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  #1  
Old 12-25-2004, 05:04 PM
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2000 ML-320 Coolant change

I have 53,000 miles on my 2000 ML-320 and I believe it's time for a coolant change?

Can anyone tell me the proper proceedure for changing the coolant?

Does it have to be flushed or can I just drain it and refill?

It looks prety clear and clean, but it is approaching 5 years.

Also is Zerex G-05 ok to use for the replacement?

Thank you

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  #2  
Old 12-25-2004, 05:14 PM
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Is your coolant blue or yellow-ish?

I've read that the new blue coolant has an extremely long change interval. I've even heard that the blue coolant can last 15 years, or even until the lifetime of the car, but I find either change interval hard to believe.

Mercedes has generally always required coolant change intervals of every three (3) years.

It is interesting that only two items are carried out in time intervals instead of mileage intervals: the previously mentioned 3 year change interval on coolant, and brake fluid at every two years.

If you haven't changed your brake fluid yet, you are two years overdue.
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2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
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1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".
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  #3  
Old 12-26-2004, 12:21 AM
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Coolant

The coolant if yellowish, original MB fill.

I have had all service done by MB on their schedules, so I'm not sure about the brake fluid, Guess I'll hae to go back and review what has and has not been done. Transmission oil and filter might be another question at 50K
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  #4  
Old 12-26-2004, 12:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SmithIns
The coolant if yellowish, original MB fill.

I have had all service done by MB on their schedules, so I'm not sure about the brake fluid, Guess I'll hae to go back and review what has and has not been done. Transmission oil and filter might be another question at 50K
Good. If your coolant is yellow-ish, then it is on a 3 year schedule. Brake fluid is every 2 years.
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2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
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1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".
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  #5  
Old 12-26-2004, 06:43 AM
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Coolant and general maintenance

Paul,

The thing I am confused about after reviewing my service records is that, I assumed when I took the vehicle in to the dealer per the FSS, and they serviced the vehicle at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50K.

Well it appears that they changed the oil, filter and did routine lub/ filter replacement maintenance. However, I don't think they ever did brake fluid, which should have been every 2 years as you indicated, nor any other perscribed manintnance.

I trusted them to as least make the recommendation on what needed to be done.

This is my 8th MB with this dealer and it is a bit perplexing.

The others were diesels, and you knew that at certain milage markers, you would have a C service or at say 15 or 30 or 45 K you would have a major service done.

I woner whats up with this new FSS and the way the are handling service requirements.

Any comments on it?
Gary

In addition, they never asked me if I wanted anything else done.
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  #6  
Old 12-26-2004, 08:52 AM
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To be sure of getting the proper service work done these days, you have to be a little proactive about it and know for yourself what is required and make sure it's done. Many techs just don't care, if they feel they can't make easy enough money doing the coolant flush or brake flush, they won't bring it to their bosses attention (IF they even decide to check! There is no approved method of marking on the vehicle chassis when these additional services were done. The place I worked at used these wire-on cards to note what date the things like brake and coolant flushes, fuel and air filters, etc were done. We also had to go into history files to see if the last service was an A or B)
Gilly
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  #7  
Old 12-26-2004, 09:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gilly
To be sure of getting the proper service work done these days, you have to be a little proactive about it and know for yourself what is required and make sure it's done. Many techs just don't care, if they feel they can't make easy enough money doing the coolant flush or brake flush, they won't bring it to their bosses attention (IF they even decide to check! There is no approved method of marking on the vehicle chassis when these additional services were done. The place I worked at used these wire-on cards to note what date the things like brake and coolant flushes, fuel and air filters, etc were done. We also had to go into history files to see if the last service was an A or B)
Gilly
Besides, the place you worked at, charged me for 2 coolant flushes. They flushed the coolant and less than 4 months later, I had to come back for some gunk in the coolant. Jim did it the first time and couldn't have done a good job because there was still stuff in it. I had to have you do it a second time, on my dime, because Jim didn't do as through a job as he should have.
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  #8  
Old 12-26-2004, 11:49 AM
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General Maintenance at 53,000 miles

OK, so with your help I know that I need to have the coolant flushed as well as the brake fluid.

I just ordered a new Harmonic Balancer at the dealership and will have it replaced early Januray to hopefully ward off that disaster.

So the next question on engine oil.

I bought the ML new and at 5000 miles I had the standard oil changed as I did not buy into the FSS and 10K change schedule on regular blended oil.

At 10K, they had made the decision to go to Mobile One 0w-40 European blend.

So at 10K, 20K, 30K, 40K, and 50K I has been changed with Mobile One synthetic.

Have I already damaged the engine with this drain schedule?

I'm now thinking of having it changed every 5000 miles with Mobile to try to preserve and clean out the block and engine components.

It uses no oil but I did note some gooey/gummy deposits in the filled cap area.

Please advise your thoughts as I really appreciate your opinions.

Gary
Northern Ohio
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  #9  
Old 12-26-2004, 01:41 PM
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Gary:
My thoughts:
For quite some time I have been quite successful in getting good engine life using this formula: Change engine oil based on 1000 miles per every quart of crankcase capacity.
I don't see the sense in believing that one particular "magical number" of miles for oil change interval is appropriate. This is like saying that any car will run out of gas at 200 miles regardless of the gas tank size. It doesn't work that way. A car which has a 4 qt oil capacity should receive a change much sooner than one like a typical modern Mercedes which holds more like 8 quarts. There is more oil there to hold "crap" in suspension, so why not extend the oil change mileage? I have also used normal non-synthetic oils (I hesitate to call it "mineral" oil, as synthetics also start out as crude oil).
I do believe MB has good reason to promote the synthetics though.
I can't see the harm in extending the oil change interval out to 10,000 in a M112/M113 engine with 8 to 8.5qt oil capacity. If this seems unreasonable to you and you don't mind not getting any REAL benefit from purchasing the synthetic oil (such as extending the oil change out further), that's fine but I wouldn't do it any LESS than I would with non-synthetic (8000 to 8500 miles), after all, besides the benefit of not having to change the oil as often, the other benefit is to increase the durablity of the engine, but do you REALLY intend on keeping the truck much over 200,000 miles ? MOST people SAY they do, but don't end up with the vehicle that long anyways, so where is YOUR benefit?????? You still won't get that much trade-in value, even though you say you always used synthetic oil, etc etc..

Gilly
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  #10  
Old 12-26-2004, 02:21 PM
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I also read somewhere that while GM uses a computer to calculate when the oil change will occure (Cheap GM version of FSS), MB uses a sensor to check for conductivity between the 2 points on the sensor to decide how "used" the oil is. On my GM, it tells me to change the oil and when I reset it without changing the oil, it is fine to go on till the ECM tells me to change it again. I would like to try that same experiment with the MB and see if it tells me "You #$#)*% liar!! Change that #%#) oil NOW."
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  #11  
Old 12-26-2004, 02:35 PM
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Or how about resetting the FSS without changing the oil to find the cluster showing:
"We at Mercedes-Benz are not amused at your attempt to fool the vehicle into believing that you are properly maintaining it. Any existing warranty is hereby null and void. Experience: Like No Other TM.

Gilly
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  #12  
Old 12-27-2004, 02:42 PM
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Thanks for you thoughts Gilly,

I never gave any thought to the idea that the number of quarts in the engine should have a direct bearing on the number of miles between drains.
1 quart = 1000 miles, does equate to around 8000-8500 per change.

And no, we probably will not try to go 250 K, but my wife is figuring on driving it at least another 50-75K before trading it off.

The one comment about the GM version of the FSS was interesting.

We do have a new GM with their new milege computer on it that gives you a percentage of miles used on the current oil change. I only have 800 miles on it so I have not history to discuss at this point. It has regular oil in it and I have not decided if I'll switch it over to synthetic yet.

Gilly, whats the thinking on the transmission fluid and filter on the ML. I've never towed anything with it so it has not had any hard use. just my wife and myself and she'll only 5 foot!

On the Diesels, the service manager always told me not to change it if it smells good and looks clean becasue of the possibility of getting small particules of dirt into the valve body and causing problems. I don't think I ever had transmission service preformed on the 7 Diesels I owned.

Gary in Ohio
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  #13  
Old 12-27-2004, 07:15 PM
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Gary
It just seems to make economic sense to me that an engine with more oil capacity should be able to go longer between changes. Maybe there is some flaw in my thinking, I am at least trying to look at it logically and it seems to make sense, and I have had good luck doing it this way. I certainly can't see the sense in what was once reasonable and prudent, ie 2500-3000 mile oil changes, even non-synthetic oil is much better than even 10 or 15 years ago.

My thought on the transmission: Always has been "hands off" on the 722.6 transmission. MB doesn't call for a change. You can read lots of posts here about 722.6 transmission failures. And they DO fail sometimes, the earlier the transmission the more prone to failure. The design has evolved quite a bit, and it's MY opinion that if the transmission is going to fail it will be a design fault and NOT caused by failure to change the oil. There are lots of threads here about the 722.6 transmission, so you can research it if you'd like.

Gilly
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  #14  
Old 12-27-2004, 07:18 PM
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Here is the thread I like the most regarding the 722.6. Especially read post #9 by me, it's a copy of some "unofficial" MB document I received in a class.

1999 S500 with 722.6 Automatic Transmission Filled for life?

Gilly
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  #15  
Old 12-28-2004, 04:20 AM
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So Gilly, does my ML-320 Year 2000 have this 722.6 transmission?

Just wanted to clairfy that point.

After reading all the articles, I think I'll wait until 100K and then re-consider changing the oil and filter. By then my wife may have sold it!

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