DavidML430

Planning to drain the water via the lowest radiator hose, then "simply" replace all the water hoses. Thankfully I already did the "3-legged" one between water reservoir and the back of the engine (which is simply not fun to deal with).

Anything I should be aware of that is out of the ordinary?
Any special way to maximize the amount of old fluid drained?

It all looks very normal and straight-forward.

Many thanks,
David

ECSTuning

DavidML430,

Since you are changing all of the coolant hoses on your ML430, now would be the perfect time to flush the cooling system. Mercedes offers a citric acid cooling system cleaner that will flush all of the contaminates out of the system. You can find this cleaner on our site HERE, or by clicking on the photo below.

If you use this, be sure to then flush the system thoroughly with distilled water.

Once you have flushed the system, refill with genuine MB coolant or Zerex G-05 coolant. These are the only two coolants that should be used in your car. Make sure to mix the coolant with the proper amount of distilled water. We have these coolants available on our site. You can get to them by clicking HERE, or by clicking on the photos below.

If you want to make re-filling the cooling system easier on yourself, we have a Coolant Evacuation Tool Kit. This tool will draw a vacuum on the cooling system so that when you re-fill it, you can be sure that there are no air pockets in the system. You can get to the Coolant Evacuation Tool Kit on our site by clicking HERE, or by clicking on the photo below.











If there is anything I can help out with, please feel free to post or send a PM!

DavidML430

MANY thanks. Couple quick follow-up Qs:
- An incredible number of posts talk about using a degreaser like Dawn dish detergent for the first flush. I see nothing like that in any sort of FSM. Comments?
- Haven't found a block plug on the ML430. Since I'm replacing all hoses, worth finding/opening or just skip?
- I haven't convinced myself of doing the flush before or after replacing all the hoses. Part of me is convinced flushing the old hoses is a waste, but running block/radiator contaminants through the new hoses just feels a bit wrong.

Since all the hoses will be off, I was first going to simply run garden hose water in/out of all open ports and let the water run through the block/radiator until pretty clean, then replace hoses and do a formal/citric acid flush, run up the temp and then flush with clean water 3-4 times by removing both the lower hose and radiator drain plug until everything looks very clean. And then putting in coolant/distilled water, recognizing there will be some standard tap water still lurking in the system from the rinses.

Seem reasonable?

Going to your site now to order. Again, greatly appreciated.

ECSTuning

DavidML430,

I have never used Dawn dish detergent in a cooling system. I know that using a de-greaser in a cooling system is a common practice, but that is typically in the older Diesel engines that are more likely to build up greasy deposits and soot in their cooling systems. I do know that dish washing detergent is not the ideal choice for this though. Dish washing detergent will build a large amount of suds, which can be difficult to remove from the system. The cleaner that I have always seen recommended is Shout, the laundry pre-treatment soap.

For a gasoline engine that does not build the same kind of contaminates as a Diesel, I would think that the MB Citric Acid Cooling System Cleaner will do the job.

As far as the block drain plug, if you are going to flush the system as thoroughly as you say in your previous post, I would not worry about the block drain. Running clean water through the system three to four times and draining by removing the radiator hoses will be sufficient to remove all of the contaminates. Just be sure that when you are done flushing the system, that only clean, clear water is coming out of the engine. I would, however, flush as well as rinse, with distilled water only. Gallon jugs of distilled water are cheap at most retailers, so there is no reason to introduce any contaminates into the system by using tap water.

I would flush the system with the old hoses in place, and replace them before I did the final cooling system fill.

DavidML430

Good approach.
I'll skip the sudsing and do a full flush with the MB acid once your shipment arrives, then flush multiple times, once at the end with all old hoses off.
Then rinse, as you call it, with new hoses in place and pure distilled water; maybe twice.
Very much appreciated.