Designo, every engine I ever worked on had block drain plugs; I've never looked for them on the 3.2L V6, the I6 had one on the passenger side I think. That's the only way to drain all the coolant from the engine. Similiarly, every radiator I ever saw had a drain plug in it, since I can't do mine due to state regs, I've never bothered to check that either.
If pulling the lower radiator hose only nets a quart of fluid, that's a waste of time.
Obviously you've got to yank the main belly pan, so start there, then start looking for plugs/petcocks. Once they're open and you've drained it all you can close the radiator one and run fresh water in which should dump the rest out of the block. When the water's clear, turn it off and then re-open the radiator one, let them all drain out again, then close everything up and refill.
Lastly, if you have a camera take some pics and do a quick write up, this would be good for the DIY section.
Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg
__________________ If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice. Meister Eckhart
When you learn from your own mistakes, that's experience.
When you learn from the mistakes of others, that's wisdom.
When you fail to learn from any mistakes, that's government.
Vehicle: 2001 SLK 320(96K Miles), 2002 E320 Special Edition(113K Miles)
Location: South Bay Area,L.A., CA
Posts: 1,175
Just use the normal MB antifreeze/rust-inhibitor. The E320 doesn't have any problems with cooling, so it's a waste of money adding anything else. Not sure if those things may not do more harm than help in any case.
Vehicle: 2001 SLK 320(96K Miles), 2002 E320 Special Edition(113K Miles)
Location: South Bay Area,L.A., CA
Posts: 1,175
Pulling the bottom hose help to get a faster outflow than draining just thru the radiator stopcock, which may help to flush out more dirt. But remember to first open the cap on the overflow bottle, so that you get a good flow. Close it up, fill with water, start & let it run until thermostat opens, shut down and drain again. Repeat a few times. I also blow in the overflow tank to empty it out completely, since the outflow suction doesn't always empty the overflow completely.
Just did mine yesterday. Capacity is 10.6 quarts. I drained about 9 or 9.5. Remove the front noise encapsulation panel. Drain the radiator. This gave me almost 8 quarts. I then disconnected the coolant lines going through the windshield washer bottle and blew air through them which forced out another quart or so of coolant. Since my coolant was the approved Mercedes coolant and it came out nice and clean and it has only been three years since I last did it, I was satisfied that was good enough, although I did dump a gallon of clean water in to flush out a little more of the old coolant. I then filled it up with Zerex G05, distilled water and Water Wetter at about a 50-50 ratio. If you've got the wrong coolant in there, if it's been a long time or if the old coolant comes out looking nasty, then you may want to go a little further and open the block drain too.
I looked at disconnecting the lower hose, but it didn't appear that would accomplish anything, since it enters the radiator right where the radiator drain is. I did disconnect the upper hose and rinsed through there and filled through there.
Me, I'm stuck. Coolant is a hazardous waste in CA, so you have to capture it all and dispose of it within the confines of CA's enviro laws, so that's one for which I just take it in. Too hard to flush with just water, because then you end up with several gallons of "hazardous waste" instead of a couple. And while stores here take oil, you have to pay to get rid of coolant. (sigh...)
Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg
The correct place to dispose of antifreeze in California is thru your counties' household hazardous waste program. It will be recycled. There is no charge.
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