eteller

Ok folks it's time to service my transmission on both my 2009 CLK350 and my wife's Z3 (that at least has a fill plug). My question for those who have done this is what did you use to fill from the drain plug without making a total mess?

Yidney

There is a special tool to do it, and frankly, I recommend you just buy it. It's basically a hollow bolt that is threaded on one end and smooth on the other. It threads into the pan, and the filler hose clamps over the smooth end. You can find them online. Some people make their own, but you need to know the thread, and then drill a bolt down the center. Others have just wedged a cone of some type in the hole, but the guy who did that also did the worst tranny fill job in history for a bunch of reasons. The correct thing does not cost that much. Shortcuts take more time and effort than they are worth.

Yidney

And as for what you use to pump the fluid in through the bolt, you have some options. Rodney has a pump that you put all the fluid in at one. Since this is a job that you do only every 39,000 miles, which for me is about every 6 years, I went the cheaper route and got a hand pump at the auto parts store for about five dollars that screws into the quart bottles of fluid. It looks like the pump thing in a bottle of hand soap. Then a I got some vinyl hose at Home Depot and some small hose clamps. The only trick is that the size of hose that fits the hand pump is smaller than the size that fits the tool on the pan. So you buy two sizes of tubing - one that slides perfectly inside the other. To strengthen that joint so you can put a hose clamp on it, I bought a piece of aluminum tubing you can buy at any hardware store and put a one inch piece inside the smaller tube to reinforce it. Works perfectly. Yeah, pumping 9 quarts of tranny fluid through a hand pump like that takes longer, but again, it's only every 39k miles. I have pics of what I did I think if you need them.

eteller

Thanks Yidney, looks like this will do it:
https://www.amazon.com/CTA-Tools-741...VKFW9TMGGT7EDB

I have a quart bottle pump that I think I'll use, I'd like something like a Motive pump but a $100 is a little pricey.

Yidney

That's the tool. Two other things. I am assuming your torque converter has a plug and you can drain it directly. It's a 4mm allen plug. Get a long socket version that has a ball type end. I can send a pic if you don't know what I mean. Don't just drain the tranny pan if you have a plug since it's so easy to do and you get almost all the fluid. Second, I assume you know the final level measurement before you put the pan plug back has to be done at a certain temp. 113 F I think it is. Very important to do that. If you don't have STAR to measure the temp directly, pick up a handheld infrared thermometer gun to aim at the pan. Don't need a real expensive one. Just $30 or so.

shadenfroh

I passed on the thermometer. What's most important is to have the fluid is at the correct level at operating temperature. That's around 113 F or 80 C or whatever. I am 100% sure that my cooling system functions correctly, so I don't bother with measuring temperature, I just get the car to operating temp.

This is not advice by any means, just some thoughts :-)

Yidney

Except I don't think 113 is the full operating temperature. I'll have to shoot the temp after a long drive and see what it reads.

eteller

I've got a temp gun so no worries there.

Rudeney

I have an Assenmacher pump. I actually saved a bit and bought the smaller one that only holds 5l, so I have to refill it during the job:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/How-To-Fill-...417429&vxp=mtr

Now that I've done 3 or 4 of these (and am about to do the SL), it was well worth the investment - its a very high quality tool.

As for the temperature, I verified that using an infrared thermometer on the transmission pan is the same reading as SDS pulls from the internal sensor. Proper temperature is critical. It's 113F and it's actually a bit of a challenge to get it to that. Full operating temp is more like 180F. It took me two tries to get it there and hold it long enough to check and set the level.

eteller

Watched a youtube video yesterday where they got it to 45C and it was spewing out fluid at a pretty good rate, at the point they put in the drain plug it was still pouring out fluid, seemed a little imprecise to me. One would thing the flow should pretty much stop right?

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...2F44&FORM=VIRE

Yidney

It's supposed to just be dripping. The question is why the temp needs to be so precise. I mean 113 is pretty darn precise. Does the fluid itself change volume markedly with temperature - like it expands? All I can tell you is that I pumped more into mine than needed, and then started to bring the tranny up to temp. At the start, the clear hose still connected to the filler tube was empty, so nothing was running out even though I had a bit too much in there. I thought that was weird. But as it warmed up, suddenly the tube filled. By the time I reached 113 and pulled off the filler hose, a half a quart drained out.

Rudeney

The tube inside the pan is made with a few small openings at the bottom, so with the plug out and any oil in the pan, you'll get some slow drips. When the fluid level rises above the top of the tube, it dumps out at a pretty good rate. The difference between the "drip" and the "flow" is very noticeable. The proper procedure is to overfill by about a liter, then get it up to 45C (113F) and let it "flow" until that slows to a "drip", then immediately close the plug. Yes, it's a bit unusual, but it makes sense and is fairly accurate. As for the 45C temp, which is not "cold" or "operating temp", I have no clue why they use that. It would make more sense to me that it be normal operating temp. 45C can be a bit challenging to maintain.

sailorben

Rodney, are you aware whether the 113F, or whatever that is in celcius is also the required temperature for the 722.6 transmission with the dipstick?

Rudeney

The 722.6 uses a dipstick that has markings on it that will indicate the proper level at various temps.

sailorben

Yes now that you say, I do recall. 20 and 80C iirc.

For a moment I was slightly concerned, haha.