Imageboi

Was wondering about tranny fluid change... has anyone ever done it yet?? I know mb is a lifetime fluid but same with my older audi it says lifetime too but i changed it out with redline d4 atf and a world of difference in shifting... also what type of tranny do we use for this motor??

Blazeitup123

can we call it a gear box? other things come to mind with the word tranny.

Imageboi

ok... i guess gearbox fluid odd never heard transmission fluid called gearbox fluid.. and what things come to mind when saying tranny or transmission??

cvx5832

Manual Transmission should be easy (and similar) enough, regardless of car make.

7G Automatic Transmission is also easy, provided you've done it before on any recent European auto without a fill neck and/or a dipstick. The only difference with the 7G is that the drain hole is also the fill hole. Don't let it scare you though, the solution is a lot more elegant and simple than some people give it credit for. There's already a good DIY here. Get the fill adapter from Assenmacher, the pipe remover from eBay, the rest will be like any other European car. Assuming you did your Audi, this is cake.

Just ready the DIY, you'll see.

Paolo

Imageboi

same as the audi then... then only thing i was wondering thou is the drain plug a 12 pt star??

RLE

First of all, MB transmission fluid is not a lifetime fluid. After many warranty repairs, they gave that up about 2005 and since then mandate fluid and filter changes at 38K miles. Read your manual.

The 7-speed transmission uses a special fluid and unless your planned substitute is an approved alternate, don't use it.

There are a few things that should be left to a dealer and this is one of them.

cvx5832

Hi RLE, I respectfully disagree. Some people are more comfortable under a car than others, so a blanket "that should be left to a dealer" can be misleading. It's not that hard at all.

OP - research the appropriate fluid and give yourself an honest evaluation. If there are too many portions of the already posted DIY is confusing, or if you haven't done this successfully before on other cars, then the dealer may be a better option than the presumably horrid cost of replacing a 7G transmission.

Paolo

JoeVal

There is no such thing as a lifetime fluid. After multiple G-Tronic tranny replacements, MB came down from the cloud they had climbed when they bought the Synthetic ATF spec from the Oil Companies, who were selling anecdotic occurrences as statistical value constants. ATF fluid and filter must be flushed and changed in 4/5/7G-Tronic trannies every 39,000 miles, using Synthetic ATF MB Spec. 236.14 (Mobil ATF A134, Shell R134, Fuchs Titan 134 or 4134).
This is a proven fact if you wish your car to last over 100,000 miles (disposable car vehicle concept by car manufacturers). At 39,000 miles the fluid comes out very dark and full of metal filings crowding the catch-up magnets (can be replaced rather than cleaned) and loose in the system. Besides, the filter comes out quite dirty.
Naturally the carter cover has to come out, and this results in the need to replace joint seal and cover screws. Cover screws, it is important that they be replaced because the seal will leak due to aluminum screws deforming at the correct torque, which make them not practical to reuse. The drain plugs and washers are also in the MB procedure for replacement.
Should the torque converter drain hole not be in your transmission, it could be emptied through the hoses going to and from the cooling radiator. In any event replacing the total ATF is the target.
The parent of all these trannies (Audi-VW and MB) is Porsche, and they use a rather easier kit (syringe and filling tube) to fill them through the carter drain hole fit with the Assenmacher plug.

Glyn M Ruck

See

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...n+fluid+change

cvx5832

That's the DIY. John's guide is phenomenal and is what I used.

Paolo

Glyn M Ruck

And make sure you use the 236.14 fluid. Fuchs Titan 4134 seems the cheapest & most commonly available in the US.

The 722.9 is a very expensive transmission if you suffer a failure.

GHAZAN

how expensive?

Glyn M Ruck

+ $9000

JimPap

Which would also make this the last MB that I would buy.

Something I would like to ask.

I thought the scheduled service on the transmission, is 39,000 miles. Then you're supposable good and won't have to do it again. The thinking is that you are getting the contaminates out of the system that only occur during the first 39,000 miles.

Is there any evidence either way whether it should be changed out every 39,000 miles or good for the life of the transmission....which can mean a lot of bad things.

Glyn M Ruck

In ROW the 722.6 5 speed & 722.9 7 speed have always been serviced every 60,000Km or 39,000 miles. Fluid & filter change. We have seen many oil samples from these transmissions running the 236.14 fluid & the oil is certainly due for change every 39K miles.

MBUSA is nuts - Change once then filled for life is BS. = short life. I think this is driven by the US throwaway market but in ROW people expect an expensive Benz to go a long way trouble free. Of course in ROW Benz vehicles hold their value a lot better than in US.

Imageboi

I mite have missed in the link but how many qt's are needed in changing?? If similiar to the audi i think it was 9 total and 7 without the tc drain.. also in the link to john's thread it states that the tc drain was removed on some transmissions.. i'm going to be using redline d6 atf.. i've had really good results with my audi with the redline atf's.. i see the d4 isnt nag2 compliant so going to try the d6.. how much is the Fuchs Titan 4134 and i'm assuming napa carries it?? i've seen a wide variety of german made oils at napa before.. cant recall if i seen that brand thou.. but this is definitely good stuff.. also wheres the cheapest place to get a the tranny filter kit??

cvx5832

All the info you need is in that DIY, including how many to buy.

As for fluids, all the Mercedes 7G oil change documents I've used point to 236.14, so I don't know if Redline D6 (which on their website says 236.12) is compatible. I'm sure someone with more info will chime in.

I like Redline too. I use them in my ZF-driven Bimmers. But I don't have enough evidence of success of it being used on the 7G.

The OE fluid is practically the same price I wouldn't gamble on this. Whatever gain you're expecting is nowhere near worth the $9k bet.

Paolo

Glyn M Ruck

On no account use Redline products in this transmission. They are not suitable or approved. This is not an Audi transmission.

See attachments in Johns thread for Volumes & TC drain. All 7 speeds fitted to W204 have TC drain. Buy a new TC drain plug. They are microencapsulated.

Make sure you can measure temperature to get level correct.

EDIT - Fuchs Titan 4134 is $11 a quart at RMeuropean.

jctevere

Thanks for all the info Glyn - as usual. Any other suggestions for preventative maintenance that is not specified in the manual or stretched out longer than it should be. I plan on keeping this car well into the 100k mile range, so I would prefer for it to be as trouble free as possible.

Basically oil and filter every 10k mi (or should I do it more often), tranny fluid and filter every 39k, pads and tires as needed. (are brake fluid flushes really needed every 2 years?). Anything else I am missing?

Imageboi

I would do oil and filter changes alot more often then 10k... i do it at 5k max.. recommended is just like all other cars.. 3500 to 5k.. brake fluids do help also another cheap maintenance job is the power steering fluid.. just basically siphon out the old and replenish with new.. also glyn are you referring to the d4 or d6 redline cause the d6 redline has different specs and is nag2 compatible..

Glyn M Ruck

No that's it - do that and life will be trouble free. 10K oil change is perfect with the fleece filter. This has brought it in line with ROW. These cars have large sumps so the oil charge is not stressed. At 13K the US was pushing things further than I was comfortable with but sample analysis proved that M1 0W-40 Euro formulation was up to it - just! I recommend Axle every 100K miles.

Glyn M Ruck

Redline has zero MB approvals for any product. "Meets the requirements of" or "is compatible with" is not good enough. Just oilco BS. The 236.14 test regime is hell to get through which is why there are so few approved products vs. the older specs. Listen to an oil man with 39 years in the industry.

Redline have no technology of their own. They just buy it in from the additive pedlars. If they want an approval they must get through the testing. Frictional properties & their maintenance over the product use cycle are critical to 236.14 approval as is oxidation stability. Most fail. Truth be known there is only one approved formulation in one synthetic base oil - never mind who on the approved listing you buy it from.

Imageboi

cool guess i'll stick to the approved stuff also it mentions mobil atf... is there more then one mobil atf??

johnand

Nice to see the W204 guys making use of my 7G service guide I have done the service 3 times now, and it gets easier all the time.

The last service I did was for my neighbor on his ML350 and it had 55K miles on the original fluid, and it was HEAVILY oxidized. Even my own car at 35K between changes the fluid was clearly oxidized. So, if you want your 7G to last, change every 39K or less.

Glyn M Ruck

There are many Mobil ATF's - ensure you use the approved one. There will always be a vast array of ATF's because different transmission designers require different frictional properties from the fluid for decent shift shock results. There is no such thing as a universal fluid. Ford & GM used to be miles apart. Due to similarity in design now you can get a fluid to do both but that's about it.