Yes, I am aware of the current textbook answers on this one. I also understand the philosophical rationale for following the textbook. As stated in the original post, I am interested in knowing if anybody has had success using any of the above fluids, as well as the going rate for the "proper" fluid at the dealer.

__________________
08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

How many miles/years define your "test" period? Are you looking for folks that have had used oil analysis? I'd think you'd want more than "worked for me" as a measure of "success."

Here's the list of approved fluids:
http://bevo.daimler.com/bevolistenmain.php?session_id=&navigation_path=bevolisten&language_id=1

Not only, IMHO, is it silly to look for nonapproved fluids that supposedly work, it's also silly to not use the latest specification fluid, which is 236.14. The mobil you can't find is one of these. A couple are available here: http://store.europarts-sd.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=295

__________________
Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '10 CL550. '01 Porsche Boxster
Two BMW motorcycles

Just FYI. I don't agree that it's always best to use the latest/greatest fluids. Sometimes, and in some cases, yes. But not always. The original 236.10 fluid is thicker viscosity than the later fluids... it is very similar to the old Dexron-III. The 236.12 was a reduced viscosity version introduced for fuel economy reasons, and is similar to Dexron-VI. The 236.14 is another variation of the low-viscosity stuff (not sure exactly what the difference is). More details on the factory fluids, specs, and suitable replacement alternatives are in this post.

For high performance applications, a thicker fluid is generally desired, not thinner. This is one case where you would probably NOT want to use a .12 or .14 fluid in the 722.6 tranny. For normal street use at stock power levels, sure, the new fluid spec is probably fine... might even see a slight increase in fuel economy. Of course flushing the fluid on 99-up trannies is as fun as root canal, but that's a different discussion.

Sample case where using the OE/OEM fluid is not ideal: I just bought a car with a 722.6 tranny that is slipping in gear. I want to replace the fluid & filter before condemning the tranny as bad and replacing it ($$$$). But I sure don't want to pay nearly $20/qt for OE dealer fluid, or even $12/qt for the OEM Shell/Fuchs. The Valvoline MaxLife does appear to be the lowest cost fluid that may work in this 722.6 application, and it's ~$16/gallon at Wal-Mart. I will probably drain & refill with MaxLife and if it cures the problem, I'll drive it for a few hundred miles, drain the MaxLife, and refill with the proper OE/OEM fluid. If the problem remains, at least I didn't throw $100 down the drain in fancy fluid. Dunno about you, but $100 is still a lot o' dough to me.



Side note: I believe MaxLife is either non-synthetic, or semi-synthetic. The original 236.10 spec was for "lifetime" fluid, fully synthetic. Anyone using MaxLife should change it every 25-30kmi. Also note the current version of MaxLife is (unfortunately) the low-viscosity stuff for Dex-VI. I think this is a change from the previous/original formula of Max-Life. Spec sheet is here. Would I use MaxLife in a known-good 722.6? Probably not... as mentioned earlier in this thread, it's not worth risking a perfect $4k tranny to save $100.

__________________
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!