Radiator

[DB280SL]

I'm in the middle of a complete restoration 1967 250sl. It is an automatic with A/C. I'm going to send the radiator and heater core out to the radiator shop. While I'm at it should I consider recoring the radiator with a high efficiency core? Does the 250sl have an overheating problem?

Thanks

Darrell

[J. Huber]

I would. In fact, I did. Mine is a 230 with no A/C. Previously I had had an extremely bad experience with overheating. Coming off that, I still stayed with a standard core -- and was fine for several years but admittedly a nervous wreck when the gauge flickered. Then when I developed a minor coolant leak at a seam, I decided to go with a Hi-Effc/3 row. All has been very good for almost 7 years. Very very rare that my needle rises above normal temp.

[hauser]

If you're going to do this it makes sense to add that extra row.

[Jonny B]

I have an early 250 SL (auto, no A/C) and this past summer I too would get a bit anxious when out on a summer day and could see the needle climb when I was going up a hill and such. I also needed get the injection pump rebuilt (Pacific Fuel Injection) so there may have been some other things going on (the pump was in pretty poor shape). In any case, I opted to get the radiator recored, and went with the three rows for extra capacity. I will let you know more this summer.

[m300cab]

I did a high efficiency re-core years ago, one of the better moved I made.

[Travis71280]

Definitely do so. I had a severe overheating problem with my 280sl until I got it re-cored with the high-efficiency three row. Now she runs great.