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Transmission leak

3K views 21 replies 5 participants last post by  Adam 
#1 ·
Starting this post with my 2022 135" cargo. Bought it with 11 miles on the dash. Waited 1500 miles and just did first oil change (break in oil change) to get any metal out. As looking under the van at my friend's shop I see some oil coming from the transmission line fittings( the ones for oil cooler) not a tear drop drip yet but definitely enough for me to see it and swipe it with my finger. My friend who is a mechanic for 30+ years says let's keep an eye on it. I'm so upset it's 1500 miles and I feel like I have a leak already. 😞
 
#17 ·
Might just be a loose fitting. I think it better to get it looked into and addressed than to continue to drive the vehicle and worry about the leak getting worse.

But unless fluid is hitting the ground the dealer may not consider the problem a serious enough leak to justify doing anything. That is with other German vehicles that is what the techs told me is used to distinguish between a fluid seep/weep or a leak.
 
#4 ·
Welcome aboard!

Ditto @icerabbit, especially on the trans -- get thee to the dealer. I understand the early oil change, but IMHO it's completely unnecessary with the M274, unless you swapped out the synthetic oil for some kind of dyno rack break-in oil. I think how you drive it in the first 1,000 to 1,500 is what matters on engine life nowadays, but it sounds like the inspection opportunity was worth it given the leak you found (especially if the shop has a lift!). Of course, 8 quarts of oil is cheap insurance if there were any engine contamination. But it's that large oil capacity that allows for the extended oil change intervals.

I have the old form 7/120 ELW on my '18 135 Cargo, and it came with 2 (A & B) free services. Because of the ELW, I am not going to touch the van myself until it expires, after which I'll do routine maintenance like plugs, oil, trans and brakes. I am somewhat paranoid about giving MB any excuse to dishonor the ELW. Given my mostly short trip driving, early oil changes made a lot of sense (~10k & 18k). My dealer is unwavering about the 12 month/15,000 mile interval so that the 12 months actually drives the maintenance schedule in my case, at least so far. I did balk at the 30,000 mile spark plug change (due at 45k), but the dealer insisted. I swallowed hard and rationalized it on the short trip, frequent warm-up cycle theory, though I still don't really buy it. That was about $6 bills.

MB does call for an "early" trans fluid change at 30,000, as I recall. Because I am a low miles driver, I wound up having that done with the B service at about 18,000 miles. I was happy to do that one early. I have not investigated why they do the trans fluid early, but my guess is it has to do with break-in or the risk of manufacturing debris, which is why we did early oil changes pre-synthetic motor oil and unleaded gas.
 
#19 ·
Owned a car with an engine that required 9+ quarts of oil. While the factory called for 15K mile oil changes and 30K mile filter changes on a whim I had the oil analyzed at 4K miles. The analysis found 7% water in the oil. That's around 1/2 quart of water. The problem was even though I drove the car a lot and at highway speeds it was winter and I found out -- from observing the coolant temperature via an OBD2 scan tool -- the coolant (and as a result the oil) ran cool and the oil didn't get hot enough to boil the water out of the oil.

After the analysis I changed the oil the next day. And thereafter changed the oil (and filter) every 5K miles.

Will add to some degree it is the amount of oil that plays a role in allowing for extended drain intervals but also how the vehicle is driven. As has been my habit for years before heading out on an extended road trip I'd change the oil to start the trip with fresh oil. I'd make the trip and cover ~4K miles (or one case 8K) miles over a week or so. After the trip and back home in not too much time the oil would have 5K miles and I'd change it. It was interesting to observe the oil draining still had some amber color to it was still a bit translucent compared to oil that had been in the same engine with the car mainly used for work commuting with some errand running. In this case the oil drained was black as the ace of spades and was quite opaque.

It was clear to me if my usage involved long highway speed trips the oil would be good for 10K miles maybe even more miles. But with the exception of a road trip every so often that was not my usage pattern.

It is good to read that M-B calls for an early trans fluid change. I am in favor of this -- just like I'm in favor of an early engine oil/filter service -- for both manual and automatic transmissions. Automatic transmissions have lots of friction surfaces (brake bands or multi-plate clutches) that are used to engage/disenage the various gear paths in an automatic. These friction surfaces shed particulate matter. There is a filter but I feel better especially with an automatic transmission changing the fluid and filter early.
 
#5 ·
I found that it took 8.5 qt to replace oil. Yes that is why we get long mileage intervals. I'll probably be changing every 8k because of turbo and of hard driving. It is my service van and I will be putting on 35k a year. I can't take it to dealer right away because I just finished up fitting it and I need to drive the **** thing so I can make money lol. Being that it's not even a drip yet I will just keep an eye on it. Just sucks because my friend said it's like a push on hose line with o rings (Aluminum hose line) so I cant even mess with that. If it was easy I would just fix the thing to save me time. My friend does have 2 lifts at the shop so I'll be inspecting it frequently. I also made a hole in plastic cover so we can un screw bolt and drain engine oil easy. 30k for transmission oil change wow that's crazy. I will be ready more from manual on maintenance soon.
 
#6 ·
It sounds you like you have technical expertise and a good connection for service work. You'll be covered, whenever you decide it is a problem.

Did you DIY the up-fit?
Hire it done?
Any pictures?

Wink wink :)

And yes, for those of use who don't put a lot of miles on vehicles per se; the nn thousand miles or n years that MB (and likely other EU manufacturers just the same) insist on, stings, to keep the warranty going. I just took our other Benz to a large indie mechanic shop, specializing in EU vehicles, saves a little bit on the dealer fees, same kind of the insistence though of doing things by the book schedule. But, off warranty, I politely decline and stretch things out a bit. I understand they want to keep the vehicle autobahn ready ... but I am not a race car driver, modern fluids don't go bad in a couple years of 6-8-10k driving. I think. 😇
 
#7 ·
Yea here some pictures. Put on the 3 windows, sound proofed walls, partition, rack on top, shelving in aluminum. Getting coil springs and shocks for the rear from France in a week or so.
 

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#8 ·
Wow, very nice -- those cabinets are awesome in stainless. Are those the vanLiner side panels?
 
#12 ·
Quite a bit of polishing on that aluminum!
 
#13 ·
Mirror wise, once set I don't adjust them.

I set them on the wide side ( wider than driving school back in the day ) and recommend a pair of the wide insets. Makes the world of difference for me in terms of blind spots. I don't know what MB is doing to this day with their sedans, SUVs, vans ... but it is not enough. They used to have such wonderful no blind spot mirrors on both sides of vehicles ... but US laws I guess ... and MB wanting to sell blind spot monitoring systems?

Automotive side-view mirror Mirror Plant Motor vehicle Automotive lighting


On the way home I was in the slow lane, going through a toll booth cash lane, a tractor trailer tried to pass me on the right via the fast easy pass lane for trucks and nearly clipped me from the right as I tried to merge left. Never saw him, nor did I expect him ... but anyhow. Over the next couple weeks, I found the mirrors seriously lacking coverage width on both sides. Looked at options. The above set (one L, one R) works a treat! AMZ purchase.
 
#14 ·
@ierabbit is right about setting mirrors. If you can see the side of the van without craning to one side or the other, the mirror is not set wide enough. I don't know about legality, but Ford uses the mirror shown below with an inset wide angle section and it works great.

Eye glass accessory Goggles Eyewear Automotive design Tints and shades
 
#15 ·
That's the one good thing about Ford (there may be others).

I like to keep the outer edge and lower side as clear ... and figured the smartest position was to put it there the sky would otherwise be. It has a little swivel point so you can push it slightly up down left right.
 
#16 ·
I do like yours -- as I recall, the initial problem was with flat mirrors as opposed to the (convex?) shape with the "objects may be closer than they appear" warning that some models come with. I recall test driving a bare bones cargo and not being able to see squat. The B-C pillar windows I added are reassuring.
 
#18 ·
Exactly. It wasn't even a legitimate "tear drop" leak. It was sweat.... but even that still set me off knowing a have a sweating oil cooler line/ soon to be leak. It's okay. It's the new way of building cars. By the time it's a serious problem the car will be half dead. Hopefully that is. Warranty will take care of it later with a little bit of yelling and whining
 
#22 ·
Hahahah. Your absolutely right. Sometimes I think they do it to laugh at us. "Hahaha. I just made a new formula. I think I'll start this one at 250$ a tank" and thank you it too a couple weeks. Waiting for rear lifting springs and shocks now.
 
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