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HELP: I found a tablespoon of red fluid on the garage floor this morning

1K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  bgoin 
#1 ·
[:(!]

My SLK has been parked since Friday night. This morning as I left I noticed about a tablespoon or two of a red fluid on the floor about dead center of my car. It was slightly oily. Is this transmission fluid? Should I rush to the dealer for service, or is this something to just watch? If I had to guess maybe a bolt or something has just wiggled loose? I had my B-service about 3k miles ago... would they have touched the tranny? I've got 49,100 miles on her right now. Would it make sense to go get a flush'n fill at a tranny shop? Suggestions welcomed.
Sincerely,
Douglas
 
#2 ·
Did you hit a cat? but seriously...

It is most likely Trans fluid. There is a linkage that is known to go bad and start leaking on the transmission(Location: Drivers side rear of transmission). Its a relativly quick fix (4-5 hours). But you need to take it down to the shop now, the transmissions are finnicky when it comes to fluid level. If you are relativly positive that the tablespoon-amount of fluid is all you have lost, it should be OK to drive.. You can loose upto 1/2 quart annd not be in danger of burning up the trans. No burn-outs though!!!
 
#5 ·
UPDATE: no more red fluid dripping

Just checking in. Thanks a bazillion for all the replies. Please keep thoughts coming.

So the good news is last night and this morning I had NO new fluid drips at all. Not a one. I also checked the fluid level when I got home last night and it was fine. The color was a nice red too - not burndt.

It's been dry the last week and I'm sure I've not hit anything so I'm pretty confident that the fluid came from my car. It's just troubling why after being parked for 4 days I'd find it. From your posts I'm a little scared about what it could be. If it is just a bolt or washer can I fix it myself? I'd hate to even spend $250 on labor to have a few bolts tightened.

Would you advise I take it to Aamco or Mercedes dealership to have this problem investigated? As far as I know it's never had a flush'n fill. Just the normal A and B service.

When I get home I'm going to climb under the car and look things over and see if I can see any wet spots.

I've noticed absolutely no problems at all driving or the shifting. It still drives like she's brand new. I don't recall this has ever happened before.
 
#7 ·
Good news: Problem found and fixed for $95 at MB dealership

After your encouragements that this was a problem that would only get worse, I called my dealer to see if they'd help me out (World Wide Motors in Indianapolis). They said they were slow and agreed to put it up and inspect it for free if I came in now. I drove her in immediately. I still didn't see any new drips in my parking spot in the garage as I left work. They put her up on the lift, and immediately the service tech., service manager, and I could see very clearly a leak from the transmission electronic hydraulics cable (their words). Right dead in the middle, slightly to the passenger side there is a silver cable (looks like a metal pay phone cable) coming out of the an indention of the transmission housing that was sort of pasty looking. He said that a seal had simply started to fail. He was unsure how long ago it had been leaking because there was quite the little mess on around it - gummed up obviously it had dripped for some time. The good news is though he said it was an easy fix and would take less than an hour so I agreed for them to fix it. They ran it through its paces and checked each gear to confirm it shifted normally. They had to only add about a cup of transmission fluid too so obviously I hadn't lost too much but still pretty scary to think if I'd ignored it.....

So they went ahead and resealed the transmission system. I'll keep my tranny stick wrapped up in plastic and probably break the seal and keep an eye on the fluid level from time to time. But they advised against it saying this system wasn't designed to be serviced. They warned you can't just go to Wal-mart and get an off name fluid to put in -- that you must use MB's tranny fluid because they won't mix.

Since my warrentee ran out in July it sucks I'm paying for it now but at least it's fixed. 49,100 miles last night...

By the way, while I waited I got to spend some time with literature on the new SLK. I'm actually beginning to really like it - nose and all. [:0] Yea it's a bit 'bold' looking. But have you looked at the original '60's SL racer (silver bullet)? I'm surprised at how much it looks like that old racer.
 
#8 ·
RE: Actually that is TSB...

Actually that is TSB, AF27.35-U-4740A: "Oil leak at 13 pole wiring harness connector of electrohydraulic control unit." The fix is to made sure that a "lip" of the gasket is in the right place. AAMACO is adverting a "power flush" for A/T which will remove all the fluid from the A/T, but after reading about this TSB, I think the "power flush" may force the "lip" of the gasket to move.
 
#9 ·
When this happened to my SLK, my local german mech told me he's dealt with at least 4-5 SLKs with the bad seal problem! They should really recall it. When I went there the other day, he showed me another mercedes (looked like a C-class) and said it has the same problem as mine. Does MB know this?
 
#10 ·
This is just a heads up, searching the internet about the 722.6xx A/T transmission, found out that some 98 and 99 models have the special trans fluid which is a clear-yellow color, it does not have the red dye added to it. Also have found references to: "some dealer are changing the fluid at 100,000 miles".
 
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