O.K., I've been reading older posts and this crops up a lot "Both Marc and Jose said to use conventional fluid and change yearly or every 24,000."

So, what is 'conventional ATF fluid for those of us who shop at Autozone, Oreilley's etc. ? .

TIA,

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I recommend Valvoline Dex/Merc MaxLife ATF. (Which is not to say that it is "conventional.")

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

Anything that is "Dex/Merc" for Dexron3 specs. I believe the car actually called for Dex2 which was superseeded to dex3, you will not find Dex2 in 2018. You do not necessarily need to pay for Dex6 compatible fluid which is fully synthetic, but it would be fine. It is reverse compatible.

I use the same Valvoline high mileage Tangofox recommends in all of my Benzes automatics, and manuals that called for ATF as their oil (123, 201, 124, 211, 107s, etc), including my 722.6 cars. That fluid happens to be synthetic. I have not had any issues with it, if your transmission is wiped out and slipping on conventional, it will also slip on synthetic. I think you'll find people who had a trashed transmission, switching to synthetic because someone else said their good transmission shifted better on synthetic, then posting back that the synthetic is what ruined their already ruined transmission. If that is your reservation in the term "conventional"

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

I'd call a yearly / 24 K change out excessive unless the car is frequently towing a trailer.

I'll 3rd the suggestion for the Valvoline high-mileage "Max-Life" fluid. With the "conventional" Valvoline, the SDL ran fine but a little rough shifting. With the max-life stuff, it's so much more civilized.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

THANK YOU ! .

I *think* that's the red gallon jug stuff I am about to replace .

I'm flushing the dead black P.S. in my '82 240D right now, I already took out the original washable maize filter and cleaned the inside of the pump to as new, it'll take several drain & refills I'm sure .

Then it's on to my greymarket '48 300TD's tranny service, it's working fine so now is the time to drain the sump and the T.C., change the filter and so on .

We'll see if it begins to weep, I find synthetic engine oils weep a bit more but I'm sold on them after making quite a few elderly, high mileage engines keep on going .

Thanx again all ! .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

"Annual changes" sounds way too excessive and very expensive. In all my vehicles, I go by color and smell. If still bright red and no burnt smell, no need to change. My old Chrysler's spec'ed "never change, except police and taxis". My 300D's are similar, i.e. clutch plates and bands w/ no lockup-torque converter.

Re fluid, many opinions here. Most use common (GM) Dexron III, which most "universal" fluids equate to. Some here suggest (Ford) Mercon VI, and I added some in mine. If flushing mine, I might refill w/ (Chrysler) ATF+4 since it is perhaps better quality (all synthetic), but costs more. I wouldn't worry about mixing fluids since all are oil w/ various "friction modifiers". The later was whale-oil in the earliest fluids (ex. Type A), if you want to be more earthy. Many racers use (Ford) Type F since it is the grabbiest for firmer shifts and less clutch-plate wear. Firm, fast shifts are good. Manufacturers design slow, slippy shifts for "smooth", since the public equates that w/ "good tranny". Shift-kits are designed to undo that, but fluid selection can help too.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

When running synthetic, yearly / 24 K change out becomes even more excessive.

THANK YOU ALL for the comments ! .

At the moment I'm flushing the grotty power steering in my '82 240D, I've cleaned the lower inside of the pump very well using LINT FREE towels, washed the original washable filter (long time since I've seen one of these once common filters) :


The fluid turns dark & stinky again fairly quickly so I'll keep flushing until it remains clean then I'll replace this pump as the input shaft seal weeps a little bit .

I need to find out if I really need to hunt down the special Mercedes internal expanding typ seal puller or what here .

I already found a nice clean used pump from an '83 300D that blew it's radiator and was junked, too bad but I scored .

I really appreciate all the help and thoughtful comments I read here in these forums .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Valvoline Dex/Merc "multi-vehicle ATF" - preferably the Maxlife variety. Don't get too hung up on whether or not it's conventional oil.

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'82 300CD
"Pearl", the very first turbo diesel 123 coupe
Totaled 11/23/18, rebuild in progress.
'85 300TD, "Artemis".
'78 300D euro, "Ol' Red", mostly retired.
'85 300D, "Gandalf".

THANX ! .

I looked at my near empty jug and that's what I bought last time, it's synthetic but as you said : as long as I change it every time it turns color or begins to smell bad, it'll be fine .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better