300E '86 5-sp manual gearbox oil fill?

[jrisko]

A friend was driving my 1986 300E 5-speed manual and noticed a "gear whine" noise, and he also noticed that it was sometimes hard to change into first gear. He then said I probably need to add oil in the gearbox. I noticed this when he pointed it out but I guess got used to it...

Anyone know how to check if I need gearbox oil? Then if I do need it, is it difficult to add or change if I wanted to do it myself?

-j

 

[tom7035]

Underneath the car, there is a combined filler/level plug on the side of the gearbox which needs a hexagonal key (or a long nut of suitable size and a spanner) to remove. Top up with MB manual transmission fluid until it just runs out from the filler hole and replace the plug. If you want to drain, the drain plug is similar but of course on the bottom of the 'box.
Do it straight away. Simple job.

 

[jrisko]

thanks!

Thanks for the info! I'll look under there and do it asap!

-j

 

[tom7035]

Gearbox oil.

As a P.S. to the above, if you find there's not a lot of oil in the gearbox there has to be a reason. A gearbox doesn't 'use' oil as an engine can, it can only leak it.

 

[jrisko]

hmmm.... the clutch was changed about 6 months ago... wonder if something could have happened during this operation...

btw... the car has over 350K miles on it...

-j