I have a friend with a 91 350sdl. It has 209,000 miles. He bought it when it had 190,000. He decided to have the transmission fluid serviced because he did not know how old the fluid was. The dealer told him the fluid looked old (maybe even original) so he had new fluid put in.
The interesting part is that three days later, the transmission died. A new one is being put in at tune of $3000.
The question now is...would the tranny still be alive today if he had kept the original fluid in OR would it have died in three days anyway.
Anyone else out there with similary tranny stories? The original fluid in my 82 240d manual tranny is probably original. At 125,000 miles, I think this story convinced me to just keep the original fluid in there. Any thoughts?

__________________
$500 1982 240d owner "Gunter"
125k miles,4 speed manual
crank windows, MB Tex, all original
no a/c, daily driver
Scorecard so far....
$230 Maaco paint job
$27 dimmer switch, $40 shutoff valve, $45 brake MC, $260 calipers, $40 brake hoses, $40 side fender trim, $20 balancing, $109 lifetime alignment, $10 fuel return lines, $115 oil&fuel filters for next 30k miles