I could say it seems bit smoother shifting especially when cold, perhaps a small increase in fuel efficiency too. Of course time will tell. I will do it again in 30,000 miles. Good Luck
Excellent write up! Thanks to people like you who take the tie out to each us things that we can do. I don't really care about saving money when it comes to my cars but I love that I can count on people like you that enable me to do some things to my own car and enables me to do it better than a professional with greater care. I am sure that a professional would not wait so long for every little drop to trickle out when he has to work on and move out 10 other cars by the end of the working day and I am sure that the professional would not be able to practice "surgical-like" aseptic technique.
I like to also drain my oil from the bottom for oil changes instead of letting the dealer just suck it out. This way I can wait 1/2 hour or so and let the old oil drain out as much as possible. I am sure I remove more contaminates this way.
I will definitely be reading this post again as soon as I can find some time to do the tranny fluid change.
Once again, THANKS!
Vehicle: 2001 E320 - Brilliant Silver/Ash: MBCA member
Location: The Mountain State
Posts: 6,363
I'd like to thank you as well G-AMG. Overall, I had a positive experience with Caliber Motors (as I think you'll remember) so I am willing to recommend them.
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Ich liebe meinen Mercedes-Benz!
I have very good experience with MB Anaheim Hills (Caliber) too.
(Be aware that they list the address of their new building on MBUSA website. The repair and parts are at the old building. )
Thanks for the DIY! It was spot on. On my 430 there was a wiring harness support for the aft O2 sensors that interfered a bit on the front of the pan, but real easy work around. My car is almost at 110k and I don't think it had been done. The 4+ liters of fluid I got was very brown and opaque with a sludge on the pan bottom. Not good! I think I might have overfilled it a bit as well, so I'll pump a bit out tonight. I only drove the car home from my garage (about 2 miles); would that have caused any harm? I have not driven it today and plan to check it closer to 25C tonight. There also appears to be a place to drain the torque converter, but I did not turn the engine over to see as I didn't have enough fluid if I could have drained it. What is the consensus on this possibility?
Location: West Bloomfield, Michigan (just north of Detroit)
Posts: 96
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
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.
Besides the fact that most of the filters/strainers are clean, (actually, all the filters/strainers that I have replaced in the past are clean), this is another reason I don't replace the filter/strainer. I don't even remove the pan. I only drain and fill per 10K miles. I make sure the fluid level is correct. That's all I have to worry about. I understand that I only get about 3 liters (not an exact number) out every 10k miles, but 3 liters (not an exact number) of fresh fluid are added to the system every 10k miles. It's good enough for me. Besides, it's supposed to be a life time transmission anyway, I'll bet that there is no need to replace the filter/strainer. It's not like the oil filter, there is no combustion occuring in the transmission.
This has worked for me for many cars.
(I'm thinking of replaing the drain plug with a magnetic type plug though, if I know the size, the specification and where to get it.)
(One note for the first timers, you have to torque the pan screws evenly to the specification. Otherwise, it will leak from the gasket.)
Pan magnet should be installed next time around - cost is only a couple of bucks.
If you're adding three liters of fluid every 10,000 miles, then you certainly aren't hurting anything, but you are costing yourself more than changing the entire thing with a filter every 30,000 to 50,000 miles. I sure don't want to have a lifetime filter in my transmission either.
Thanks to people like you who take the tie out to each us things that we can do. I don't really care about saving money when it comes to my cars but I love that I can count on people like you that enable me to do some things to my own car and enables me to do it better than a professional with greater care. I am sure that a professional would not wait so long for every little drop to trickle out when he has to work on and move out 10 other cars by the end of the working day and I am sure that the professional would not be able to practice "surgical-like" aseptic technique. 
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