I have 65,xxx miles on the car and was checking the antifreeze level and noticed it was bluish green color. Did MB not use same antifreeze of different color or has the wrong antifreeze been used. The car has July '04 in service date and was about to add a little of the MB 325 stuff to top off system with maybe 10 oz and noticed it's a different color from the stuff I just received which looks to be amber in color.

Maybe I should take it to the MB dealer for a flush and maybe a new serpentine belt although the belt still looks almost new without any cracking.

Any advice?

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

Forgot to mention that the current fluid is very clean, with nothing polluting the stuff like oil or minerals or any foaming. Car has never even come close to over heating, as I check gages regularly when driving.

So far its a love story, and fuel mileage makes it cheaper to drive then wife's escort.

__________________
'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

Dark blue is correct. MB changed the color when they went to the extended coolant change intervals. On my '06 I was wondering if someone added windshield washer fluid to the wrong location...

Ok, thanks. I was wondering if that had happened to me. Guess I will wait and have the fluid changed before summer. I'm not down but maybe 1/3" from the black as per OM when I checkede.

How long did you go before you changed the antifreeze? I call MB they said 8 years or 144,000 miles, same for tranny. Liked to have fell over.

__________________
'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

I would call the dealer or go speak with the parts guys at the dealership and find out if this model takes a different product or if there is a generic spec for the stuff that MB approved and the color is just a commercial variation that denotes a particular brand, like Zerex.

If the system has not been flushed, it is time to flush, and if you don't mind taking it to the dealer I would go ahead. Get the transmission fluid, differential fluid, brake fluid and power steering fluid changed at the same time.

Good luck, glad to hear the 05's are a good machine.

Jim

Didn't see the last few entries.

I am not a believer in the MB extended life of fluids concept any more than I am a believer in blindly extending engine oil change intervals. There really is precious little you can do to extend the life of engine oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, and coolant.

Yes, they can stack the deck by providing extra chemical packages to retard the rate of degradation due to chemical activities like oxidation and for oil, the mechanical fragmenting of oil molecules that leaves chemically aggressive bits of broken hydrocarbon chains in the fluid that are common and well understood. But to expect a fluid to remain capable of its job with an undue number of absorbed or suspended not functional bits of stuff in it is unjustified and unwarranted.

15 years for any fluid that lubricates and cools is probably not a change interval that has been validated by 15 year empirical tests. Unless you want to count those 05's and later cars that had their fluids changed every 15 years in 2050 as the empirical data that validates the extended change intervals. If you use extended fluid changes per the MB book and it turns out to be a bad idea, you are out a bit more than the cost of the fluid. If it turns out the extended fluid changes are ok, then you are out a few bucks for the oil, anti-freeze and whatever else it cost you to have the fluids changed more often.

When I got my 1998 E300D TurboDiesel I was told the transmission was sealed for life. I had to argue with the MB service manager to get him to change the transmission fluid at 60,000 miles. That particular transmission design, a 5 speed automatic, has become problematic in some vehicles, and now MB recommends changing the fluid in 30,000 to 60,000 mile intervals. This experience turned out to be an example of empirical evidence that the pressure to lower expected maintenance costs at the sales end of the ownership experience is misguided and that pressure, it seems to me, is the same source of the unvalidated by actual experience or long term testing claims that you can extend the life of the anti-freeze and engine oil in 05's and later machines.

Jim

Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

I'm not sure what coolant you use to top off. I think it's just the standard MB/Zerex G-05. But I've not yet had to cross that bridge with my '06.

The change interval is specified in your service booklet. My '06 is 15 years/150K miles. I think your '05 will be the same.

I guess I might give MB a call and ask them about the coolant.

Just checked my book 143,000 miles and 15 years. No wonder the stuff looks new. I hate the idea of mixing the antifreeze because of color of the fluid, but if MB says no problem I guess it would be ok.

If service life is like the book w/o problems caused by it, then man what a cheap ride in long run.

I worry sometimes about mine sitting so much, I do have the batteries wired for trickle charger and if car is going to sit more then about 4 days then I put the charger to the batteries. The car is currently plugged in and been sitting in garage since last Saturday and may be there till this coming Saturday.

What was your cars in service date? With mine being Jun of '04 I probably have one of the very first CDI's sold.

__________________
'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

Ford recommends an anti-cavitation additive they sell be added to your cooling system. I added the 16 oz. bottle to my PSD 7.3 about a year ago.

Does MB have or recommend a similar additive they sell for anti-cavitation on their diesels? Anyone know?

Not that I have seen, another thing to ask on the help line/link I gues.

__________________
'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

The blue/green coolant is the stuff they use in Germany, in the factory. (Per dealer parts counter guy - he's actually one of the good ones). Not available in the US for whatever reasons; which is why MBUSA wants us to use their golden elixer/or the similar zerek stuff.

__________________
1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)

I suppose in 10-15 years, when we're buying these cars 2nd hand, we can check the coolant and know that the blue/green stuff is either incorrect or 15 years old, and negotiate accordingly.

__________________
1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)

When green antifreeze used in old 91 300D IDI it had the caveatting problems and foamed the antifreeze, with the GO5 no problem. I suspect the MB's are not suffering the problem like the Ford or Dodge large diesels with twice the displacement and higher compression ratio's.

__________________
'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

Aluminum heads brought about the concern for MB as well. Cavitation is an extreme mechanical case of removing the oxide layer that seals and protects any corrosion resistant metal. Once the oxide layer is gone, it forms again, and if the removal and replacement process continues unabated, it leads to "electrolysis driven" galvanic corrosion of dissimilar metals. Thus the special aluminum friendly ratings for coolants. They carry "stuff" to chemically try to minimize this sequence. Once they are used up, the process will continue. Thus the need to change the coolant.

RedLine makes an additive I have used in all aluminum, and then later, all my car's coolant systems called Water Wetter. It is intended to reduce the surface tension between the metals and the coolant, improve heat transfer and limit cavitation type damage. In my experience with the 2.3-16 engines, it does a nice job. No signs of any kind of cavitation damage after >200k miles when we had to take the head off.

You can add more Water Wetter after its projected life on the bottle, two years or so, expires. Or you can change the coolant and the Water Wetter every two years.

Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

The G05 probably addresses that cavitation problem very well for auto non IDI engines, gas engines and the 5/50K is probably good intervals, but maybe an additive might help some or even prevent a problem. My guess is the MB antifreeze has an extra or maybe stronger additive package then the standard G05 antifreeze found in parts stores.

I will look into an additive for mine and maybe buy some.

__________________
'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.