Differential oil

[Michael C]

Hey folks, I've tried to search for the answer to this, and came up with nothing.

I have a 1970 280SEL that I'm changing the diff. oil. (Car had been sitting for 5 years) Before I spend $$ at the dealer for the recommended 85W-90. Any idea how many liter's the differential holds?

I'm asking this as my dealer sells it by the liter and they won't take it back if I purchase too much.

Thanks

Michael

[280EZRider]

I believe in comes in containers no less than 1 litre, and you will use a little more half of that, if I remember correctly.

[mbbuff]

I just put a third member out of a 123 in my 114. It took less than a quart, whatever that is in liters?? My guess yours is about the same. I used synthetic, FWIW.

[Gurunutkins]

sorry to quickly hijack the thread but have any of you used the 75/90 synthetic or just stuck with the 85/90 dino?
thanks
Barri

[Gurunutkins]

must have cross posted, did you use the synthetic previously and did it work OK?

[ardenmd]

I just changed out my differential oil today, on my '72 280 SEL. It holds about 2.5 quarts of gear oil, I think I used 85W-90 and had about half of the third quart leftover afterwards. Geez, that stuff is gross!

[Takernz_30]

Originally Posted by ardenmd

I just changed out my differential oil today, on my '72 280 SEL. It holds about 2.5 quarts of gear oil, I think I used 85W-90 and had about half of the third quart leftover afterwards. Geez, that stuff is gross!

that's almost 3 liters man, my '66 200 also holds that much but the stick 'box holds about 1.5 liters b/c the 'box is tiny.

[bwostosh]

The smell in gear oil is sulpher, good for the gears, no problem for humans except smell, I use one of those siphon/pumps similar to a grease gun with a long clear tube extention to keep the stink off me, and rubber gloves too.

[Michael C]

3 liters sounds like a heck of a lot. Did you fill it with the wheels hanging and car off the ground? I went to my local dealer yesterday, they looked it up and advised just under 2 liters. (Car must be on the ground, without wheels hanging or you will over fill it)

Grabbed the fluid from him and did it last night. Sure enough, just under 2 liters.

Thanks for all of the input.

M

[Tomguy]

Originally Posted by Michael C

3 liters sounds like a heck of a lot. Did you fill it with the wheels hanging and car off the ground? I went to my local dealer yesterday, they looked it up and advised just under 2 liters. (Car must be on the ground, without wheels hanging or you will over fill it)

Grabbed the fluid from him and did it last night. Sure enough, just under 2 liters.

Good point! Important to NOT overfill these! The split-axle designs of the 108, 109, 111 and 112 mean if you jack up by the body the axle droops at the rear wheels, and filling the differential with them hanging means the oil goes too far from the pumpkin down the axle shafts, and you wind up with oil gushing out from the drain plug when you go to check the fluid with the rear axles level!

[ardenmd]

Yeah, i overfilled it! Although it was much easier getting under there with the car jacked up! About half a quart came out when I pulled the fill plug, of course. Sometimes I don't understand MB, like having to change the tranny fluid with the car on level ground and the engine hot! Ever had a hot exhaust header about an inch from your neck?!

[230/8]

Michael:

Per factory manual, rear axle capacity = 2.5 liters = 2.64 quarts. You will probably need slightly less because you cannot drain 100% of the oil on a refill, some will cling to the parts. Buy 3 quarts and plan on having about one-half quart left over. You can use virtually any good name brand, like Valvoline or Pennzoil, etc. You do not need to buy from the dealer. Try to keep the car level and remove the fill plug first to ensure you can get the new oil in; draining it out first only to learn the fill plug is stripped or stuck really sucks.

230/8