P&B -
You mentioned that the engine temperature doesn't increase. A couple other people have said the same thing - see the posts from the guy who pulled his TM to Alaska with a small car and bragged that the engine temperature never rose a bit.
I'll be the bearer of bad news. Perhaps your Mercedes is different, but most engine temperature "gauges" don't read out engine temperature any more. They are simply a glorified idiot light. There is a special circuit that makes them come up slowly when the engine first starts, and from then on, they simply sit at midscale. This indicates "Normal" operating temperature. If the engine overheats, the exact same switch that is used for the idiot light snaps on, and the "gauge" immediately goes to maximum. So, just like the idiot light, the gauge has two states - gauge at midscale (light off) and gauge at max (light on).
You can buy an aftermarket temperature gauge so you can see if the temperature is creeping up. And they are not expensive or hard to install. But without one, you just can't draw any conclusions.
Bill
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