I'm approaching 90,000 miles on my 1998 C230. I realize the transmission case is sealed and MB says no fluid drain or change is needed. However, I am still wondering what the advice among group members on this issue may be. I'm not a do it yourselfer...and rely on my mechanic with whom I have been doing business for mpre than 30 years. He'll do it if I ask...so, should fluid be drained and changed or not? thanks.
It should most certainly be changed. My MB mechanics insists that the transmission lasts a lot longer with change every 60K miles (synthetic fluid). I got mine changed (99 E300TD) at 90K.
I changed the tranny fluid the other day in my C230 (1998). No problem. Just drop the pan.. be careful as it can easily spill all over.. put in a new gasket..NO silicon etc. and bolt the pan back up. By the way jack the car to make it easy to do. Just to back up a little you need to run a small diameter plastic tube down the fill hole and note the level BEFORE you drain the tranny oil. When you fill... just fill up exactly the amount you drained. No more no less. This represents a 70% replacement and don't bother with the 30% that is still up in a part of the tranny that doesn't drain easily. when you change it again a little early say... 30,000 miles you will have a complete exchange of fresh oil.. The Germans were/are worried that the owner can't do that on their own.. Basically the MB is no different than my FD 250 Truck. Simple as that..
I would say definetly yes. Have you had to add any to it? It also depends on what kind of driving you do. A lot of stop and go and ideling means that fluid has prob. been pretty warm a few times meaning it is or has been broken down in some way or another. We usually change (depending on driving conditions) at least every 25,000 mi or so but that is just the way we do it.
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