S212 Coolant out of Washer bottle?!?

[jjc2020]

Hi all,

Ive been chasing down an intermittent significant coolant leak on my S212 2012. Its been holding coolant fine and then suddenly it all disappears in about 3 miles. No evidence, no sign and no visible leaks so Ive been baffled by it.

Parking up yesterday my 'top up coolant' light came on, despite coolant being fine before starting hour long trip.

There was a large trail of coolant along the driveway, so on popping the bonnet there was a stream of coolant spurting out through the windscreen washer bottle breather hole. Never seen that before. It was 100% coolant, (colour and temperature) and yes it was 100% the windscreen wash bottle.

I never knew those systems mixed, but on looking into it theres a metal coil off the top of the bottle, with two lines in. Lots of the internet resources say this is auto transmission, so im seriously hoping thats wrong, otherwise my transmission is full of coolant, but I think its water coolant to heat the washer jets.

Does anyone know if i can replace the coil exchanger without taking the bottle out? I dont live in the arctic, so can I just link the hoses so it recriculates without emptying the coolant contents into the reservoir?

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks

 

[Jobsworth]

If the metal pipes are definitely there going into the screenwash reservoir you have the heater option. The coolant runs through the pipe, keeps the screenwash from freezing. It sounds like it has sprung a leak from that metal tubing. I can’t recall ever seeing one on a 212. Used to be very common on 211

 

[Jobsworth]

You can just link the hoses for a quick emergency fix

 

[jjc2020]

Hi Jobsworth, Thats great - thanks for that. I have the inner wheel guard out, and yes, theres definitely a white cap with two metal L shaped tubes going into it, connected to narrow hoses. Not the ones attached to the pumps, although those are there as well. I saw US videos on E350 and it showed with the full tube mechanism, and the two metal L tubes going into the white cap. So Im pretty certain it is that. Plus the fluid in the windscreen reservoir is definitely coolant.

Just trying to work out how to get access to them now, and see if I can do it from below the headlamp unit if I can get that out. One is easy as its on wheel side of the reservoir, but the other is buried behind the bumper. Just trying to work out how to get headlamp out to see if i can access through there rather than remove the whole reservoir and unseat all the grommets and pumps connections, but I suspect I'll end up doing that all the same.

Well, if it is this then I'll be delighted. I had chased down every other source of the leak in vain and could only conclude it was either heater matrix which would be hell to remove dash etc, or deep inside the engine. Both of which would be car killers for me. There may be other leaks too, of course, but if it is this, then the car can live.

Thanks

 

[jjc2020]

Poking around in here now, and Ive just seen on passenger side (UK) that behind the strut, theres a lever, that looks like its a ride height lever with a ball on the end of it. But its not attached to anything. I suspect there was a connector on the end of it that has gone, a long time ago by the looks of the crud build up.

The lever was all the way up, and I cant work out what that means. I think it means the lever ride height sensor is saying the car running very low, which it kind of is. Does the lever being all the way up (and very stiff) trigger the compressor to run? If its wrong to change course on this topic in this post, just let me know.

 

[jjc2020]

I have now dropped the reservoir. It was fiddly but not as bad it looked. Instead of joining the tubes for an emergency fix, what about blocking them both off? I don't have a linking bit of metal and so was thinking of just blocking both off for now?

As I understand it, not all E250's have this, and so blocking this channel of coolan flow doesn't seem like it would be catastrophic? I know it is a bodge, but I don't think it's too bad?

 

[NotAnumber]

Unless you definitely know otherwise join the pipes together rather than block them.