190e coolant loss

[waterloss]

hi,
ive checked the forum before typing this...and I suspect a cylinder head or blocked rasdiator core??, but please read on and give me your opininon

merc 190e, 1.8, k reg, 82 thousand, allegedly well looked after, all the services etc.

runs perfect, no steam from exhaust, no oil water in oil or vice versa.

First thing i noticed (having just bought it!!) going up hill, coolant light comes on.... I inspect, its well low and top up thinking previous owner maybe never checked it.
I top it up to the level and drive to work a few times (100 mile of motorway a day) I find the level dropped by what turns out to be a litre every fortnight give or take.

Anyway, I take it to a specialist, who pressure tests the coolant sytem...nothing found, but suggests it could be boiling over the overflow??


now that I'm paranoid about it, i have noticed the overheating smell on parking up after driving any distance, that smell of hot radiator BUT no visible leaks or steam

it runs on the motorway at about 80 degrees (its winter though) in congested traffic it rises, but never to the fan starting. (I dread to think what will happen in summer)

Also, when in slow traffic at the end of the hundred mile or so i get a bit of a clutch judder at the bite point... the clutch getting hot?? (it never judders apart from after a lot of rush hour crawling along)

So all the symptoms of a hot engine, but the guage never gets that hot (its never been up to 100), but that overheating smell and coolant loss + the clutch judder has me worried.

have I bought a bad one?? or is this a quirk of the model?


I really can't face the six hundred quid bill I have been quoted for a cylinder head just yet (the specialist is convinced it isnt the head anyway, though he has only checked the coolant for visible leaks and pressure loss)

I need your advice guys.


thanks

 

[sunil sood]

before you condemn the headgasket

check the following:

1-expansion tank cap-if faulty would cause an untraceable escape of steam-have you replaced yours?

2.you say the fan never cuts in-it should come on once the car temp gauge reaches just above the 90 mark on the gauge-(that is midway between 80 and the 100 mark) -my car used to lose water and heat up to 120 in traffic-the fan switch was faulty-replaced it for a tenner and the problem of overheating was solved-and the fan started working properly!-the fan switch is located on the right front of the cylinder head-it has three prongs as on my car, which is a 190e-1,8 litre-on a kreg-1993.

3,have you got the correct mixture of antifreeze with water in your cooling system?

 

[bazza]

I had similar problems with my 2.0 190e but no clutch judder(auto). I suspected the cap as I couldn't find a leak but there was evidence that it was overflowing. A sticker on my expansion tank said only use a cap marked 120 but eurocarparts supplied a cap marked 140 but this made no difference and I was starting to think Head gasket/radiator but I drained my system to put new anti-freeze in for the winter and flushed out the system with a hose and tons of muck came out, so I flushed/reverse flushed until it was clear and BINGO I have had no problems since

Try this and see if it works good luck

Bazza

 

[waterloss]

waterloss - fixed!!

Thanks for all your advice guys, after all the concern about the cylinder head it turned out to be three pin holes in the radiator!!!... leaking so slowly as they could barely be seen.

New radiator and a system flush and we are back in business!!



cheers