running temperature of 260e - do i have a cooling problem?

[james watson]

i have a 1991 260e which,at cruising speed runs slightly above the 80 celsius mark on the temp gauge.However,when stationaray,or whilst encountering traffic the gauge goes right up to about 115 celsius-never actually entering the red but almost!
If i put the heater on hot,the gauge goes back down to about 90.Also the temp of the air coming of the heater is incredibley hot.Is this normal? Any owners out there had similar things happen to them? i would be interested to know.
thanks in advance

 

[Anonymous]

running temperature of 260e

James
This is not normal. The electric cooling fans should come on at 100 degrees. You possibly have a blocked radiator reducing flow.  Check it out.
Will

 

[james watson]

running temperature of 260e

Thanks for replying-you mention the cooling fan cutting in,yet i only have one fan on the radiator,and this stays on all the time as long as the engine is running.Should this fan increase to a higher speed when the engine gets hot? or do all mercs have a constantly running radiator fan.

 

[Andy]

running temperature of 260e

Hullo Jim
The normal running temp for your 260e is just over 80 degrees. As you have said approx 90. Which is ok.In traffic it is quite normal for the engine tempreture to reach approx 110 degees or showing just above the 100mark. It should not go much over this. The fan on this engine is of a viscous type so will revolve with the engine at the same speed. It is quite difficult to check whether the fan is faulty or not. I suspect that if the engine is only is not reaching much above 100 everything is ok.
2. The heater will be hot as the guage is saying over 100degrees celcius.
3.If your vehicle is not fitted with AC then you will not have auxillary heater fans fitted.(Electric fans)