03e500sport

i have a 2003 e500 sport... i peeked under the plastic and seen the VALEO symbol and 2115000202 ... which makes it to be the old faulty radiator...

i just bought the car with 100,000 miles. everything seems to work fine..

i do experience jerking at low speeds from time to time.. not that much..



iam a 20 year old student and don't know much of mechanic work.

i will add photos of the crimping...


any help or insight.. will be very helpfull... i would like to learn the most about these cars...

jjleonard

Seems everything points towards a changeout of this radiator to the updated A2115003102 version as a preventative measure as the failure mode is too major. Search of threads have much help - gl.

MercFiveHundred

I too have the valeo radiator but i have 145,000 miles on the odometer. I did have the glycol contamination symptoms at 100,000 miles (two negative tests for glycol). It turned out i needed a tranny flush (i think changing the tranny oil 3 times is also sufficient) and that made everything ok agian. PM me your emial address and i'll send you the TSB if you dont already have it.

I'm not going to say whether or not you should change the radiator, but i have done without changing it at 145k...

jjleonard

I'm in the process of procuring all the parts (ie-radiator, seals, trans fluid, coolant, etc), just seems like it is cheap (especially if DIY) preventative maintenance considering the potential failure mode. I hate to change parts that are working, seems about like "craps", roll the dice and sooner or later snake eyes, or 7 out.