I have used prestone on all my benz's, I have been very happy with it on the whole but I change mine every 30000 miles or 2 years religiously. When I change it I also always drain the block as well.

m

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Martin Ingram
Colorado Springs
2005 320 CDI
2006.5 VW Jetta TDI
1991 560SEL (179000 Sold)
1972 280SEL 4.5 ('The Lead Sled' 320000 miles when sold.)
1972 220D (225000 when sold)

I use pure rain water collected only in the month of May, 3.5 cups of glycerin and a twist of witch hazel.

The witch hazel dissipates heat very well; the glycerin helps to protect against rust and an Albanian sorcerer once told me to use only rain water collected in May.

This water contains far less calcitrioxide and phosogeneous nitrate.

Here we go .....!

I only use unobtanium water in the cars because it is so hard to find .....

Haasman

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'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

I called MB NA today about coolant. The customer service guy there looked up their coolant recomendation. He said they are strict about advising MB coolant if it gets in contact with any aluminum. He said my '82 300D has some Al. For older engines like my '72 450SL there is no Al so they don't enforce the MB coolant only advisory. He could not/would not advise another brand but said it should be supplemented with an anti corrosion additive.

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1972 450SL
1982 300D Turbo

All of the required maintenance on Mercedes cars is carried out in mileage intervals - except for two items: radiator coolant and brake fluid changes.

Mercedes requires radiator coolant to be replaced every three years.

Mercedes requires brake fluid to be replaced every two years.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Just before I start, erubin, your '72 450SL has plenty of aluminium (for example, the cylinder heads, the water pump, the themostat housing and hose connections to name a few). That shows how much the person advising you knows!

As for coolant, my '73 350SLC that I have owned for the past 20 years has always had a name brand coolant (eg. Castrol) but never MB coolant. To date, I have had no problems I would consider coolant related. On the two occasions when I have had a water pump leak, it has been due to the failure of the rubber behind the seal rather than the the carbon/ceramic seal itself. As for aluminium components in contact with coolant, I can see no more corrosion on them than 20 years ago when I purchased the car. All cooling system components apart from the water pump are still original. Only recently did the radiator require a repair for a minor leak.

If I then take our '90 300TE. A few years back I had to replace the head gasket due to the familiar oil leak at the rear corner of the head and the eventual oil in the coolant. Inspection of the head gasket revealed severe corrosion around all the water passages. Fortunately the corrosion was restricted to the gasket and not the head or block. This all occured not long after our purchasing the car, a car with MB dealer service history and presumably MB coolant.

Yes I do now use MB coolant, but probably more for the fact it is not much more expensive than a good name brand from elsewhere and I figure that it hopefully is no worse than the other brands. I also change it annually (rather than 3 yearly as recommended in the service manual) following the experience with the 300TE.

Also, when talking MB coolant are we all talking about the same thing? In Australia it has always been dark blue. I believe in the US yours is orange. Can they both be equivalent MB coolant?

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107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.

Thanks Oz,

I thought the MB customer service was a little light on techn help. As with you i am planning on using the MB coolant as well for no better reason than it is a small price to pay ($10/gal) for what may be equal/no worse than the other compositions available. i'll stick with changes every 2 years as a reasonable compromise in my estimation.

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1972 450SL
1982 300D Turbo

I'm a big fan of the unobtanium/may rain water combo as well, though I also heard the solution should be blessed or somesuch, or it will instantly turn to primordial sludge in your radiator.

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

In the spirit of being helpful. Fastlane sells MB coolant for < $10 per gallon. Not sure what a local dealer might charge (I have never even been to one).

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.

I just checked at Autozone--Zerox G-05 sells for $8.99 gallon.

So Zerox G-05 is considered a direct replacement for MB fluid?

Zerex sells a "phosphate free" coolant that is approved for plastic, and aluminum.. It's PH balanced, and priced slightly higher that their standard product..

If my MB is so friggin' finiky that it's gonna need a special this, and a special that everytime it needs service... Perhaps I'll go back to Buick.. I hope that a standard DOT 4 synthetic brake fluid was OK???

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89 300SEL Money Pit

92 Blown Buick Ultra Pimpmobile 220K and adding 1K per week

88 Wagoneer Slightly modified (Not for soccer moms)

04 Kia Sedona with every option... NICE

The research I did indicated that it would work like a champ.. The phosphates attack the plastic, and aluminum.. They make the plastic very brittle..

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89 300SEL Money Pit

92 Blown Buick Ultra Pimpmobile 220K and adding 1K per week

88 Wagoneer Slightly modified (Not for soccer moms)

04 Kia Sedona with every option... NICE

I just don't understand why anyone would want to "risk" their car with a different coolant when Mercedes specifically recommends against it, especially when we're only talking about a difference of $1 - $2 per gallon, in a car that is worth about $10,000.

We know that Mercedes coolant is different. It is yellow, it has a neutral Ph, it contains silicates to keep the water pump and hoses in good shape, and it doesn't contain phosphates.

Take my experience as a lesson. I switched from Mercedes coolant to the green stuff at the 120,000 mile service, and within 2-3 months, 3 different hoses burst a leak, and my water pump went out.

Why would you risk your car for $1 or so difference???????????

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Suginami has a valid point, why risk an expensive car for the sake of a few dollars? I am still at a loss though, as to why my 30 year old SLC has been perfectly happy with coolant other than MB and yet our 300TE with dealer service history had such a badly corroded head gasket. Also, why is your MB coolant yellow and ours blue? It's not like we pee blue here in Oz!

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107.023: 350SLC, 3-speed auto, icon gold, parchment MBtex (sold 2012 after 29 years ownership).
107.026: 500SLC, 4-speed auto, thistle green, green velour.
124.090: 300TE, 4-speed auto, arctic white, cream-beige MBtex.
201.028: 190E 2.3 Sportline, 5-speed manual, arctic white, blue leather.
201.028: 190E 2.3, 4-speed auto, blue-black, grey MBtex.
201.034: 190E 2.3-16, 5-speed manual, blue-black, black leather.