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Not a bleed or drain plug by design, but I just undid one of the banjo bolts on the bottom of the steering rack, and drained it from there. Turning the wheel side to side got a little more fluid out, as did manually spinning the pump's block with the drive belt off.
Then out back up, fluid in, bleed out... Drain... Redo a couple times, then fill up. Flush done.
05 CLK55 AMG (1 of 247) Cubanitsilber designo series
IMO i would not drain fluid from the rack. You don't want any condition where the pump could run dry. I would suck the old fluid out of the reservoir with a turkey baster to empty the reservoir, refill with new fluid. Start the engine and turn the wheel lock to lock a few times to bleed any air out of the system and mix the old fluid with the new fluid. Then repeat until the fluid in the reservoir is clean fluid.
If you undo the banjo bolt I believe it will need a new crush washer and MB has a very specific torque requirement for retightening the fitting. For example in retightening the transmission cooler banjo bolt at the trans case you have to tighten to a certain torque setting and then tighten an additional 90 degrees. Just my 2 cents.
IMO i would not drain fluid from the rack. You don't want any condition where the pump could run dry. I would suck the old fluid out of the reservoir with a turkey baster to empty the reservoir, refill with new fluid. Start the engine and turn the wheel lock to lock a few times to bleed any air out of the system and mix the old fluid with the new fluid. Then repeat until the fluid in the reservoir is clean fluid.
If you undo the banjo bolt I believe it will need a new crush washer and MB has a very specific torque requirement for retightening the fitting. For example in retightening the transmission cooler banjo bolt at the trans case you have to tighten to a certain torque setting and then tighten an additional 90 degrees. Just my 2 cents.
So the fluid is constantly recirculating in to the reservoir?
Engine was off until the system was almost completely at capacity. Could bleed the system through many steering lock-locks. Pump never ran dry, and I don't see a reason why it would so long as one was parent with the bleeding procedure. Bolt was torqued back up to it's original specification. Can't remember to what it was, but any bolt I've touched, where torque is significant, I've torqued up to what it should be once I'm done with it.
Filling it up is just as it would be if a new rack had to be fitted.
Last edited by sailorben; Mar 23, 2016 at 05:58 PM.
So still yet to do the transmission service, but will have to be done in the next week before I go back to university.
However today after quite a while of not making an effort to get the car to be able to play my iPod, and a reluctance to pay £40 for the genuine Mercedes cable to fit in an aux input into the glovebox cut-out, I finally this evening made the effort to fit my own aux cable, and where I want it to be, where it is more useful.
After having a look at the WIS diagrams and seeing what wires/numbers on the connectors were what, I routed a cable I had laying about, up to the centre arm rest, where the iPod can be within reach of all occupants in the car, and soldered the 3 wires on to the respective tabs in the connector, and now have a fully functional aux input (little bit of experimentation to get L/R correct, but that was easy enough with the help of some Pink Floyd-Time).
A very neat job even if I say so myself, and a definite necessity. Unlimited songs, I had just been using the CD changer with 120ish songs on each CD (MP3 format), and now my passengers/I can also select what we/I want to listen to.
Max volume is down, but that is to be expected, but I find it varies depending on the device that is plugged in.
Cable can reach the back seat passengers, and is long enough to seat the device in the rear tray
Managed to find a way though this trim without having to remove it
Just soldered onto the connector down under the kick plate.
Fully functional!
Probably took about 1.5 hours all in, most of that was trying to find on WIS to discover what pins were what. Routing and soldering the cable only took about 45.
Changed my ATF today, used 5L. Plan to do another change in the summer just because, but this will only be a sump drain and refil. No filter change or anything else.
The fluid that came out was a golden colour, and a hint of red could be seen in the droplets. Magnet had a silvery sludge over it, but I guess that's just wear and tear.
Overall the process was very easy, except for when the sump bolt was seized on.
Impact drive wouldn't work. 5mm hex bit chewed the bolt up, so I went and drilled the bolt out once I got the sump pan off. But even that didn't work perfectly, so I managed to twist the bolt head with those rounded head extraction socket tool thingys. Bought a new bolt from the dealer at £2.70. Quite reasonable.
Overall, it was a bit messier than if I could have drained out the sump bolt, since I had to gradually lower the pan and siphon it out before dropping it completely. But it worked out nice in the end.
Shifts are improved fairly noticeably.
Manual up and down shifts are MUCH smoother.
General shifting in sport is also much smoother, can barely notice it on acceleration, unless you plant your foot, but even then that's just the sudden increase in power that is felt.
And in comfort mode, if you couldn't hear the engine revving, you wouldn't know it shifted gear.
Overall very happy. Didn't have any issues before, but this really did improve the shifting.
Parts were fairly cheap, got the fluid at about £7-8/L Fuchs Titan, and from Mercedes the gasket, seal washer, bolt and filter were only £26.
I have only had history of one fluid change at 37,500miles at a Mercedes dealer in the 3rd year of ownership. However when I went to take the dipstick cap off, I noticed that the locking tab, which had been broken, wasn't replaced, and the broken tab had been placed back in.
That fact, coupled with the condition of the fluid leads me to wonder whether it did infant have a change at around 80,000, as it was due, since I can't imagine a Mercedes dealerships not putting a new lock tab on.
Your old car, the black one, is it me or does it look like it was missing an exhaust
Hahaha. Ideally, yes. But ultimately, no. The 2.7 turbo diesel unit has the cylinder arranger in an inline 5 configuration. Hence the exhaust is taken off and down together in one passage.
Your V6 and V8 models, due to the twin banks of cylinders, two exhaust channels are needed either side.
Up at the sailing club today working on the balcony, and after the torrential afternoon downpour, decided whilst it was quiet to get some photos on my iPad.
Yeah! Biggest engine they did with the manual transmission, plenty of grunt with the torque it has. The manual shift was very nice too. Nice short gate between the gears, plenty of feel in the clutch too. Very solid engines and transmissions where not much can go wrong!
Epic on fuel too. She matched exactly what the stated figures when she was released throughout my ownership of her. I had a very heavy right foot, and on average, with town and suburban driving I would get 42mpg(UK) c.36mpg( US).
On 70-80 I could get 56mpgUK/47US. I could not get her to below 30mpg, not unless stationary for hours. But over the 9 months or so of ownership, I did get that 42mpg that they said I would. AND she was still good for 152 (on gps) an ever so slight decline. Slight,y more that stated on stats.
I imagine it would put out some very serious torque if it were remapped too. Had I not wrote off the car, I'd have probably considered doing so in a couple years, just to see what potential she had.
When I am back for the summer I plan on taking the car an hour away to a place called the Elan Valley. It's around the Brecon Beacons, but is such a beautiful place. Perfect for a few shots
Tomorrow is the day I find out whether I am to prosecuted by the courts; for the events that occurred back in November, detailed in the beginning of this thread, re. my accident.
One would figure that after a month or two, even three, that it was all in the past.
Well, last week I was called into the station, 6 months later, to be told that they were pursuing me, and I have my interview tomorrow. My solicitor will be present, but fingers crossed that the outcome doesn't impede too much on my future, for a silly careless decision, which could now affect my career quite significantly. Difficult times, but I most certainly will think twice before I ever consider such a move again.
There is potential for the loss of my license and a driving bans of at least 2 years, potential 6 month custodial sentence, significant fines that as a student may be unable to pay, In addition to a criminal conviction/ record- which will be quite a significant issue in pursuing my medical career. Everything I had worked 50-60hours/week for in a dead beat job, before & during university just to be able to achieve this, is on the line.
If there are any other young people on this forum, who come across this, please think twice before you do commit to a decision, you don't realise it now, but what you think might just be a small risk can have fairly significant consequences for the future.
Last edited by sailorben; May 10, 2016 at 09:07 PM.
Sorry, I can't get it. I thought you car flipped over due to sharp turn or something. What is criminal about that? I can't see editions. Would you remind again, please? I don't get mad part.
Sorry, I can't get it. I thought you car flipped over due to sharp turn or something. What is criminal about that? I can't see editions. Would you remind again, please? I don't get mad part.
Unfortunately not due to a sharp corner. I shan't disclose exactly what I did until the case is now settled, but I made a poor decision, of which the action could be considered a criminal offence of careless driving or worse, dangerous driving. Where the car lost traction on the back wheels, collided with another vehicle, and ended up the wrong way up.
I see what you talking about. Well, being honest with you, this is very powerful car makes me sometimes do wrong decisions too but I stop myself on 95% of them or make sure it is 100% safe to do so (last 5%).
Evil lives in 300hp engine.
05 CLK55 AMG (1 of 247) Cubanitsilber designo series
You're the second member in the past week or so who has talked about losing control of their CLK and damaging another vehicle (that member sounds young as well). Sorry if this sounds uncaring or cold, but I have no sympathy for drivers who don't have the car control skills to drive safely, who race on the road, who drive with balding tires or poor brakes, or are otherwise a nuisance on the road. If you want to race your car, go to a race track or join a car club and do a track day, get into autocross, but not on the street with other lives and property in the balance.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
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