224 Cleaning and protection
Engine compartment
Be especially careful when cleaning the en
gine compartment.
Al way s switch o ff t he ign ition b efore clean
ing the engi ne
c:> &. .
Plenum p ane l
Remove leaves from the plenum pane l in front
of the windshield under the engine compart
ment. This p revents the water drain holes
from becoming blocked, and it preven ts de
bris from enter ing the veh icle inter ior through
the heating and venti lation ducts.
Cor rosion protecti on
The engine compartment and transmission
have been corrosion-protected at the factory.
Good anti -corrosion treatment is very impor
tant, particular ly in the winter. If the vehicle
is frequent ly driven on sa lt treated roads, the
entire engine compartment and plenum panel
should be thoroughly cleaned at the end of
winter and retreated to prevent salt damage .
At the same time, the underside of the vehicle
should be washed as well.
If the engine compartment is cleaned at any
time with grease removing solut ions
1>, or if
you have the engine washed, the anti-corro
sion treatment is a lmost always removed as
well. It is therefore essential to have a long
l asting co rrosion protection reapp lied to all
surfaces, seams, joints and components in the
engine compartment .
&_ WARNING
Be aware: The engine compartment of any
motor vehicle is a potentially hazardous
area.
- Before working in the engine compart
ment, be sure to read the informat ion
c:> page 230.
- Before reaching into the front pane l, al
ways switch off the ignition. Otherwise,
1l Use o nly the co rrect cle anin g so lu ti on s. Never use gas
o lin e or d ie se l fuel.
the windshield wiper system could unin
tentionally be switched on, possibly
causing personal injury from the moving
wiper linkage .
- Never reach into the area around or
touch the rad iator fan. The auxiliary fan
is temperature controlled and can sw itch
on suddenly- even when the ignition is
off.
- Do not wash, wax or dry the eng ine with
the engine running. Mov ing or hot parts
could injure you.
- Do not clean the underside of the chas
sis, fenders, wheel covers, or other hard
to reach parts without protect ing your
hands and arms . You may cut yourself on
sharp-edged metal parts .
- Always read and heed all WARNINGS and
other info rmation
c:> page 213.
230 Checking and filling
Checking and filling Engine hood
Releasing the engine hood
The engine hood is released from inside the
vehicle .
Fig. 187 Driver foo twell: release lever
Fig. 188 Rocker switch un der the hood
Make sure the wiper arms are not raised up
from the windshield. Otherwise the paint
could be damaged .
.,. Pull the lever under the instrument panel in
the direction of the arrow
~ fig. 187.
.,. Raise the hood slightly~,&. .
... Press the rocker switch under the hood up
ward
~ fig. 188. This releases th e catch.
... Open the hood.
&_ WARNING
Hot engine coolant can burn you.
- To reduce the risk of being burned, never
open the hood if you see or hear steam
or coolant escaping from the engine compartment . Wait until no steam or
coolant can be seen or heard before care
fully opening the hood .
'Working in the engine compartment
Be especially careful whenever you work in
the engine compartment.
Whenever you must perform any work in the
engine compartment, for example checking
and filling different fluids, there is a risk of injury, burns and accidents. To prevent per
sonal injury always observe the following
WARNINGS. The engine compartment of any
vehicle is a hazardous area
~ ,&. .
A WARNING
To help avoid injury, before you check any
thing under the hood:
- Turn off the engine.
- Switch off the ignition .
- Apply the parking brake.
- Move selector lever to P (Park).
- Always let the engine cool down. Hot
components will burn skin on contact.
- To reduce the risk of being burned, never
open the hood if you see or hear steam
or coolant escaping from the engine
compartment. Wait until no steam or
coolant can be seen or heard before care
fully opening the hood.
- Keep children away from the engine com
partment.
- Never spill fluids on hot engine compo
nents . They can cause a fire .
- Never touch the radiator fan. The auxili
ary electric fan is temperature controlled
and can switch on suddenly .
- Never open the coolant reservoir cap
when the engine is still warm . The cool
ant system is pressurized and hot cool
ant could spray out.
- Protect your face, hands and arm from
steam or hot engine coolant by placing a
thick rag over the cap when you open the
coolant reservoir.
- Do not remove the engine cover under
any circumstances. This increases the
risk of burns.
- If work on the fuel system or the electri
cal system is necessary:
scalding from hot coo lant by following
these steps.
- Turn
off the engi ne and a llow it to cool
down.
- Protect your face, hands and arms from
escapi ng fl uid and steam by cover ing
the cap with a large, thick rag .
- Turn the cap slowly and very ca refully
i n a cou nte r-clockw ise dir ect ion while
a pply ing lig ht, downwa rd p ress ure on
the top of the cap.
- To avo id being burned, do no t sp ill an
tifree ze o r coolan t on t he exh aust sys
tem or ho t engine parts . Un der certain
conditions, the ethylene glyco l in en
gine coolant can catch fire .
- Antifree ze is poisono us. Always store an
tifreeze in its or iginal co ntainer and we ll
o ut o f the reac h of children.
- If you drain the coolant , it must be
caught and safely stored in a p roper con
tainer clear ly marked "poison".
(D Note
- Coolant po llutes the env ironment and
could ca use a n engine fire . Excess coo l
ant wi ll be forced out through the pres
sure re lief va lve in the cap when the en
gine becomes hot.
- If, in an emergency, only water can be
added , the correct ratio between water
and antifreeze¢
page 237 must be re
stored as soon as possib le .
@ For the sake of the environment
Drained coolant should not be re used . Al
ways dispose of used c oolant while observ
ing all envir onmental regulations .
Radiator fan
The radiator fan switches on automa tically by
itself
An auxiliary e lectric radiator fa n switches on
and
off depending on coolant temperature
and other ve hicle operating conditions.
Checkin g and fillin g 239
After you switch the engine off, the auxi liary
fan can continue running for up to 10 minutes
- even w ith the ign ition off. It can even switch
o n again later by itself¢.& , if
- the temperature of the engine coo lant rises
due to the heat build- up from the engine in
the engi ne compartment, or
- the engine compa rtment heats up because
the vehicle is parked in intense sunlight.
&_ WARNING
--To reduce the risk of persona l in ju ry nev-
er touch the radiator fan .
- The a uxiliary electric fan is tempe rat ure
contro lled and can switch on suddenly
even when the engine is not ru nning.
- The a uxiliary radiator fan sw itches on a u
tomatically when the engine coo lant
reaches a certai n temperature and will
cont inue to ru n until the coo lant temper
atur e drops.
Brake fluid
Checking brake fluid level
N
N
N
.,; 0:, a,
Fig. 193 Engin e co mpa rt m ent: cove r on t he bra ke fluid
reservo ir
Before you check anything in the eng ine com
partment,
alw ays r ead and heed all WARN
INGS c:> A in Working in the engine compart
ment on page 230 .
.. Read t he brake fluid level from the brake
fluid reservoir
c:> fig. 193, c:> fig. 189. The
brake fluid level must be between the "MIN"
and "MAX" markings. .,..