Valeo Radiators and Gearbox damage
Discussion
Some of you may have read Honest John's column in the Telegraph yesterday and the 3 tales of fearsomely expensive bills following the failure of valeo radiators in Mercs. Apparently, there is a growing epidemic of such failures in C, E and CLK class Mercs built 00-03.
My CLK 500 was first registered in Apr 04 but it would seem that it was built prior to Sep 03. I therefore believe it to have a valeo radiator fitted. Although I have yet to detect a fault, understandably, I fear catastrophic gearbox damage if this faultily manufactured radiator fails.
What are the options and would a radiator replacement be sensible? Has anyone had it done and, if so, what was the cost? Does anyone have experience of non-Merc dealer supplied radiators? I've found one as low as £125 on-line and suspect the Merc price will be £400 or more.
My CLK 500 was first registered in Apr 04 but it would seem that it was built prior to Sep 03. I therefore believe it to have a valeo radiator fitted. Although I have yet to detect a fault, understandably, I fear catastrophic gearbox damage if this faultily manufactured radiator fails.
What are the options and would a radiator replacement be sensible? Has anyone had it done and, if so, what was the cost? Does anyone have experience of non-Merc dealer supplied radiators? I've found one as low as £125 on-line and suspect the Merc price will be £400 or more.
I think there's "only" a 50/50 chance it'll have a Valeo radiator - there's a way you can tell:
http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=41764
Also a fairly recent discussion about doing a pre-emptive change:
http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=30165
http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=41764
Also a fairly recent discussion about doing a pre-emptive change:
http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=30165
Thanks but some of the information posted is confusing. The crimping on the side of the radiator in my car is straight edged and like gapped teeth so I fear it must be a Valeo as one of the posts says that a Behr has a wavy edge to the crimping.
How do you compare VINs and Engine numbers to the list posted? There is mention of a 722 gearbox.
How do you compare VINs and Engine numbers to the list posted? There is mention of a 722 gearbox.
Edited by kevinpsw on Sunday 2nd November 13:35
The gearbox does not suffer any damage under these failures - only the torque converter and radiator are replaced.
There is much more information on this in threads like this: http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t...
There is much more information on this in threads like this: http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t...
I'm not entirely sure if I've made the right decision but I've decided to have a transmission oil cooler installed. The logic is that by routing the fluid through its own cooler rather than through a section of the dodgy (Valeo) radiator I should eliminate any risk of glycol coolant leaking into the torque converter. I'm told that this is a common procedure undertaken by auto box specialists, like the one that will do this work. Still a leap of faith though.
The bill will be about half that of replacing the radiator with a Behr version, about £220.
Not than I'm technically minded but, even without the risk of cross contamination of fluids, it seems crazy to route an oil cooler in a radiator that is effectively heated by the engine cooling system.
I'll post details of the result for the benefit of anyone else who owns a 00-04 Merc C, E or CLK class with a Valeo radiator.
The bill will be about half that of replacing the radiator with a Behr version, about £220.
Not than I'm technically minded but, even without the risk of cross contamination of fluids, it seems crazy to route an oil cooler in a radiator that is effectively heated by the engine cooling system.
I'll post details of the result for the benefit of anyone else who owns a 00-04 Merc C, E or CLK class with a Valeo radiator.
Parrot of Doom, wow 216k! I'm not that lucky so I'm not going to take the risk. So I understand, only a proportion of cars built in the period will have the valeo and, of course, not all will fail. But even if only one in 25 fail, £220 is well spent if the repair is >£5k. Honest John quoted up to £11k for a repair.
ATF cooler now fitted, a slim-line radiator mounted immediately in front of main radiator - looks like a neat job. I suppose on a hot day its presence might reduce the flow of air over the radiator slightly and cause the fan to kick in earlier - we shall see. I'm told such a mod is standard advice if you tow a caravan (heaven forbid, I hate the things as they slow the flow of traffic) with an auto box.
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