Viper98912

I stuck my "measuring stick" into the tranny, and what came out was some light colored yellowish stuff.

WTF, this better not be engine or gear oil

TemjinX2

oem tranny fluid is red in the US. i think its green or yellow in europe.

ricecooker713

All the fluids are red (722.6 - 722.9), if yours is yellowish or brownish it is simply due to it being old/used. Starting soon, the new vehicles are switching over to a blue color fluid (722.9 starting soon) There is no mixing between the old red fluid and the new blue fluid

Rice

ohlord

722.9 and 5speed 722.6 fluid are safe to mix in a 722.6 trans but not 722.6 fluid in a 722.9 trans.It is backwards compatible.Valvoline maxlife is nag1/722.6 spec.
Don't just check your fluid change it and the filter.

91RS

Mine was red, are you sure you're in the right tube? You have to take off the airbox to get to the trans dip stick. You'll need a new pin for the tube cap because you have to break it to get it off.

Viper98912

lol yes I was in the right tube. I did a search and it seems that some of the other MB trans's also came with a yellowish/goldish color ATF. What came out of the transmission was definitely a dark brown almost black.

I changed the filter and gasket, which I hope that the filter presses up against the pan because it sure was hanging loose when I went to bolt the pan back up. Put in 4 liters and it seemed to do the trick via the measuring stick.

I might have a leak now though from this new Fuchs 4134. Not sure if it's from the engine/trans seal or the trans pan, so I took it for a spin and now I'm letting it sit in the garage to cool off and see if any puddles show up.

My mind tells me that this new fluid shifts smoother, but it might be just me rather than reality.

My plan was to do another drain and fill in 500 or 1000 miles with some more 4134 to try to get out some of what was in the torque converter.

Having been a transmission engineer for Honda and knowing what can go wrong, it's definitely slightly nerve wrecking as your doing filter change.

The dipstick tube is in a TERRIBLE location, as you have to snake the measuring stick behind the airbox when you're trying to do a check with the engine running (since I didn't want to have the filters off the engine). Then even with a long and thin funnel (engine off and without the airbox), I still couldn't get it to sit in there right and spilled some ATF in the bay. Then, the tube is so thin as well that as I'm pouring from my 4 liter jug, it's overflowing and spilling down the engine bay (and trickling off the edge of the jug). Definitely a PITA to try to get the new stuff in, probably 1/8-1/4 liter donated to the concrete.

TemjinX2

old tranny fluid will look like used motor oil pretty much. its probably just time for a change.

Viper98912

Well, I retightened all the pan bolts and went for a spin, and so far everything is dry. So either the pressure was causing weep on the seal, or it was residual that was eventually falling due to gravity.