jwtts

Hi all,

I'm driving a 2013 C300 4matic and through digging the plethora of posts regarding the transmission and the transfer case, I'm a bit confused with servicing for the PLUS edition.

The owners manual indicates that it can wait up to 120,000km or 7 years before servicing the transmission. The following years in 2014 and on received an adjustment to the service interval of 120,000km or 6 years. Vastly different than the previous service requirements in the 722.9 G Tronic of 60,000km or 4 years.

Browsing through the forum has also indicated that I should service it at 60,000km regardless as a precaution. Does that consist of just an oil change? or a flush? Would the service also take into account of swapping the fluids inside the transfer case? Other threads have reported that the dealerships have been inconsistent in the volume of oil used ranging from 5-9? quartz.

I'm looking to keep the vehicle past its warranty and would like to consider all the options including the extended warranty which is expected to be nearly $3,000 for 3 years in Canada.

TLDR; Too much information with the 722.9, not sure if applicable to 722.9 PLUS and course of action.

LogicalApex

I don't see a reason to service it early. I also have the plus variation in my 2014 C300 and read a lot on this topic. The general consensus is that Merecedes was always accurate in their service guidelines (as they should be) but that people often missed it. Missing it was a grave mistake.

So I'd say service it on time and you should be fine.

I also have the CPO extended warranty without a mileage limitation to if this proves to be a problem I am covered.

But the transmission flush isn't cheap so no need to waste money... There aren't yet reports of failures on the new plus transmission which includes some obvious adjustments.

jwtts

I only suggest the idea of servicing the transmission earlier through a recommendation from Glyn's post 2 years ago.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...onic-plus.html

michail71

I'm going to cut my interval in half and do 35,000 miles. That could be overkill but so far I've had some horrendous luck with my car.

Glyn M Ruck

We are starting to see fluid samples at 120,000 Km interval. Some good & some not so good. If I owned a 722.9 Plus I would shorten the drain interval until we have a better idea of fluid longevity. It is an expensive transmission to replace! So much is dependent on service the vehicle is in. Town vs open road, towing, heavily loaded, driving style etc. The fluid bench tests well at 120,000 Kms but reality can be quite different.

michail71

Do you have an unofficial recommendation? My thought on 35,000 miles was just to keep it in sync with the book.

LogicalApex

How much shorter? The same is true for almost all of the service intervals from my understanding. Mercedes will recommend 10K miles between Service A and Service B, but if you're doing a lot of stop and go or idling you should cut that number by half or more.

MB Marko

would you wait 20,000km to do an oil change as recommend by Mercedes? Or would you do it between 10-15,000km?

I personally am doing it every 10-15,000km.

I'm going to go about 10,000km early to my next transmission fluid change. For peace of mind and I want to keep the car for a long time, so if they notice any issues I can plan a head.

LogicalApex

Everyone has their own "feelings" about when they should do maintenance on their cars. Some, like you, see some level of early maintenance similarly to buying insurance or an extended warranty. Nothing wrong with that...

But, the information shared should be a bit more than "feelings". The transmission service seems to be a major mess on these forums. Just take a look at the threads on it...

If you're using the 7G (2008-2012 C300/W204) then the overwhelming message is to do the transmission service @ 39K miles as stated in the service manual and not a mile late. Now for the 7G+ (2013-2014 C300/W204) everyone is saying to ignore the service manual and to still do 39K miles as was the previous guidance... What is missing is the rationale here...

For the 7G the service manual is golden, but for the 7G+ it isn't? Why not? Why was Mercedes right before and wrong now? Especially since no one here with transmission failure seems to be running the newer 7G+ transmission...

I have no qualms with anyone doing service early, even every mile if they want to, but I think guidance given as gospel to users that goes against the information from Mercedes should have more underpinning it than just "I feel this should be right".

MB Marko

sure its all opinion but why even post the question? just follow what MB says is recommend.

When your looking at it its a what 3 year old transmission. Theres been what 2-3 cases reported on this forum about an issue. theres not enough data to prove thats its just as bad as the 2008-2011 transmission. These things take time, saying you can do service every mile doesn't even make sense. i'm saying go in 10,000km out of a 60,000km service.also about 5k early for an oil change, i don't think theres one person(on this forum) who goes 20,000KM and doesn't change the oil, let alone check it at least 1-2 time before the service interval. Doing things early is taking preventive measures... its like if saying hummm my break pads are almost worn but still good, I might as well change them early before an issues occurs.

The one and only reason people are saying go early is due to the 2008-2011 transmission being a major issue.

It's all up to you do what you want but we are talking about a what 3 year old transmission, on average people drive what 12,000KM. We can just give reasons based on the older transmission its not right but thats how people perceive it.

Glyn's post says it all.

Again ultimately its do what ever you feel is right, you can choose to follow MB or take precautions and go early.

edgalang

I agree. Any mechanical concerns later down the road is what extended warranty is for, and because of that, I will put "feelings" aside and go purely by the book and nothing more.

The primary difference between my experience and most however will be the fact that I've taken delivery of my W204 since the very beginning with single digit miles on the odometer. Those popping up with issues seem to have purchased it 2nd hand and cannot account for how the car was taken cared of prior to ownership.

I currently have 62k miles on my 2012 C350 and plan to do the transmission maintenance when I hit 70k miles per the book instructions. Also, unlike most of the members that come and go, I plan to take this car to 10 years and/or 155k miles, so I do plan to be around quite a while to share my experiences good or bad. Let's just hope the forum will still be around by then.

bluegene

The 7G+ appeared in W204/W212 MBUSA vehicles sometime in MY11. Generally following the manual is good, but it would not hurt to properly change it earlier especially if you plan on keeping the car. You may be out of warranty on the wrong end of a TSB someday and it is not exactly cheap to replace.

Glyn M Ruck

My recommendation is to stick to 60K Kms or 39K miles as with the 722.9 until we have better experience. The filled for life experiment did not work. Filled for life = short life!

The 722.9 Plus was fitted from approx August 2010 production!

LogicalApex

I do my maintenance as specified in my service manual since I do primarily highway driving, but that wasn't the point of my posts here...

I'm not criticizing you, or anyone else, for doing maintenance early. We all own our cars and can, and do, decide to treat them however we see best. The exchange of knowledge here is what makes this place so valuable!

My only core question was an attempt to get at the root of the advice being shared. The W204 is in this weird spot where we have two transmissions across the line so we get people confused on what to do with their 7G+; especially after reading the very vocal warnings for the 7G.

All we see if everyone, including Glyn above, recommending 39K miles as the golden rule. I'm not even saying that is defacto bad advice... I'm just wondering why 39K is good, but 70K is bad?

I fully understand the preventative maintenance aspect, but I'm trying to get at the core of where the numbers come from. Why is 39K OK (as Mercedes originally said in my understanding), but now 70K is not (even though Mercedes says so now)? More pointedly, why is 39K the magic number and not 69K or 20K or another number.

jwtts

To my understanding from sorting through all transmission related threads for the C, we should expect the 120,000km/70k mile service to include the follow?

- oil filter change
- torque converter complete drain
- fill torque converter (4 liters)
- top up transmission (5 liters) - 9 liters/8.5 quartz all together

To err on the safe side, is it better to have this service by the dealership if adopting an earlier service period at 60,000km?

Glyn M Ruck

Benz has been wrong in this regard before or more specifically MBUSA/NA. They at one time claimed filled for life when ROW was 60K Kms and it was a disaster with early failures. 60K Kms or 39K miles is proven safe after much experience & thousands of used fluid samples being analysed. Even at 60K Kms some fluid samples were found to be tired but not shot. Efforts have been made to improve the fluid once again but are not proven over time. As this has previously been a sore point I'm suggesting caution. 120,000 Kms is one hell of a lot of gear changes on a 7 speed transmission especially in town service & the friction modifiers that ensure smooth changes & controlled slip of clutch packs at each change are depleted.

Benz has been wrong before in this regard. If you don't intend running high mileage this is not important as you will pass the problem on to the next owner. My recommendations are based on getting long, trouble free life out of the transmission as we expect from Benz vehicles in ROW.

Who does the transmission service is not important as long as done competently & the TC is drained. You do not want 4 lites of contaminated & oxidised fluid mixed with the new fluid charge. Oxidation catalyses further oxidation.

xsever

Hello @Glyn M Ruck ,

5 years later, what can you tell us about the quality of the transmission fluid after 120,000 km? What change interval do you recommend now based on what you've seen so far?

Gazwould

Old thread I know but original handbooks are lethal !

Stuck in time the moment they are printed .

The 7G+ service interval is 77,500 miles / 5 years .

The question of used ATF condition is mainly how hard it's driven and if sustained high temps were experienced where the oil gets 'cooked'.

xsever

Interesting. What is your source and what is its date? I mean as of when was it updated from 77k/8years to 77.5k/5years?

Gazwould

In 2019 I asked two separate main dealers and independents , so 4 sources , same answer .

Glyn M Ruck

My preferred change interval is still 60,000Kms
Good luck!