dave2001auto

How will the tranny handle with 2 Qt short of ATF?

The things I notice after the ATF service were 1 smoother upshift and long delay for the initial gear engagement. Possible slightly under 1 second delay from park or drive into reverse, or park to drive. Before the ATF service I thought it was about 1/2 second.

The filling machine might of had come with some left over ATF from the last job (possible 2-1/2 Qt?) or he didn't really do the TC drain.

Glyn M Ruck

I have no idea what your guy did. The transmission will not be happy 2 quarts short. Under certain conditions it could lose drive & will go into limp mode.

2006_C350

PM sent, need help because car is at dealer right now and they claim no torque converter change required.

paulo744

Ask to go underneath the car, and at the bottom of the front of the transmission, there is a rubber seal that can easily be removed. Ask them to put the car i neutral, and with engine off, manual spin the motor so and look for the allen head drain plug on the converter. If it is there, then they should drain it and then put in new fluid. Should be a bit of 9.5L all around.

clarkz71

He has a torque converter drain plug, I ran his VIN.

Yet another dealer lying about what WIS clearly tells them what a trans service is.

2006_C350

Well, the service advisor hasn't denied a torque converter drain YET. He just said "Some cars have the drain plug and some don't. If yours has the drain plug we will drain and fill it." - I have a feeling they will tell me there is no drain plug.

I just emailed him proof that there is, thanks clarkz71! I don't want them to have to go back and redo the whole process.

Now how do I know if they replaced the correct parts and didn't just reuse the old drain plug or what not? I read in a thread that the drain plug is screwed in with "loctite". There is also a long 6 inch bolt type thing that I think I read somewhere needs to be replaced with a new one.

If they don't put in enough transmission fluid, or they put in not enough but the car runs well, when will I notice transmission problems?

My car will be out of warranty by late September of this year. I want to make sure that if they mess up, problems will show up before warranty is up.

dave2001auto

Since you are in the USA, sign up for the free EPC account.

There are six aluminum pan bolts that absolutely need to be replaced. Also pan's drain seal, ATF filter, pan gasket (optional - but cheap enought to not risk a leak) and approximately 9 to 10 Qt of ATF. The steel TC plug and drain pan plug are routinely reused with a little bit of loctite on the threads. Just don't reused the seals and six aluminum bolts. You can get the part numbers from the EPC account.

Car's have some tolerances on the ATF fill level.
There's the recommended best, the real best, and what they can get away with. Remember, original ATF claimed on the 7G tranny was filled for life (no change necessary). But now we know better.

Without a dipstick, you essentially need to trust them on the fill level. Some will use the old temp for the fill, thus too much. I rather have a little bit too much than too little.

If you ever see ATF under the car, you will likely need to have the car towed in for service. The under carrage cover can hid a lot of ATF before you see a drip.

2006_C350

What color is the ATF? Is it a universal color for all different models?

dave2001auto

Most ATF are red in color. It may just look like dirty oil once it gets on the ground. The red shows best when see on a white card. When old or dirty it starts looking brownish. I distingush them by the odor.

There a blue colored ATF for the 7G+ but that does not apply to your transmission.

2006_C350

Would it leak near the middle of the engine where you might find a engine oil leak?

dave2001auto

With the wind, fluids are pushed back, then collects and drops. It will likely be to the rear. The actual drop on the ground, will follow the path of what the oil pools on (under carrriage cover, etc.). You just need to do a visual and wiping to see the highest point where the oil is on the engine.

I had a power steer fluid leaked that took 3 years to find. It was dirty under there. Mechanics said ATF leak, tranny shop said oil leak, mechanic said rear seal leak that needed to have tranny removed. Too expensive for 1-2 drops a night. Finally the PS return hose along the firewall busted. Leak found.

MBSebas87

Wow I read this whole thread and I'm truly dreading service b next year. At least now I know where to come back to get documented info to confront them if need be

tmsiegle

OK, so I got the service done today...Calgary, AB at Lone Star.....

I asked the SA about the transmission service and how many litres of fluid they use
He said "typically around 5". I'm thinking OK here we go...
I asked him if they typically drain the TC, he said "No, we never drain it because MB doesn't require us to".
I pulled out the WIS and showed him, he said, "OK, I'll put a note in the work order and if the tech finds the drain plug, we'll drain it". So I'm thinking sure, that sounds good but it also sounds like you have done this before...

I get a call saying that they did find the plug and successfully drained the TC but the service costs more because they used more fluid and it took more time.

Go to pick up the car, it's $700 CAD for the entire tranny service (would have been $450 w/o TC drain).

So go ahead, tell me I paid too much but I'm really just happy that they did it and I can feel better about the life of my transmission.

PS. When I picked up the car, the SA said I was the only person he encountered that asked for the TC to be drained, so big thanks to everyone who's contributed to this thread!

Tim

clarkz71

$250 extra for 4 liters of 236.14 and "maybe" 10 minutes work?

Not to mention it's part of the service per WIS____

paulo744

Aligning the torque converter drain must be "reallyyy" difficult for MB techs. When I turned my motor off it happened to be a aligned!

It really is BS, if we had a copy of the WIS with the fill quantity, I would go back to MB and get the money back.

tmsiegle

So, a little update to my previous post...

A few weeks after the service I started hearing a whining noise coming from somewhere under the car, it was speed related, not RPM related so I took it in for the dealer to take a look and listen...

Turns out it's the transfer case issue noted elsewhere in the forum. When I bought the car I got the extended CPO warranty WOO HOO!

Talked to the SA about it and said "hey I've researched this and it looks like an $8,000 fix from what I've read". He says, "more like $12,000"

So they're putting in a new transmission/transfer case.

Does the torque converter get changed with the new transmission? Or will they use the old one? I ask because it was flushed when I did the service a couple months ago. Just hoping it wasn't a complete waste of money.

Long story short, I will definitely sell this car before the extended warranty is up. There's no way I will risk having to do another repair like this out of warranty.

Exhibit13

Just had my transmission serviced at the dealer and according to my invoice they used (7) 001-989-68-03-13 GEAR OIL, any ideas on what happened here? From what I have read it should be 9.5 (if doing TC) or 5 (without TC) how did mine end up at 7?

dave2001auto

Gear oil is the mb term for gear which includes the transmission. Google search has it as MBZ's 134 ATF. The bottle might list the backwards comparability of the ATF. My 2009 e320 7G also used about 7 qt of Shell 134 ATF (red color) that is not a full synthetic. Mech swears that the Tor Con and lines were drained. He used a shared machine that may of had some ATF in it.

https://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/index.php?language_id=1 for brands that meet mbz specifications and are approved.

Exhibit13

So they admitted that they did it wrong and they are going to redo it. Thanks to everyone in this thread you really helped me out with finding that mine was not done to MB spec!

LogicalApex

I am fairly new and I have read some of the thread, but haven't yet been able to make it through all 11 pages. I just got done my 30K mile service on my 2013 C300 a few months ago and should be looking at my 40K mile service in about 8 months or so. Since I have a 4matic, I'm slightly concerned about the transfer case deal. I got the extended warranty due to reading about transfer case issues prior to purchasing the car.

I have been looking through the MB Service Manual for my 2013 C-Class and it doesn't mention that the Transfer Case oil should be adjusted at 40K miles. It really doesn't seem to say anything about the Transfer Case on the C-Class at all. Is this something that no longer applies to the 2013 model or did MB miss this important information in the Service Manual included in my car?

https://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/Digital...ce_Booklet.pdf

tekfoc

have the transfer case oil changed also.
I already had my tranny changed and went back in to have the transfer case changed.

Alex.currie44

Look here perhaps?

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Image...ml%3B800%3B450

zer0null

OK, Question for you all. I called both my local dealers and they originally said they do not drain the TC as part of the service. I called MB Corp and they called the service manager directly. I then get a call back from MB Corp who said that one of the local dealers is willing do to drain the TC as part of the transmission service but that on my vehicle the drain bolt faces the fly wheel so it is going to be extra labor as it is more difficult to access and do. Can someone with knowledge tell me if this is the truth or the service manager is full of **** and is just trying to find another way to screw me? 2012 C300.

Thanks

Alex.currie44

My car has the 722960 7G transmission.
I just had the transmission serviced in January and he put in 6 L (5L + 1L (transfer case?)) of FE-ATF.
I asked about the TC and he said they don't change the oil in them as they are sealed and much more work is required.
I trust what my dealer tech tells me based on his 20 yrs on these cars and my 7 yr with him.

teksurv

My dealer just did a transmission service on my wife's 2012 SLK 350. 5 quarts of oil changed. Thing is, I asked before the service if the torque converter oil would be changed, answer was yes. Needless to say he apologized and is replacing all 9 plus quarts of oil. Be careful....