Please confirm that this car SHOULD have either Xerex or MB Coolant, and it should be the brown/orange color. Story goes like this...
My friend calls me up last night saying his car is overheating a lot. I'm new to the MB world as I bought a 76 450SL 4 months ago. I've helped him with repair work since and so naturally he comes to me before he takes it to a mechanic. So he believes his car is overheating because the light on the dash for the coolant keeps coming on. At the next stopping point, he will cut the car off and restart, light goes off and he's on his merry way. Recently he did this, but the light didn't go off. (My MB does not have this light, so if it has a meaning other than the car is running hot, please let me know). He said that the temp gauge is running up to about 80 (which I thought was great..mine is closer to 100). I asked him what it normally ran in the past and he said he thought it was a little lower than that (doesn't make sense to me...but okay). I then asked him if any repair work has been done to the cooling system...he then tells me that the radiator was replaced a couple of years ago....I then asked to make sure the coolant was the brownish red/yellow color and he said that it was green.......

So...recap.....

1. What is the proper color for the coolant on this car?
2. What does the light on the dashboard really mean, it seems redundant to have a high temp light and a gauge)
3. What is the normal operating temp for this vehicle....

Thanks!!!

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Birmingham, AL
2006 Audi A4 "Audrey"-daily driver
1976 MB 450SL "Marlene"
2000 Jetta VR6 "Julia"-traded at 220k miles
1997 Jetta 2.0Trek "Blanche"-traded at 450k miles YES 450,000 miles
1986 Prelude "Gladys"-died at 120K miles