Just got an 88 300e that was maintained meticulously. Radiator appears original.

It had the green stuff in it... i drained and flushed and flushed and flushed..

...based on the readings on this board i bought zerex at 9.99 a gallon. I think the green stuff was 8.59.

It was a pretty easy decision to switch over. did the thermostat at the same time just for preventative maintanence. I typically change my radiator fluid every three years.

Most modern cars have rads that are made of a combination of aluminum and plastic. The most common failure is on the plastic parts. Years ago, I switched all our cars to MB coolant. Our 626's rad finally went out after 15 years, unheard of life for that model with the plastic rad. The Mazda mechanic was surprised at how long it lasted.

I have YET to replace a rad on a Mercedes. All our 190E's broke 400K with no rad replacement. Our 2.6 left a few weeks ago showing 399K and it's rad is fine.

Now, I'm sure people have had their own success with Prestone, or whatever, but for me, my own cars get the MB type as it has worked well for me.

Somethings do improve over time. While we gripe about MB late-model quality, some things are better. I still think that they've gone too far with oil change intervals and spark plug life, but coolant formulations and oil formulations have done nothing but get better. I'll "adopt" that new technology! MB's synthetic tranny fluid, in my opinion, is NOT fill for life, but the stuff is still amazing.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Do I simply flush the coolant system with water or do I purchase a coolant system flusher (like prestone)?

Thanks,
Manny

A good way to flush (engine cold and off) is to remove the heater inlet hose at the left rear of the block after the system is drained. Flushing into the nipple flushes the engine, into the hose flushes the heater core circuit. Leave the block and radiator drain valves open during this procedure. You can buy inexpensive clamps, valves, and hose at hardware stores to make up your own flush kit. The top of the radiator and engine outlet hose are tough to flush, but you can do these areas by removing the engine outlet hose from the radiator nipple.

You can also fill the system with water, start it up and bring it up to temp once or twice to hot flush the engine of the last residual old antifreeze, after you've completed engine off cold flushing.

I never recommend using any kind of commercial "flush" product - just potable water.

Duke