Transmission Fluid questions

[LexDiamonds]

I have done a lot of reading on the subject, but keep getting mixed answers. Hoping someone can set me straight on this.. I have a 2004 CLK500. This is the 5-speed tranny. As I understand it, this is known as the 722.6. What fluid to use? I know that the latest spec is 236.14, but there are some people claiming this is only for the new 7 speed transmissions. Whats the word on this? I am taking my car to the stealership for a few routine things (replace fuel filter and leaky transmission E-plug) and was going to have them do a full transmission flush (car has 50k and to my knowledge has never been changed). I was hoping to bring in a case of spec fluid to save from getting reamed for $20/qt. Stealership might laugh at me if I try to have them use fluid I bring in... dont know.

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[mis3]

You probably read the thread I started by the title 722.6 ATF. There was a debate on which fluid to use which generated over 130 responses.

Since my w209 is high mileage, I wanted the original 236.10 fluid. Just to be safe, I did not want to mix the 2 fluids together in the transmission. After looking for them for a few weeks, I had no choice but to give up. I do prefer MB branded fluid but they don't exist anymore. It has been replaced by 236.14 fluid in all the local dealerships as well as the online stores. At the end, I did not even want to use the old fluid anymore because I would not want to go through this search again.

Last week I finally did the change using the new 236.14 fluid. It was a pan flush only and the indie used a bit less than 4 liters. After the change, my car felt wonderful. My car was always smooth and now it is even better. I will do another pan flush in 2-3 months (5k km) so I will have more of this new fluid inside the transmission.

I don't know if there are any long term adverse impacts but it is so far so good for me.

As a side note. I was lucky that I made the flush because my transmission had a small leak !

[Glyn M Ruck]

236.14 is the correct way to go.

722.6 ATF

[LexDiamonds]

Followup question.. does anyone have a link to a place that sells 236.14?

Also, for a full fluid replace/flush I need 9 quarts correct?

[Glyn M Ruck]

http://www.ryderfleetproducts.com/ry...oductDetail.do

9 quarts for a full change & 14 quarts for a full flush on 722.6 because it has no TC drain.

Methods:

http://mbworld.org/forums/attachment...0flush1-1-.pdf

http://mbworld.org/forums/attachment...0flush2-1-.pdf

[Glyn M Ruck]

Sorry - Ryder link now operative. You will get Shell product. Shell owns Pennzoil.

[LexDiamonds]

Thanks Glyn. I had already seen the Shell 134 at Ryder... probabaly not going to find it for much cheaper than that.

Your 2 PDF links arent working BTW..

[mis3]

Originally Posted by Glyn M Ruck

9 quarts for a full change & 14 quarts for a full flush on 722.6 because it has no TC drain.

Somehow I thought the capacity was 14 quarts.
9 US quarts corresponds to 8.5L. I put in about 3.75L of ATF at the pan flush, so my transmission has 44% of the new fluid !

Local Toronto dealerships are selling these 236.14 fluid at $25 per liter. I used to pay $20 for the 236.10 fluid.

I did see Pennzoil at the Shell gas station here. I will check if there are ATF134 next time. I hope the MB one and this one are compatible.

[Glyn M Ruck]

Originally Posted by LexDiamonds

Thanks Glyn. I had already seen the Shell 134 at Ryder... probabaly not going to find it for much cheaper than that.

Your 2 PDF links arent working BTW..

Links fixed. Sorry - forum brain fart on links.

You will not get it cheaper than that! You will get the product in Shell bottles. There is no approved product in Penzzoil bottles just for the sake of confusion.

[Glyn M Ruck]

This is what you will get from Ryder

[Glyn M Ruck]

Originally Posted by mis3

Somehow I thought the capacity was 14 quarts.
9 US quarts corresponds to 8.5L. I put in about 3.75L of ATF at the pan flush, so my transmission has 44% of the new fluid !

Local Toronto dealerships are selling these 236.14 fluid at $25 per liter. I used to pay $20 for the 236.10 fluid.

I did see Pennzoil at the Shell gas station here. I will check if there are ATF134 next time. I hope the MB one and this one are compatible.

The transmission takes 9 quarts. 14 are used to achieve a flush.

Make sure you only buy fluid in Shell bottles. The Ryder listing is confusing because it calls it Penzzoil. It's not Pennzoil - it's Shell. Even though Penzzoil is owned by Shell they do not have an approval so anything in a Penzzoil bottle is not guaranteed to be the correct formulation.

[mis3]

I was going to look at the label on the Pennzoil ATF next time I pass by the Shell gas station.
So, you are saying that even if the Pennzoil ATF has the ATF 134 marking, it is not the same as Shell ATF 134 and I should not use it?

[Glyn M Ruck]

That's what I'm saying.

[Nazstradamus]

my CLK 320 W209 is in with a merc indy today... Gearbox was leaking near the sump plug so they are reparing and putting in new ATF.... hope it runs as well as before :-/

[mis3]

Does anyone know how to get this Shell ATF134 in Toronto (or anywhere in Canada)?

[Nazstradamus]

Cars back from the garage new ATF fluid in the transmission and running smooth.. Love it. 99k miles on this bad boy 320 and running better than my 60k Audi A4 2.0t

[mis3]

Originally Posted by Nazstradamus

Cars back from the garage new ATF fluid in the transmission and running smooth.. Love it. 99k miles on this bad boy 320 and running better than my 60k Audi A4 2.0t

Which ATF did they use? MB or Shell?

[Nazstradamus]

They used the MB fluid for the change. Took 5 bottles as they did not need to empty the torque converter

[mis3]

My indie added less than 4 bottles after the pan drop.

MB ATF is $25 (CAN) while the Shell costs $6 (US). I hope I can buy this Shell in Canada.

[Rudeney]

Originally Posted by Nazstradamus

They used the MB fluid for the change. Took 5 bottles as they did not need to empty the torque converter

Uh, yes, technically, they did need to drain the torque converter, but yours probably doesn't have a drain plug so they couldn't. The only way to have done it would have been sort of a "fluid transfusion" via the cooling lines. This complicates things and uses more fluid, so most dealers won't do it. My advice is to change the filter and the 5 quarts from the pan every ~40K miles. If you are so inclined, you can learn to DIY and save a ton of money.

[Nazstradamus]

Sounds like a plan Rodney the Indy charged me £220 for the ATF , gear box filter, gasket, spacer and labour. So if I can avoid that every 40k then why not

[mis3]

I live in a condo so DIY is out of the question for me.

I did 2 ATF pan flushes in a indie shop back in February. Since he had to drop the pan anyway to change the filter, he chose not to remove the drain plug. He lossened the 4 screws of the pan and let the ATF dripped into his oil disposal unit.

I asked him why he did it this way (quite messy), he said he did not want to "disturb"the drain plug. He has had bad experiences with this. He is actually a Sprinter specialist and has worked on this 722.6 transmission for many years.

[Rudeney]

Yep, dropping the pan vs. disturbing the drain plug is definitely the way to go on the 722.6. You musty remove the drain plug on the 722.9 as that is the only way to check the fluid level.

[jvfante]

Thought I'd pass on this info to those who might need to find the OEM branded ATF. I needed two liters (for a total of 5 liters) of 236.14 for a pan flush of my friend;s '01 CLK 430 and found that my local (Santa Barbara) Carquest has recently begun carrying MB branded ATF. No one else locally carries the various iterations of ATF 134.

BTW, it took just under 5 liters to do a pan flush for me.

Price was $16.99 discounted from their list of $22. Not cheap, but not terrible if you need at liter or two and need it today. My local MB dealer is asking $27+.

As for the previous post about the drain plug being possibly dodgy. I have found them to be no problem in the least. Just don't over torque them and you'll be fine. Pulling the plug is a lot tidier than dropping the pan to drain the fluid. Hope the heads up about Carquest will help someone. It saved my bacon today as I needed just another liter.

[Rudeney]

You really should change the filter, which requires pulling the pan. The cheapest place I had found for 236.14 spec oil was Shell ATF 134 from Ryder Fleet Services. In a 12-quart case, it was $6.25/qt delivered. Unfortunately, they stopped carrying it. It looks like the best price, even mail order is still over #11/qt.