W210 over heating, pressuring up.

[Phil Thomas]

It seems that Phil has had a really raw deal out of MB main dealers with his cooling/overheating problem.
One thing for-sure about engine over-heating is that it is not rocket science.
If I was a betting man (and I am generally not, given the job that I do), then I would back Dieselman and Mercedes 230K. Also the comments from W124coupe
Unfortunately, there are a lot of so-called mechanics out there who have very little depth in what they claim to do.
Their learning-curve can very-easily be at our expense.

I'm learning the hard way, at the moment, about the joys of fixing the oil cooler on my E300TD.
At least the learning is at my own expense !!





I agree about the mechanics! But it was claimed that the MB diagnostic process was followed initially. This apparently does not include testing the coolant for contamination. My wife was told that there could only be the fan, the thermostat, or the cylinder head or its gasket causing this problem.

Quite a few of us know better! Water pump, pin holes in hoses and /or header tanks, sludged up radiators, weeping pump or thermostat gaskets, leaky radiators and so on: I've had all those over the years.

I had a look at my oil cooler when I did the thermostat. Hidden and VERY grotty. I wish you joy of it!

I am doing the Xantia clutch cable clip just now. Clean enough, but not taking out the seat was a mistake: bile in my throat!

Indcidentally, having seen the Stockport dealer's mess of the servicing shedules, you will appreciate my feelings when I found he had not kept my records up to date, causing Mobilo to think I had not got a FMBSH, and causing further delay.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Phil Thomas]

Unending

This goes on! The call that the car was ready did not materialise. They rang up. The V belt that was sensibly to be replaced was ordered but the wrong one arrived. But this time not down to the central parts store: rather it was the manufacturers data card, which showed it as without air con, which in fact it has! .

I don't want ever to hear that crap about teutonic efficiency again-ever!

(OK Renault 12, that is lousy grammar. Mea culpa.)

This now calls into question as to whether or not it has a pollen filter. I thought I had settled that 18 months ago.

Does anyone know where it is located if fitted? I would guess near the heater filter?

 

[230K]

If it is any consolation Mobilolife replaced my waterpump in a Paris hotel carpark. Why not tell them to put the old belt back on and try the car to see if the head is coooked??

If you have a/c you will have a pollen filter located under the dash in the passenger footwell.

230K

 

[Phil Thomas]

If it is any consolation Mobilolife replaced my waterpump in a Paris hotel carpark. Why not tell them to put the old belt back on and try the car to see if the head is coooked??

If you have a/c you will have a pollen filter located under the dash in the passenger footwell.

230K

Too late! My wife dealt with it. They feel the head is OK, and as the first dealer will have told them their version, my wife does not want to upset them. It only cost the price for the belt as the old one was off.

I do have a filter where you say, but the filter I put in was not described as a pollen filter. I was told it was the filter for the heater/blower system. It works now anyway! It was about £25, whereas the pollen filter is much more expensive. I only saw one filter down there, but perhaps saw what I was expecting!

Are there two filters there?


Thanks for the post.

 

[stevesey]

I do have a filter where you say, but the filter I put in was not described as a pollen filter.

Often referred to as the Cabin Filter.

 

[230K]

Hi

There is only one filter in my normal a/c, think there may be something different in cars fitted with digital climate control.

Great the car is sorted now, i remember the sweat i had wondering if the head was cooked, it took ages for the system to bleed and she heated up way way up again until the system bled herself then she was fine. I think the computer shuts her down to limp home mode to avoid it warping the head.

Great you have her sorted.

230K

 

[johnsco]

I did the cabin filter in the passenger seat-well area not so long ago.
There are clearly different grades of filter available.
I'm afraid I used a cheapish one (Mann) from Andrew Page's.
John

 

[Phil Thomas]

I did the cabin filter in the passenger seat-well area not so long ago.
There are clearly different grades of filter available.
I'm afraid I used a cheapish one (Mann) from Andrew Page's.
John

Yes, it seems to be the confusion between air con and climate control. The latter I suppose has the pollen filter, which is pricy. I can't see any problem with using the cheaper one.Maybe Europarts will be OK.

 

[renault12ts]

Climate control ( I have it ) has an activated charcoal filter.

 

[Phil Thomas]

I did the cabin filter in the passenger seat-well area not so long ago.
There are clearly different grades of filter available.
I'm afraid I used a cheapish one (Mann) from Andrew Page's.
John

Climate control ( I have it ) has an activated charcoal filter.

Hi. Is that the expensive one, c.£100 as opposed to £25 or so?

 

[Phil Thomas]

Victory

Hi. Is that the expensive one, c.£100 as opposed to £25 or so?

Hi all.

Thank you all for your advice and support. It has saved me a lot of money. The Blackburn dealer misdiagnosed the problem as the viscous fan initially. When that did not do the job he diagnosed the cylinder head at a cost of between £1600 and £3500, plus of course the viscous fan at over £500. This diagnosis was confirmed later by them. Eventually after one of the trade associations became involved a deal was done: the replaced parts were reinstalled and the car delivered to the Mercedes-Smart dealership near the City ground. This all took something like 5 weeks, some of which was attributable to the Easter holidays. The two weeks since it arrived in Manchester was to some extent due to the part ordering business: it is very rare for MB dealerships to have the parts in stock, even things like V belts and heater filters. This was exacerbated by the factory compiled data card showing the car as without air con, which means that the wrong V belt arrived.

Had we not gone elsewhere we would have paid well over £2000 and still had the original problem.

The problem was diagnosed by the second dealership as the water pump, and I have seen it. The water pump impellor was fractured near the central boss that is pressed on to the shaft of the impellor, and was free not to rotate. This impellor is nylon or something similar. The mechanic says they are now metal.

The staff at this dealership were pretty on the ball. The people are organised into teams, with the team leader being the front person in charge of a team of mechanics. Pleasant they may be, but do they know enough to give the service we need? In this particular case the answer has to be 'yes', as they delivered the result required. I spoke to the mechanic, who was mature and experienced. A steady sort of bloke, quietly confident. He had not followed any MB diagnostic programme, but simply done the obvious. He made the point that on the 300td head and gasket problems were rare. After he clocked off he came across me in the car park looking at the engine bay (air con blowing hot on a hot day), and stopped to see if he could help. Clearly interested in his cars.

The car now has the original viscous fan on it, and in hot traffic jams worked: the car now runs at just over an indicated 80 deg, as usual, and if the temp goes up, as in the traffic jam, it goes up to around 90, pehaps a touch more. This will be the fan cutting in I expect. There are no indications that the cylinder head is faulty, despite the many diagnostic checks claimed to have been done elsewhere. The cost was under £500.

Clearly the original dealer has some explaining to do, and perhaps some compensation to pay.

Mobilo were fine as a breakdown service, but after that there were issues. My wife had to endure a lot of hassle as they sided with the dealer, and their procedures were far too slow when you are without a car. One of their senior staffers was incredibly rude to my son. It took them roughly 3 weeks to provide me with a copy of the warranty.

For guidance the old Mobilo life warranty give up to 5 days car hire, and the mobilo staff say that you will have a car whilst your own car is being repaired, which may be longer. As has been said before it is a studiously vague. I will open up threads to explore this, so that we may all benefit.

I may well go to the Small Claims Court. There are advantages in this that remove some of the disadvantages of litigation, which in general I avoid.

The air con etc aspect will be in a separate thread. Suffice it to say that the airflow is now better since I removed the pine needles in the filter, which is just over a year old. They seem to gather in the fold in the filter. The alteration in air flow as you change modes I find confusing.

Regards to you all,

Phil

 

[johnsco]

Phil - I'm really pleased to hear that you have got this sorted.
Congratulations on standing your ground.
John

 

[Phil Thomas]

Phil - I'm really pleased to hear that you have got this sorted.
Congratulations on standing your ground.
John

You won't believe this! It was a nice day yesterday, and I took the car up to the (scenic) area where the overheating first occurred, thinking it would be a good final test. Everything fine.

On the way back I turned right into a side street, and a huge white van (VW Crafter DTI) travelling along the major road in the same direction as I had been whammed into me. I was at about 90 degrees to him by then, and he hit me behind the rear wheel on the offside, sending me spinning a further 90 degrees. The near side rear wheel hit the kerb and dislodged the tyre.

Hey ho! I decided not to drive it as the rear suspension could have been distorted. The police carted off the other driver and passengers, but would not say why. They were breathalysed, but I was not. The recovery vehicle took 1.25 hours to get there. The police would not leave me alone as they felt it was a rough area, although I thought it seemed OK. I suspect the PC was going to give the recovery driver stick for his delay. He had told me he was 2 miles away, but took 20 minutes to arrive.

A useful thing emerged when I spoke to MB direct, who have the body shop for the area. They recommended an accident management service run by themselves (Bristol and London Accident Management) who offer in suitable cases to get you a similar courtesy car, and get it mended at the MB dealership, by pursuing the other party's insurance company. This has some advantages in terms of NCB's and in avoiding writing off.

We'll see!

 

[280gee]

What incredibly bad luck. Here's hoping that 'huge white van man' was insured though!

 

[johnsco]

What terrible luck, Phil.
Most important ... Are you OK ?

I can't believe that after all the grief getting the car fixed, that this should happen.
I'd better watch my step on the way home.
Having fixed my busted oil cooler, I don't want the same to happen to me
John