motoman

This thread owes almost all credit to those who pioneered the DIY's on the subject in different sections of this forum and I thank them. JohnAnd's steps were used and worked well. Below are stated mainly those items seeming unique to the C63 , built 8/08, 24K miles. As always, please use judgement in following this thread. It is potentially dangerous, but not if done with patience and judgement. I love expensive tools, but seek out good econo-tools which were used here.

The car was raised 24" and a creeper was used. The setup was solid and lent necessary confidence.

DRAINING PAN. The car has the later, sloped pan. The white fill tube was "knocked" off its seat with a slim punch-very light knock ( a dull broad blade screwdriver should work). Put the punch through the drain hole and seat it on the interior annular flange provided in the plastic drain tube. Look at your new part to see it. No prying required so threads are not in jeopardy. Four and 1/2 liters were removed from the pan : (1) drain plug removal 1-1/4 liters (2) drain tube dislodged 1-1/4 liters (3) pan pour out 2 liters. Sorry for the fuzzy picture quality . It is due to the mist formed by fluid and blood droplets.

PAN REMOVAL The front of the pan is surrounded by a metal wiring support bracket which is tight against the pan and protruding pan gasket. Gently pry it away for 1/16" clearance. The left front corner sprag screw is covered by a non-functional metal tab (pic 1). Bend it down. Further, the right corner sprag is special with a T-40 screw securing the wiring
bracket mentioned above(pic 4). Remove the screw and the pan is free and comes off easily. Tilt it forward for the remaining 2 liters. At 24K miles the fluid, was only just tinged with brown. No visible chips, magnets barely slimy with wear powder.,

Edit. Ugh, pic 5 belongs in the FILLING section, sorry.

Merc63

Get new bolts for the tranny pan. They are torque to yield aluminum bolts that are only used once.

Filling it back up is a pain in the ***.. We used a big syringe to pump the fluid back in.

motoman

Merc, yep, covered elsewhere so not mentioned here. (People will seek out the existing threads, won't they?) The sprag aluminum screws torque callout is below my inch pound torque wrench capacity so after initial 50 inch pound seating I only rotated a further 90 degrees on each (rather than 180 deg callout).

TORQUE CONVERTER DRAIN Remove the flimsy rubber cover. Rotate the engine with the crank pulley bolt with a long handled breaker bar ( and maybe a pipe extension) bolt head 27 mm or 1-1/16 SAE. Work from the top if you're on jack stands (safety). Looks like you could also do it from below. Keep checking the little window for the darling little drain plug (this is the last amorous ref to this devil). Keep creeping and checking.

This task was a major PIA here due to (1) factory positioning of a fluid tube and a metal strap accross the drain plug window (2) marginal ratchet clearance at the top of the drain plug widow (actually it is interferenece). Using a 3/8 ratchet is inhibited by the pipe and alignment such that 4 mm hex bit could not be fully engaged. The upstart is fear and loathing of stripout of the female hex part of the plug which is soft (mild steel). During replacement it appears it would be EASY to cross thread and end up in deep pucky. Square off, and carefully back- rotate the plug to feel it index into the thread. Hand start only.

Bend the tube gently to open the window access. There is adequate strain relief. Next, I used a rotary burr to put a small radius in the upper window (casting) to provide ratchet access. The 4 mm bit can then be seated into the drain plug with a 3/8 ratchet. Tap it in until seated.

NOTE: Your result may vary: Use of a 1/4" driver MAY avoid most of the angle access problem. However, the plug had "stiction" in addition to its seating torque. Judgement was that the smaller 1/4 ratchet might not provide the rigidity required to break the plug loose (windup). There may be rigid slim tools which could alleviate this problem. Also note (again) that REPLACING this drain plug was very sensitive to the angle problem. It was necessary to start the plug with a 1/4 driver and finish with 3/8 because the thread would not engage with the 3/8. (yes I could'a hogged more).

Three (3) liters came out of the torque converter. Other forum threads mentioned dripping problems after drain. A short piece of electrical , 1" , metal conduit was squeezed between the fluid pipe and strap, butted over the drain hole after plug removal. Seemed to help. Patience, the weak stream takes up to 1 hour to stop dripping.

motoman

FILLING : The econo pumps can be mentioned as both worked. An H-Frt transfer pump was very good, 10 hand pumps per liter (yes you will excercise and pay $5 on sale), used to fill the trans. The Sta-Lube was fair to good at $8, used to fill diff (later). JohnAnd's "drilled" 12 x 1.5 bolt shank worked well as the pan- to- input hose adapter . It could easily be hand screwed into the out put end of the H-Frt plastic tube, and also hand threaded into the pan drain hole. A bolt is thru- drilled, de- headed, and deburred. NOTE If you make this be sure to debur AND restore the lead thread at the cut end so you are reversible if need be. (Either end easily threads into the pan drain hole).

Per forum DIY threads the drain amount (7-1/2 liters )plus one (1) liter formula was used . So 8-1/2 liters was pumped into the pan. The car was run until warm (113 F). Consult the other DIY for details. Pilot error caused me to miss my temp target. I used my K thermocouple thermometer with the wire bead sensor taped to the pan. It shifted so I had to cool off and redo. Why thermometer,not hand held infra red gun? To "run what I brung." I don't have a gun. Second try ok. Took a long time to get to 113 F, ambient 70 F, idling. Elapsed time 40 minutes.

Merc63

I'm going to drain the torque converter too. 3 liters is a lot.

motoman

Merc, I was surprised at how much came out. By the way after doing this I believe the other 1/2 to ?3/4 liter "missing" from the spec fill- up amount (9 liters) is in film form on the drain pan, newspaper, floor, and clinging to the auto transmission. Raders ref# 7. Just remembered the filter is very heavy, also full of fluid.

PS What's your take on the corrosion on the head bolt (pic-a different thread)? Doesn't coolant protect ferrous alloy? I have a running 2.8 iron v6 never been apart, always drained coolant every 2 years since 1985.

Merc63

There is tranny lines that run into the rad to warm the tranny coolant up on cold starts. That's where the rest is.

I have no clue about this rust. I don't like it though!

motoman

Merc, good point, I forgot about lines. With woman away I have luxury of leaving car up which is handy to check for leaks. Nothing is as frustrating as leaking copper washers. JohnAnd mandated NEW pan and TC drain plugs, and that is good advice. I am still nervous with the German gas line banjos leaking after many years experience. Car appears dry. We'll see.

(NOTE replacing the drain plugs IMO is only required to obtain new copper washers, both of which are "non standard" owing to their need to match the OD of the metal plugs which sit in counter bores in the pan and TC. Reuse would be foolish and a world of dripping hurt).

motoman

DEALERS AND FILLS, COMMENT: (1) Owners reporting dealership fills of 6 liters only may stem from the TC: (a) denial that a TC drain plug exists (b)difficulty locating , removing, installing the plug (c)annoyance at the prolonged drain time which ties up the lift . Contrarily, full 9 liter fills may cost another 1-2 hours shop time which will be charged. Yep and another $60 for the fluid. And as the bill grows owners see drips on the floor while the TC housing dries out. I can picture the poor dealer trying to convince that all is well.,

(2)the TC window inaccessibility, the flimsy (rubber glove) cover, the angularity problem, and the fluid pipe/strap interference should result in a formal or informal tech bulletin which would never reach the "star" data base.

SHAME MB, VERY POOR DESIGN EXECUTION. No wonder no one wants to drain the TC. IMO , of course.

motoman

DIFF DRAIN AND FILL. Cake compared to the trans. Two identical steel metric pipe thread plugs to be removed (19 mm or 3/4 sae). Drain plug right side, fill plug left side. Only challenge is selecting proper socket combo and keeping square when torqueing the low profile hex heads (WHY MB, WHY WHEN THERE IS PLENTY OF ROOM TO PROVIDE DECENT HEX HEAD DEPTH??)

This is the second removal and reuse. No sealant or tape used. Keep threads clean. Loosening and tightening estimate 35 ft lbs with long handled breaker bar. Capacity 1-1/3 liter. Used Sta-Lube hand pump. First time used squeeze bottle with pointy cap (latter difficult). When fluid drips from filler hole you're done.

Jons95c36amg

Is there a dipstick for the tranny fluid?

Merc63

No dipstick. If you are leaking tranny fluid you got problems.

jvanbrecht

Awesome.. other DIYers.. however.. focus focus focus.. and I do not mean that as mental focus.. as in the photos are blurry and hurt my head. Is there a link to the original thread...

motoman

Look at stickys and/or search window.


Took test drive up to temp. No puddles yet.

motoman

FINIS: Below are the pumps and thermometer.

A parting thought not necessarily intended critical of MB. Is this trans drain procedure really beneficial. or a voodoo ritual to deter DIY? Hardly any auto trans background here, but did maintain a 97 GM . It filled through the dipstick and did mandate running temp and level carefully maintained, as well as cleanliness. Otherwise it looked very much like the C 63 - gasket , filter etc. Never a problem and much easier to service.

Hope this thread at least helps some with dealer communication.

bhamg

^ Yup, lots of useful info to know even if your dealer is doing the job...great thread.

motoman

I guess editing is time limited (cannot do it) so I will add two items to the above thread:

(1) the metal tube used to drain the TC is 3/4", not 1.0"

(2) during cleanup I noticed a catch container with a lot of wear powder in the bottom (black). More than was on the 2 magnets. I think it was the TC drainage, but am not certain. Maybe that thing acts like a big centrifuge and holds the metal wear. I don't know if there is a flow thru back to the pan. This may be another reason to drain it.

GeorgeSmooth

Cool thread thanks for making it. I had to fill my tranny twice after realizing Merc supplied the wrong oil first time round.

Jon2007E63P30

Gents, excellent thread. Anyone have the WIS reference I can throw in front of my dealer about the torque converter drain?

Mort

I think what you are looking for is in the second PDF in johnand's 1st post in this thread.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ce-thread.html


This is also the thread motoman refers to in his first post so the rest of us won't have to search for it. TKS motoman.

DIGunessever

Just purchased a 2009 SL63 with 9,995 miles. According to the previous owners records, the trans fluid has never been changed. Should I change it by time?

Mort

[QUOTE=DIGunessever;6576767]Just purchased a 2009 SL63 with 9,995 miles. According to the previous owners records, the trans fluid has never been changed. Should I change it by time?[/QUOTE

According to the 2012 Service Booklet (there should be one for you MY in with your manuals in the pouch in your car) it is Service 20 - at every 60,000 km (37,500 miles) or 4 years. If you go by the time requirement then you should do a fluid and filter change. Your mileage is low so you might want to hold off for a while till your mileage goes up. The dealer will charge you ~ $450 for the service without doing the torque converter and likely $150 if you want that serviced as well.

There is no scheduled service for the rear differential for the S class so I would just suggest a reasonable mileage interval of 37500 miles.

DIGunessever

Thanks.

saulgoodman

Hey,

I thought this thread would suit my question

Just got my car back from its A0 service at 17k miles (its a 2013 p31) and the dealer told me that the cars system alerted to change the diff and tranny oil.. quoted me 500 bucks for it, hesitant to do it at this low miles. Should I go for it or hold off?

nobbyv

I don't think the car has any sensors to detect the "quality" of the fluid as some cars do for motor oil. I'd ask to see the data they say they pulled. Smells like BS. Does your car have the LSD?