Originally Posted by
xintersecty
This is taking a while for all this material to absorb into my brain. The past two days, I got the fluid drained from dropping the transmission pan. It's only three liters and not the 5 expected. I tried replacing the electrical socket with the new one. Alas, it would not go in. I had to move the O-rings to the old one and it slid in nicely. The entire bottom of the car was very dirty from both trans leakage and motor oil. I suspect the valve covers will need a new gaskets. I had only ordered two gallons of ATF and after reviewing all the procedures, I realize I need three gallons to do a proper flush. So back to Rock Auto for the third gallon. Everything is back together and very clean. Now I will see about putting together the material for draining the trans fluid. I have a oil pump that I can use to push the new fluid into the fill tube. So that will help.
Do you have instructions as to filling the transmission? You need to bring it up to operating temperature. I do not know what that is off the top of my head, but it is on the forum some place. When you get it to the correct temp be sure you measure the fluid with the
engine running and the car in park. I found there was a two liter difference with the car running and not running even when at the proper temperature 113F / 45C on the M113. You must buy a generic dip stick for the tube on the back of the engine for the trans fluid. You can find them on ebay.
You did the right thing in moving the O-rings back to your original socket. The new sockets will not work on our cars; Something was lost when Mercedes went to revised one size for numerous cars.
The instructions for the valve cover gaskets call for just cleaning the mating surface well and placing the new gaskets down on the bare metal. I put just a very small dab of Black ultra RTV in the grove of the valve cover on both ends where they make that semi circle dip and I use Permatex #2 ( non hardening) with a light coat on the gasket face where it will contact the head. Just on the lower half as it sets in oil all the time. I did that on my Limited back in 2011 and no leaks to this day. If the breathers are leaking on the top of the valve covers you need to be certain the small hole where the vacuum hose attaches is open. If that si closed with dirt you will have excess pressure in the crankcase and force more oil out the rear seal and you end up with another leak. You use the Black ultra RTV to make the gasket for the breathers. All this info is here on the forum; Just use the search box upper right corner with the goggle option or use the "Index of Crossfire problems and repairs" in the TBS and How to Section. That is a great reference source every Crossfire owner needs to be familiar with.