I'd love to hear more about the 4matic issues of the early '90s...

1) I have read alot of postings in here that relate tales of the 'inevitability' of failure of the transfer case, due to some kind of leakage...is this leakage gasket failure or what? If only a gasket/seal failure, why is it automatically a full replacement job?
I guess I'm asking if anyone has gotten 'lucky' and had the TC resealed to fix the leaking and been able to carry on with the original inner parts intact.

2) does the system have a self-shutdown feature? If the all important case fluid leaks out, the car should disengage the 4mat by itself...this is the sense I have with mine right now, that it went to 'test' mode, to prevent internal damage in the Transfer Case...(my car's 4matic warning is now permanently on, and yesterdays 'seizures' are mysteriously gone) What do I know...

2) does anyone know if MB took any remediative measures/callbacks, other than the standard vehicle warranty? Seems if the system was inherently doomed to fail they might have quietly taken some steps to address...

Thx all, Chris