'98 W210 Diesel Transmission help......
 

Background of last week (may or may not be relevant): I bought 9 quarts of oil, a filter and fuel filter. I come home to change the oil. My extraction pump fails. I don't have any way (or desire) to lift the car and get under it to change the oil. I take the car to a quick lube owned by a friend. They change the oil and fuel filters. They over-filled the oil (which I rectified) and didn't tighten the primary fuel filter properly, so the car gushed fuel until I got it back and fixed that problem. They issued a 'checklist' stating that they had checked all of the fluids......including the transmission.

This week, after idle, the car will inconsistenly rev without the transmission engaging on some take offs. You let of the accelerator and get the rpms down and it will engage, but then, it won't shift out of first gear. If you let off, get on a few cycles, it goes back to normal. No indicator lights, and once engaged, the transmission feels fine.

Give it to me straight guys--anyone know what is wrong?

Thanks in advance.

OF course unless that shop has a MB factory dipstick tool, they couldn't have checked the fluid...

IMHO,

Bingo !!! or, if that DO have it and don't know how to use it they tans could be over or underfilled because there is a specific procedure on how to properly measure fluid level while taking fluid temp into consideration.

Another possibility might be that the shop used generic trans fluid and filter which might be a no-no. I would start with a proper fluid level check and go from there.

The only dipstick tool at that place was the manager. I will take it to the MB shop. Doesn't sound like anything catastrophic though?

Probably not, as you were aware of the situation and caught it right away.

I found this quote on the net, I hope it helps.

"Filled for life?
The 722.6 Automatic Transmission uses a special oil and is said to be filled for life. The oil can only be purchased through the Mercedes-Benz dealer using part number 001-989-21-03-10. A 722.6 holds about 9.3 liters and the fluid is sold by the liter. Checking the fluid is accomplished by breaking off the red locking seal located at the dip stick. the lock is replaced after the oil is checked. Use part number 140-991-00-55 for a new lock. There is no dip stick to check the ATF. You need a special tool to check the fluid on all 722.6 transmissions, part number 140-589-15-21-00. The oil level is a critical factor in transmission shifting. See Service Information 27A95105 for details. When you refill, or check thetransmission fluid level make sure that you check the level with the special tool and at the correct temperature. The latest information from Germany is that we should fill the oil to the MAX line. Not overfilled, just maxed out. This is said to improve shift quality. At normal level it is possible for the oil to form air bubbles. The increased level helps to minimize this. You might want to remember to try this on customer complaints involving shift quality before you replace any component. Along with setting the adaptation you would be surprised to see how much of an improvement you will see.

The Automatic Transmission fluid is said to be filled for life. We never specified who's life. (Yes, they actually wrote that in this!-DG) The transmission control module contains a program that keeps a running count of the "calculated" cndition of the ATF oil. (Note from Gilly-I believe this was deleted from the modules right around 2001-2002, not there anymore-DG) The factors that affect the oil are time and temperature. The counter is incremented with engine running time and incremented greater with higher ATF temperatures. The Hand-Held Tester (now SDS-DG) displays a numerical value that represents the value of the calculation. At some given point in time Germany will tell us (still waiting, evidently-DG) which number means its time to change the oil. For now there is no service interval for the ATF oil.

Thanks JH and MBDOC. I will let you guys know if the problem gets resolved.

In case you want to make your own dipstick, here it is (measurements are metric, centimetres).

Thanks!

Where's the other end?

Fyi
 

Some of you gearheads are going to cringe, but here's what has happened so far:

I have been extremely busy. I grounded the car until I could get this checked out, but my wife drove it yesterday for some reason.....

The transmission was worse, and didn't want to come out of first without a lot of tries. I called my Indie and he can take it Monday. For kicks, I took off the dipstick-tube plug. I sniffed the tube and it smelled just like the bottle--no tinge of burnt smell at all. WithOUT the benefit of a dipstick (hey, if it is gone it will cost me $5K either way, and over filling probably won't be what pushed it over the edge) I poured 4 oz of MB ATF into it and drove it around the block. Still won't shift right. I returned and poured 4 more oz. of fluid in. Shifting got better, but still didn't right--felt like the timing was off on the transitions between gears. Drove it for about 5 miles and it didn't improve. I added 4 more oz. of fluid, left the house, and have driven it for about 35 miles today, and it feels like it did when I got it w/20K on it. I am still going to take it in Monday, but just wanted to report that adding 3/4 quart of fluid seems to be what it needed for now--I am definitely going to get another quart to keep in the trunk.

Only just noticed this :) The other end is wherever you want it to be. The length is irrelevant so long as you can hold it when the marked end of the dipstick hits the bottom of the box.

I had assumed that it was like a "normal" dipstick, even though I know you can't leave it in there. Since I have a dipstick in my 722.4, I haven't looked into the procedure for checking the 722.6. But that picture did strike me as very odd, as I'm sure you can imagine.

That's correct. The tip bottoms out and about 1' of dipstick remain outside the fill tube.