Anti-Freeze

[Austin814]

After reading a recent post I was reminded of a question I wanted to post here. Which brand of anti-freeze should be used? Am I right that Mercedes Benz makes an orange colored anti-freeze especially for their cars? Is it recommended that MB brand is the only used or are there others that are within the specs of what is called for and we would only be paying extra for the star on the container or is it really something we should invest in? No hurry- Just a question.

-Brad

Some folks contend that MB antifreeze is very special. It is hard to imagine going wrong with it. It is very expensive though. I have considered changing to it after having serious head corrosion problems I'm not anxious to do much experimenting.

Have a great day,

[jkazzoun]

I asked at my local MB independent who seems very knowledgable (and is old and is german and is highly recommended on this board). He says you do not have to use the Mercedes brand. He says the important thing is that it contains anti-corrosives to protect the alluminum which is not very resistant to corrosion.

[renok7]

It is my belief that as long as the coolant Ph is kept between 7.0 and 8.0 you don't need to use MB coolant.

[euro 287]

Clear this one up real quickly, I recently had the pleasure of attending a class by a dealer technician who has run into this before. They had a late model M-class , they were doing some minor repairs and maintenance to the vehicle , one of the complaints was check engine light on . Well they pulled codes and gave coolant temp sensor code, Make a long story short they ended up replacing coolant temp sensor and to no prevaile. They ended up calling in regional rep, what it came down to was the coolant used. I didnt believe it at first either but my friend is a dealer tech in florida and he has said they have seen this several times . Besides the coolant is only 9.50 a gallon , thats almost as much as prestone or any of those other coolants. So why not just get the right stuff and save yourself the trouble.

[Ashman]

When I changed my radiator due to a broken neck, I replaced it with the MB antifreeze. Car runs at 80 c mostly, with AC on in any temperature.

Alon

[placo1]

My tech suggested using the Zerex 100,000 mile antifreeze. This also has the anti corrosion protection.

He also mentioned something else about the MB antrifreeze which I'm not sure of. He stated that MB antifreeze contains small solids (phosphates) which can accumulate and clog your radiator. The Zerex clearly states "No Phosphates".

I've had it in my car for a month now and the car never exceeds 95C even on a hot day.

I wouldn't suggest waiting until 100K to change the fluid no matter what it says on the bottle.

[euro 287]

If the antifreeze is changed as stated in the maintnance manual there will not be any problems with it. One thing we see is when maintenance is not performed properly the vehicles tend to have more problems than normal. Mercedes has done exclusive testing and the Mercedes antifreeze was designed for these vehicles. There is a myth that attracts people ( 100,000 mile spark plugs , 100,000 mile antifreeze etc) we know this cannot happen due to differant driving conditions and temperature. If you think you can go 15,000 miles in between oil changes ,well you will have problems down the road. There is no way around replacing these fluids and components at proper intervals. I have made this clear to our customers cause they want their car to last longer than 100,000 miles. But the ultimate decision is yours (the owner) We just give professional advice.

[John Plut]

I just replaced the antifreeze in my '88 260E with a prestone extended life (orange colored) coolant. A lot of manufacturers are now making a Dexcool type antifreeze that is supposedly less corrosive and meets import car standards. It varies in price but is generally slightly more than the old green stuff.

I'm perfectly comfortable with the stuff and intend to change it every two years.