I have 96K miles on the W210 E320. As I approach the 100K milestones, I took the car in (dealer) for transmission service and hope that if any serious problems uncovered may be corrected 50/50 with MB. I must be daydreaming
I assume the oil drain method:
Drain and remove pan,
Inspect solenoids and disc packs,
Remove and replace filter and gaskets, and
Refill
No, I got transmission flush. Am told that is the “official recommended MB way”. Correct?

I do not object to flushing but I hope flushing do not disturb the wear particles and contaminants (in their sleep at the bottom of the pit), and flush them into and between the disc packs. Not able to see the condition of the solenoid and disc pack concerns me. However, flushing could be a real better method of cleaning out the system. Draining unlike the flushing method could introduce a new gasket leak path into an otherwise dry joint.

What do the GGG (gals, guys, and gurus) think?

May be next time (2 yrs/40K miles later), I DIY it?

Oh BTW, HB was replaced earlier covered by the service recall. Nice. Due credits to the hell raisers on this forum (hear, hear!) and belatedly to uncle DCX.

Local AM radio station has a program on weekends hosted by an independent shop owner. You call in and ask questions, kinda like you do here.

He once mentioned that he had abandoned the flushing with a machine technique. He had one to many cars die while backing them out of his garage. Dirt had apparently dislodged and plugged a vital artery.

Local Valvoline Quick-Lube place was supposedly having people sign a waiver before flushing their transmissions. I'm not sure how they managed to sell that service under those circumstances.

Obviously a lot of people have not experienced this problem.

Personally, I would not go this route.

This is why I do alll of my own maintenance. In a case like yours and I'm assuming the converter has no drain plug, I'd remove and drain the pan and change filter - kind of a rotation scheme. I have an Asian vehicle that I've dome this with for 10 yrs. and 200,000 miles.

My 2 cents.

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'91 300-SEL

As far as mercedes benz are concerned, the transmission fluid is for life and doesn't require any servicing. This basically applies to all transmissions that don't have a dipstick.

Nearly any car you buy now has this same transmission policy, advancements in transmission design and fluid technology have increased their longevity.

So as far as the manufacturers are concerned, if it's not faulty, leaking fluid or have any abnormalities, then you simply don't touch it.

As long as it performs beyond it's warranty period.

Getting back to your car, there's no way I would personally just flush and change the fluid.
The filter is in there for a reason, makes no sense at all why someone would renew the fluid without replacing the filter, you wouldn't change the engine oil without replacing the filter?

I would suggest having the pan dropped and the filter replaced, should take less than an hour to do and about 3 litres of fluid.

ozzy

Is the use of a topsider type fluid extractor appropriate for transmission fluid change? Say, drop the pan and change the filter every 50k miles and use the topsider every 10k miles in between. Since dropping the pan only gets at most 3 qts out of 8, the in-between changes of 3 qts-I assume the topsider would get 3- would help increase the turnover of fluid.

Unless you drive your car like Fangio , it really wouldn't be necessary to change the fluid in-between normal service.

ozzy

MB is using Mobil 1 type synthetic ATF in their newer cars, and it doesn't degrade like the older ATF did. I suspect they are also using better friction material so there is less sludge.

However, I would change the fluid, including torque converter draining, and filter, at 100,000 miles.

I would NEVER "flush" an automatic transmission. Anything but fresh ATF in there is a serious problem waiting to happen. Note that "flush" often means feeding fresh AFT into the tranny with the cooler return line off, going to a bucket, so that the tranny pumps fresh fluid into the torque conveter -- this is the only way to change the fluid in an American auto tranny short of drilling a hole in it (recommended for many years by GM, they even left a thick, flat spot for you to drill and plug!). MB provides a nice drain fitting.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!