black98slk230

GOOD LORD! I found this on my garage floor after coming home. WTF? What is this, it looks like transmission fluid? What do I do about it? Why did this happen??!?!? She's only got 37,000 miles on her!

See the pics here

Now that I think about it, this morning when I took it out, the transmission was acting really weird, not shifting at problem time and stuff, BTW that happened every morning in 1st and 2nd gear for the first minute. This morning however it was much longer than that!

JimboUK

Looks messy - get it down to your dealer for a diagnosis asap!!

black98slk230

Ya, I will take it to a mech., BTW, mbworld forums have MUCH MUCH less active users than benzworld forums. lol.

Jminer

You're right, that's definitely trans fluid. That amount is not enough to cause trouble, but if it continues, you'll be looking at hefty repair costs. You probably know all of that though; what you may not know is that our auto transmissions are designed to hold 1st & 2nd gears longer than normal when cold, as a means of helping the engine to warm up faster. So this behavior is not a direct result of your fluid leak. If your trans starts holding gears longer after warm-up, then you've got a problem.

black98slk230

Yea, I got the tranny fixed. It was a two seals that cost around $2 each. BTW, labor was $150 and the tranny fluid to refill was around $90. That's maddness. Anyway, thanks for the info, didn't know the transmission held it longer so engine could warm up faster. That explains why it does that in the morning. It is running fine now, BTW I already got a new problem. Looks like the brake light isn't working and replacing the bulb or socket doesn't do the trickt. I'm guessing the contacts on the taillight got erased because I heard from benzworld forum that it is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. LOL. This sucks, there has to be a reason this car is a MERCEDES, I mean c'mon, this is unacceptable!

Jminer

Which two seals went bad? (Where are they located?) Just so I can keep an eye out for it on my own SLK. That price for fluid fill is beyond belief. Do you know of anyone who has installed an aftermarket tranny cooler in their SLK? The way MB has these trannys buttoned up, I don't want to go into it blind.

black98slk230

Jminer, sorry for the delayed response. ok, it was the seal right under the gasket. If you felt the bottom of the gasket, it was covered in wet transmission fluid. I don't know about aftermarket tranny cooler, you are right, MB has these things sealed up. I could recommend someone if you are in the Tampa, FL area, but I higly doubt that. I would say, don't worry about it until you feel wet stuff in and around the gasket.

ml3204me

Nice DIY video:

Mr_Sandman

Doesn't sound like you had any tranny work done lately, until you found a leak but I do know that the gasket likes to roll over a bit when you are reinstalling the pan. That can cause a leak. The ribbed part of the gasket must be facing down on the pan.

Also, when I bought my r170 I panicked when I got her home and she wasn't shifting out of 1st and 2nd when I would take off in the morning. It's all about starting her up and letting it sit for a few minutes so things start to warm up.

Hope you got it fixed!