Factory service manual

Oh ok. Never heard those initials before. Thanks.

In the Mercedes world there really are no good aftermarket manuals. So you need the factory service manuals. You can buy them as books for $500-$1k for most cars. There usualy are a bunch of books engine, body, climate control, suspension ect. But MB is nice enough to make them on CD/DVD for a small fraction of the cost of the paper manuals.

You need one to wrench on the car. If you know what you are doing MB's are very user friendly.

The only downside of the FSM's is that they are written for MB techs. They assume you know a lot so they skip over some steps.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Just a word of warning to a lot of the DIY's out there regarding fluid changes with the 722.6. My S320 is sitting at my independant right now because of some "surprises" that came up during my regularly scheduled transmission fluid change. My car was shifting fine and drove in to the shop for its fluid change and is now is in limp home mode throwing codes afterwards. We are still in the process of sorting things out. This transmission has a number of connectors and computers that can become contaminated. After this experience with an experienced mechanic with a fully equipped shop and a Star Diagnostic Computer getting blindsided by a simple fluid change there's no way I would consider doing the job myself.

His car doesn't have a 722.6. His trans is similer to my 722.4.

If I had a 722.6 I'd just have the local dealer do it, $200 and its done with. If they screw it up its there problem.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

The liability thing is a double edged sword. While most dealers won't bother explaining what happened to your transmission and just fix it on their dime (probably a half a** patch just by replacing some valves and doing some cleaning) to save their reputation the problem comes when the dealer starts cherry picking cars to work on. Additionally if your transmission had problems that had not reared their ugly head yet a fluid change could send the car over the edge. If your transmission needed an overhaul its highly unlikely that the dealer would pay for all of the work. You would be sent away on a transmission that was patched together to fail later on.

I decided to have my independant work on this one because I kind of expected some complications. While I could just play the part of the dumb consumer who drove a car in and now has a broken car going out he's a nice guy and honestly the issues are not his fault. Since I plan on keeping my car for a long time I want things done right even if it means a rebuilt transmission.