edawg

Hi All,
OK, I finished my Thermostat DIY and PDF. I have to give props to both forum contributors here and to the staff at www.Mymercedesparts.com. They were very helpful in getting me the right parts and encouragement to work on my car.

Appreciate your feedback on the PDF. Also, going to work on a DIY and PDF for Oil change next.

Mods, please let me know if the PDF is OK, and please place this on the DIY page.

Enjoy!

seenastyle

edawg,

Thanks for all the hard work, I know it takes a while to put something like that together. And thanks to making a specific DIY for C230's in response to the C280 thread I saw you in. Just in time for me too

And I backup your MyMercedesParts.com suggestion, I checked 6 different online parts stores and it was the cheapest, although some others were only a few bucks more.

I have a question: Do we have to drain the coolant at all? Did you include this just in case we wanted to change coolant while we were there? I imagine that if I don't drain the coolant, a little coolant might spill from the top/front of the engine block, but not a whole lot. And whatever spills can be replaced. Is this true?

Thanks

edawg

Right, you don't have to change the coolant and you will spill if you don't. My concern with not doing this - your car's coolant probably has not been changed in many miles. I recommend you do this to be on the safe side.

I live in Austin, TX, where we have 6-8 months of warm months throughout the year. Above 80F!

So, if you are going to go through the trouble of changing the T-Stat, might as well change the coolant. Plus it will save you the $100+ a stealership will charge you! At any rate, it's your choice. Thanks for the kinds words.

vtsnake

THANKS!!!!! I just finished changing mine. Your pics and instructions are perfect!

As seenastyle stated not much coolant will come out so draining the coolant is not necessary. I did mine this way plus I did NOT take the hose off the housing. I did try but it was on there pretty good then I realised it did not need to come off.

I might have lost a cup of coolant and that is all. I think the trick is to jack the front end of the car up so it's on an angle. This way not much coolant will "spill" out of the engine. I did mine on my driveway which has a slight incline. Had I had thought it through, I would've jacked it up instead to get a greater angle but like I said I didn't lose much coolant anyway.

Thanks again EDAWG for the writeup!

chkoo

they charged me 300 bucks at the dealer, if only i had known it was so easy

vtsnake

Wow that's highway robbery. The dealer here was apprx $120.

2subway

I just changed my thermostat today due to getting the code for it. I bought the thermostat and o-ring for 37 euros here in Germany. I used this DIY except for I didn't change the fluid and I didn't disconnect the hose from the thermostat housing. Also, I jacked up the front end and I believe this helped to prevent losing alot of fluid. It took me about three minutes to do the thermostat swapover. I couldn't believe it was that easy to be honest. Thanks for the DIY.
Henry

chuang

Our local San Francisco dealer quoted me $550 for replacing this part!!!!
I'm glad that I saw this thread before I repair it at the stealership

drtyjrzy

great diy. I did this yesterday and it took me about two hours. if I need to do it again I could probably trim that to an hour. cost me 90 dollars getting parts and coolant from the dealer. could have went online cheaper but I am a live in the moment type guy and wanted to fix it right away. thanks for the write up. saved me alot of money.

Boom vang

Before I had a code reader and Star DVD, I had a check engine light and had to go the dealer to find what was going on, they had to replace my Thermostat and it cost about $200 here in Toronto

LokowtherKamiiu

I would've jacked it up instead to get a greater angle

nlpamg

Thanks for the post and DIY! It's been added to the sticky!

Allrevup

Hello; I am in the middle of air intake, cabin, engine flush, filter & oil, P/S flush and refill, fuel filter replacement, anti freeze flush and refill, Accessory belt and thermostat, I had to stop and ask a question... What is the correct torque for the 2, T10 bolts on the Thermostat housing?
Tomorrow I will be tackling the transmission flush, via the ATF cooler line and TCM plug, is oily from the bottom of the bell housing to the front of the transmission pan., so it was due!

I hope to clean well tonight before I stop and leave it ready for trasmission maintenance service tommorow...

Thanks for you priceless Help!

duca900

Great PDF instructions! Replaced my Thermostat and CEL is OFF. Used Beck Arnley 143-0854 Thermostat found on Amazon.com for $28. Wahler brand was also listed. Thank you...

-Patrick

cjennjr

Just replaced my thermostat. Took all of 20 minutes or less. EASY JOB!!!!!

aznmode

edawg thanks for creating the instruction and link to buy the parts. I've been getting this error on and off and it eventually stayed on. So going to be doing the swap over the weekend. Thanks again.

turbonos7

Thanks for the PDF. I just did this on my car at 144k miles. The twist for me came in the form of a broken thermostat housing. That set me back a little since I was not expecting it. Went to the closest MB dealer and picked up a new one for about $30. Looking back now, I should've expected that since it is a plastic part and with all the temperature cycling it is only a matter of time before it becomes brittle and breaks. Felt like I should write about it here for everyone else to know. Again, thanks a million to this forum!

cvx

Nice DIY indeed

Just a reminder in case some CDI-engine owners happen to read this, you have a 2nd thermostat fitted in your car which needs to be changed aswell. Price from (finnish) dealer 46e ~ $63

It is located behind the sound horns in front of the radiator grill and changing it is quite easy job when you block hoses with special pliers (unless you flush the coolant out).

Cintoman

Had the same thing just happen to me on my housing at 119K miles. The crack on the outside of the tube was small, but enough to have a little coolant bubbling out of it. But the inside was pretty bad....the plastic tube that goes into the engine was completely broken off the outer part of the housing. I didn't have to but I ended up replacing the thermostat as well, since I was in there.

Pic 1 - before
Pic 2 - after

--Cintoman

VVF

Probably was damaged in the process of transporting/installation though.

Wilkinda65

my sons thermostat housing looked just like yours. it also broke off inside the block as well. Managed to get a pair of needle nose vice-grips on it and pulled it out. Now gotta get the new housing/thermostat.