Parrot of Doom
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2005
- Messages
- 2,167
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Manchester
- Your Mercedes
- Was an E300TD, now a Lexus LS400
Did the job today, although I was really a spectator as my mate did most of the work. Its actually quite straightforward, and I took some piccies as well. Most of the piccies are from the rear, looking forward (you can see the exhaust and cat on the right).
1) Make sure the engine and gearbox are up to running temperature
2) Drive car onto ramps, leave in neutral with engine off
3) Lift the car up on the ramps
4) Remove the plastic cover protecting the pan (about 8 self tapping bolts with washers)
5) Remove the drain plug (allen key) and drain the ATF into a bucket, only a couple of litres will come out of here:
6) Leave until its stopped dripping, and then remove the pan (6 torque bolts). Gasket is attached to the lip of the pan. Be careful there will be a litre or so of fluid in the pan, so hold it steady! Once its stopped, you should be looking at this:
7) Remove old filter, this is the hole it plugs into:
8 ) Wait for drips to stop
9) Reattach the pan, loosely - this stops more ATF dripping on your head while you're draining the torque convertor
10) Hunt for torque convertor drain plug - as luck would have it, the bugger was nowhere to be seen, so my mate pushed the flywheel around with a thick screwdriver. It took about 10 minutes, but slowly he managed to turn the flywheel enough and reveal the drain plug. He was pushing the wheel to the right as he stood - thats anti-clockwise as you're behind it (ie facing forward). You can see the plug below:
11) Remove drain plug, hold bucket underneath. About another 3-4 litres should come out of here, and quickly too:
12) Wait for everything to drain, then reattach the plug. We fitted the washer backwards, to make a better seal.
13) Put new filter into position
14) Clean the pan, put new gasket on the edge (fits beautifully), bolt back into position. The design of the bolts means you can't damage the pan by overtightening, which I thought was clever.
15) Put the drain plug back on the pan, and nip tight. Its an aluminium bolt so be careful.
16) Put the plastic cover back in position
17) Lower car on ramps, open bonnet, remove filler cap (screwdriver may be required)
18 ) Get a funnel, and pour the new ATF down. Go slowly.
We didn't have a dipstick, so we filled her up with the same amount as what we drained. I did this by collecting the old ATF in the same bucket, and pouring it into each empty bottle of new ATF we used. Once the bucket was empty, we stopped filling it up. I'm going to take it to a nearby indy and have it checked just to be on the safe side.
The differences are quite subtle, certainly upchanges are much smoother, although downchanges are most pronounced, particularly after using kickdown. The car moves into gear from neutral more quickly, I'd say maybe 1-2 tenths of a second quicker.
The old ATF was very dark brown. It didn't smell burnt, and there were no metal filings or particles anywhere to be seen, so I'm assuming the box is fine and its just never been changed (167000 miles). My mate said we could have been draining the engine oil it was that black!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tom.jeffs4/car stuff/merc tech/atf change/old atf.jpg
Obviously it goes without saying that we cleaned everything in sight with a rag and cleaning fluids, including the pan.
1) Make sure the engine and gearbox are up to running temperature
2) Drive car onto ramps, leave in neutral with engine off
3) Lift the car up on the ramps
4) Remove the plastic cover protecting the pan (about 8 self tapping bolts with washers)
5) Remove the drain plug (allen key) and drain the ATF into a bucket, only a couple of litres will come out of here:
6) Leave until its stopped dripping, and then remove the pan (6 torque bolts). Gasket is attached to the lip of the pan. Be careful there will be a litre or so of fluid in the pan, so hold it steady! Once its stopped, you should be looking at this:
7) Remove old filter, this is the hole it plugs into:
8 ) Wait for drips to stop
9) Reattach the pan, loosely - this stops more ATF dripping on your head while you're draining the torque convertor
10) Hunt for torque convertor drain plug - as luck would have it, the bugger was nowhere to be seen, so my mate pushed the flywheel around with a thick screwdriver. It took about 10 minutes, but slowly he managed to turn the flywheel enough and reveal the drain plug. He was pushing the wheel to the right as he stood - thats anti-clockwise as you're behind it (ie facing forward). You can see the plug below:
11) Remove drain plug, hold bucket underneath. About another 3-4 litres should come out of here, and quickly too:
12) Wait for everything to drain, then reattach the plug. We fitted the washer backwards, to make a better seal.
13) Put new filter into position
14) Clean the pan, put new gasket on the edge (fits beautifully), bolt back into position. The design of the bolts means you can't damage the pan by overtightening, which I thought was clever.
15) Put the drain plug back on the pan, and nip tight. Its an aluminium bolt so be careful.
16) Put the plastic cover back in position
17) Lower car on ramps, open bonnet, remove filler cap (screwdriver may be required)
18 ) Get a funnel, and pour the new ATF down. Go slowly.
We didn't have a dipstick, so we filled her up with the same amount as what we drained. I did this by collecting the old ATF in the same bucket, and pouring it into each empty bottle of new ATF we used. Once the bucket was empty, we stopped filling it up. I'm going to take it to a nearby indy and have it checked just to be on the safe side.
The differences are quite subtle, certainly upchanges are much smoother, although downchanges are most pronounced, particularly after using kickdown. The car moves into gear from neutral more quickly, I'd say maybe 1-2 tenths of a second quicker.
The old ATF was very dark brown. It didn't smell burnt, and there were no metal filings or particles anywhere to be seen, so I'm assuming the box is fine and its just never been changed (167000 miles). My mate said we could have been draining the engine oil it was that black!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tom.jeffs4/car stuff/merc tech/atf change/old atf.jpg
Obviously it goes without saying that we cleaned everything in sight with a rag and cleaning fluids, including the pan.
Thanks very much!
