Gear Box oil change

[Tan]

Hi

Having read through all the previous posts on this subject I am slightly confused. My car is approaching 60K miles and I have noticed on occassions that the gearbox does take a little while to catch up if you floor the accelerator.

From posts that I have read it looks as though a change of the gearbox oil should cure this.

My confusion is centred around this whole "sealed for life business".
Firstly: my car has an AA warranty on it so: a) will that cover the change of the fluid by way of a repair or b) would changing the fluid invalidate any cover that the gearbox has, should it go wrong at a later date...(touch wood it wont).

Secondly: what would MB do to repair this gear change problem...if they claim the gearbox fluid does not need changing?

Thirdly: If the gearbox goes faulty due to lack of or low fluid level would MB cover this "for life"??

Fourthly: At the risk of sounding stupid, if I do have the gearbox fluid done do they also do the fluid in the torque converter thingy??

Finally: Any idea how much it costs to have the fluid and filters changed on a '99 SL500? and also when should I have it done ASAP or at the next service??

Ok...thats it..I said I was confused

Regards

Tan

 

[andy_k]

can't give direct answers to most of the questions but "sealed for life" is all well and good if you only want the gearbox to last a few years - "yes sir it was sealed for life and now it's reached the end of it's life" would probably be your local dealers response.

I'd guess your AA warranty doesn't cover fluids and rather than invalidating the warranty by changing it I suspect any warranty company's first question would be "when did you last check/change the oil?" should the gearbox fail and you saying "never" would probably be classed as negligence on your behalf by them and may affect their decision to pay out

I'd suggest changing it and changing it as quickly as possible 35k is a reasonable amount of mileage for any transmission oil and yes you need to drain the torque convertor as well (which if it's anything like most Mercs will have it's own individual drain plug which is an absolute swine to get at. Insist they drain the torque convertor or you risk doing more harm than good if the two fluids react with each other.

HTH

Andy

 

[Aletank]

Just wondering, But would changing the Fluid on these "Sealed For Life" gearboxes be more or less the same procedure as the other Mercedes "Not Sealed for Life" gearboxes.

 

[Dave Bailey]

Check out "Gearbox Fluid Change" & "Auto gearbox fluid level - how to check?" These two threads pretty much cover all there is to know about doing the gearbox fluid & filter change. There are some very good tips from Dieselman & Jimmy. The job itself is actually quite straightforward, if a bit messy.

I can't comment on warranties etc, but having done the fluid change I can say that the difference in the way the 'box behaves is very noticeable. Incidentally the local stealers didn't want to quote for doing the oil and filter change. They insisted on playing the "Sealed for life" card. However, they weren't willing to give any hint as to what "life" might actually be. The cynic in me senses that "life" is long enough to get through the first owner's custodianship, therefore making "sealed for life" an attractive sales tool. So it seems like a case of being ok if you're the first owner, but tough luck matey if you're not. I also suspect that the "sealed for life" gearbox may even be the subject of a secret maintenance regimen by the stealers. Whilst the service dept didn't want to know about doing the fluid change, their very own spares people told me that they do it all the time & in fact went and asked them how much fluid I should buy......

The aftermarket has a high level of confidence in doing fluid changes on "Sealed for life" gearboxes, that's good enough for me. I know the thing won't last forever, but it would be nice if it had the best chance of a long and happy life.

Just my tuppence worth.

Dave

 

[Dieselman]

Dave

I echo your post, well said.

The dealers are advised by MB that if they have a problem gearbox and it's done 80K+ that the best route is to change it.

All MB cars of late vintage use the same 722.6 gearbox and the procedure and quantities are the same.

Cost to change the fluid should be about £150 - £200.