C-Class (W203) 2001-2007, C160, C180, C200, C220, C230, C240, C270, C280, C300, C320, C230K, C350, Coupe

oil in water

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Old Mar 27, 2015 | 06:48 AM
  #1  
Cruel-Merc's Avatar
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2009 C350
oil in water

Hey folks, i checked my water level today and saw the water has a brown color then i figure it mixed oil in water i dont know what caused that all i got was check engine yesterday , i checked it with an obd scanner and it said system too rich heres a picture i just took:


What do you guys recommed me to do?!
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Old Mar 27, 2015 | 08:29 AM
  #2  
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2005 C230K SS
Not good friend...either head gasket is breached between oil passage and cooling jacket, or the auto trans cooler portion of the radiator is damaged...
Check the fluid in the engine and transmission and check if there is coolant in them.
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Old Mar 27, 2015 | 08:32 AM
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I asked a couple of mechs few hours ago n they said its the engine oil cooler needs to be changed and system flush, im.lucky i didnt drive the car when i spotted the issue.
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Old Mar 27, 2015 | 08:41 AM
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From: Carolinas
2005 C230K SS
Originally Posted by Cruel-Merc
I asked a couple of mechs few hours ago n they said its the engine oil cooler needs to be changed and system flush, im.lucky i didnt drive the car when i spotted the issue.
A possibility too....the engine oil cooler uses coolant lines as well....That milkshake mix in the coolant tank is never good....Do you have a Behr radiator?
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Old Mar 27, 2015 | 08:45 AM
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You have to first find out if the coolant is mixing with engine oil or atf. If it's engine oil, you're looking at a HG or the engine oil cooler. If it's atf then your radiator is busted
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Old Mar 27, 2015 | 08:46 AM
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Well yeah i believe so, it has the B logo and made in france
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Old Mar 27, 2015 | 08:47 AM
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Originally Posted by RWDlifer
You have to first find out if the coolant is mixing with engine oil or atf. If it's engine oil, you're looking at a HG or the engine oil cooler. If it's atf then your radiator is busted
The oil has this brownish color which i think its the engine oil, if its the ATF the color would be more like greenish
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Old Mar 28, 2015 | 03:37 PM
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So today i went and fixed my car, it turned out to be the engine oil cooler is damaged, so we had to either to change it or delete it. The indy told me itd be better to just delete it, weld the old cooler and just put back in its place but it wont be running, i thought what if i buy a new one and later i get the same issue? The indy advised me to just delete it.Car is running good and no issues yet, it was guaranteed they wont be any problem running the car w/o the oil cooler.
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Old Mar 29, 2015 | 01:58 AM
  #9  
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THE C350
can you post a picture by chance?
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Old Mar 29, 2015 | 01:48 PM
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'14 ML350, '13 C220 CDI, '07 C280, '98 ML320
Originally Posted by Cruel-Merc
So today i went and fixed my car, it turned out to be the engine oil cooler is damaged, so we had to either to change it or delete it. The indy told me itd be better to just delete it, weld the old cooler and just put back in its place but it wont be running, i thought what if i buy a new one and later i get the same issue? The indy advised me to just delete it.Car is running good and no issues yet, it was guaranteed they wont be any problem running the car w/o the oil cooler.
Your mechanic gave you guarantee elimination of oil cooler won't cause any problem?
Oil and coolant were mixing [due to gasket failure in the oil cooler] and causing problem, he should've eliminated those two as well :-)

IMHO, logical thing was to replace oil cooler gasket. That would've solved the problem.
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Old Mar 29, 2015 | 02:45 PM
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2009 C350
Originally Posted by pcy
Your mechanic gave you guarantee elimination of oil cooler won't cause any problem?
Oil and coolant were mixing [due to gasket failure in the oil cooler] and causing problem, he should've eliminated those two as well :-)

IMHO, logical thing was to replace oil cooler gasket. That would've solved the problem.
It wasnt just the gasket, it was the whole cooler, i will drive thr car for a week or two and if i notice any problem then ill get a new cooler.BTW most euro cars come without an oil cooler.
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Old Mar 29, 2015 | 04:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Cruel-Merc
It wasnt just the gasket, it was the whole cooler, i will drive thr car for a week or two and if i notice any problem then ill get a new cooler.BTW most euro cars come without an oil cooler.
All 3 cars I currently own (ML320 with M112 engine, C280 with M272 engine, and BMW 530i with N52 engine) have oil cooler.
And I have replaced the oil cooler gasket on both ML and C280 so far. I am about to change the oil cooler gasket [along with oil filter housing gasket] on N52.


Typically, the failure of the gasket on the oil cooler results in oil and coolant mixing in the cooler. It's not that common for the cooler to actually fail.

Last edited by pcy; Mar 29, 2015 at 04:12 PM.
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Old Mar 30, 2015 | 02:18 AM
  #13  
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2009 C350
Originally Posted by pcy
All 3 cars I currently own (ML320 with M112 engine, C280 with M272 engine, and BMW 530i with N52 engine) have oil cooler.
And I have replaced the oil cooler gasket on both ML and C280 so far. I am about to change the oil cooler gasket [along with oil filter housing gasket] on N52.


Typically, the failure of the gasket on the oil cooler results in oil and coolant mixing in the cooler. It's not that common for the cooler to actually fail.
Hmmm well why hed tell me to buy a new cooler and we could have fixed the old one by just replacing the gasket ? What do you recommend me to do?!
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Old Mar 30, 2015 | 09:48 AM
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'14 ML350, '13 C220 CDI, '07 C280, '98 ML320
This is what I'd do... Remove the oil cooler and check the condition of the gasket. If the gasket has deteriorated, I'd remove the gasket, cleanup the area where the gasket was, install new gasket, and put back the oil cooler, put back everything, drain coolant and refill. Then do an oil change as well.

If, on the other hand, the oil cooler gasket seems to be intact and looks good, then I'd think the oil cooler itself is bad. Without removing the oil cooler, we can't tell the condition of that gasket.

Good luck.
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Old Mar 6, 2019 | 04:11 AM
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Mercedes Benz c class coupe c180 Kompressor 2002
Can’t locate oil cooler in C180

I need to assget ss the oil cooler as the oil mixed with the coolant and I believe the cooler needs to be replaced. I have a Mercedes Benz c180 2002 and looked all over the net to see where
it may be located.
can anyone help?
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Old Mar 7, 2019 | 01:22 PM
  #16  
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2009 C350
Originally Posted by RachaelG
I need to assget ss the oil cooler as the oil mixed with the coolant and I believe the cooler needs to be replaced. I have a Mercedes Benz c180 2002 and looked all over the net to see where
it may be located.
can anyone help?
Its right under the oil filter
oil in water-photo452.jpg
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Old Mar 10, 2019 | 04:23 PM
  #17  
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From: Norwich, Ct.
C320 wagon 325XI wagon
When all is done...and you feel confident after driven 1000k...look simply at the underside of your oil fill cap....If you see mayonnaise to the underside of the cap...you still have a problem!
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Old Jan 28, 2020 | 11:31 AM
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mercedes benz c200 W203
Water in oil.

Originally Posted by RWDlifer
A possibility too....the engine oil cooler uses coolant lines as well....That milkshake mix in the coolant tank is never good....Do you have a Behr radiator?
sorry if I can jump in here as well. So I have a Mercedes C200. I changed the oil cooler and seals. Flushed the system and drove a few kilometers I find water in the oil with that mayonnaise milky color in the oil. I have no oil in water. Any advise?
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Old Feb 6, 2020 | 04:24 PM
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06 C200 Kompressor
Same thing here, I think the flush may have removed some deposits that were probably blocking the leaks...
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