Brenden712

Help! I bought a 2002 2 door c230K for 500 bucks because it had a overheating issue, I replaced thermostat and put coolant in and engine ran at idle for a good 2 hours. while driving home from the shop 27 miles away about after 23 miles the tube to the radiator popped off and all the coolant dumped out had no choice to drive it for maybe a quarter mile then was able to pull over. Put the hose back on and filled it up with water and continued to drive it home.

On the way home after about a mile the car started to shake really bad and sounded like the car was going to die. The car had close to no acceleration. Eventually made it home and parked it to let it sit for a bit. Once it cooled off I checked the spark plugs to see if the head gasket blew and put water in the cylinder but there was no water in the cylinders. Put everything back on and started it up and it started fine. Drove it around the block a few time for maybe 5 minutes then let it run for about 5 more minutes then drove it around more for about 10 more minutes.,.. And then the car started sounding all funny and kept saying the radiator is low, I need windshield wiper fluid, and the check engine light came on. Got it home and parked it now I don’t know what to do with it. It’s my first car please help!

tjts1

Check codes, check your coolant, check your oil, stop driving it until you fix it, you know common sense stuff.

slammer111

Hoses don't just pop off. Is there a missing hose clamp or a damaged hose?

Brenden712

I’m pretty sure the clamp wasn’t tightened and all the driving made it eventually loosen up and pop off. The over heating isn’t the issue now, it’s the running real rough and not having much power part. I’m think it could be a coil pack? Is there a way to check?

tjts1

Yes, pull codes.

slammer111

Pull codes and check. Replacing a coil pack is super easy on this engine. The code will even tell you which one went bad. For this engine, Cylinder #1 is towards the front of the car, and #4 is closest to the firewall.

Ignition coils tend to go bad under acceleration/load for some reason. Sometimes they recover enough to act normal when the car is restarted and driven lightly (obviously not a fix), and sometimes they permanently crap out. The most obvious symptom is that the engine runs fine under higher RPM.

Brenden712

Thank you! I pulled them all out and looked at each one really close and saw #2 is melted and has a crack in it. I’ll have to go pick one up. Thanks!

5by5

I’d check to see if there is exhaust in the coolant or if the coolant pressure is abnormal (exhaust pumping into coolant).

You don’t always have water in cylinders with a blown head gasket.
5by5