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Testing Radiator Pressure
- Thread starter emerydc8
- Start date
Several years ago, I replaced the original OE Behr radiator in my E500 with a new Nissens from my parts stock. My original radiator burst when I was on the freeway, and I barely made it home before overheating the car.
The Nissens made no difference in running temp. A replacement MB fan clutch from a 1992 500E, with 50K on it when it "donated" the fan clutch, has made a SLIGHT difference in running temps, but perhaps only 5 degrees C cooler. I have a brand new MB OE fan clutch ("Horton") that I need to install. I believe faulty fan clutch as been the culprit with my car running hot ever since I moved to Houston.
Cheers,
Gerry
The Nissens made no difference in running temp. A replacement MB fan clutch from a 1992 500E, with 50K on it when it "donated" the fan clutch, has made a SLIGHT difference in running temps, but perhaps only 5 degrees C cooler. I have a brand new MB OE fan clutch ("Horton") that I need to install. I believe faulty fan clutch as been the culprit with my car running hot ever since I moved to Houston.
Cheers,
Gerry
In my case, old and new were Behr. I generally prefer Behr over Nissens if the price difference is small, but both are good quality IMO.
those "damn" radiator necks...they can screw things up for shure when going bad..and they will at some point...pretty "known" thing to happen...or...known issue that they turn brittle and break...but good stuff you sorted out that issue you hadyou can reinforce the new radiator neck..i think uncle kent has a kit for it ...honestly
greeetings from Norway
Checked the old Behr and it does have a steel reinforced neck (pic). I haven't checked the new Nissens yet. Maybe that's the reason for the Behr being $25 more.
Attachments
Correct - the Behr has steel (aluminum?) reinforcing tubes, Nissens does not. As Louis noted, the Nissens could use different plastic compound.
My issue with Nissens is that for some other models, they have a one-size-fits-most thing. For example, IIRC, the Nissens for the 124.133 chassis is not plug+play, it requires cutting off some tabs on the plastic tank to make it fit. This isn't required with the Behr. However, it appears the Nissens for 400E/500E fits without any hassles, which is great.
Not 100% correct. I had to do some very minor "modification" to my Nissens to get it to fit. It was physically fine as far as going into the vehicle and all of the connections being in the right places, but it required a slight mod at the bottom of the radiator to adapt it (I believe having to do with installing angle brackets that were not present on the Nissens, but were on the Behr).
I believe I documented the issue in my E500E HOW-TO on radiator installation/replacement, on this thread.
Cheers,
Gerry
The mods I did were related to adding the angle brackets to hold the E500E transmission cooling line. I don't know if the .034 is the same or not, but I believe the radiator is the same SKU (per Nissens & Behr) for both W124 V-8 models.
Jon, did your Nissens fit without any issues? Maybe the mods Gerry had to make are 036-specific?
The Nissens slid right into the mounts on the bottom. All I had to do was break off a plastic tab at the top right side so the radiator could lean forward and be secured by the clips.
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