Hi, I had the dealer change the transmission fluid in our wagon today at 45k miles as a preventative maintenance step. I am driving home and reviewing the bill. The paperwork shows they only used 4 litres (?) of trans fluid with P/N 001 989 21 03 10. I called back and asked what the deal was. I thought the trans held 8 - 9 litres?? Something tells me they did not drain the torque converter. Does this sound right. Did they only do 1/2 the job??

Thanks.



'02 E320T

 

Your right! they only did a half *** job. some electronic transmission dont have a torque converter drain plug though. but im almost positive yours does.

 

2000 on MBs do NOT have a drain plug on the torque converter...another cost cutting move

 

Guys, thanks for the replies. So, you can only do a half-*** job unless you have one of the power flushing machines??? what's up with that?

OTOH, I am little relieved. The car has been at the dealership for the past 6 days for warranty rust repair work. I know my wife's head would explode if I told her the car had to be returned to have the trans work repeated since they effed it up the 1st time.

My internal anger has just come down about three notches. Let's look at the bright side: I know I'll have to perform this job a bit more often since the TC can no longer be drained. I'd rather know and just plan accordingly.


Thanks !! I do appreciate it.

 

There is a way to replace all fluid by flushing it thru cooler line.
You can do it yourself by disconnecting the lines, running the engine till about 2 quarts come out thru the disconnected line, add 2 quarts, run/drain it again and repeat till the whole transmission capacity is drained.
Some shops have equipment to do power flushing.
On the other hand don't recall transmission fluid replacement on my service record. Maybe it is time to read the bills I paid?

 

I'm not keen on opening up lines, etc. It will be my luck they leak once re-installed.

How about this as an alternative: I assume the trans pan has a drain plug and I could simply drain the 50% clean/50% dirty fluid mixture in there now and re-fill with new fluid. That would get me up to a 25/75 blend of old/new, I believe.

I hate being held hostage when it comes to basic maintenance like this. I paid them $270 and it's not right, IMO. I'll just get the dipstick tool and the temp gage and be done with it. I'll do it myself from now on and not have to put up with this frustration.



Side note: I have no experience with W210 cars so I can't compare shift quality and say our car is good or bad. Downshifts, when the transmission is cold, are very noticeable (almost abrupt) since the fluid was changed. Again, I have no idea if this is normal but it's not like any other car I've driven. The upshifts are very short and firm when cold under a light throttle. High speed/WOT upshifts are crisp, firm, short....no concerns there, I think. When things are fully warmed up, up/down shifts are brief and not too noticeable.

Does the trans have the ability to adapt to a change in fluid viscosity? is it that smart?? Does trans fluid thicken or thin with age?

 

Don't know if that apply to your vehicle, but might be worth checking.
On E300 I had disconnected vacuum line, that was controlling the transmission. That gave me headaches on the brutal gear changes, till I discovered the problem.