Originally Posted by H-townbenzoboy

I just took a look at an owners manual for the 1985 300CD/D/TD lineup and under the Fuels, Coolants, Lubricants, etc. section, it lists "Automatic transmission fluid for automatic transmission" as the fluid of choice for the transmission, and "Automatic transmission fluid for power steering" as the fluid of choice for the power steering system. Their phrasing would lead you to come to the conclusion that there are different types of ATF for those applications, and a footnote for both listings states that you should consult your local MB dealer for recommended brands. 25 years have passed and we no longer have to go directly to the dealer, but can now pull up the same resources that the MB dealer uses to determine what the proper fluids are. This is what I'm referring to: http://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/bevolistenmain.php?content_action=showselect&navigation_path=bevolisten&blatt=231.1&suchbegriff=

I took a look at the recommendations for the transmission fluid and power steering fluid and it suggests ATF from various 236.x lists for the 722.3/4 transmissions found in most of our cars, and ATF from ONLY list 236.3 for power steering systems. For some reason, MB lists those fluids under the header of ATF, yet they are all intended for use in power steering systems ONLY. So the fluids in 236.3 are the "automatic transmission fluid for power steering" as referenced to in the manual. Maybe they're not the red dyed Dexron/Mercon III fluids that come to mind when WE think of ATF and pour in our transmissions, but MB calls them ATF and lists them as the fluids to be used in the power steering system.