1997 E320 W210, approx. 180,000 miles. Trans shifted fine, however once in a while it suffered from a slight flare at the shift from 3 -> 4. I am in the process of servicing and just checked my log; this is the 3rd fluid change to date. I have drained the pan, torque converter, and radiator cooler (had to remove radiator to replace serpentine belt). All in all I believe I got about 6.5 quarts of the fluid out of there. It was very dark and resembled motor oil with a reddish tint, but did not smell burnt. The pan was very clean, with no pieces of metal.

I am replacing the pressure regulating spring in the valve body, 2nd from the back, passenger side under the plate with 12 torx screws. After removing the old spring, it appears to be a hair bit shorter than the sonnax replacement. I did not measure it yet, but it's very very close to the same length of the new spring. I was disappointed that it was in once piece; I was hoping to find it either broken or severly distorted. However, the spacing of the coils is irregular, with some being closer together than others. The instructions that came with the spring did say that this condition would warrant replacement.

I plan to button everything back up and fill with the proper Fuchs fluid, which I bought through FastLane. I also picked up the gasket and filter from FastLane. I'm hoping everything will be improved from here on out.

Has anybody else here experienced an occasional flare from 3 -> 4? It was very slight and would only occur when the tranny was hot. It was also intermittent.

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
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