Transmission service needed?

At a recent service at the dealer, (yeah, I know, dumb) the adviser recommended a drain, flush and refill of the auto transmission on my 2000 S430, 90k miles. He said this was something new that MB was now recommending for all its cars. Price was to be $400+. I declined.

Does anyone know whether this should be done? Manual is silent.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Morgan
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Call MBUSA and ask for "technical". They'll have the car's recommended services.

Reply to
-->> T.G. Lambach

Yes, Mercedes is finally recognizing that their "sealed for life" 722.6xx and higher electronic transmissions were not a good idea, therefore, they are now recommending the fluid be changed. The fluid is relatively expensive. It cost me about $15 per liter online from autohausaz.com and it took just over 7 liters (so I had to buy 8). A new filter and pan gasket added another $23. That is $163 for parts online. It would be much more through the stealership, then you have to add in labor (pretty quick and easy job if you have a lift). I could see how the stealership would think $400 was a "fair" price.

Reply to
-

I agree... Transmission should be serviced every 50,000 miles in my opinion. I did my folk's car at 60,000 miles and the fluid is nasty.

My friend's car that he bought with 90,000 miles did not service his transmission and his transmission died at 115,000 miles. His case is interesting because of his arrogance... put wrong fluid in and the transmission just won't work anymore. We then put in correct fluid and the transmission works fine for a while until problem cropped up again. I think the wrong transmission really killed his tranny.

Reply to
Tiger

Wrong transmission fluid that is... I forgot to say fluid.

Reply to
Tiger

in the transmision goes regular lpain ATF. what did your friend put in there? brake fluid? :)

Reply to
pukovnik

He put in a different type of ATF... I think it was like Dextron 5+ something....

Reply to
Tiger

i see you are really active on this group, so let me introduce myself: im a independent parts shop/service owner in europe. i have the EPC and WIS program from mercedes in my comp. have been workin with mercedes trucks, busses and unimogs for a long time. i really dont have a lot of experience with cars... (sorry if my english sucks, couse its not my native language)

but... IMO, if in was in the transmission was ATF, thats ok. when you removed old atf, and put new one in, you removed the "iron dust", so mabe that temporary had softened the symptoms, but the problem wasnt in the oil, but in the transmission box. i guess you usa folks have automatic... long story short: transmissin has to go down, open, and see whts going on.....

Reply to
pukovnik

Yes, it is automatic and there is no way to eliminate all ATF fluid. The MB transmission specialist we spoke to said multiple symptoms are hard to diagnose correctly... so my friend ends up buying rebuilt transmission. It seems to be a combination of valve body problem along with a seal going bad in transmission.

A very costly mistake. I have tried to warn him not to do it but he did and he paid the price.

Reply to
Tiger

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