hcuellart

Hello guys how exactly do I jack up my car for it to be level and do a transmission flush on my 05 500? I know Rudeny on another post he uses the middle puck to get up the front and gets two stands on the emergency frontal points. So how can I get the back part up, where do I position the jack? Is this is the way to do it? Or is there another way to do it. I have a 3 ton jack and 4 3-ton stands, would this be enough???
Thanks in advance!!!
Homero

mrbobby

IMO this is a hell of a job to try with the car on jack stands. Maybe have a look at what's involved before you start. Trying to read temperatures and add and remove fluid would be more of a challenge than i would want, even in my young days when i could crawl around underneath a vehicle. Good luck and I'm afraid you're going to need it.

megacrazy

If all you're trying to do is a flush just disconnect the line at the radiator...drain and refill gradually. No need to jack the car up.

Yidney

You should drain is directly. And yours probably also has a plug in the TC to drain that. And you have to get the pan off any way to change the filter. It's not that hard. Lift the rear by the differential housing, I have a pad on my jack - Sears had a sale on those sewn cloth buffing wheels. Needs to be a low profile jack. the rear jacks need to be a notch higher to level the pan.

Quadcammer

If you can't figure out how to get it up, perhaps a 722.9 transmission service is not something you should try to do yourself.

Patton001

dropping the pan on a trans is always a mess. Hate the job. Especially if the pan has no drain plug. Be ready to have fluid all over you as you slide around under the car.

This is one of the jobs I hate. The other is timing belt on a FWD car.

Yidney

Not a mess at all if you have the tool to pop off the plastic stand pipe attached to the pan. You need to do that or you will have fluid everywhere.

hcuellart

Thanks guys, I appreciate your responses, my question was a bit more on the sequence of jacking up and also the back location, which Yidney answered, the differential case... So should I jack the front first or the back first?
Also I don't even know if my car has the updated pan where you can pop the pipe or the older one and would need to go and buy the newer one to the dealership... Is there a way to know if the one I have is the updated one? The tool to pop out the pipe is not that expensive, I believe...

Thanks again!!

Yidney

The updated pan is beveled at the back - like a 45 degree slope in the last couple inches. I jacked the front first, but I cannot swear I did not do it in stages because once the front is up you really have to lay the jack down to get under the differential. This is a job where I recommend some advance planning. Put it up on ramps and do some exploration. If I had relied on the DYI sticky I'd have been under there saying "well that's not right." If you have a TC plug, what size is it? If you do, what size bolt is your main pulley bolt to rotate the shaft to bring the plug into view? If you have no TC plug, what is your plan to flush it?

Rudeney

Here is the official WIS doc on jack points:

http://benzbits.com/w209/JackPoints.pdf

I have four adjustable jack stands. To comfortably fit my aging fat body under the car, I need to put the stands on their 4th "notch". I did it in phases. I raised the front with my jack so the stands would sit on the 2nd notch, then the back to the 4th notch, then back to the front to the 4th notch. I probably could have gone ahead and raised the front fully yo fit the stand at the 4th notch, but that seemed awfully steep, so I did it in steps like this.

hcuellart

Yidney & Rudeny, thanks guys!! Since this is not my main car, bought it mostly for Sunday driving with the kids and for family visits... I have time to work and get everything ready.
I will order the driver to pop the white pipe and will go to the dealership with my VIN to get the required TC plug bolt.
To get the TC plug in view, you need to turn the engine correct? So is this turning/cranking of the engine meaning turning the ignition? Firing it up? Or can you do it manually?
Thanks again!!

Yidney

Yours may not have a plug in the TC. Many years don't. And the dealer may say "it doesn't have one", and be totally wrong. That's what mine said until I said I had seen it with my own naked eyeballs. Turning the engine manually is a pain, so I just hit the ignition enough to turn it a few inches but not start it. Only took maybe four tries until I could see the plug, then I fine tuned it manually.

hcuellart

Thanks Yidney once I get everything in from ECS I'll do it, though it will be till next week when I get the kit and some extras.

Rudeney

Yes, to get to the torque converter drain, you must rotate the engine. You do this with a ratcheting socket wrench. WIS calls for removing spark plugs to relieve compression, but I was able to do it without that. I lied under the car, my feet sticking out the front, my head under the access port on the bell housing. I was able to reach to bolt on the crankshaft pulley with the ratchet wrench and rotate it until the rain came around. It is very small, just a few cm's in diameter.

776westfield

Does anyone know the size of crankshaft pulley bolt on 2005 CLK500 convertible with 7 speed trany?

Yidney

I know that my bolt was not the size in the sticky above. That says like 35 mm, and mine was 26 or 27mm. One handy trick is if you have a ball of modeling clay, press it over the bolt head enough to make an impression and carefully remove it and measure it. I always have a wad of clay in my tool drawer for that purpose. Have you determined yet if you have a TC drain plug? Mine is a 4mm allen screw, which is also different than the sticky above.

776westfield

I haven't check yet, but based on the info from the forums, it looks like it has the TC drain. What fluid would you recommend? I can get either Fuchs TITAN ATF 4134 or Shell ATF 134. Any preferences? also, should I avoid any ATF filter manufacturers? Thanks.

Yidney

You want to confirm if it has drain plug, because that will affect how much fluid you order and the whole process. As for fluid, get whichever of those 2 is easiest. I used Shell. I have this memory that Fuchs was hard to get in the US, but could be wrong.

Yidney

Also, some people found Shell in local stores - maybe even Walmart. Other got a case from a local Shell wholesale distributors. I just ordered it online. I never saw it in a local store, but it would not surprise me because some Chryslers use it also, from when Chrysler and MB were married.

776westfield

I thought my car with 722.901 trany has the TC drain. Is there any way to find it out without getting it up, removing the rubber cover and rotating the crankshaft?

Yidney

I have this vague memory in an earlier discussion that perhaps all 722.9s do not have a drain. Cannot confirm it. Since you have an early one, if it were me I'd take the 15 minutes to confirm. And no, there is no other way beyond somebody with the same year confirming it. .

776westfield

Do you like how Shell 134 performs? I am a little concerned it is semi-synthetic. I found it not far at distributor for 68.41 per case of 12. And RmEuropean sells 4 Liter Fuchs for $33.31. If I buy 3, there will be free shipping.
Many online vendors sell different brand ATF filters, any preferences?

Yidney

It performs fine. It's an MB approved fluid. As for filters, for stuff like filters and gaskets I always use original MB. The only exception is Mann air filters because know they make them for MB. Saving few $$ is not worth it - heck, it's not even worth the time it takes me to think about.

776westfield

Do you know the order to tight the AT pan bolts? Did you flash the ATF cooler and lines?

Yidney

Since I could drain the TC, I knew it was getting almost all of the fluid so i did not worry about the lines or cooler. Keep in mind the dealer often just changes what is above the pan. It ran for a good bit while it got up to temp, and what I drained out in the final level measurement was as red as what I put in. I do not recall a bolt order - check the sticky. Just make sure you do not reuse the old bolts, and that you have a torque wrench that measures in inch pounds and not foot pounds.