Coolant pipe burst!

[mrbriggs]

Hi all,

Got back to the house last night and there was coolant leaking from my 97 CLK 320. Popped the hood, and there is a T shaped piece near the front left of the engine bay that has snapped. It connects the rad to the engine and I presume the overflow tank(?)

Obviously (I HOPE!)this is an easy job to do, but a few questions. There are clips holding the pipes on similar to jubilee clips, but without the screw! They are just a round metal ring! How the hell do you get them off? And do I need to replace these or should I just buy new jubilee clips?

Also, this will be an opportunity to replace the coolant. What should I use? And is there any special way I should do it to avoid air locks?

Any help is gratefully received!

Thanks.

Lee.

 

[mrbriggs]

Anyone?!

I need to pick the parts up today. Hopefully, GSF will have the parts in.

Thanks

 

[television]

It is very straight forward to do this job, the hose clips on the car are the use once factory type and must be discarded.

Clean any surface corrosion from the metal parts and fit the new upper hose using normal hose clips on the replacement. Do not over tighten and just refil the the correct anti freeze mixture, By sqeezing the top hose this will releive any air in the system. Air pockets and bleeding is not a problem as it is self bleeding. The coolant only circulates when the engine is warm, so run till warm then top up. The water will only circululate when the water level is above the top hose. Check for any leaks tighen hose clips a touvh and that's it.

I feel the part you need will be an MB part.

Malcolm

 

[mrbriggs]

Thanks television, I knew you would come to the rescue!

What about coolant/antifreeze? Should I just buy 5 litres of coolant? Any certain one I should use? I will be getting the bits this afternoon.

Thanks again

Lee.

 

[television]

Thanks television, I knew you would come to the rescue!

What about coolant/antifreeze? Should I just buy 5 litres of coolant? Any certain one I should use? I will be getting the bits this afternoon.

Thanks again

Lee.

Hi Lee, if you are going to change the remaing solution of antifreeze, you will have to empty whats in there. This is easily done by slackening off the bottom hose, you could have a drain plug under the rad.
If you have to slacken the bottom hose to drain you will need 1 more clip.
Any premium brand of antifreeze is OK

Malcolm

 

[mrbriggs]

OK, that's great. Thanks so much for your help. Basically an easy job, just wanted to double check as I've had problems with airlocks before and also wanted to make sure I was using the right coolant as some manufacturers recommend 100% coolant, some 60% and 40% water.

Thanks again

Lee.

 

[mrbriggs]

Went to the stealers yesterday, surprise surprise, they don't do the little T-Piece, it comes as a whole unit. In other words, the three pipes that are perfectly ok have to be replaced! Only £17 tho so can't complain

Too busy at work to fit it now until Thursday! (So I'm having to drive an old beaten up polo :-( )

 

[television]

Went to the stealers yesterday, surprise surprise, they don't do the little T-Piece, it comes as a whole unit. In other words, the three pipes that are perfectly ok have to be replaced! Only £17 tho so can't complain

Too busy at work to fit it now until Thursday! (So I'm having to drive an old beaten up polo :-( )

Not a bad price for a multi top hose, they have never been cheap things.

Malcolm

 

[Blobcat]

To put it into perspective, I had a 3 way radiator hose fail on a Vectra - £75 part only. Another hose had moved in its clip, so the two hoses rubbed together.