mcleantmw

Had my vehicle serviced at MB Dealer yesterday: Plugs, transmission flush and brakes/rotors. My vehicle has 76.5k miles but 6 1/2 years old so the Dealer recommended changing the plugs (5 years or 100k miles) and do a transmission flush. Shifting was previously o.k. but with the new plugs and transmission flush, she operates super smooth now. The transmission was previously flushed at 39.5k miles when the radiator failure caused coolant to enter the transmission and the Dealer replaced the radiator and torque converter under my CPO Extended Warranty. I plan to continue doing transmission flushes every 30k miles as preventative maintenance just as I do on my Volvo V70.........theory is the periodic fluid drain/refill helps the transmission lifespan.

dsm2925

so i guess im past dut for a flush

jimbo1mcm

I've been doing both my 05 CDI's transmissions with a BG fluid transfer, using MB OEM fluid. "Flush" is, I guess an ok word, but it sometimes is used to denote a pressurized system. The BG machine uses the pump in the car to circulate fluid until there is a complete exchange.

mcleantmw

Don't know specifically how the MB Dealer "flushed" my vehicle's transmission, but the invoice shows parts charges for a Flush Kit, Lock Pin, Auto Tran Flush, SYN ATF, plus labor. And my service rep previously told me that the transmission needed to be flushed, not just drained to replace all the fluid in both the transmission and torque converter.

walter34payton2

Yeah...Draining it is dropping the pan and cleaning it out including the magnet, changing the filter, and changing the gasket. Dropping the pan only gets about half of the fluid out because some is in the torque converter and the converter has no drain plug to my knowledge. Flushing the tranny is sucking all of the old fluid out and adding new so there is a complete fluid change. If you just drop the pan and replace it, you will add tranny fluid to some dirty fluid so you will have about half good fluid and half dirty. On the flip side, a mere flush does not address the residue in the pan and keeps the dirty filter. Sometimes just flushing a neglected tranny causes more problems because the grit is loosened and shot all around in places it isn't supposed to be. That is why it is good to do both. They make it so damn hard to do this ourselves due to the sealed transmissions. Pisses me off.

shaunls1

i had mine done at about 63k because i had a surging problem and they also retuned the tranny to the tune of 600 bucks only to come back a few months later but from what i gather that surging is normal for my car.
the plugs i did my self tho for about 60 in parts.

mcleantmw

UPDATE 11-29-2015
I've ended up doing the flush service or the higher level maintenance service (includes replacing the filter) on my vehicle about every 40,000 miles. Seems to be helping to keep my transmission operating well. One of the prior replies to my posting made a good point that just draining the fluid leaves about half of it still in the transmission and torque converter so that approach is not a very good option. In my opinion that's not very smart approach to protect these transmissions for long life service......just to save the labor and cost of the fluid. My last transmission service at my local MB Dealer: Mileage 143,000 on 9/2014 BG Transmission Service (flush included removing pan, replacing filter and seal) $347 minus 15% discount.

Wondering what type of service life most people are getting out of their transmissions and how often they get the fluid flushed........I'm at 159,000 and she still operates very smoothly.

kajtek1

You do have 5-speed 722.6 transmission?
When I don't see anything wrong with refreshing the ATF every 40k miles, some of those transmissions have 250,000 miles on factory fluid.
I did service about 6 of those for family cars and that start with converter drain available on pre 1999 models, to using a machine, to do fill/catch procedure at radiator hose to just draining the pan.
The truth is that you never do a good flush. Fully drain (overnight) or 15 l of fluid for power flushing always ended with new fluid washing old residues after some driving and showing color change.
Most of problems on those transmissions come from leaky orings on pilot bushing, when fluid with dirt starts shorten the electrical wires and sometimes it travels up the wires to TCM.
At this point I tend to do pan drop, where wiping the dirt on the bottom is the most important IMHO, letting it drip for few hr, what catches 3.6 - 4 l of fluid and replacing the pilot bushing with good bath to the plug if I see it wet. (use MAF cleaner) .
Did it on wife car at 155k miles. The dealer did some service on it about 7 years ago, so I was not in big hurry, however drained fluid color would indicate that the dealer service could be draining 2.5 l from the plug and refilling.
The color of ATF was pretty dark and magnet included in W211 had lot of steel dust. On older years magnet was not included and steel shaving would end on speed sensor magnets.
I plan to recheck ATF color in about 20k and if it shows dark, do another 4l drain.
Today is November 28 btw.

The Thomas J

From what I understand the 5 speed Tranny out MB's use is used in variety of MB and Chrysler products including the Sprinter van. It's a work horse.

amusa

WTF only $347 is that parts/labor?. I just got quoted $516.80 from MB in Silver Spring, Maryland.