djfmf

I was driving to Las Vegas from San Diego when I'm 2 miles away from my destination, I get stuck in traffic. It's already 111 degrees and my car is black. I turn up the AC on full blast and then out of no where I see white smoke from under the hood. I think I'm screwed. I'm praying as I'm crawling through traffic because I didn't want to stop on the side of the road. Thank goodness the Thermostat didn't rise, it was staying in it's regular spot. I turn off all electronics, and turned off the AC. I even opened the hood latch to let some of the heat escape from under the hood. It resolved the problem. I drove as careful as I could to my final destination and checked under the hood. No fluids leaking or smoke, so I just let it cool. I check the coolant after the car cools down and there is fluid in there. I did have some questions.

#1 I always carry a full container of coolant in the trunk, since it's not MB fluid should I mix it or go to the dealer?

#2 How do you figure out how much coolant needs to be in the tank?

#3 How the heck do you do a coolant change/flush/whatever? I'm at a loss because it looks totally different from a BMW and a Subaru. Maybe I'm not looking at it right.

#4 I saw well over a dozen cars pulled over on the side heading to las vegas. my thoughts are their car overheated and they don't have fluid for it. discuss.

Videos or pictures would help out very much.

djfmf

so 230+ views and no one knows how to do it?

503C43 ////AMG

Here is what I found in the WIS:




















Hope this helps

djfmf

it does provide insight, my other question is how do you properly bleed the cooling system. someone said to turn the heater on full blast and to open up the coolant system cap and fill until it meets thr recommended mark. is this true?

lkfoster

1. If you're going to carry coolant I'd recommend getting to gallon of MB approved coolant and diluting it 50:50. 100% coolant isn't good, that way you have a controlled source of water to mix and you don't mix coolants.

2. I don't have the manual handy, but I typically check the level when cold, it should be just above the lower mark. Hot it should be around the top mark. too little expansion volume can lead to venting like you experienced.

3. See post above. I haven't done it yet to the C55, but it looks pretty normal for a V-8. MB coolant is also "lifetime" if you're willing to believe it.

4. You'll get a "low coolant" message if the coolant level is low.

No idea how to bleed the system, though I expect that it self bleeds as long as the heater valves (there are two) are open.

I would also not trust the temperature gauge, they have been overly damped for years now. Things have to be pretty warm for it to move off of normal.

If you spent much time in the desert you can set the radiator fan to come on earlier with a STAR machine.

StapleGun

Possibly a seized tensioner?

djfmf

found out the cause of the smoke under the hood. It was coming out of the ac compressor that i filled up in san diego a month ago. i'm of course in las vegas now and the ac took a big hit. thought it needed refilling so i bought another kit, found out that i was over filled. now i'm just bleeding it to optimal pressure. the heat must have made the ac fluid expand causing the smoke.

503C43 ////AMG

Here is how the WIS recommends filling/bleeding the system: