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need to make a road trip.160 miles one direction. i attempted this friday i made 82 miles before it overheated. i have completely flushed the system. new thermo, tested, super cool coolant additive a whole gallon , antifreeze 50/50,clutch fan working properly,at this point temp gauge rode all the way up to the p,and held for a while then gradually kept getting to the h....since friday i installed an electronic dist. set the timing and adjusted the carb the best i could but still isn't perfect... any suggestions? please and thank you in advance (fyi) everything was done before friday cept the dist.and also before friday normal driving around town it never past the p now around town it sits in between m and p

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I'm one more LUV away from divorce! at least i don't have to worry about her taking them

Maybe you've got way too much coolant? If the gallon of super coolant additive is in fact some sort of glycol mixture, then you've got 1 gallon of coolant PLUS the 50/50 mixture. I'd check it cold with a hydrometer (specific gravity) and see what's going on.

Do you know what the temp is for your thermostat? Are you running the stock fan shroud? Did you compensate the timing for the electronic dizzy? You should be able to advance the timing from stock and have it run cooler. A couple degrees of advance might be all you need.

Ultimately, your radiator core may just be too plugged to allow enough cooling at speed. Sounds timing related to me though, how fast were you driving?

If you can afford a bit extra, I'd suggest draining the coolant and putting in Mercedes-Benz antifreeze. It's the best of the best, and usually available at your MB dealership. Take a picture for me if/when you park your Luv in the parts/service area to pick some up... lol..

Good luck, let us know what you find.

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"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves" - Thomas Edison

I was having all of the same problems that you were having. Drove me bonkers. I even installed electric fan. Finally went to localshop down street had them do compression test to make sure that head gasket wasnt blown or warped. Once that passed had him flush the cooling system with the high pressure. Now the thing runs almost cold all the time except for when its around 100+ outside! Good luck.

A radiator shop can do what we have always called roding it out. They take the top and bottom of the radiator and clean it out, the solder it back together. You should be able to call one and see what it will cost.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

ok this is what i've got now.. the service technician at m/b would not suggest using m/b antifreeze in anything but a mercedes benz.. only difference in m/b and any other is that it is universal according to him.. 49.50 for rodding,,radiator shop says there'z no such thing as too much coolant only not enough.. doing a compression test later this evening.. and advancing timing.. if all doesn't work installing a radiator out of a 75 peterbuilt putting it right in the bed just kidding. thanks for the responses will let you know what i come up with.. and btw i was driving between 70 and 80 defore it overheated and was lucky to get 65 afterwards... down hill.. wind at my back... someone pushing.. and flinstoning all at the same time and we were synchronized

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I'm one more LUV away from divorce! at least i don't have to worry about her taking them

compression test 142 145 144 150

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I'm one more LUV away from divorce! at least i don't have to worry about her taking them

Sounds like you're on it.

You might find this interesting, the author is highly respected in the Saab community...

http://townsendimports.com/Web/cooling_ ... ingsys.htm

There is such a thing as too much anti-freeze/coolant. A Google search will provide additional results on this...

http://www.eetcorp.com/antifreeze/antif ... aq.htm#q22

Not to be a jerk, but some of the info you're getting locally sounds like it might be incomplete/innaccurate. A lot of times people are a bit lazy, I'm not sure why a MB guy wouldn't want to sell his coolant. It really does do wonders in older vehicles. It takes a while, but too much coolant usually causes accelerated water pump wear. I'm not ASE certified or anything, and I am not the world's greatest mechanic, but this is an area I've had a lot of problems in also (did I mention I've owned a lot of Saab's?).

Sounds like a recore or new rad will take care of this, possibly just adjusting the timing will settle things down.

Good luck, keep us posted on what solves your problem.

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"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves" - Thomas Edison

Do you know if it has ever been flushed?
I think some of the auto parts stores sell some radiator flushing solution.

One of the things that I would like to mention; and correct me if I am wrong, it over heated while driving.
Which is typically an air flow problem, but if there is sediments and scale inside the radiator then that may be the problem, not enough air flow for the coolant to cool down because of the restriction or the heat exchange from the radiator to the coolant, since the heat also has to pass through the scale.

I dunno...I am just thinking out loud

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thanks for the info nukeday great read i gues i will posting a picture of my truck in front of the m/b service department.. i did adjust the timing an it ran good for a while temp gauge was between e and m don't have to worry about it over heating right now since it won't stay running long enough or won't start at all.. but thanks again for all the info

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I'm one more LUV away from divorce! at least i don't have to worry about her taking them

did you even chase down the problem (or the pic?)

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the only replacement for displacement is technology.