biker349

hi, just brought my 2005 cl65 to dealer to drain tranny fluid, replace filter and refill. trans has been running fine, 80,000 miles. first flush to my knowledge. car is a daily driver and i don't race it. got a call to come and see, tranny fluid is black and aluminum shavings in pan. went down and saw black tranny fluid in pan and a few aluminum shavings at the front of the pan on top of the black fluid. no signs of shaving in the fluid to my knowledge. the shavings were clean with no signs of fluid on them. they where on top of the fluid. they said it could be the pump, or maybe clutch plates. the mechanic said he drove the car and it seemed fine. question, i bought a dip stick to check the tranny and oil level. everytime i checked tranny fluid the white clean up rag showed clear tranny fluid and no sign of aluminum shavings. what do you make of this? they said they can't check any further and aren't sure what's wrong, but could put in a rebuilt tranny for $6000. any opinions, is this a possible scenario, or a rip off? are a few shavings in the tranny fluid normal?

KENNY94945

Some shavings are normal.
There should be magnets in the pan.

I wouldn't worry at this time...drive it until (or ifz) it fails.

j21importer

It is completely normal to have some shavings in the pan. You would be amazed at how many shavings need to be in the pan before its considered abnormal per mercedes. Don't sweat it you have one of the most reliable transmissions mercedes has made in my opinion. Except for the occasional conductor plate which is electrical and not mechaincal these are fairly bulletproof.

biker349

thanks guys for your input. spoke to service rep today. said the shavings were from the filter and the mechanic just dumped them in the front of the pan to show me. i believe the black oil on the oil pan was residue that settled there over 89,000 miles and wasn't dispersed in the oil. as i said i have checked the fluid with a dipstick and it was always clean. i've driven the car a few days with no adverse effects, actually it seems very slightly smoother. i believe the service writer was being very cautious with me and may have also wanted to get a tranny job out of this. they only used 4 quarts of fluid during the change which i'm told is normal, in the next 5000 miles i'm going to just have them drain the fluid out of drain in the pan and refill with new fluid. that will give me more new oil as the tranny is supposed to hold about 8 quarts and it only took 4. thanks again for helping to ease my mind and do you think draining and refilling through the pan drain is necessary and adviseable?

mrbobby

From the sounds of your post it would seem to be the dealer may have been trying to increase his service revenue. Why would you go back to THEM in 5000 clicks to expose yourself to another rip off. I suggest you find a good Indie and say goodbye to the dealer.

PelicanParts.com

For $6000, I would drive it until the transmission totally fails, then get a good used replacement.

roy@pelicanparts.com


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