Dear friends:

Could someone please check his/her owner manual or service CD and tell me the FUEL TANK capacity and AUTO TRANSMISSION ATF capacity for both W116 300SD (1978-1980) and W126 300SD (1981-1985). Thanks.

Best regards,

Eric

My first Benz was a 300SD (1980) and if I remember correctly the fuel tank was 22 gallons. I don't remember about the trans.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

Eric,

Manual says 22 gallons but its in error. With my '80 300SD completely empty I could put 25 gallons in the tank. Maybe the '80 had a larger tank than the older ones and manual was not changed.

300SD transmission takes 6 quarts to refil if you drain the torque converter.

P E H

W126 300SD:

Fuel - 77 litres (19.3 US gall) with 12.5 litre (3.1 US gall) reserve included in that amount. The low fuel light comes on when you are at the reserve volume. The gas W126 models are larger but have the same low fuel warning point.

Transmission - 7.3l initial fill, 6.2l when changing, though you are far better off using a warmed up engine and the dip stick, especially if you forget, or do not know how, to drain the torque converter.

??? ???

That's funny. On my two diesel W126 cars, the manuals say they have a 23.8 US gallon capacity with 3.3 gallons included in that figure as reserve (and they do! I've tested that). After 1985, did they provide a larger tank for diesel S-Class?

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1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

Eric's Q was for the 1981-85 300SD models which is what I address in my reply.

23.8 gallons came in with the 1986 and later diesels. I have confirmed this with the factory chassis manuals. Would be nice to have that on the earlier car....

Dear friends:

Thank you all very much for your information.

Thomaspin: Please take a look at this link: http://www.pindelski.com/cars/W126/Transmission_service/imagepages/Pic00075.html

In this link, you said that the ATF refill requires 5.5 L (5.8 quarts). However, in your recent post, you said it needs 6.2 L (6.6 quarts). So which value is the correct one?

Eric - my email above is what the factory book says, but as I said, fill it by dipstick with a warm engine and forget the specs - you can never be sure how much has drained. Specs are an ideal situation, the real world is different. Add 4 q to start then top up to the dipstick marks.

I can tell you all without any doubt that it takes 20.07 gallons to fuel to fill an empty 83 300SD. Don't wait for the light to come on!

Jerry