I saved this for last for some reason.
Info: https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w221 ... ost8503815
Apparently it is recommended to retrofit the updated pan, filter and overflow tube to the original style 722.9, particularly in 4Matic applications. Well....good.
Ordered these:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/merced ... 1989680310
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/merced ... 0019901117
I am going to attempt to drain the torque converter.
07 S550: Transmission service
07 S550: Transmission service
- Attachments
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- 722.9 transmission fluid and filter change.pdf
- (270 KiB) Downloaded 23 times
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- 722.9 oil pan.pdf
- (228.86 KiB) Downloaded 23 times
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- 722.9 fluid fill procedure.pdf
- (256.07 KiB) Downloaded 50 times
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- 722.9 overflow tube information.pdf
- (158.38 KiB) Downloaded 25 times
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- 722.9 drain torque converter.pdf
- (131.93 KiB) Downloaded 33 times
Re: 07 S550: Transmission service
Took care of this today. Nothing particularly hard. Many modern transmissions are just as annoying as this to drain and fill. I also drained the torque converter which not all cars let you do. So this was a pretty full fluid change which is nice. About 81k on it so this should be good to 121k.
Highlights:
My regular 4mm allen socket was too long to fit into the angle with the bellhousing for the torque converter drain plug. So I had to use a regular allen and a cheater bar. If I had to do it again I might procure some kind of stubby 4mm driver that would also allow me to torque properly. It takes, uh, 10 Nm and I had to guess.
Once the TC is draining (and it takes a good 20 minutes to dribble/glug), begin pan drain. Remove drain plug and some will drain. Once it slows down, stick something into the drain plug and knock off the overflow tube. More will drain. Once that stopped, begin pan removal process. 5 of the 6 bolts are accessible. They are E10. But one bolt has a bracket somewhat covering it. I was going to move it but then I just bent it out of the way to get my socket in there.
The pan comes right down. Somewhat alarmingly, the filter fell down with the pan. It's not retained but I expected the O-ring to hold it in. Not super confidence inspiring but it is what it is.
Prepare new pan with overflow tube. Oh, swap the two magnets over after cleaning. Install new gasket. Not reusing the pan saved the step of cleaning out the pan at least. This pan is the same style as the 722.6 but I am not sure the bolts in my E55 are aluminum.
Open new pan bolts. They are aluminum. Swap the pan retaining adapters from the old bolts. I did clean off the transmission case with some brake fluid and a rag. Install pan and hand tighten bolts. I got out my inch pound torque wrench and did 36 in-lbs but I did not feel comfortable doing another 180 degrees. So I just of just snugged them a little further by hand and called it good.
About this time the torque converter is done draining so install a new drain plug and "torque" it down.
The rest is basically the filling process. I'll summarize the steps I took:
- Fill with 6L
- Start engine and warm up to 113F (used scan tool)
- Shut off engine
- Start engine and add 4L if new TC and 2L if not new TC. Uh, I drained mine so I did 3L. Kind of odd there is no spec for that.
- Shift through gears and ensure temp does not exceed 113F (it did)
- Quickly get under car, remove fill adapter and something like 1L came out quickly and then it started to dribble. At that moment I reinstalled the drain plug. Torque to 16 lb-ft. I think less than 1L came out so considering I added a total of 9L, and the capacity is 9L, that must mean I changed like 8.5L of the fluid. That's great.
The temp on the pan was a lot cooler than the TCU reported so.....who knows. Obviously if the temp is too warm the level will end up too low when you drain down to the overflow tube level. But I feel like I didn't wait too long with it dribbling so that may counteract the slightly too warm. Plus, the pan was only in the 90s. So I am hoping it all washes out.
Road test next. Shifts smooth! Definitely smoother than before. No crazy difference but transmissions always feel nice after new fluid and this was no exception. The 2-1 that occurs right when you stop moving still does that which I was sure was programming before anyway. I didn't expect that to change.
So, hopefully no leaks and that the level is correct. Not going to be a lot of shake down miles before my 2,500 road trip which is a little nerve-racking. I'll commute a few times and if anything at all feels amiss, I will reset the level. The process to do that is fairly simple. I would just pump another 1 or 2L into the pan, run it through the gears, and once it hits 113F remove the fill adapter, let it spill out and install the drain plug when it starts to trickle. I am guessing that I will not need to do this.
- This is the torque converter drain plug (and bolt) access cover
- Not enough room for a ratchet between the crank and fan so I used a 3/4" drive socket, a 1/2" reducer and a pipe wrench to turn the engine over until the drain plug was exposed in the access hole.
- Had to get some heat in the garage. It was single digits this morning. This warmed it up but, I need a safer heat source. Definitely felt effects and also my CO alarms in the house started chirping. I did leave the basement door open on purpose to help vent (into the house though).
- Pan removed
- Torque converter still draining
- Updated pan with green overflow tube installed
- The aluminum pan bolts require 3 lb-ft + 180 degrees....
- I bought this back in 2010 to change the transmission fluid in my CTS-V. Repurposed it for this job and it was great!
My regular 4mm allen socket was too long to fit into the angle with the bellhousing for the torque converter drain plug. So I had to use a regular allen and a cheater bar. If I had to do it again I might procure some kind of stubby 4mm driver that would also allow me to torque properly. It takes, uh, 10 Nm and I had to guess.
Once the TC is draining (and it takes a good 20 minutes to dribble/glug), begin pan drain. Remove drain plug and some will drain. Once it slows down, stick something into the drain plug and knock off the overflow tube. More will drain. Once that stopped, begin pan removal process. 5 of the 6 bolts are accessible. They are E10. But one bolt has a bracket somewhat covering it. I was going to move it but then I just bent it out of the way to get my socket in there.
The pan comes right down. Somewhat alarmingly, the filter fell down with the pan. It's not retained but I expected the O-ring to hold it in. Not super confidence inspiring but it is what it is.
Prepare new pan with overflow tube. Oh, swap the two magnets over after cleaning. Install new gasket. Not reusing the pan saved the step of cleaning out the pan at least. This pan is the same style as the 722.6 but I am not sure the bolts in my E55 are aluminum.
Open new pan bolts. They are aluminum. Swap the pan retaining adapters from the old bolts. I did clean off the transmission case with some brake fluid and a rag. Install pan and hand tighten bolts. I got out my inch pound torque wrench and did 36 in-lbs but I did not feel comfortable doing another 180 degrees. So I just of just snugged them a little further by hand and called it good.
About this time the torque converter is done draining so install a new drain plug and "torque" it down.
The rest is basically the filling process. I'll summarize the steps I took:
- Fill with 6L
- Start engine and warm up to 113F (used scan tool)
- Shut off engine
- Start engine and add 4L if new TC and 2L if not new TC. Uh, I drained mine so I did 3L. Kind of odd there is no spec for that.
- Shift through gears and ensure temp does not exceed 113F (it did)
- Quickly get under car, remove fill adapter and something like 1L came out quickly and then it started to dribble. At that moment I reinstalled the drain plug. Torque to 16 lb-ft. I think less than 1L came out so considering I added a total of 9L, and the capacity is 9L, that must mean I changed like 8.5L of the fluid. That's great.
The temp on the pan was a lot cooler than the TCU reported so.....who knows. Obviously if the temp is too warm the level will end up too low when you drain down to the overflow tube level. But I feel like I didn't wait too long with it dribbling so that may counteract the slightly too warm. Plus, the pan was only in the 90s. So I am hoping it all washes out.
Road test next. Shifts smooth! Definitely smoother than before. No crazy difference but transmissions always feel nice after new fluid and this was no exception. The 2-1 that occurs right when you stop moving still does that which I was sure was programming before anyway. I didn't expect that to change.
So, hopefully no leaks and that the level is correct. Not going to be a lot of shake down miles before my 2,500 road trip which is a little nerve-racking. I'll commute a few times and if anything at all feels amiss, I will reset the level. The process to do that is fairly simple. I would just pump another 1 or 2L into the pan, run it through the gears, and once it hits 113F remove the fill adapter, let it spill out and install the drain plug when it starts to trickle. I am guessing that I will not need to do this.
Re: 07 S550: Transmission service
https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w221 ... ost8510095
Noticed a puddle forming under my car at work yesterday. I had an awful 1 hour commute and there was some hammering in anger. I thought maybe it was coolant or windshield washer fluid. After some meetings I went out to the car before lunch to inspect. Opened the hood and everything seemed in order. Looked closer at the puddle and it was red. Oh no. Stuck my finger in and smelled it. Clearly transmission fluid. Well shit that's bad.
Decided to interrupt my day and just drive it home. I did not know how much fluid it lost but I planned to take it easy. So that's what I did. I made it home. It probably shifted a little firmer than it normally would so I can't say it was unnoticeable but it did shift and again it got me home without any drama.
At home I put it up on the Quickjack to inspect. Found a short section of gasket had gotten folded over to the inside of the pan. I think this happened when I was adjusting the final position of the pan upon reinstallation. I cleaned the transmission off with brake clean and I think the rubber on clean aluminum just didn't slide so it got out of place. Wish I caught that. But at least I found the smoking gun. The bolts weren't loose.
Went to the dealer to buy:
- New gasket (maybe could have reused but did not want to risk if it got damaged)
- New green overflow tube (doubt this was necessary)
- 6L of fluid (at $25/qt)
- New pan bolts (one time use)
So that was like $215 totally wasted.
Drained the pan, removed the pan, cleaned it, installed the new gasket, installed new overflow tube, reinstalled pan carefully, installed the new bolts. I torqued them to 35 in-lbs and then 180 degrees per the directions. This worked fine.
Filled it with 6L. Started it. Shut it off. Started it again. Filled another 2L, shifted through the gears and waited for it to hit 45C. At 45C, I removed the fill adapter, let the overflow amount drain out and once it began to dribble I installed the drain plug, torquing to 16 lb-ft.
Installed underbody cover.
This all took about 3 hours. I don't think it is going to leak but I am slightly concerned about the drive home given the low fluid condition. I did a road test and it seemed to be 100% at least.
Noticed a puddle forming under my car at work yesterday. I had an awful 1 hour commute and there was some hammering in anger. I thought maybe it was coolant or windshield washer fluid. After some meetings I went out to the car before lunch to inspect. Opened the hood and everything seemed in order. Looked closer at the puddle and it was red. Oh no. Stuck my finger in and smelled it. Clearly transmission fluid. Well shit that's bad.
Decided to interrupt my day and just drive it home. I did not know how much fluid it lost but I planned to take it easy. So that's what I did. I made it home. It probably shifted a little firmer than it normally would so I can't say it was unnoticeable but it did shift and again it got me home without any drama.
At home I put it up on the Quickjack to inspect. Found a short section of gasket had gotten folded over to the inside of the pan. I think this happened when I was adjusting the final position of the pan upon reinstallation. I cleaned the transmission off with brake clean and I think the rubber on clean aluminum just didn't slide so it got out of place. Wish I caught that. But at least I found the smoking gun. The bolts weren't loose.
Went to the dealer to buy:
- New gasket (maybe could have reused but did not want to risk if it got damaged)
- New green overflow tube (doubt this was necessary)
- 6L of fluid (at $25/qt)
- New pan bolts (one time use)
So that was like $215 totally wasted.
Drained the pan, removed the pan, cleaned it, installed the new gasket, installed new overflow tube, reinstalled pan carefully, installed the new bolts. I torqued them to 35 in-lbs and then 180 degrees per the directions. This worked fine.
Filled it with 6L. Started it. Shut it off. Started it again. Filled another 2L, shifted through the gears and waited for it to hit 45C. At 45C, I removed the fill adapter, let the overflow amount drain out and once it began to dribble I installed the drain plug, torquing to 16 lb-ft.
Installed underbody cover.
This all took about 3 hours. I don't think it is going to leak but I am slightly concerned about the drive home given the low fluid condition. I did a road test and it seemed to be 100% at least.
Re: 07 S550: Transmission service
Decided to preventatively replace the tranny mount because it's easy.
Didn't get to drive it much but may be a bit smoother. Not a dramatic difference though. I'll get to drive it an hour tomorrow so I'll report back if I have any interesting observations.