[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > So my 20 year old took the 300SD along with 3 friends up the Kingsbury grade > to Lake Tahoe for the festivities yesterday in 106 degree heat - almost > three thousand feet elevation change over the eight miles. He was about 400 > feet > from summit when he noticed temp gauge, pulled over and just as he turned > key off he heard a pop and then it started spewing. He denies it being in > the > red zone, and he knew not to turn the A/C on at all as a bearing is going > bad > in the blower. > > Dad's mobile service arrived to find about five inches of the black plastic > radiator top had indeed blown off. I thought the expansion tank cap should > guard against such occurrence. Is that correct? Had my cap gone wrong? > Anybody else experienced or heard of this happening? > > I'm gonna do new radiator, hoses, thermostat and cap, but I notice Rusty has > a Behr and a Neissens (sp?). Are these interchangeable, and any advantage > of one over the other? Pretty straightforward job? Anything else I should > replace while into it?
The use of non-Mercedes approved anti-freeze (especially the green stuff) causes then plastic to become much more brittle much faster! That and hard radiator hoses and collapsed motor/transmission mounts can put a lot of stress on the radiator plastic parts. A cap that isn't properly venting could increase pressure, but that a rare failure (usually they vent too soon). Marshall -- Marshall Booth Ph.D. Ass't Prof. (ret.) Univ of Pittsburgh School of Medicine [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
