Yes, I know....green coolant bad/evil. Only use proper stuff. I do now. BUT, for a long time my 92 300D had the green stuff in there. Now, with 244k miles, it's getting the head gasket replaced.

I know the reason to use MB coolant or G-05 is for the longevity of the plastic parts. But could the green stuff accelerate a head gasket failure? If so, how/why?


To the best of my knowledge, the engine has never overheated (at least not since I took ownership at 137k miles).

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Gosh that coolant debate has been going on since the birth of the internet.....

I have the green coolant in my car, and before that it had green coolant....then it sat for a number of years with green coolant....no idea when it first received green coolant but so far I have had no issues.....but I feel like in need to drain it out asap as I might end up getting a fine for running it in the car :p

No idea if it causes issues with head gaskets or not....

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Not wanting to reignite the coolant debate. Maybe a better way to pose the question: for those who DO believe the green stuff to be harmful, is accelerated head gasket failure one of the issues?

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

NO

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The green coolant does not protect aluminum cooling system parts. I just removed a thermostat housing from my dad's SD this weekend that was eaten away on the edges of where the hoses attach, probably from its time running green coolant. If it will do that to the t-stat housing, I imagine engines with aluminum heads could have a similar experience! The MB/G05 coolant is designed to protect aluminum.

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I'll have to ask my mechanic if he notices any deterioration of the head.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Shertex-
Please see this recent thread which shows some aluminum head damage from green coolant use.
Purchased used OM603 head, has significant erosion.

Based on the damage I see on the head I bought, yes, using the wrong coolant (or not changing the right coolant frequently enough) could lead to head gasket failure.

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1968 220D, w115, /8, OM615, Automatic transmission.
My 1987 300TD wagon was sold and my 2003 W210 E320 wagon was totaled (sheds tear).

Hmmm, what kind of engines is green coolant made for? What engines does not use aluminum?

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I've.used green coolant in my Volvo 5 banger engines with no corrosion. One Volvo had 400k miles. There much be another connection between the corrosion

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1993 e300
1995 e320
1994 e320
2006 s500 4matic
2004 Jeep wj overland
2001 Ducati 748
2004 Honda shadow aero

I know VW changed coolant formulas in the late 90s, and one of the reasons given was head gasket protection...

DexCool has problems because it eats through the coolant passage gaskets on the intake manifolds.

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Interesting thing is the G12 coolant has a similar OAT formula to DeathCool.





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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Yes, but I think there's one chemical in DexKill that G12 leaves out. The GM cars also had problems with leaky radiator caps letting air into the coolant system, which oxidized the coolant.

Of course VW is on G12++ now...

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Air + DeathCool/DexKill= sludge.
Bad things happen to clogged up systems.


DexCool is also incompatible with some nylon plastic parts and GM found out later. So they changed the composition of their plastic cooling parts to make it compatible.


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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Attached below is a write up from a few years ago on the different coolants types.


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Attached Files

MOTORCoolantFeature.pdf (563.5 KB, 219 views)

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

1985 and earlier diesel cylinder heads are steel, and have few issues with most coolants.


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