Originally Posted by sokoloff

Drain plug went away in September, 1999. I seem to recall seeing a Technical Bulletin from Mercedes saying that some of the sealed for life transmissions now require servicing. Anyone else seen that?

Len
'99 E300TD 77,000 miles, with a torque converter drain plug, transmission serviced at 50,000 miles.

Originally Posted by buckwheat

Yes, there's a SB on the issue dated last year. The intro read something like "some unauthorized non-Mercedes sources or independants disuade owner to not maintain transmission. Your transmission should INDEED be serviced just as you would other wear items such as the engine" or such. It was hanging on post-board at dealer, I can get a copy if anybody's interested.

I have the dealer do mine, they do the gaskets, filter et.al. It's not bad, like $150.00 - most of which is that $$ MB brand fluid, but it's the only thing MB will use, what I prefer anyway. Holds like 12 quarts or so.

I hate trifling with that tranny, so I just have them do it every 15k miles or so. Also have them change the tranny mounts and shifter bushings while it's there.

And the rear diff too.

=====
My wife hasn’t been right since the house landed on her sister

Originally Posted by BillzBenz (Post 910262)

I posted this question on another thread, but there appears to be some real experts here so I would like to repeat the question. I took my 98 E320 to the dealer to have the transmission serviced. When I got it back I noticed that the ticket only showed 4 qts of fluid used. From reading other postings on this site, and other sites, it was my impression that the 98 210 had a drain on the torque converter. I questioned the service advisor about this and after he checked with the service technician I was told that my transmission does not have a drain plug on the torque converter. The transmission is original. Do some 98's have a drain on the torque converter and some not?

Originally Posted by M.B.DOC (Post 701899)

That trans should be serviced! Don't listen to MB about lifetime fluid, there isn't any such thing! If the trans is serviced it will LAST 200K to 300K.
WE (dealer) have replaced/repaired at least 2000 of the 722.6 transmissions in the last 2 years! Spend the money.