is there any "good" green coolant?
 

So about a year ago I had my radiator replaced at a local "high end" (mercedes, BMW) independent shop. They have a great reputation and I have used their parts desk for years. My reservoir tank is cloudy and hard to see through. Since I trusted the shop I never even opened it to look inside. Till tonight. And to my horror what was in there, green coolant! So my question is. Is this the right coolant? Is there a "good" green coolant? As far as I know the proper coolant should be red or orange.

Today's Mercedes coolant is pale yellow. Do not know start date.

As you have plastic components in your cooling system, you need to get the right one. Some of these so called "high end" service people are nothing but a show. The correct coolant will give you long life on your plastic radiator tanks.
There have been recent threads on here discussing it.

If they did use the proper coolant and you did have the green stuff already in they might have just topped it off with the Benz coolant and did not Dona full and complete flush.

Zerex G05 is only $13 a gallon, go get some.

I use Evans PG Colant at 100%.Its the best,and goes for 10 years.Older antifreezes are old tech.

Just so I'm clear on this (now that I'm a convert to getting the green stuff out of there)....is the only danger the danger to the plastic parts? If so, then at least whatever damage has been done is somewhat limited. Not that the cost of these parts is insignificant....but eventually we all have to replace radiator, expansion tank, etc....

Most anti-freeze here in the UK is either blue or green....

Whats the problem!!:D

I dont think the colour has any relevance to its performance. Providing its good Ethelene-Glycol and diluted correctly, there'll be no probs...:)

Unfortunatly, I worked part-time for a couple here in Central California that were notorious for ripping off the customer....

I agree, I'll never bring my car in for work unless it is a warranty covered item.

And even then I'll check to make sure it was done correctly!


In my hometown, I can get Zerex at pretty much every auto store. NAPA and even the gas stations carry it :confused:

Sierra
 

I did a little web research on this last year, and from what I could tell Sierra was the only safe green coolant to use. I'm sorry, but i can't remember the specific reason. Maybe someone else knows.

Cummins spec coolant is green
 

In our Cummins gensets we use a Zerex branded green coolant supplied by Cummins. Color is not a good indication of quality it is only a dye. Cheers Dan

This doesn't have to be hard. Just use the correct coolant. :rolleyes:

Yup. It's actually not expensive at all... it's a bit cheaper then VW's coolant.

http://www.backwardshat.com/mb/brake_coolant.jpg

-J

Once in a while NAPA sells it but most of the time we have to go to this one place called "Import Parts Specialists" to get Zerex. Everybody else sells green stuff and "global" mix-with-anything stuff.

There are 2 main families of corrosion inhibitors currently used in auto applications, Only one of them is suitable for the MB cooling system in these cars. One of the reasons is that our cars have many plastic components & they are damaged in time by the non suitable type. Its not only the radiator tanks.