bengholm

So I am a victim of the dreaded radiator leaking fluid into the tranny. CLK 320 2003.

I was quoted $1350 to replace the radiator, plate gasket, filiter and flush the transmission. Then of course they said that I may be looking at a new torque convertor ($2850) if that doesnt work.
I am going to change the radiator myself and have a transmission shop finish the rest. I need to know if anyone know a good place to get a radiator and a good resource for the istallation (diagram, instructions).

Anyone had any success with this?

Kevwood

There is a great DIY thread on this;

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...iator-r-r.html

Scroll down to post #9.

dynomite05

Nice thread Kev. The early W203's had the contamination problem also, correct?

OP, you should be able to get all the parts through parts.com or autohausaz.com.

Kevwood

Yeah, there were a bunch of models affected up to 2004, '05's and beyond were/are clean. I did a ton of research considering that I have two 2005's and didn't want to get stuck with 2 very expensive failures!

JOHN1

Water in transmission= trans rebuild as clutches will be shot!
John1

dynomite05

Lol. The first thing I did when I bought the car was check the rad.

Kevwood

Yeah, me to!

Something that I found interesting was that for the most part people thought that if they had a Valeo rad it was no good, regardless of the production date. In fact, the Valeo continued on in MB's (I have one in my '05), it was just a bad run that was replaced by Behr (sp?) for a time. So, if you have a Valeo but fall outside the affected production run, you're a-okay.

thegeneraltso

I was worried about that issue when I bought my '05. The dealer said they haven't seen any '05 with that issue because the newer version uses 7-speed transmission and has a better seal. Don't know how true ... I took it with a grain of salt.

bengholm

Brilliant. That is exactly what I need. Now...wheres the best place to get the new radiator (besides the dealer)?

What I would like to do is replace the radiator myself but bring the car in for the tranny flush (I dont want to mess with that...inless its not too difficult). I would assume that if I did this, the contaminated tranny fluid won't damage the radiator on the 10 mile drive to get the flush will it?

dynomite05

Parts.com is a great source for OEM parts. Autohausaz.com has cheaper prices on mechanical parts.

kostas86

Is this a problem for both V6 and V8 motors?

dynomite05

Yup

Kevwood

Up to early 2004 production (officially stated as 09/2003 but some 04's had the rads as well). These are the models that were affected;

203.040/061/064/065/081/084/261/264/281/284/740/747/764
209.365/375/376/465/475
211.065/070/076/083/265/283

bheng

i had the transmission problem but luckily i was under warranty. they replaced it with a new radiator and i dont have that problem. next time i am in for a major service, i'll ask them for a glykol test. but since i have a newer radiator sitting in there im sure i'll be fine. lol

but at merc it ran them 6k including labor according to my service adviser. new rad, new hoses, refurb tranny + flushing and installing. .alll that good stuff.

Kevwood

Thats a hell of an expensive fix, glad you got your done under warranty pal. When I had my trans issue I was praying to all the gods available that it wasn't gycol contamination.

kostas86

Thanks for the info!

Kevwood

No problem, good luck.

bengholm

I suppose the old radiator is trash? They cant be rebuilt? Anyone know of anyone buying used/busted radiators?