BenzRepair.....that was an extremely informative post. For those of us that have lower mileage vehicles (my '98 just turned 80K) the question of changing fluid is is still a confushing issue, should we or should we not? And if we do will it really by us anything. Then there is the fluid issue. I suspect that the MB fluid is a synthetic and the change to a commercial grade (i.e. Mobile One may not be to our benifit.

You think that the 50K change interval may prolong our tranny life, and if the cause of premature failure is mechanical wear, that make a lot of sense. Granted, we are not going to reverse damage, but it should give some benifit.

What are the early symptoms these tranny's exhibit once they start down to slippery road to failure? With all the mods MB has made over the years, it would seem like we have two options: 1) Drive it till it fails completly and replace it with a quality rebuilt, or 2) Get it fixed as soon as it starts displaying the early symptoms.

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Litton
'90 420 SEL (sold)
'72 280 SEL 4.5
'98 ML320 (for sale)
'86 560SL
'05 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd (offroad in style)
'87 Chevy Blazer (AZ Pin Strips)