C320SprtCpe
New Member
Hello everyone,
I fear that I already know the answer, but was hoping for some advice in reference to a sudden calamity that has befallen my C320.
I was on my way home after a motorway run of about 45 miles, when just near to my place I noticed steam coming out from under the bonnet at a traffic light. I pulled over, with the engine still running, and opened the bonnet to see a decent quantity of coolant spilled at the front of the engine, and the water pump pulley turning erratically. So I knew the bearing on the pump had gone (without any prior warning, no noise, or loss of coolant up until that point) and seeing that the expansion tank was still nearly full, I could see the system had not lost too much coolant, and drove the further 2 miles to get home. I put the heat on full blast, to disperse any excess heat from the engine and the temperature gauge never showed any overheating.
I ordered a new water pump and installed it after draining all the coolant, which looked in great condition, and then filled with distilled water only to do a flush before refilling with 50/50 coolant and distilled water. Whilst I was running the engine to bleed the system for the flush, I suddenly saw the expansion tank had the dreaded milky deposits above the water line (it did not have that when I checked the coolant level when I first noticed the problem driving home) and when I opened the oil cap, I could see a milky streak running through the oil. My thought then, knowing that the M112 engines rarely suffer head gasket issues, was that the oil cooler had failed. Only, that I also noticed with the engine still running there was quite a bit of steam coming from the exhaust. The car had sat unused after the initial journey where I had the trouble, for about 5 days, whilst I waited for the new water pump, and the temperature had dropped by about 5C in that time, so perhaps it's just normal condensation in the engine, but it seems like far too much steam, more than I have ever seen. I have a new oil cooler, yet to be installed, but, I can't get the white steam out of my mind, and wonder if it's a waste of time changing the oil cooler, when I may have a more serious issue.
Is it possible to have had a head gasket failure on this engine, despite its reputation for resilience against this problem?
I fear that I already know the answer, but was hoping for some advice in reference to a sudden calamity that has befallen my C320.
I was on my way home after a motorway run of about 45 miles, when just near to my place I noticed steam coming out from under the bonnet at a traffic light. I pulled over, with the engine still running, and opened the bonnet to see a decent quantity of coolant spilled at the front of the engine, and the water pump pulley turning erratically. So I knew the bearing on the pump had gone (without any prior warning, no noise, or loss of coolant up until that point) and seeing that the expansion tank was still nearly full, I could see the system had not lost too much coolant, and drove the further 2 miles to get home. I put the heat on full blast, to disperse any excess heat from the engine and the temperature gauge never showed any overheating.
I ordered a new water pump and installed it after draining all the coolant, which looked in great condition, and then filled with distilled water only to do a flush before refilling with 50/50 coolant and distilled water. Whilst I was running the engine to bleed the system for the flush, I suddenly saw the expansion tank had the dreaded milky deposits above the water line (it did not have that when I checked the coolant level when I first noticed the problem driving home) and when I opened the oil cap, I could see a milky streak running through the oil. My thought then, knowing that the M112 engines rarely suffer head gasket issues, was that the oil cooler had failed. Only, that I also noticed with the engine still running there was quite a bit of steam coming from the exhaust. The car had sat unused after the initial journey where I had the trouble, for about 5 days, whilst I waited for the new water pump, and the temperature had dropped by about 5C in that time, so perhaps it's just normal condensation in the engine, but it seems like far too much steam, more than I have ever seen. I have a new oil cooler, yet to be installed, but, I can't get the white steam out of my mind, and wonder if it's a waste of time changing the oil cooler, when I may have a more serious issue.
Is it possible to have had a head gasket failure on this engine, despite its reputation for resilience against this problem?
