please help!!

[dylan]

i have a 1996 c200and i have found lots of black oil in the radiator
i canot see water in the oil
is this the head gasket ?

any help appreciated

 

[grober]

Get your car to a MERC specialist. There are tests you can do to check this. Exhaust gases in the coolant or compression test the cylinders. An experienced mechanic will soon tell you if your fears are justified. The other possibility is that the cooling pipes of the heat exchanger in the radiator for the auto transmission fluid have corroded thro allowing auto trans hydraulic fluid into the coolant. This is potentially a major problem which can destroy the gearbox and must be repaired ASAP. Best case scenario-- new radiator and change of autotrans fluid. Worst case scenario ----new gearbox required . Note this applies to autotrans models only. check the condition of your gearbox fluid right away.

 

[television]

i have a 1996 c200and i have found lots of black oil in the radiator
i canot see water in the oil
is this the head gasket ?

any help appreciated

Possibly the head gasket you can have a pressure check done or remove some of the water and test it.

It will not be the gear box fluid as that problem does not affect the 202

 

[dylan]

thank you for your help i will get it to the garage asap will let you all know how i get on


again cheers

 

[Satch]

Does this engine have a wet engine oil cooler system? If so similar misery as a leaking auto transmission cooler can arise.

Your problem sounds dreadfully like a misery I had with a car few years back. Found large amounts of oil/black gunge in the radiator header tank and that turned out to come from a failed seal in the engine oil/engine coolant heat exchanger. To add to the joy same black gunge plus a vile emulsion had built up in the engine because a water/glycol mix was also getting into the oil.

Repair was fairly easy but required quite a bit of effort to clean out the crud in the cooling and lubrication systems.