start trouble shoot / replace ?

>>there are few chocolate milk gooey stuff like residue in the reservoir ( Is it same as the overflow tank ?<<

I don't want to scare you, but I think you need to take it to a shop and ask them to have a look at it 1) to prevent any more damage and 2) make sure you don't have a leaking head gasket. Hopefully the head gasket is not the problem but there is enough in your descriptions to warrant an inspection by an expert. You want a competent, honest, independent MB specialist. Not a dealer. Not a generalist mechanic.

My $.02.

Thank you.
here is the latest leak..

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...80630951963231

I will get it fix this first. and go from there.
From earlier search, I think it is a heater hose goes into dash.

Is this a complicated job or is it something home mechanic can work on over the weekend?

You started a whole thread about this on another forum. Why are you starting it again here? What is wrong with the information the other people posted about fixing the exact same problem? Have you contacted them with follow up questions? Those guys were kind enough to help and they know more about it than any of us since they have actually done the replacement.

sorry, I lost the track on which forum I originally posted. that's why I start here and kept track.

you neeed to get that new part from mercedes. this is normal on the w202's