While it's true that you should pay attention to ALL fluids, not just change the engine oil and forget about the rest, i don't really know how often should i replace the other fluids. After buying the car with 130k km on the clock, i changed all the fluids (gearbox, giff, PS, brakes/clutch and coolant). I am pretty sure that except for the brake cicruit, all fluids were original from the factory.
Going back to the 70s, MB never specified a replacement interval for any of these fluids. You're just supposed to check the level every 30k km. While i don't like the idea of a lifetime fluid, i know many old MBs with very high mileages that never had their manual gearbox/rear diff oil changed including my E250 (at least 250k km without a gearbox or rear diff oil change) and everything is smooth as silk, no whining, no play, no leaks, nothing abnormal and it looks like those are never wear points. Of course, everything is original. I am only talking about manual gearboxes and rear diff, i know automatics are different beasts.
I was initially thinking about changing all these fluids every year (around 30k km) but this is way overkill. What about every three years (roughly 100k km)? For the PS circuit i just suck some with a syringe each time i do an oil change. Changing the coolant is not a hard job but the whole system has zero corrosion or deposits and after two years it still looks like the day i put it in. Is 100k km/three years about right for coolant and brake circuit? My biggest concern are the gearbox and the rear diff as i hate having to crawl under a car sitting on jack stands to change these especially to do something that could be useless.
My usage is 75% highway, 25% country roads, no short trips, no stop and go. The few times i drained gearbox and diff oils on old MBs it was a little bit milky from moisture but on one of my previous cars i wanted to drain the rear diff oil after 50k km and two years of highway driving and it was exactly like the day i put it it.
What would be your maintenance plan for my car? Especially for the manual gearbox and the rear differential? Of course i only use MB approved fluids for everything.
Going back to the 70s, MB never specified a replacement interval for any of these fluids. You're just supposed to check the level every 30k km. While i don't like the idea of a lifetime fluid, i know many old MBs with very high mileages that never had their manual gearbox/rear diff oil changed including my E250 (at least 250k km without a gearbox or rear diff oil change) and everything is smooth as silk, no whining, no play, no leaks, nothing abnormal and it looks like those are never wear points. Of course, everything is original. I am only talking about manual gearboxes and rear diff, i know automatics are different beasts.
I was initially thinking about changing all these fluids every year (around 30k km) but this is way overkill. What about every three years (roughly 100k km)? For the PS circuit i just suck some with a syringe each time i do an oil change. Changing the coolant is not a hard job but the whole system has zero corrosion or deposits and after two years it still looks like the day i put it in. Is 100k km/three years about right for coolant and brake circuit? My biggest concern are the gearbox and the rear diff as i hate having to crawl under a car sitting on jack stands to change these especially to do something that could be useless.
My usage is 75% highway, 25% country roads, no short trips, no stop and go. The few times i drained gearbox and diff oils on old MBs it was a little bit milky from moisture but on one of my previous cars i wanted to drain the rear diff oil after 50k km and two years of highway driving and it was exactly like the day i put it it.
What would be your maintenance plan for my car? Especially for the manual gearbox and the rear differential? Of course i only use MB approved fluids for everything.
Last edited: