JennzBenz

just a question... my coolant is leaking... i have NO idea where it is leaking from. i checked the pipe things that are accessable... but my car is so low i cant look under it... before i take her in does anyone have any ideas on where it could be leaking from other than from the lines...? could something be cracked or something because then i might cry... hah

jbec.keane

Check to see if the overflow container is cracked.

JK

DamonAnthony

Cant help sorry but I love the 300e, I have seen that bodykit on another 300E once It looks simmilar to the C36 yeah? Sorry I cant help with the coolent leak!

ZedStyle

maybe jack it up and see if you can see any traces of where the leak might be coming from?

Federic0W124

check the radiator. I was leaking coolant heavily earlier this year and
turns out my radiator had a crack on the side near the neck.
To ease pressure off the cooling system pop the reservoir cap
just enough that it stays on but isn't tight. Helped me out
big time.

mgw_300e

BINGO - these rads are notorious for this leak.

JennzBenz

what could have caused my rad to crack?.. and are you guys saying that i can like drive around with my rad cracked if i just dont put the cap thingy on tightly until i get it fixed?...

shadowgriffen

Jen -

what they're saying is that the Radiator itself did not crack, but rather the cheap plastic neck that is commonly known for cracking.

As far as driving around with your "cap thingy" loosened: think of your radiator as being one HUGE squared soda bottle, once full of pressure it looks for a way to escape (we all know what happenes when you pull that evil "shake-the-soda-can-vigorously-and-give-to-my-brother" trick) meaning if you have a cracked Rad neck, it will have the same effect if you have an explosive soda prank pulled on you.

so you see, slightly loosened cap = roomate leaving the soda opened making the soda go flat.



EDIT: Basically Jenn, it eases pressure on the system.

Federic0W124

yes basically if you keep pressure off the system
by loosening the cap you can drive your car until
you can get it fixed. I drove a week with the cap
loosened until i could install my new radiator.

yhliem

One possibility is as everyone has already mentioned: the plastic neck where the rad hoses connect to the rad itself may have cracked. MB radiators are not unknown for this. You *could* drive around for a short period with your rad cap loosened it *will* reduce the presure in the system, but it's something you'll want to have addressed ASAP. Your car's cooling system depends on its ability to pressurize in order to properly cool the engine.

Another possibility that hasn't been mentioned yet is your water pump. Water pumps are designed to "weep" coolant when the bearings start to fail. If undetected for a while this weeping can turn into a flow which results in a mysterious coolant puddle under the car. Typically there's a weep hole or hose on the water pump. For some reason, MB waterpumps cover up the hole with the fanbelt pulley making diagnosis difficult at times.

A ruptured hose is also a possibility. And sometimes it's hard to find the break. I once spent over 40 minutes hunting a fter a minor coolant leak only to find that it was a hose that I must have checked at least a dozen times. Turns out it had cracked right by the gear clamp that held it to the rad neck.

Good luck and let us know how it all turns out!

TerryA

Jenn,

Don't mess around. Take it somewhere and find out whats wrong. Driving around with any kind of coolant leak could cost you a lot more. You could loose the engine if it overheats.

It is probably the radiator and it should be replaced. You may be lucky and it is just a hose connection or something more minor but don't ignore it.

Good Luck

TerryA

yhliem

While I agree that fixing a coolant leak is not something that should be put off, I don't think saying "It is probably the radiator and it should be replaced." is sound advice.

At this point, with the information we (don't) have, the source of the leak could be anything from a loose hose clamp to a missing frost plug. Until the actual source of the leak is determined, all we can really do is offer places to look. It would be detrimental to Jenn's best interests to give tell her to replace the radiator based on what info we have.

Federic0W124

exactly.
I didn't replace my radiator until
I saw it was indeed the cause for my leak.
you can't just throw parts
at a car without knowing what's going on first.

shadowgriffen

not to mention the fact that not everyone is handy with a wrench.

she would probably get squeezed for labor + parts at the Stealer for not knowing the source of her troubles...

Saijin_Naib

giggity

TerryA

yhliem,

Obviously Jennbenz has not found the problem, she indicated that she looked at what she could with no results. I am assuming that she is not a wrench.

The sound advise was to "Take it somewhere and find out whats wrong."

Anything else other that Jennbenz finding the leak and telling the forum what it was is speculation on everybodys part.

Take Care

yhliem

Yes, I see where you said: "Take it somewhere and find out whats wrong." I have no issue with that advice nor was I commenting on it. In fact, I believe I said that I agree with your advice to not put it off.

What I *did* have issue with was the instruction that "It is probably the radiator and it should be replaced." This is an imperative statement (ie directive) to replace the radiator and is a far cry from a suggestion of where to look. And it is *because of* the shared assumption (as wrong as that assumption may or may not be) that she isn't a wrench that I caution against definitive statements such as the one you had made.

You are correct in stating that anything we may come up with is speculation, but there's a difference between a wild-*** guess and an educated one. The more suggestions we can give to Jenn, the better equipped she will be if/when she takes the car in to have someonelook into the issue for her.

The last thing any of us want to see is Jenn telling us that she spent $400 + labour on a new rad and the car is still leaking coolant.

BeNzTeK

A couple places that I have seen these things leak are.....
If you look at the front of the engine just below the valve cover there is a aluminuim insert where one of the coolant hose's connect there is an o-ring inside of there it has been known to leak?
or the thermostat housing is also known to leak some of the older ones I think have the plastic housing mercedes did make an update for this and offers an alluminum one.
Last spot is maybe the waterpump there is a port that is very hard to see and it will leak when that water pump pulley becomes to loose.
GOOD LUCK??

yhliem

Jenn,

If you are unable to determine the source of the coolant leak from above you will have to get under your car to look further. As I stated in my first post in this thread, and as Terry has re-iterated, a coolant leak is not something that you want to leave to chance.

One other thing that occurred to me is the following:
the W201s (190E/D) is known for having its heater valve fail. It's made of plastic and after several years of having boiling hot coolant pumped through it they tend to weaken. If the heater valve leaks it tends to drain coolant out of two vent hoses that are located in the transmission tunnel. The resulting puddle usually winds up under the transmission.

I do not know if the W124 is set up the same way but I suspect they are similar. So if the puddles of coolant that you have been finding are showing up under the transmission, this is another possible source for the leak.

DamonAnthony

I dont know about anyone else but I'm confused as to all these possibilities, take it to an MB specialist and let them worry about it. Even If they rob you, atleast it's fixed.

shadowgriffen

Funny thing is we're all squabbaling over what may or may not be going on with Jen's car, yet we havent heard a single thing from Jen herself.

yhliem

"Even if"? I don't know how they are down in Oz, but in the Great White North it's pretty much a given that the techs here will employ the trial and error method of troubleshooting at the customer's expense. And these are techs at the corporately controlled dealerships. No indys here in Vancouver. I certainly hope your techs are better than ours.

It took MB 18 months, 6 trips to the dealership, 2 clutch masters and 2 clutch slave cylinders to figure out what was causing my clutch pedal to get sucked to the floor. And even at THAT, *I* was the one who told them about the TSB concerning that particular issue. At $100/hr shop rate I'd expect them to be more expiditious and not just start swapping parts on my nickel because they ran out of ideas.

A coolant leak is actually relatively simple as far as troubleshooting goes: there are only a certain number of places that coolant is likely to leak from unless something catastrophic has happened. And generally speaking, catastrophic failures tend to require little toubleshooting to spot. You just have to be able to get a look from underneath as well.

BeNzTeK

HAAAAAAAAAA

yhliem

We're npot squabbling over what may or may not be wrong with Jenn's car; we're squabbling over diction and semantics.

shadowgriffen

LOL