iodyn,

I am not a MB tech. just own a couple of them. So take my earlier comment/suggestion about deoiling with that knowledge. Deoiling should be done prior to decalcification.

- alkaline cleaner used for deoiling is 001 986 21 71 and was about$9.00
- citric acid used for decalcification is 000 989 10 25 and was about $14.00
- MB antifreeze running $10.00 a gallon.Part 1 03
0002.
- The afore mentioned prices were from Partsman a week ago but be sure and check with him as things can change on a daily basis.

Be sure and follow your manual on the procedure. For a 280 liter motor with manual climate control, it's drain the coolant including the block. Remove the thermostat. Fill with water and the deoiler. Run eng at middle speed until 80C and then 5 more minutes. Cool to 50C and drain (block too, everytime). Fill and run twice with fresh water. If your going to decalicify too, add the citric acid on the last rinse for the deoiler. Run back up to 80C and then 10 minutes more. Cool to 50C and drain (block again). Flush at least 3 times with fresh water. Reinstall thermostat with new sealing ring.

My 450 SEL has a automatic climate control (ACC) valve that is very sensitive to trash in the coolant (e.g it breaks it). SO I remove the valve and install plastic tubes in its place. Then when it's all done I reinstall the valve. As near as I can tell that is an undocumented procedure but I've spoken to enough mechs that I've drawn the conclusion that I was breaking my ACC servo during the flushing operation.

Anyway. Good luck and be sure and consult your manual for the proper procdure for your vehicle and to confirm that you've got the correct alkaline cleaner (they do come stronger).

Cheers.

__________________
S, J.R. Brown
2000 G500 LWB Obsedian Black
2005 Toyota Tacoma Access Cab Off Road Sport
1993 Volvo 240 Sedan Anthracite
1980 450SEL Champange (owned it for 15 years. Great car)
1986 280GE LWB Anthracite (Sold it and kinda wish I hadn't)

Brother Of The Benz, william rogers
I'm not familiar with transmission back-flushing.
The problem is oil in the radiator not coolant in the transmission.
But reverse flushing won't harm it.
Happy Trails Beep Beep from The Spiderman in Houston!!!

Well hot damn, you guys were right on the money. My radiator needed replacement, and the ATF leaks have ceased.

HOWEVER....

The mechanic did a coolant flush, but not thouroughly enough because I still have some droplets of oil floating around in the system. So I plan to do a full citric flush as recommended by the fine experts in this thread.

Now to my questions:

1. Where are all the drain plugs located or is there just one? (to completely drain the system)

2. Once all coolant is drained, I heard I should refill at the top radiator hose, and let overfill at block coolant bolt (next to oil dipstick) to not allow air in system. Does this sound right?

I'm not gonna take any chances so I will flush the system 2 or 3 times to do a thorough job.

If someone could just point me to the coolant drain plug, I think I could figure it out from there.

Thanks again everyone!

you need to flush again with the degreasing agent. That part number can be found earlier in this post. Citric flush is used to remove scale and build up, you need to clean out the oil.

Degrease first, then follow with the citric flush.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.