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• Hello, I have a 1988 300 TE wagon and the temperature climbs if I let it idle for 5-10 minutes.  The temperature climbs to 110 Celsius. I rev the engine up and it cools down.    

  I had a 1988 190E that did the same thing. Is there a solution to this problem?

  Thank you,

  David Herrmann.

• REPLY:   Sorry I haven't been able to get back to you sooner. The 300TE and the 190E have two different cooling fan systems. The 190 has an electromagnetic fan clutch that would only come on when the engine temp was above 110 C. That car would always run cooler with the air on instead of the heat. When in the a/c mode both the cooling fan and the aux. fans would be activated at the same time! Just about the time you would start to panic from the engine being too hot the fans would come on. They just plain ran hot in the summer at idle. So the heating at idle on this car was normal.

   As for the 300TE there are several reasons for the over heating and I will try to cover all of them. Depending on where you live we all have bugs in the summer. You would be surprised at the amount of dirt and debris that collects between the radiator and the a/c condenser. To look at this open the hood and remove the two large clips that hold the radiator against the core support and lean the radiator in towards and look down in there. If it is full of bugs and dirt try taking a garden hose and flush it out from the inside to outside. An air blower works well too but most people do not a have an air compressor at home. Secondly make sure that your car has a summer thermostat. The car was designed to have a 87* thermostat but a 75* thermostat is available. This will help. Thirdly make sure you radiator cap is good. Alot of people overlook this, just make sure that when it is hot that the hoses are hard. The next two attempts to fix this are alot more expensive. I tend to start with the least expensive things first. The fan clutch and radiator. As you put more miles on this car the chances of having part of  the radiator plug up increase. I DO NOT recommend the use of a acid flush unless all else has failed. The head gaskets rot out on the 6cyl. motor alot. Make sure your antifreeze does not have any brown goop in it or oil droplets and make sure it is not too thick. In most cases a 50/50 mixture of antifreeze to water mix is right for most areas. In the summer when it is hot and the air is on and the car is at idle, a temperature of 100 to 110 is not unusual in an older car. The fact that when you raise the idle it cools down leads me to believe that the fan clutch is good. THANKS for the email. Don't hesitate to call me at STAR ( www.star-mercedes.com ) if you have any questions. THANKS JON

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