W202 C180 radiator blew apart

[Dec]

If the upper hose is collapsed (flattened) then the radiator cap centre vent didn’t open.
If the upper hose didn’t collapsed then the radiator cap centre vent did open and did its job, either way it doesn’t really mater, its six of one and halve a dozen of the other.

The thermostat is rated at 87c, I think that means it is FULLY open at 87c..? so the hose should be cold until the thermostat starts to open at about 80c ish? The thermostat is opening and closing all the time in an effort to maintain a steady temperature, it might not be fully open or fully closed all the time.

The top and bottom hose should not be an even temperature when the engine is up to normal working temperature, when the thermostat opens you have hot coolant going into the top of the radiator, as it passes through the radiator it cools so you should have a cool bottom hose.

The missing 2.5 L. of coolant was still in the heater matrix and in the engine block so you only needed the 6 L. to top up

My current car sits at about 84c in normal driving and will rise, only slightly, If I’m stuck in traffic for a good while but I have an electric fan so I think that’s a lot more efficient.

My previous W202 was the same year as yours and it too would sit around 84c but would rise to around 96ish If I was stuck in traffic but falling back once I got on the open road.

Your radiator burst because it was 21 years old and had a weak joint, just bad luck really.

Dec

 

[wwatu]

Yeah, and also the broken viscous clutch is to blame I believe.

The new fan clutch is a bit different though.

The new one is with spring mechanism as the old one just had a plate.

OLD:

NEW:

But this shouldn't really matter right, as they are different just by the trigger mechanism?

Also big thanks again to all responders.

 

[Dec]

No idea if the difference would matter.

Couple of videos you might find useful.

Part 1…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3ETTFeGhSs

Part 2.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYaEwfhfOG8

Dec

 

[wwatu]

Yeah, already watched these

So, when the engine was cool, saw no hoses collapsing, meaning the vacuum works just fine. Though the coolant was spot on with the mark, I could fill in more, and it would just take it in and stay at the same mark, so i filled it up until it didn't take no more. I squeezed the lower hose, and every time i saw bubbles coming, squeezed it quite a while but couldn't get it to the point where no bubbles where coming out.

So I took it for a spin and even made a video.(70km/H is actually 55kmh since it lies) and after 5km(623 on odometer) it had reached the temperature about 80C, a little before that it got over 80, then I believe thermostat opened and it cooled down to 80C eventually, then I stopped for a cig, let the engine running and when came back the engine was still at 80C.

https://youtu.be/g0doR0dTTPg

Now about the coolant level sensor, I checked the washer fluid level sensor, which works fine. Made a little research, and the level sensor is actually a temperature sensor and isn't really inside the fluid. Also the new radiator had an sensor with a code "210 545 0024" on it and the old one had "129 545 0224" on it, so either the old one is different, since the new rad is also from automatic transmission model. But it just lights up dimly, and when taken out, it doesn't light up.

 

[Dec]

That all looks normal, as you said, you do see a drop in temperature when the thermostat opened, about 3:10 on the video.
Keep an eye on it for another day or two as there may still be airlocks in the system.

You will see this a lot on part number, the first 3 digits are for the chassis, one is for an W210 (210 545 0024 and the other is for a R129 (129 545 0224) there is probably a W202 (202 545 0224) in existence too.

The low coolant level light is now off when the engine is running… right?

Dec

 

[wwatu]

Will keep an eye on, and check for coolant level.

And no, the error persists, same as you can see from the video, but when I take the sensor out, it goes off.

I wonder if the code is just different for those sensors, or is there any other specifications, like resistance difference.

Today when I first started the car when it was cold, it seemed to be a lot dimmer though.

 

[Dec]

Maybe you need a sensor with 02 in it? 129 545 0224

Dec

 

[wwatu]

Might be, only way to test would be to measure resistance on both sensors and buy the 02 one also, if the old one shows no resistance, anyways, thanks to all responders, specially to Dec, I'm gonna mark this issue as solved and may just come back with details on coolant level sensor if this gets sorted somewhere in the future.