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I just took delivery of my new (to me) 2012 S65 a few weeks ago at 27k miles. I am up to 30k and after changing the brake fluid I decided the next thing to do was change the differential fluid. The capacity in this car is 1.9 liters. I bought two 1-liter bottles from the Mercedes dealer (see below). Pretty pricey at $37 each, but at least I know I have the right fluid.
Based on how the fluid looked I believe it was definitely time to change it. Fluid was pretty clear, but very fine metal particles were in it. See below photo of the drain pan (which was perfectly clean when I started) and you can see that as I swirl my finger in it the fine metal particles get kicked up. There were a few fine metal particles in the bottom of the pan after I poured out the used oil. I am surprised that neither one of the differential plugs (drain nor fill) had a magnet. Maybe before the next fluid change I should look into getting one with a magnet.
I made sure to have the differential warmed up before the draining started. I had a 30 minute highway drive home from work, and then after getting the lift cleared off, another short drive to stir things up again before pulling up onto the lift. Then I immediately pulled the drain plug.
Next up will be the ABC fluid. I will take some photos of that and post too. I've got the special tool to connect into where the filter sits so I can pump it out into a bucket. Hope to get to the dealer to buy 11 quarts of Pentosin fluid and a filter in the next week or so.
As promised, I wanted to post my ABC system flush. Not sure if this is the right spot to post this, but I made a video of the ABC flush that I just did in my new (to me) 2012 S65. The car has 30k miles at the time of this flush. I used the AGA tool to make it easier. I purchased 11 liters of Pentosin at the local dealer ($30/liter) and a new filter. It all went pretty smoothly, but I was nervous as I had never done this before, only read about it on this and other forums.
I hope this video is helpful to those who have not done a flush before.
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