How to drain antifreeze from 300E
 

Ok people. I am a novice and I am compelled to drain the coolant from my 89 300e. I have Prestone in it and I am compelled to drain it out after reading some posts. I have gone to my mechanic a couple time and every time I go he has a car on the jack so he tells me to come back later. I only have the jack that came with my car. Can anyone tell me the step by step procedure for flushing the coolant. I want to use MB or try out Valvoline's new MaxLife antifreeze if it is compatible with Mercedes.

Thanks in Advance

My mechanic uses a vaccum system. He builds up vaccum pressure, and suks it out through the resevoir. He then disposes of the coolant, and refills his vaccum systemw ith fresh properly mixed mercedes coolant.

He then creates a vaccum in the cooling system, and released and the new coolant is sucked into the car.

Alon

I don't have such a vacum system in my house. I thought Mercedes had some sort of drain plug for this

The M103 has a drain plug on the right/US passenger side under the exhaust manifolds. There's also a drain at the bottom of the radiator. It might help drain the heater core if you remove the monovalve. I don't know, it just occured to me...

Alon, is your mechanic a disciple of Rube Goldberg?

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
81 300SD

You should have a drain plug like what is shown in the center of the pic. You can take a long box end wrench to turn and you will have to reach it from underneath. Mine takes a 19mm and I use a long box end wrench on it. I removed the head to give you a better shot ;). This is the E320 engine but yours should be in about the same location - around the vicinity of the 5th cylinder on the passenger side about 1/2 way down the block.

Do a search on refilling - you have to try to get all the air out of the system which takes some doing.

my mechanic was shop foreman at the beverly hills mercedes dealer for 20+ years I believe, then moved on to auto steigler for a few years then opened his own shop in tarzana california called Mr. Mb Motors.

He is the best mercedes mechanic I have met, and I have used several local shops over the years with all the benzes my father has.

He give me parts at cost, and his labor prices are excellent at $60.00 an hour.

With all the work I had done on my car, labor was only $500.00 that included new front control arms, drag link and steering damper, new brake fluid, new oil and filter, new fuel filter, dist cap and rotor, replaced a fuel line, new tranny mount, and new shifter bushing.

This to me was excellent in cost, and the car is perfect now mechanically.

He rebuilt the steering box in my brothers sl, put int he new brakes front and rear, and changed the oil and filter and brakefluid. my brothers 85 380sl is driving excellently now too, and my dad's sl600 is drive wonderfully too.

I cannot say enough about my mechanic, I do not hesitate to recommend him to anyone in the los angeles area. Enrique @ Mr MB Motors, 1-818-708-8086.

Alon

Hi-Power (Ernesto) took your advice and has had work done on both his 300E and E420 at Enrique's shop and is a convert.

He was so happy with the work and reasonableness of the charges, that I think I'm going to take my car to him, as well, in the future.

It's about 35-40 minutes from Diamond Bar to Tarzana, but it's probably worth it.

Besides, if you look at a freeway map, it's almost a direct shot from my house if you draw a straight line - 57 north to the 210 west, which automatically turns into the 134, which automatically turns into the 101 going to Ventura. Beautiful.

he is literally a half black off the 101 and reseda.

Alon

Jim,

That was really helpful of you to pull the head so that you could take a picture of the drain plug for royaiii.

I need to know which way the connecting rod is put in place on that 300E engine. Would you take it apart tonight and take a picture for me?:D :D

Have a great day,

This post has made my day!!:D :D
:D :D :D :D :D Is that a new word like strategery ?

cap'n - LOL
 

yea, I'll get the rod out here pretty quick :).

I hope to have everything back together by this time next week.
Work, kids and family are cutting into my "hobby" time so I work on it when time allows.

Everything is ready to be put back together so what in the world am I doing in here?? Once the temp gets above about 90 dF everything better be running good :)

Where do all those wires go?? Where's that 240D?? durn

Jim,

I certainly understand the comment about the heat. If I were to win the lottery, the first thing I would do would be to build an AIR CONDITIONED SHOP. But, of course, while they're building it, I'll be looking for that ultimate Benz to store in it when I'm not roaring around the country side.

Have a great day,
PS: Hurry and show me that connecting rod picture.:D LB

No vacumn? Simply place the car in the displayed position and remove the radiator cap.:)

very interesting. I got a kick out of reading the posts following my question (still unanswered, looked in engine bay, don't know what the hell Im looking for) And that picture is about the funniest picture Ive ever seen on Mercedesshop. Can anyone give me an idiot's guide to doing it. Most technical thing Ive ever done on my car was Topsider oil and filter change on my cars and switching the stereo system out. So if you can understand where I'm coming from please post with step by step instructions.

Set the ACC to defrost and set the thermostat to max heat. Turn off the engine, allow to cool. Remove the radiator cap. Loosen the drain plug at the bottom of the radiator. I have a W126 so a picture of my radiator drain might not apply. Open the engine block drain plug. You only have to loosen it, not remove it.

The block drain plug is shown in the picture. It's the stub visible between the #4 and #5 exhaust runners. It's very easy to get to the block drain plug from below but you might have to remove a splash shield. I apologize for the picture quality. I had to get it under the attachment size limit.

In most places, you shouldn't send coolant down storm drains or street sewers. It's usually okay to send it down the sink drain or toilet that flows to a processing plant.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
81 300SD