Went to do a transmission fluid change yesterday..drained the fluid, dropped the pan, pulled the filter took the two rubber stops in the front of the transmission and rotated the trany clockwise and could not find the torque converter screw so I could completely drain the fluid...I called one of the mercedes mechanic managers and he says some of them have a screw to drain the fluid and others did not, if it doesnt have the screw that is all I can do he says, To me that doesnt seem like a complete fluid change, I know that the transmission fluid is suppose to be life time..but it was pretty brown...has anyone else done their own transmission fluid change and is this normal not to be able to find the screw to get all 8 quarts out of the car instead of only 4 quarts...thanks

 

Your merc guy is right, on later mercedes transmissions they removed the drain plug on the torq converter for some unknown reason.

 

could I do another fluid change in 2 weeks and then maybe another one in 2 weeks after that..I want to get out all of the old fluid if possible

 

I thought our transmission systems were sealed and not to be messed w/ unless 1) the transmission blows or 2) you have more than 100,000 miles on the car, at which time the dealer would do a real fluid change. Not true?

 

Take one of the cooling lines off the radiator and start vehicle at idle drain out appx 4 liter into a clean container,refill transmission with new fluid (four liters) repeat the process that should almost assure a good drain

 

Seems there are people that feel more comfortable doing the change regardless of what MB says,personally I think you can often cause more problems by frequent changes , if the levels are good and everything is workink ok why change?

 

Fluid should be changed more often than 100k, as a former mechanic I've seen lots of automatic transmissions blow because of not changing the fluid. Especially here in Phoenix where it is very hot, it is advisable to change the fluid every 20k or so. My S500 has 80k on it and I can feel the trans starting to go, fortunately they already gave me a trade-in quote and I'm turning it in this week for a new S550.

 

Yo mama! Right on!!

 

Could be... Post some pics of your W221 when you get it.

Welcome to the board!

 

If you have about 50k on your vehicle..you would be suprised at the color of your fluid...also, all you are doing is changing the filter and addind a few new quarts..If you were not suppose to change it then why would we need filters...the filter alone should be changed let alone the fluid...the car wasnt acting up but I feel it was a good preventitive maintinance..the car runs the same and I sleep better at night

 

I had 35k and I let my tech change it. I wanted to see if it was because of the fluid that the tranny was shifting a bit rough. Didn't fix it.

Oh well.

 

Did mine myself, full fluid change and filter. Was lucky as I had the drain plug in the torx converter and in the pan, but unfortunatly I had to renew the pan and the rubber gasket as the drain plug there had rusted solid. Which meant the fluid had never been changed before, also it was very brown in color. Trany does seem to shift a lot smoother now and the job was very easy especially with the correct trany dip stick from Mercedes.

 

at slow speeds below 10mph my tranny gives a lil kick at about 20mph but if im accelerating normally its fine i got 70k on the car i was thinking of changing it. also my steering wheel is tight. fluid is good and belts, but it doesnt play( loose feeling it once had) what could be the problem there? thanks for any helpp!

 

power steering pump maybe going..you also said the fluid was ok in that?

 

yea it was once low but i toped it off to the required amount, does it matter what type/brand you use?

 

No just the correct specs of any brand.

 

if you couldnt get all of it out, just flush it 3 times w/ fresh fluid within a week. with each drain & fill you're leaving behind less of the old stuff.