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Ha ha thanks. What was i doing... well there was a ticking noise under my dash for about 40seconds every time I started the car and it was driving me nuts! I don't wish it upon anyone! have a look at this for how sucky the job was. There is one screw that makes the job near impossible that requires the majority of the work. Next time I will just pull the plug out for it and problem solved... kinda ha ha. Oh It was a stepper motor for the AC btw
I just want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you. This forum has saved me thousands of dollars and countless hours of frustration with my C230K.
The info sharing here is second to none and I can't thank all of you enough.
Now,
I have a long list of repairs to get to now that I have learned of most of them from this forum. Leaking cam sensors next.
By the way, a couple of years ago I took my car in because they told me it was under recall. All they did was change out the cam sensors wiring, not the leaky cam sensors. Why would they do that and only that? Why not solve the entire problem?
Thanks again guys for your great work and knowledge!
Less than a year & it seems my new pipe failed. The one I installed was 2712001352 - Oil Cooler Water Pipe. Bought on eBay. It had a curious triangular extra piece I never figured out and did NOT come with an O-ring. So...buyer beware if you see those on eBay.
I’m about to pull it out & investigate.
If this pipe IS the culprit, I’ll be ordering the next one either from fcpeuro.com or autohausaz.com
No more Chinese eBay nonsense for my car.
pix, in case they help someone else...
C230 coolant leak on floor C230 coolant leak diagnosis. Signs point to Oil Cooler Water Pipe @ rear of M271 engine The culprit - oil cooler water pipe 2712001352 Part #17 - oil cooler water pipe
Less than a year & it seems my new pipe failed. The one I installed was 2712001352 - Oil Cooler Water Pipe. Bought on eBay. It had a curious triangular extra piece I never figured out and did NOT come with an O-ring. So...buyer beware if you see those on eBay.
At least you learned with a non very critical part.
For me, now, anything that I consider "very important, critical, or a PITA to replace", gets bought Directly from a Dealer.
As good as those other places are, they are far from being immune from being scammed and getting counterfeit parts.
If they say otherwise, then I say offer me an immediate CASH payout of 10million dollars (USD) if you sell me a fake part - put all in a legal document, and NO exceptions!
Of course, they'll all tell you to shove it.
On my "restoration" (of my already in great shape 85K mile C230K ), I bought ~90+% of my stuff Directly From Dealers.
I've posted an article about how prevalent, and profitable, counterfeit automotive parts are.
Where are the picks from made my own? I accidentally leaned on this and the hose connection cracked off- dont wanna purchase the whole piece as it only the end hose and possibly end adapter that needs replacing.
Haha! We bought the exact same things! I also got 3 siphons — 1 to eventually change the supercharger oil (jet oil), 1 for oil changes, 1 for transmission fluid changes.
I recommend the hose clamp set, too. I found it really valuable. Before I diagnosed the plastic water pipe, I changed out the coolant expansion tank because the connector there had broken. It was made of the same material as the failed oil cooler pipe.
I got rid of that crazy hose-to-metal-pipe-to-hose nonsense that goes from the cylinder head to the expansion tank. I replaced it with a cheap hose from Autozone, replacing the old clamps with new ones along the way.
Oh...and the adapter!! Ugh.
Same material there, too. That tiny little piece of expensive plastic ($80 at my dealer, but only $9-$16 online) can render your car immobile, so I highly recommend changing that as well. In fact, buy 2 just to have one on-hand, just in case!
For anyone reading this who just bought one of these older W203 C230Ks:
A) FCP Euro offers a LIFETIME GUARANTEE on all parts. I don’t work for them, I just trust them a lot more than Amazon or Alibaba.
B) Replace the items below asap because they’re due to fail after ~12-14 years:
All these plastic pieces breaking is very vey familiar. A few days ago the water pipe with thermostat blew out. replaced it.....35 seconds later after starting the drivers side of the radiator blew out...replaced it. pressure tested the system and the coolant pipe that feeds towards the back of the engine broke. Replaced it and pressure tested....all good for about 5 minutes and then 270-200-13-52 Water Pipe springs a massive leak..... got the part..... just gonna replace 271-203-06-02 Lower Pipe as well while I have it on lift.
btw...Good idea to replace this one, too. I’m fairly certain it’s the cause of many cooling system troubles. It springs leaks pretty easily (due to a few reasons: hose connection, o-ring, age/brittleness, etc.) It also gets clogged easily, but I don’t think a clog here would show up in a pressure test.
All these plastic pieces breaking is very vey familiar. A few days ago the water pipe with thermostat blew out. replaced it.....35 seconds later after starting the drivers side of the radiator blew out...replaced it. pressure tested the system and the coolant pipe that feeds towards the back of the engine broke. Replaced it and pressure tested....all good for about 5 minutes and then 270-200-13-52 Water Pipe springs a massive leak..... got the part..... just gonna replace 271-203-06-02 Lower Pipe as well while I have it on lift.
btw...Good idea to replace this one, too. I’m fairly certain it’s the cause of many cooling system troubles. It springs leaks pretty easily (due to a few reasons: hose connection, o-ring, age/brittleness, etc.) It also gets clogged easily, but I don’t think a clog here would show up in a pressure test.
Speaking of clogs.... there was a grayish slimy sludge inside the plastic pipe the goes across the top and splits into a Y. Where it connects to a hose that connects to the plastic pipe on the backside of the engine shown above. blocked SOLID.
Shop has the car now and says most likely will nee a new motor
Speaking of clogs.... there was a grayish slimy sludge inside the plastic pipe the goes across the top and splits into a Y. Where it connects to a hose that connects to the plastic pipe on the backside of the engine shown above. blocked SOLID.
Shop has the car now and says most likely will nee a new motor
Sounds like someone added the wrong type of coolant and it reacted with what was already in there?
I had a similar experience with Toyota PS fluid in a used Matrix that we bought several years ago ... most Toyotas take Dexron III (which is just ATF, deep red just like Cherry cough syrup), but they also have a clear "PS Fluid" that some of their cars need, that is not compatible. Evidently it is common for auto shops to put in the wrong fluid. When we bought the Matrix I looked under the hook, the fluid was clear (well ... brown ... but it wasn't the Dexron). The PS reservoir had gelled up sludge in the bottom, it took a while for me to flush it out with cleaner and flush the whole system a few times with fresh Dexron. Catastrophe averted.
I would think the first thing to try here is to pull the various hoses, water pump and thermostat to check for more sludge, then flush the cooling system a few times with some sort of solvent ...?
I just replaced the head coolant pipe today with a MB genuine part (not aftermarket). It was leaking at the lower Y pipe and at the hole going into the head. I also ordered a new Coolant Breather Pipe Socket (P/N 0039970689 MB genuine part) since I've seen a bunch of people having issues with these leaking or breaking off. I replaced the Pipe Socket after replacing the main pipe and went to stick it in the hole and noticed it seemed kinda loose event after pushing the clip back down. Started the engine and it is pouring coolant through the loose fitting with the engine running, so much so that I cannot drive the car (my daily driver). Anyone experienced this? Note that the new socket is exactly the same as the old and the new socket fits snuggly into the old main pipe. Is there a newer design for the main pipe and possibly a larger or different socket that goes with it? If not, I guess I'll have to order another main pipe and replace it again. Will be contacting the dealer tomorrow.
My car is a 2003 C230K with 273k miles. Guess the pipes fail more from age rather than mileage
Sounds like you've inserted the pipe wrong. It's not fully in.
If it isn’t fully inserted, wouldn’t the clip not close down on it? The clip closes down on the socket and prevents it from coming out. It’s noticeably loose when sticking it in the hole. The old pipe is much more snug fitting.
Nope, the new one has the O-ring. The new socket/adapter is identical to the old one (new one is the one attached to the hose that is wet). Both sockets in the old pipe are so tight that I have to use pliers to pull them back out. With the new pipe, they're so loose that they basically fall out once unclipped (hence the excessive leaking). One thing I noticed is that the old pipe has some sort of metallic or shiny ring shape in the interior of the hole that the new one does not appear to have. Perhaps the new one was damaged or defective from the factory.
I called the dealer and they have a new pipe in stock. I'm going to take the socket and old pipe with me to make sure the dealer one fits. The original pipe I bought from Pelican Parts is a genuine Mercedes part, but the dealer said that Mercedes-Benz does not sell to Pelican. Disconnected hose Old pipe sockets (old left, new right) Connected hose Full system
And you already installed it ... ugh. I had no idea there was any sort of an insert in there, I never thought to look. But it sounds like you've figured it out ... one more DIY lesson learned ...!
For anyone that has replaced JUST the back coolant pipe (part # 271-200-13-52), did you need to drain any coolant before removing the part? And if you didn't drain first - did much coolant pour out after removing it?
I'm just curious... since my hose is leaking, and the car has been sitting for a couple weeks - so I'm thinking that all the coolant in that area of the engine may have already drained out - so that if I disconnect the part now, no more coolant will be there to leak... and hence no need to drain any first. I also don't want to lose coolant all over the place, on the ground, when taking the part off.
thanks for any responses... I know most of the posts on this chain are very old, by now!
If in doubt just empty out the expansion tank and pour it back in when done. Otherwise you're looking at a coolant top up for a few bucks. Pretty easy to do with a piece of tubing.
Pretty sure every pipe other than possibly that manifold one (the one above the exhaust pipes) is below the normal coolant level. In other words you're going to spill coolant when you remove the pipe.
Last edited by slammer111; May 22, 2020 at 02:15 PM.
It's fairly easy to open the drain plug at the bottom of the radiator ... and you're going to have to fill the system anyway after you're done, so might as well take this opportunity to at least drain the system and put in some fresh coolant.
FYI ... I replaced the part below on my 2003 c230. Like others that have posted here, the plastic itself had cracked right where the o-ring fits over it (the thinnest part of the plastic). The piece that fell off is on the right-most below, with the o-ring sitting over it. The o-ring itself was pretty worn, but may have held up. I think a previous mechanic had put RTV to try and shore up the leak, but the RTV had eventually all squeezed out, resulting in the pooling of coolant. Interestingly, it only seemed to leak when the car had completely cooled down, as other have posted here.
Here are some tips for those that need to fix this, which I haven't heard above - sorry if any of this is duplicated:
To remove the rigid vacuum tube that is right above this pipe, note that you need to press on the tabs ABOVE the loose/floppy circle at the base of the connector. From earlier posts, I thought you were supposed to squeeze the lower/floppy area, but that didn't seem to help much. I also found I had to wiggle it for minutes - literally... it just would not come up without a fight, no matter where I squeezed. This is a strange kind of plastic/metal clamping mechanism. Try maybe squeezing one way, and then another, as you wiggle it up - maybe that works best
Also, when twisting the vacuum tube up and out of the way, don't be too scared of it breaking... and use the angle of it for leverage, but also support it near the end that attaches to the nipple, to avoid it cracking
after moving away the rigid vacuum tube, I highly recommend to remove the motor mount (pictured left below)... that will give you way more space to work with. It only needs you to remove the two torx bolts. Note that you cannot remove the torx bolts by themselves... you need to first loosen them both all the way, and then take out the hook as one entire piece, with the torx bolts still inside
oh - and you definitely want one of those very stubby socket wrenches that have a flexible arm, so you can actually work back there
as for the hose clip pictured top/right below - you can undo the part around the hose by sort of twisting the clip out of shape - that will give you a place to grab and push the inserting plastic tab up and out of the plastic tabs that are surrounding it
next, there is a tiny plastic rod that does NOT penetrate the hose (you can see it pictured below, after it has been pushed out of the retaining clip), but just sits inside the part of the clip that inserts into the main plastic pipe below... from the area where it inserts into the main pipe, use a poking tool to push the tiny little rod out of the 3-pronged area that inserts into the main pipe... then the whole clip comes out easy. Just make sure the hose is removed first
the hose that attaches directly to the pipe below is fairly pliable, and has space to move out of the way... I only siphoned the coolant from the top reservoir - I didn't drain all the coolant... and I didn't have more than a few drops come out when disconnecting the hose... although mine had probably already leaked down to that level before I started working on it.
after removing the old/broken pipe, I used a cut piece of a credit card to scrape/clean out the old o-ring bits or ATV that was left where the pipe was removed... I made sure the piece was too big to actually fall into the engine coolant hole, in case i dropped it
be sure to lubricate the new o-ring with coolant, to help it slide in easier
Thanks so much to everyone on this forum, for all your great advice... this is the second repair that was a breeze, only thanks to the people here.
How the hell did you remove that plastic clamp around that pliable hose? I spent over an hour on it and no go. I don't want to break it, although i thought about just snapping off the bracket on the plastic pipe that I was going to change out anyways.
Any other tips or tricks to get that clamp to open up? I tried a little screw driver to try to wedge it in between the two halves, but there is just no room for it.
Thank you!
Gary
Originally Posted by brian1980
as for the hose clip pictured top/right below - you can undo the part around the hose by sort of twisting the clip out of shape - that will give you a place to grab and push the inserting plastic tab up and out of the plastic tabs that are surrounding it
next, there is a tiny plastic rod that does NOT penetrate the hose (you can see it pictured below, after it has been pushed out of the retaining clip), but just sits inside the part of the clip that inserts into the main plastic pipe below... from the area where it inserts into the main pipe, use a poking tool to push the tiny little rod out of the 3-pronged area that inserts into the main pipe... then the whole clip comes out easy. Just make sure the hose is removed first
the hose that attaches directly to the pipe below is fairly pliable, and has space to move out of the way... I only siphoned the coolant from the top reservoir - I didn't drain all the coolant... and I didn't have more than a few drops come out when disconnecting the hose... although mine had probably already leaked down to that level before I started working on it.
Thanks so much to everyone on this forum, for all your great advice... this is the second repair that was a breeze, only thanks to the people here.
work out for you? It's $9.97 now and I bought it last night.
Also, how the hell did you remove that hose clip/lclamp? You and the other guy that did it seem to not really have an issue with this clamp. I spent an hour on it and broke the bracket that holds the hose clip/clamp.
Thanks!
Gary
Originally Posted by JasonMB
Wow that ratchet with the pivot head looks like heaven! I think I will ad that to my christmas list!
I used a standard ratchet and (once the hose that is clipped on the plastic hose is detached) it worked fine.
I actually managed to get both my hands back there too!
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), I bought ~90+% of my stuff Directly From Dealers.
