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2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
Now the transmission needs 4.7 l of fluid but i put in 6 because I also am going to drain the torque converter with the cooler line. So i poured in 6l of fluid and away we go. Set it to about 15 psi and it went right in and no mess
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
Ok so now the transmission is full but we need to drain the torque converter now and at the same time feed more fluid into the transmission to avoid starving the pump. To do this we detach the transmision cooler feed line. This is the top line. Open your hood, remove the air duct on the passenger side and locate the transmission lines(if you have no clue what they are mayne you should not be doing this) Theres a plastic guard on the tube. Pry it off carefully so as not to break it
Last edited by Nickthegreek; Jun 8, 2015 at 11:24 PM.
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
Now a retaining clip will need to be removed. There is a groove in the housing. Take a pick and pry off the circlip. Be careful not to lose it! It is very small and awkard to get it off!!!!!
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
Ok so now at this point you pour another 6l of fluid into your dispenser to refill the transmission as the pump empties into the drain bucket. So what will happen is the old fluid will get pushed out of the torque converter and into the cooler line while the new fluid in the pan will get transferred into the torque converter and then the pan will be fed new fluid from the dispenser which will exchange almost 100% of the fluid. Luckily i have remote start on my car. If you dont, have a person be there to start or stop the car. Ok so first i set the dispenser to flow before starting in case the pump pumped too much and would starve and then started the car. In less than a second brown fluid flowed out of the cooler line and it then started to turn into a nice bright red
Last edited by Nickthegreek; Jun 8, 2015 at 11:30 PM.
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
Luckily there were no air pockets and the fluid kept flowing smoothly. I prolly went through 6l and when the fluid became nice and red i let flow alittle more then stopped. If you see or hear air coming from either your feed line or the cooler line cut the engine. You dont want to starve the pump. You could also just let out 1-2l at a time and cut the engine then fill it back up but this way was much quicker it took a whole 5min to do. Then when youve gotten all the old.fluid out reattach the line
Last edited by Nickthegreek; Jun 8, 2015 at 07:34 PM.
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
So now at this point is where it gets technical. So we dont know if at this point we are over or under. In order to find out you have to start the car and then remove the adapter from the dispensing bolt. If fluid leaks out or gushes out its ok and you can start taking the temp as the engine is running. if no fluid comes out time to fill more. Mine was alittle under so i put 2l more fluid. You always have to have the engine on when checking the level. The pump and circuits take up a considerable amount of fluid and if you do it with the engine off you will be under on fluid guranteed. So after i filled it with 2 more liters i started the car, put it through all the gears and then removed the adapter again and fluid was gushing out. At this point you allow the fluid to gush out until it dribbles and grab your thermometer. The principle is that as the temp of the fluid increases the fluid will expand and any extra will be expelled through the standoff tube. The temp of the pan has to be 45c or 113f i believe. Once the temp reaches that remove the bolt and put the drain plug on as quickly as possible with a new crush washer and torque to 22nm. Ok yer done. Button up the car. Take it through all the gears and take it for a test drive!
Fluid is dribbling
I got lucky because i ran the engine a bit to drain the torque converter and it got it ro just about at 45c so i just waited a bit and it was good
No fluid coming out
Last edited by Nickthegreek; Jun 8, 2015 at 11:36 PM.
.... Or you can pay $600 to your dealer for the same exercise. In my mind that is prolly one of the few ordeals where the dealer can have my money no questions asked
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
Originally Posted by alx
Very nice
.... Or you can pay $600 to your dealer for the same exercise. In my mind that is prolly one of the few ordeals where the dealer can have my money no questions asked
Thnx
You do bring up a good point. This is not worth it for a beginner or someone who doesn't plan on having their car for long. The tools I have costed right about 600, so the upfront cost will be more. If you're planning on driving it for a long time or plan on sticking with Mercedes, then it will save you in the long run. Also its good to know that you did it and that you can do it again whenever you want for whatever reason. I'm very critical when it comes to my car running smoothly and Im kinda OCD with doing premature and preventive maintenance on my car constantly. I might do this every 60-70k because it was right around the 60k mark the fluid was brown.
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
Originally Posted by snovvman
Thanks for posting the information. Great work Nick! How many miles are on the old fluid?
I did a pan drop at 60k and it was a dark brown. Now today I did it at 78K and it was still a dark brown. This actually got everything out and flushed the system.
If at 60k your atf was brown either it was not changed around 40k miles (Mandatory) or it got brown in a hurry which is really bad news on a vehicle that is not used for towing.
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
I think the original owner just never did it at 40k. I did a pan drop initially but that just was not enough. I noticed the shifts are alot smoother now and also before if i put it into drive and drove while cold, it would slip going from 2nd to third and that is no more. Big difference with the new fluid
Last edited by Nickthegreek; Jun 9, 2015 at 07:27 AM.
As usual Nick,great write-up many thanks for that.
Looks like the way you did it, is a decent flush method of the transmission!
Where afaik the dealer will just drop the pan and replace the filter as well as the fluid that came out , thats it.Correct me if I am wrong.(replace transmission fluid (not flush) it says on wis ,which could explain the number of faillures??)..
There is a flush method involving the temporary introduction of a cleaning fluid this is called the 'Tim Eckart' method :
Don't think this cleaning method will be used by any dealer(anyway here in Europe,dunno about the US).
Not even sure wether shops in the US offer this specific method ,but a similar flush-method shall be available in the 'land of automatic transmissions'.
2009 S550 AMG sport pckg. 2014 Ford F-150 Lariat Supercrewcab
Originally Posted by marthyh
As usual Nick,great write-up many thanks for that.
Looks like the way you did it, is a decent flush method of the transmission!
Where afaik the dealer will just drop the pan and replace the filter as well as the fluid that came out , thats it.Correct me if I am wrong.(replace transmission fluid (not flush) it says on wis ,which could explain the number of faillures??)..
Don't think this cleaning method will be used by any dealer(anyway here in Europe,dunno about the US).
Not even sure wether shops in the US offer this specific method ,but a similar flush-method shall be available in the 'land of automatic transmissions'.
Great stuff!!
THNX... that method seemed alittle flawed when they ran the transmission dry without returning new fluid into the car. I'm sticking to my method. It'll be the Niclthegreek Method tm
the bolts on my s550 were 10s
the transmission can be filled with a hand sprayer pump from harbor freight. two gallon. cut the tube and fasten directly to the pipe extension. fills in about 12 minutes. cost $15 ant throw away. https://www.harborfreight.com/home-o...yer-95690.html
the torque converter has a drainage plug on the 2010 S550. easier to drain.
.... Or you can pay $600 to your dealer for the same exercise. In my mind that is prolly one of the few ordeals where the dealer can have my money no questions asked
$600....... To get the BARE MINIMUM DONE (They WONT get out more than what drains out of the pan). That is what separates the men from the boys....
I SAY “Or you can pay the dealer $600 and not know whether or not more than a few quarts of fluid was replaced” At least if you do it yourself you know it is done the best it can be....
$600....... To get the BARE MINIMUM DONE (They WONT get out more than what drains out of the pan). That is what separates the men from the boys....
I SAY “Or you can pay the dealer $600 and not know whether or not more than a few quarts of fluid was replaced” At least if you do it yourself you know it is done the best it can be....
Man where is it $600 at? Here is California they are charging over $972 before any discounts. Also for an AMG model the dealership does not drain any fluid from the lines. They simple drain 6 qts and put in 6 qts. So my cost would have been $972 for 6 qts, filter, bolts, washer, and overflow fitting. I'd feel extremely stupid paying abut $1000 for 6 its. Definitely going to buy 8 more qts and do this job myself
Nick, great write up...thanks. I'm going to do this on my 2008 550 soon. In the WIS instructions, MB details removing the electric transmission oil pump, but does not mention any oil draining out of it. I have not seen anyone else mention removing the pump...skip this step? It seem like WIS sometimes has additional steps that really aren't necessary. I have not done this job before, so sorry if this is obvious and might become clear once I start the project.
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(replace transmission fluid (not flush) it says on wis ,which could explain the number of faillures??)..
I'm sticking to my method. It'll be the Niclthegreek Method tm 
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