Zerex G05 + Liquid Detergent = OK?

[EricSilver]

I am flushing my cooling system with approx 80% water and approx 20% detergent – specifically LA Awesome cleaner.

Filled it yesterday and will drain tonight. But I will not be able to drain it completely -- and honestly don’t want to since the car runs significantly cooler with the soap reducing water’s surface tension.

So, for the soap residue that is left behind (which should be small) will there be any negative reaction with Zerex G05?

[anziani]

Eric,
I use "Water Wetter" here on the desert. It was 118 last Saturday and engine temp with AC on was about 110C. I also run just the minimum amount of coolant to protect me down to 0F
Anziani
'93 300CE 199K
'95 E420 123K

[tbomachines]

Use non-foaming detergent. I don't know what LA Awesome is quite honestly but its important to use non-foaming detergent or your water pump will just churn bubbles. I think this is also outlined on the dieselgiant tutorial if thats what you are following. Not sure how to answer your question but figured I'd throw this little nugget of info in.

[Gilly]

You should be fine, I'd just do a water rinse (full refill and warmup), puke that out, and refill with bottled drinking water (the cheap gallon jug stuff) and the G05. NOT the deionized/demineralized/distilled stuff, just filtered drinking water
If you had bad accumulation of oil in the cooling system, I would have gotten commercially available "bilge" cleaner (for boats) and used that instead of soap.

[compress ignite]

Whatever form of VooDoo/HooDoo Juice you end up using; IT MUST BE COMPLETELY RINSED OUT OF THE COOLING SYSTEM.

Detergents in the Mercedes Cooling system are used as a "De-greaser".
[A.K.A. "Dawn Dishwashing Detergent"]

Then the Dreaded "Citric Acid Flush" is performed.
(MAY do more harm than good? 'Jury's still out .)

I can empathize with your trying in an innovative fashion to "Enhance" your
"Water Flush".

BUT, as mentioned there are surface contact enhancers that are Purpose made
to be used.("Purple Ice" , "Water Wetter" . Etc.,Etc.)

As much FUN as the Mercedes Cooling System Maintenance Circus is...
(AND AS CRITICAL as it is in some engines)
I'd not enter ANOTHER Snake Oil derivative of UNKNOWN actions into the Mix
without completely investigating it's TOTAL effects.

Sorry to Rain on your "System" development.

as always: Your Mercedes, Your Pleasure!

[Kestas]

The soap may make the coolant too alkaline, which may attack aluminum parts. The last time I checked, the pH of my cooling system was 7.5 - close to neutral.

There are products to reduce water surface tension such as Photo-Flo. I'm not sure how available it is with everyone going to digital photography.

[dennish]

I also use Watterwetter with MB coolant or G05. I really think it runs a few degrees cooler in the very hot cental ca valley

[Gilly]

Ah too many variables to tell. If you just have the stock temp gauge, can you really detect "a couple degrees"?

[hobberslobbers]

if i may chime in, i am a big fan of doing radiator flush/fills every 2 years or so, depending upon mileage. for me, this is about every 25K miles. i am NOT a big fan of introducing chemicals or detergents into the cooling system unless it is absolutely warranted, as in the case of a recent head gasket failure where oil actually ends up in the coolant. for me, here's what i do, keeping it really simple and effective (you are forewarned):

The 10 Steps
1. drain the coolant and dispose of in an environmentally friendly way (not down the toilet or other sewer drain). also, don't leave coolant out in the drain pan or your neighbors might get peed off when their pets turn up dead from drinking it. don't worry about draining the block. repeat, don't worry about draining the block. it's a waste of time IMHO.
2. connect garden hose to spigot. turn spigot counter-clockwise until water comes out of the end of the garden hose. (i told you i was gonna keep it simple.)
3. let garden hose run until "fresh" water runs from the end of it.
4. stick flow of water from garden hose into the plastic fill bottle in your car and fill to "full" mark.
5. drive car to temp.
6. park car in the same place it was before.
7. drain radiator into the driveway. it's mostly water at this point anyway. your bleeding-heart-liberal neighbors might stare at you in disbelief when you do this, but that's what you have a middle finger for.
8. repeat steps 4 through 7 as many times as it takes to get the water run as clear out of the bottom of the radiator as when you put it in the plastic fill bottle in step 4. do not proceed to step #9 until/unless the drain water is sparkling clean.
9. fill with 50/50 Zerex G-05 and bottled water (you should only need 2 to 3 gals)...nothing else... not the orange pukey stuff, not the pink sissy stuff, not the green glow-in-the-dark "its-universal-coolant-and-can-be-mixed-with-anything-according-to-the-autozone-dude" stuff...nothing else. (caveat...ok, maybe the MB approved stuff for those of you who have big buck$ and like throwing money down the drain [pun intended]!)
10. repeat above process in about 25k miles. for those of us who live in harsher climates maybe more frequently, say, once yearly.

doing a radiator flush and fill is a great summertime project, especially when you need to get away from the wife who is driving you bananas about painting, wallpapering, interior decorating, and other non-essential non-MB-related activities.

[POS]

Originally Posted by hobberslobbers

The 10 Steps
1. drain the coolant and dispose of in an environmentally friendly way (not down the toilet or other sewer drain). also, don't leave coolant out in the drain pan or your neighbors might get peed off when their pets turn up dead from drinking it. don't worry about draining the block. repeat, don't worry about draining the block. it's a waste of time IMHO.
2. connect garden hose to spigot. turn spigot counter-clockwise until water comes out of the end of the garden hose. (i told you i was gonna keep it simple.)
3. let garden hose run until "fresh" water runs from the end of it.
4. stick flow of water from garden hose into the plastic fill bottle in your car and fill to "full" mark.
5. drive car to temp.
6. park car in the same place it was before.
7. drain radiator into the driveway. it's mostly water at this point anyway. your bleeding-heart-liberal neighbors might stare at you in disbelief when you do this, but that's what you have a middle finger for.
8. repeat steps 4 through 7 as many times as it takes to get the water run as clear out of the bottom of the radiator as when you put it in the plastic fill bottle in step 4. do not proceed to step #9 until/unless the drain water is sparkling clean.
9. fill with 50/50 Zerex G-05 and bottled water (you should only need 2 to 3 gals)...nothing else... not the orange pukey stuff, not the pink sissy stuff, not the green glow-in-the-dark "its-universal-coolant-and-can-be-mixed-with-anything-according-to-the-autozone-dude" stuff...nothing else. (caveat...ok, maybe the MB approved stuff for those of you who have big buck$ and like throwing money down the drain [pun intended]!)
10. repeat above process in about 25k miles. for those of us who live in harsher climates maybe more frequently, say, once yearly.

doing a radiator flush and fill is a great summertime project, especially when you need to get away from the wife who is driving you bananas about painting, wallpapering, interior decorating, and other non-essential non-MB-related activities.

That's pretty much how I do it; doing the block is a real PITA. Flushing 3-4 times seems to get 95% of the old crap out.

[hobberslobbers]

and for these old diesels, it's probably the cleanest they have ever been anyways.

[Duke2.6]

What is the point of using a "detergent"? It won't remove any mineral deposits or rust scale... sounds like snake oil to me.

Draining the radiator and block every three to five years and replacing with a 50/50 blend of Zerex G-05 and distilled water should keep your cooling system squeaky clean. The G-05 has surfactants that reduce surface tension so you don't need "soap", Water Wetter, or any other snake oil for proper cooling system performance.

If you buy an old model that appears to have not been maintained properly and has evidence of loose debris in the cooling system, do a thorough backflush with tap water until the debris is flushed out.

Duke

[sptt]

Did radiator flush per above direction and worked great. Took a little longer than before but cycled all the coolant out until clear. I have the MB Coolant but can't see anywhere on it if it is Concentrate or 50/50. Since I wasn't sure I assumed it was concentrate that way I can add later and engine is running a little cooler now. Anyone know for sure?

[bhatt]

Just want to clarify the term 50/50 for everyone so nobody gets confused. I'm assuming you don't want people to mix up equal parts of coolant + water then pour it in. If you do that, the block being full of water will dilute the mixture so you have less than 50% coolant!

Here's what I do:
Look up the coolant capacity (let's use 10 litres for this example)
Pour in 50% of that amount of pure coolant (so pour in 5l of coolant)
Then top off with water to the full mark

That way you are absolutely sure that there is 50/50 in the system.

In the above example, if the block holds 2l of water, you would otherwise end up with 4l coolant+6l water which is only a 40% concentration.

Just thought I would point that out.. hope it helps!

[sptt]

Great tip and explanation!

Thanks