maky57

I inherited my W124 E220 at age of 18 and i have been driving it for past 3 years,car has been cared for since its in my family from begin.I maintained it well and changed reguraly everything except one thing,because i was young and didnt knew anything about taking care of car i was only using destilled water as coolant for last 3 years and didnt put any antifreeze in it.So basically i would like to know have i done any damage to the engine by doing this in form of rust inside and if i did what can be done to help.Thanks

Savannahbenz

Running pure water is not good since there are no corrosion inhibitors. Have you done any damage? Maybe, maybe not. Get some MB or Zerex G05 coolant, flush the system and mix the coolant 50/50 with distilled water. Do not use any other coolant types except what is listed above. Keep a watch on your water pump for impending failure, since it has been running for the last three years without proper lubrication also provided by the coolant.

Jim's500E

Hmmm..if nothing happened to your car by now then you should be OK with filling it up as recommended by Savannahbenz.

Using distilled water prolly saved you...tap water would have caused problems.

When you drain the water from the system...if it's orangy (rusty) then it might be a good idea to change the radiator.

maky57

Thanks for your answers guys,i thought i did much bigger damage,but it will probably be solved with a good system flush.