Thread: P/S Maintenance
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  #38  
Old 03-05-2005, 09:18 AM
LarryBible
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I'm sorry that you thought I meant that Modern ATF should not be used in ANY MB. That is not what I meant. There could be later models, like somwhere in the nineties, in which they call for Dexron type ATF. There are earlier models that call for ATF in the manual, but ATF went through its change after that manual was written.

Since MB says that Dexron can be substituted for that particular part number, I wonder if there is more than one P/S fluid available from MB. It's hard to imagine MB themselves authorizing such a substitution that would take money out of their pocket.

In my 300E I flushed the p/s system and changed to generic fluid right after I got the car at around 80,000 miles. The car now has 277,000 miles I think. I have flushed and changed twice since then with generic. I could look at my log book for exact mileage at which it was changed the last two times, but basically it was about every 100,000 miles.

Additionally my '84 240D started using generic p/s fluid at about 380,000 miles after the shaft seal went out. The shaft seal went out after running Dexron beginning with the previous flush. I would have to consult the logbook for exact mileages. I unknowingly switched to Dexron because the car was getting old and I was trying to save a few bucks. It wasn't too long, maybe 50,000 miles after switching to ATF that the seal went out. I can't confirm or deny that the ATF was the cause of the seal failure, but that was about the time that I read about the new ATF's causing seal failure in power steering systems.

At that point, I put in a wrecking yard pump and generic p/s fluid and it has run another 150,000 miles or so with no further trouble.

Good luck with your choice,
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