1998-2000 C280 transmissions are non-serviceable! (Other models too, I imagine). That's a new concept to me. Now, when somthing is non-serviceable, that indicates to me it's a "throw-away" item. The dealer told me they were designed to last the life of the car w/o a fluid change. This begs the question, "how long does MB expect the car to live?" I expect it to live at least 500K

Helmutt, at the local German Car Repair shop, says, "you should replace the fluid at 100K miles." He emphsizes, "it's kind of expensive."

So, any of you agree with Helmutt or do you just wistfully drive, ignoring the fact that all fluids deteriorate under heat and pressure.

 

Hi,
I totally agree with you. Of course, the ATF will deteriorate in time.
What is Mercedes thinking?? What if the transmission fails?? do they think it is cheap to replace the entire transmission assembly??
What is wrong with putting a drain plug, a dipstick and a fluid change? But with mercedes, there is no drain plug, no dipstick and no fluid change. But if there is something wrong with this, we have to suffer the expensive consequence.

 

it is serviceable. all parts are available. i've done many.

however, the initial ATF that they are using are not the common one that we do. it is mineral and somewhat greenish in color.

 

What is your opinion on when one should change the fluid? What happens to the wear filings? Filtered, yes, but don't the filters need cleaning?

I normally don't drive AT, but I have to say that the AT in my '99 C280 is the quietest and smoothest I've ever driven.

The Sport configuration makes it easy to select gears 2-4 manually. I don't use that feature often (thinking about mpg) but when I do, it's very satisfying.

If servicing the transmission will extend it's life, and keep it runing better-sign me up.

 

from the MB manual...

Specifications - Fluid Type Specifications
Notes The Transmission Type 722.6 is filled with a newly developed special transmission fluid and is concidered to be "filled for life". no other fluid is authorized to be installed in this transmission, This fluid is not to be used in any other transmission

Model 722.6 Transmission All. MB Part Number 001 989 21 03 10
Note: Mercedes-Benz Fluid Required.

We were going to have ours changed at the dealer once and it was $300 US AND the svc mgr said it isn't even necessary, so I figured that I would do it myself. Now we are at almost 100K and after reading about those 2 people in the recent posts that cannot drive fwd I am wishing that I had!

The trend is for service intervals to go higher and higher, hopefully with an increase in engineering quality to match. Much like insurance, changing your fluid and filter is just playing it safe. In the past it was a rule of thumb that if the x mission fluid wasn't replaced by say 90K or so then you let it be. The logic was that if you were to replace the fluid and filter (late) then the clean fluid might wash large quantities of debris loose and they could clog some passages etc (think of a stroke in humans - a blood clot breaks loose...).

My guess is that if you have a transmission that has a strange red cap (with no dipstick) that you have broken the tab off of (like I did) then you have the 'serviced for life' model. The p/n for the dipstick is 140 589 15 21 00 and the fluid p/n is above..

Also, there is a drain plug, allen style, and a magnet inside the pan for the metal filings. My advise would be to change it every 50K as some cars are as low as 30 K.

 

So, Mikdade, did you change the ATF? Sounds like maybe no-- for fear of a "stroke" (which is what one might have if their "out of warranty" transmission needed major repairs )

I'm at almost at 80K mi. I'd really like to service the transmission. I hadn't considered the "stroke" analogy but do understand that sometimes putting new parts into an older system can put added pressures on the other older parts of the system; causing them to fail.

What to do?

Well, there is another old bit of wisdom that says, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Of course, fluid change is normally a maintence step, so that wisdom shouldn't apply. I'll probably mull it around for some time and eventually change the ATF.

BTW, thanks for the P/N's. I checked them out and sure enough, MB does sell AFT fluid and a dip stick.

BTW2, What manual do you have and do you recommend it?

 

will probably roll the dice and change the fluid, but have not yet...

I have both the MB manual from the StarTEK page http://www.startekinfo.com/StarTek/doclist.jsp and the web-based Alldatadiy.com
the MB manual comes on a cd for around $100 US and the all data is $25/year for the 1st manual and $15 for the next.

All Data is much easier to navigate and seems to mirror the factory manuals for any car and can be accessed from anywhere. Go with all data...