| I just changed the fluid, filter and gasket on my 98 E-320. It has 100,000 miles on it. The fluid was really chocolate brown.
I had the plug on my torque converter. Got more then 3 quarts drained from the converter. Just rotated it around (clockwise) by lever action griping it with a screwdriver and slowly turning it till the plug appeared through the bell housing window. Then about 3 1/2 quarts was drained from the pan.
One thing not mentioned above. I put some Locktite (medium grip) on the pan gasket bolts. Read about this in another blog. Then installed and torqued as you did. When I did mine, there was no pan magnet in the pan....Should I have bought one and put it in?
Also, when I put the filter in.... I didn't notice a click feel when I pushed it up. So I wonder if I pushed it up enough. (It stayed up there as I put the pan up) Should I be concerned and drop the pan again and check this out.
I installed 7 liters of official MB Fluid (specifically, the exact measure I drained out). New fluid is nice, clear red. That's my opinion on "lifetime" never chage fluid as recommended in my manual.
The one thing I did wrong is that I added all 7 quarts at once. I then started the car then put it slowly through all the gears (while parked in the driveway). I see (from your description above) that I should not have filled it all at once, but after driving it... it runs fine. So it seems that I didn't screw the trans up. But next time, I would follow the partial fill method as described above.
Anyways, the car runs and shifts better then before. So I believe it is done right |