Told my friend his 380SL probably needed a trans service,
and he ordered up a filter kit from PartsShop. Whooo, was
that ever a good idea.

Clean ATF, but plenty of metallic muck in the pan, and a
completely filthy filter.

I'm about to reinstall the trans pan now. But usually when
doing something like that, the instructions say to coat the
gasket lightly with fresh fluid before installing.

The MBZ service CD doesn't make that recommendation. Am I
going to do terrible things to this gasket by coating it with
fresh clean ATF on both sides?

Oh, yeah, I do know not to overtorque the pan bolts.

Hmmmm, there's actually a second question. Pulling the
pan involves taking off a double set of heavy steel plates
that partially cover it. These appear to me to be guards
to protect the rear part of the trans from road debris.
Is that a correct assumption?

Ron H

You do not have to coat the gaskets. I'm not familiar with steel plates that would get in the way of pan removal. Perhaps someone else familiar with the 380 will respond to this issue.

Don't forget to drain the converter. It's forward of the pan and holds as much or more fluid than the pan. In my case(also a 126 car), it's covered by a U-shaped cross member that has 3 bolts holding each side in place. I believe a 17mm socket gets them out.

__________________
Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"

Yep, I got the torque converter first. No crossmember on
the 380SL, but there's a crossover exhaust right behind
the opening in the TC shield for the plug.

It almost but not quite prevents access to the TC drain plug.

I managed to strip the pan plug, but that one is accessible
enough to take alternate measures for removal. Stripping
the TC plug would have been a disaster!

Went ahead and coated the gasket with ATF regardless.
I'll let you all know if it leaks. Creature of habit.

Ron H

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