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| Leaking fluid while doing head gasket | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:37 am (520 Views) | |
| UKPR0 | Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:37 am Post #1 |
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Newbie
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Hi everyone, this is my first post here on the 190 forum and it's good to be part of it all. Seems like a good bank of knowledge with a good bunch of people. I purchased an azzura blue 1.8L 190e auto completely on impulse after I'd seen it parked up near the misses's dads workshop. Had a word with the owner and was tld the head gasket was on its way out and blagged it for £250. I'm a massive petrol head with not much experience - but I've self taught myself pretty much everything I've ever done so I thought why not give it a shot. Always loved German motors and I'm a big MK2 Golf fan, of which I'm on my second, and have always liked the look of the 190 so I thought why not. Anyway, I'm partially into renewing the head gasket and it's going good - albeit slow. Finally cracked off the head bolts today in preparation to remove the head, and low and behold the transmission fluid started leaking all over the floor. As I said, I'm not massively experienced, and even less with automatics so I just waned to make sure this was normal. Where exactly is the fluid leaking from, and why does it leak when removing the cylinder head bolts? I assume it's because it's some sort of sealed system but I honestly have no idea. Also, what do I need to do to rectify this afterward? Are there any special steps I need to take in order to refill the system? Thanks for being patient and taking the time to read Cheers! |
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| stwat | Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:08 am Post #2 |
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Hello and welcome to the forum and 190 ownership. Where exactly is this oil leaking from? The auto trans has no connection to the cylinder head whatsoever. It runs lines to and into the radiator for warming and cooling, but that's all. No lines run to the engine at all. |
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| UKPR0 | Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:46 am Post #3 |
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Thanks stwat, it feels good ![]() I must not have been clear as it's automatic gearbox fluid leaking onto the floor, not oil - it's a lovely pink colour and from what I've heard that's what it should look like, I just don't understand why it started flowing out onto the floor quite heavily when I cracked off the cylinder head bolts. As I was un-tightening a few of them I could hear a sort of squelchy-sucking sound, like air was being released. Very confused! Edited by UKPR0, Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:47 am.
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| PhilG | Mon Jan 26, 2015 6:17 pm Post #4 |
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only time ive seen something similar was with a c280 i bought with a blown headgasket. The reason the car overheated was because the autotrans cooler in the radiator strung a leak into the radiator... or vise versa. All the water left the radiator, and filled the transmission, car overheated and headgasket popped. have you found any reason why the headgasket has blown? coolant leak? thermostat siezed? or knackered pump? is there a possibility your gearbox is full of water, and releasing the headbolts has released some pressure in the coolant system, causing the gearbox to pour out its oil/water mix. also, is the oil pouring out, a red colour? or pink as you state... pink is gearbox oil mixed with water. |
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| PhilG | Mon Jan 26, 2015 6:20 pm Post #5 |
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the oil in my c280 was pink. I fixed this issue by removing gearbox oil pipes from the radiator, and bunging the holes in the radiator. Then i bought an aftermarket trans oil cooler from ebay and attached that to the pipes from the gearbox. I also had to change the gearbox oil 3 times and changed the filter in the box too to get rid of the pink oil, and so that the gearbox would work correctly without 'slip' |
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| UKPR0 | Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:14 pm Post #6 |
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I'm honestly not sure. When I bought the car it started and ran fine, drive-able and all. The misses dad did some doughnuts in it because he's a big kid and it didn't skip a beat, if you had no mechanical knowledge you probably wouldn't even know there was anything wrong with it. It was on its way out and not actually blown. The person I bought it from never gave a reason as to why the head gasket was on it's way out, I think it was just age-related but like I said, unsure. There was oil in the cooling system as could be seen when opening the expansion tank to find lots of gunk.When I was getting the car into my unit I left it to run for around 10-15 minutes, and when it got up to temperature the expansion chamber blasted boiling water and boiled oil absolutely everywhere and made a massive mess. I assume this was because of excess pressure inside the cooling system that had leaked from the head gasket. Before I started I emptied all of this gunky crud and water out of the cooling system and left it all to drain out, also attaching my compressor onto the expansion chamber return pipe to get anything else out. I noticed that the engine has been fiddled with previously as vacuum lines were broken, things were unplugged and one set of injectors weren't even bolted down - so someone has been here first. Like I said earlier, after doing all the necessary steps I cracked the head bolts off - and fluid started leaking from an unknown location onto the floor, somewhere near the gearbox from what I could tell (I couldn't really tell though). It looked to me to be pink/red in colour, I didn't actually remove the drip tray I chucked under to inspect it but when mopping it up with a rag it definitely was a light pick colour. The car hasn't been run since it boiled over, but even when it did it still ran and drove fine, so surely the gearbox couldn't be full of water? I noticed while taking out the cylinder head bolts that two or three were pink/red on the very tip, I thought it was rust at first, maybe this gives more or an insight? There is no water in the block, no water in the gearbox and no water in the cooling system - so I'm massively confused. In this post - http://mercedes-190.co.uk/topic/6721651/1/ he says 'If you have an automatic, don't forget to remove the oil lines to the cooler unit in the lower end of the radiator.' I did not do this or remove the radiator, so am I just a massive idiot and it's the fluid leaking from this?
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| PhilG | Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:40 am Post #7 |
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open the drain plug on the gearbox, drain oil into a clean pan. Check colour and quantity. If its the crimson red colour its good atf, if its pink its been mixed with water. If its good, pour it back in the filler hole ![]() |
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| PhilG | Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:44 am Post #8 |
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this is what water/atf mix looks like http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=25655 |
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| UKPR0 | Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:13 am Post #9 |
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Definitely was much more like water in consistency, I'm now nearly certain that it was just water/antifreeze coming from the auto box part of the cooling system that I neglected to disconnect from the bottom of the radiator - would this make sense? If so this was a completely pointless topic but it's better to be safe than sorry! Won't be able to get to my unit until the weekend now so will post an update when I can have a closer look. Was rushed by the misses last time as this all happened close to home time and she was moaning about being cold - bloomin' women. Thanks for your helpfulness and patience!
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| PhilG | Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:40 am Post #10 |
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I didnt actually realise the trans cooler on the c280 was damaged and had caused the headgasket to blow until i had the car fully built up after the head rebuild. then i went to fill the radiator with water, and i was filling for ages... then water started pouring out from under the car, rushing out, so i thought id left a pipe undone. had a look underneath, and it was flooding out of the gearbox vent on top of the box. |
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| eagle3 | Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:35 pm Post #11 |
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Therapy Needed
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For that to happen the radiator would have to be damaged surely. In particular the seal between the coolant and ATF circuits? My engine had red oil in it when I bought it. I thought was just red engine oil. Edited by eagle3, Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:44 pm.
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| UKPR0 | Wed Jan 28, 2015 1:12 am Post #12 |
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But surely if the gearbox was full of water it wouldn't of run properly before I started? The liquid is definitely of a watery consistency, after mopping some up and it soaking the rag I used I was not left with any residual greasy-ness on my hands. As I mentioned earlier, a few head bolts had a red residue on the flat end of the threads, the part that sits way down into the cylinder, it looked liked a dried version of what was coming out. Does this shed more light? I'm still totally miffed, but loving the helpfulness! |
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| Chris Martens | Wed Jan 28, 2015 8:01 am Post #13 |
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These engines have a drain plug on the right side under the exhaust manifold. To dry the block entirely you should open it and another one or two liters of coolant will pour out.. When you crack the head bolts open and there is still coolant within the engine most probably the coolant spilled out via the now open gap. This usually happens at the lowest point of the engine to the rear / gear box and would explain your story completely. Nevertheless, do a complete oil change in the automatic transmission and do not fill anything in that has been poured out before unless you broke down somewhere in the middle of nowhere. regards, Christian |
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| eagle3 | Wed Jan 28, 2015 9:35 am Post #14 |
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Therapy Needed
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That would be Loctite I should think. That's red as well.. Sounds like someone botched the HG change..you're going to have to clean out all the threads in the block. Nightmare. You might be better off finding another engine - you should be able to drop a 2.0 in without too much hassle. I'd be surprised it's ATF. Either red engine oil or red coolant or a bit of both. Edited by eagle3, Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:51 am.
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