-Before reaching into the front pane l, al
ways switch off the ignition. Otherwise,
the windsh ield wiper system could un in
tent ionally be switched on, possib ly
caus ing personal injury from the moving
wiper linkage .
- Never reach into the area around or
touch the radiator fan. The auxiliary fan is temperature controlled and can switch
on suddenly- even when the ign it ion is
off.
- Do not wash, wax or dry the engine w ith
the engine running. Moving or hot pa rts
cou ld inju re you .
- Do not clean the underside of the chas
sis, fenders, wheel cove rs, or other hard
to reach parts w ithout protecting your
hands and arms . You may cut yourse lf on
sharp-edged metal parts.
- Always read and heed all WARNI NGS and
other information ~page
215 .
Cleaning and protec tion 22 7
•
•
232 Checking and filling
Checking and filling Engine hood
Releasing the engine hood
The engine hood is released from inside the
vehicle .
Fig. 193 Driver foo twell: release lever
AUD I
Fig. 194 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. 193.
.,. Raise the hood slightly~,&. .
... Press the rocker switch under the hood up
ward
~ fig. 194. 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:
24 2 Ch ecking and filling
scalding from hot coolant by following
these steps .
- Turn off the eng ine and a llow it to cool
down.
- Protect your face, hands and arms from escaping flu id and steam by cover ing
the cap with a large, thick rag .
- Turn the cap slowly and very carefully
i n a counter-clockwise direction while
apply ing l ight, downwa rd press ure on
the top of the cap .
- To avo id being burned, do not spi ll an
tifreeze or coolant on the exhaust sys
tem or hot engine parts . Under certain
conditions, the ethylene glyco l in en
gine coolant can catch f ire .
- Antifreeze is poisonous . Always store an
tifreeze in its or iginal container and we ll
out of the reach of children.
- If you drain the coolant, it must be
caught and safely stored in a proper con
tainer clear ly marked "poison".
@ Note
- Coolant po llutes the env ironment and
could cause an engine fire . Excess coo l
ant will be forced out through the pres
sure re lief valve 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
c::> page 240 must be re
stored as soon as possible .
@ For the sake of the environment
Drained coolant should not be re used. Al
ways dispose of used coolant while observ
ing all environmental regulat ions .
Radiator fan
The radiator fan switches on automatically by
itself
T he radiator fan is driven by the engine via the
V-be lt . The viscous clutch regulates the speed
of the fan accord ing to the temperature of the
coolant. An a
uxiliary electric radiator fan* switches on
and off depend ing on coolant temperature
and other vehicle operat ing condit ions .
After yo u sw itch the engine off, the aux iliary
f an can continue running for up to 10 minutes
- eve n wit h the ignit ion off. It can even switc h
on again later by itself
c::> &. , if
- t he tempe rature of the engine coo lant rises
due to the heat build -up from the engine in
the engine compartment, or
- the engine compa rtment heats up because
the vehicle is parked in i ntense sunlight.
_& WARNING
- To reduce the risk of personal injury nev
er touch the radiator fan.
- The auxiliary electric fan is temperat ure
controlled and can sw itch on suddenly
even when the engine is not running.
- The a uxiliary radiator fan sw itches on au
tomatically when the engine coo lant
reaches a certai n temperature and will
continue to run until the coolant temper
ature drops .
Brake fluid
Checking brake fluid level
The brake fluid level can be checked with a
quick glance.
F ig . 201 E ngin e compart men t: cover on the brake fluid
r eservo ir
Before you check a nyth ing in the engine com
partment,
always read and hee d all WARN
INGS c::> .&. in Working in the engine compart-
ment on page 232. .,..