Now that I have all the time to work on my car this winter, I want to actually do a tranny fluid drain and refil with filter repacement. I have taken my car to the shops for this job but now I want to do the job for experience. How shall I tackle this job for my 420SEL. Any special toos that I will need? And is it necessary that I use Mercedes Tranny Fluid or can I use any othehr fluid that is compatible?

The torque converter does have a drain plug and the engine has to be turned using a ratchet and socket on the crankshaft pulley bolt. Remove the steel piece between the supports, remove the screen at the bottom of the bellhousing and remove the bolt to drain the converter. Be careful with the trans drain bolt, it may be frozen. You may want to suction the oil out and then remove the pan to change the filter.

__________________
Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

I think I will just buy the fluid extractor and drop the pan for the filter change. Sounds easy enough. Im guessing I should drop the pan first, then change the filter and then suck out the rest of the fluid?

What fluid are we sucking out?
Drain/remove pan and drain TC. Is there another pocket of fluid somewhere?

__________________
82 300D....went to MB heaven
90 350 SDL....excercising con rods

No, drain the pain and TC and change the filter thats about it. Very simple job, I hate doing it though makes a mess.

fyi I use an OE filter and Mobil 1 ATF. But any atf will work.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Is it OK if I dont drain TC?? I know I wont get all the fluid out. Gettiing to the TC drain plug seems hard for me and after reading some threads that you have to turn the crankshaft or whatever its called to get the plug so you can see it. I also read that someone should crank the engine so the plug will be in sight and then pry off some...? To me, after I get the pan and filter off, get so worried I will not be able to get the TC drain plug off and not get all the fluid out...

To do a complete job you need to drain the torque converter too. Once you get under there you'll see that it's not that tough to do.

Len

well the thing thats getting me worried is getting to the TC drain plug. I understand that once I am there it should be a piece of cake but I have never changed tranny fluid before in a car. this is the only Job I dont know how to do, LOL

Change the TC fluid. Why go through all the trouble and effort to only do a partial crappy job? The TC fluid is simple to change, you will see once the pan is off.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Ok well I hope I get to the bolt with no troubles. I dont want to end up doing the crank the engine to get to the bolt. Well Thank you

If I suck al lthe fluid out using a Mityvac, Will I get all the fluid out including fluid in TC?

No.

__________________
1989 300 SEL that mostly works, but needs TLC

Just wondering about an update..... Did you get the fluid out of the TC as well with little fanfare?

I did get all the fluid out but had trouble getting the TC drain plug lined up where I wanted it to be so I just unhooked one of the tranny cooling lines, over filled the tranny with fluid and started the car. I had my friend do that while I was watching the fluid spurt out of the line and it looked pretty old. So once all that fluid was out, I put the line back correctly and took the pan off, drained and cleaned, replaced the filter/gasket and put the pan back. Filled 'er up with fluid and I was done! Took me about 1 1/2 hrs to do since I had to put the car on jack stands, get all my tools and just take my time so I dont do anything wrong. Man, the car does perform better after the fluid change and runs like new! So utterly smooth.

crap, I guess I need to break down and do it too...and it's cold in my garage at home. How much ATF does it hold? Mine's a 1986 420SEL btw.

__________________
2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics