Alright, so I've been told and have read so many different things on this subject, and I may be opening a major can of worms here, but here it goes.

What type of coolant should be used in my 83 240D?

Some say prestone, some say there is a specific MB coolant formulated to not corrode the cooling system internals, some say don't worry, any coolant is fine. What is the deal? This issue seems more inconclusive than engine oils.

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83' 240D 204,000 miles SVO conversion - Heated Pickup Stock Tank, 3 Gallon purge fuel tank, HOH, Coolant heated filter, FPHE, 2 Greasecar Valves. 12V pump for Veg. and stock pump for purge fuel. Injector overflow return to veg. tank.

98' VW TDI Jetta SVO Conversion 154,000 miles/57,000 WVO miles

Do NOT use standard GREEN coolant.

Mercedes does have their own formulation or you can use Zerex G-05. It's yellow.

Do a search for 'citrus flush'. Youll get plenty of reading about coolants and switching over to yellow if your car has green in it now.

When changing coolant change the radiator cap and think about doing the thermostat at the same time.

dd

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

go with MB brand - should be straw colored

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~shell
As of 2/2010:
2001 CLK55 0o\=*=/o0
13.6 @ 106mph
10K mi
1984 300SD
260K mi and going and going...
97 S600
46K miles
1991 Sentra SE-R (extremely dorked with)
www.se-r.net

green doesnt automatically equal bad. zerex g05 also comes in green. just change out whats in there, do a citrus flush, and replace with zerex or MB and you will know whats running in there.

read the FAQs on this page.

http://www.valvoline.com/pages/products/product_detail.asp?product=10

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1980 300D

AFAIK, if you have no plastic in your cooling system, the green is OK, but it is still best to go with the G-05/MB coolant. others have also posted about the advantages of the waterless coolant. no pressure on components, no rust, no boiling... sounds good to me, but it's a pain to clean out everything and TOTALLY eliminate any water left in the system.
John

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

G-05 is not supposed to be diluted with water

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-Trevor

OBK #12
1980 300SD 333,XXX miles - Totaled
1986 Mazda RX-7 212,XXX miles - impounded and auctioned off
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited 33,000- SEGR, Provent, Fumoto

No, it's the "waterless coolant" that is not supposed to be diluted with water. The G-05 is like the MB coolant and should be diluted 50/50, or so.

According to the manual, you must do a deoil of the system before doing a citrus acid flush whether there is evidence of oil in the system or not. However, if the coolant in there now is nice and clean, then you probably don't need to do anything except flush it well to get all the old stuff out.

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Len
'59 220S Cabriolet-SOLD and living happily in Malta
'83 240D 351,500 miles original owner-SOLD
'88 560SL 41,000 miles - totaled and parted out
https://sites.google.com/site/mercedesstuff/home
'99 E300 turbo 227,500 miles
'03 SLK320 40,000 miles - gave to my daughter
'14 Smart electric coupe 28,500 miles
'14 Smart electric cabriolet 28,500 miles
'15 Smart electric coupe 28,000 miles

I use the "waterless" coolant and am happy with it so far. Is been only 6 months though. Evans NPG+ is what it is called. About $30/gal. Also pressureless, puts less strain on hoses/heater cores etc. Many other advantages claimed. Google Evans waterless coolant. All I know is it worked in august with my ac on full and it worked in january at the coldest. And is safe for aluminum and plastics. My flame suit is now ON.

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Muleears
'07 E320 Bluetec 133K my DD
'04 Jaguar XJ8 VDP, 34K
'10 Hyundai Accent 60K Grocery Getter
'02 VW Golf soon to be on the road again
'97 E300 Diesel Son's DD
'61 VERY tolerant wife

Hampton Roads, VA USA

Gone but not forgotten:
'67 250S 95K
'86 300SDL
'87 300D Turbo, 364K! R.I.P.
'98 E300 Turbodiesel, 213K
'02 S420, 164K
'01 Prius 138K

Does anyone know if MB coolant has a shelf life? I have about 3/4 of a gallon of it in my garage and, while the foil has obviously been pierced, its been sealed tightly for the last 5 years or so in my garage. Do you think its still good? I remember the stuff wasn't cheap 5 years ago and can imagine its more now, so I'd like to use it if I can.

I use the orange turbo power coolant diluted with 40% water. No problems with it so far. I think it's supposed to have a rubber protector in it as well, but I'm not sure on that one.

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All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

The local parts store has the Zerex G-05 so I am going to go with that. Strangely enough, the parts guy at the MB dealer told me not to spend the $ for the MB stuff and just use Prestone.

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83' 240D 204,000 miles SVO conversion - Heated Pickup Stock Tank, 3 Gallon purge fuel tank, HOH, Coolant heated filter, FPHE, 2 Greasecar Valves. 12V pump for Veg. and stock pump for purge fuel. Injector overflow return to veg. tank.

98' VW TDI Jetta SVO Conversion 154,000 miles/57,000 WVO miles

so whats the ingredient I should be looking for that is the big "No-No' in the anti-freeze coolant? I put a little PEAk in there and it is green and it had straw colored stuff in there already.. It hasn't mixed in yet, its just in the recovery tank... Should I drain it and not use the PEAK, simply use Zerex or MB stuff???

Do we have aluminum core radiators and the specific chemical will eat it up, or what??


THanks!

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Thank you for all the help guys!

"Old Gretchen" <--1983 300SD w126 cali. emissions (so it says on wdw sticker)
LIght metallic blue with dark blue interior. Odo stuck at 160,500 mi.

www.handydo.joolo.com

Just what IS the big thing with MB & coolant?

Is the issue aluminum or plastic? MB as well as most every other car out there probably has some of both in the cooling system, be it tanks, radiator parts, heater cores, heads, etc.

All the coolant jugs I find say they are compatible with all that stuff.

What exact unique material in the MB cooling system is so unique that generic green, or any color, coolant is corosive and destructive to it?

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I just don't get it.

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1987 300TDT
1981 VW MKI Caddy 1.6 diesel, waiting on engine swap
1983 D-50 Power Ram 4x4 "Mitsubishi" 2.3 turbo diesel
assorted gas powered crap and motorcycles

RIP: 1984 300TDT, 1982 300TDT, 1984 190D 2.2, 1992 300D 2.5, 1987 300TDT, 1982 Maxima LD28, 1983 Maxima LD28, Isuzu C223 P'ups X3, 1983 Holiday Rambler 6.2 Banks turbo diesel, 1984 Winnebago LeSharo 2.1 TD, 1985 Allegro 6.5

https://mbwholesaleparts.com/StarTuned/pdfs/AntiFreeDec04.pdf

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff