Category: MB E200 2007

The lowdown: Before you go and get a thermostat, there is a part that is very often broken along with your broken thermostat, it is the casing (the plastic thing that holds the thermostat in place).

Again, this is my W211, and the process itself is very simple as you will see below, loosen the cold air duct in front of the engine to make room for the screws to be removed, remove a couple of screws, install, then put them back, that is all there is to it.

When i came to change my thermostat, i unscrewed the 2 screws that hold the plastic casing in place at the front of the engine, and before you know it, it dropped, i thought there would be pulling, but no, the spacer that holds the thermostat in place, and is part of the casing/pipe was broken from the word go

Before you try to pull the spacer (Plastic cylinder) from inside, you need to remove the o ring which is likely trapped between the spacer and the engine (Near the surface), once the o ring is out, the plastic cylinder will come right out.

Once you do, your thermostat might be busted, but in my case, the rubber seal was not sitting right, probably due to the broken spacer, and created a space between the thermostat and the spacer, hence the problem

So i have a 2008 Mercedes-Benz E 200 Kompressor 5G-Tronic (W211). being aware of the theory that changing transmission fluid after having 135K Kms on the car will break my transmission/gearbox and finding it hard to believe, I decided to try it myself.

Why I am doubting this theory

My theory is about the origins of “transmissions breaks when fluid is changed”, and why it is likely WRONG.

The origin of that theory is probably the number of people who have problems soon after changing transmission fluid, and basically there is nothing wrong with the theory in this regard but bear with me.

my counter theory is, when people change their transmission fluid at such high mileage, they are not exactly servicing the car on proper intervals, the reminder to change the fluid for them was probably that the transmission acting up, so the transmission is on it’s last leg, you change the fluid, but the fluid can’t save the transmission, it is too late, the dirt in the dirty transmission fluid was creating a bit of friction (and accelerating the wear in the process), the situation is bad enough that you went to change the fluid to see if that helps, the transmission keeps on deteriorating because it is already going in that direction, so what do you do, you blame the oil change ! “It was working at least before I changed the oil !”

So my car comes with the 1.8L M271 , My transmission is probably the 722.695.

I have already drained 3Liters of fluid (All that was in the pan), and filled the transmission with 3 liters of Mercedes-Benz 236.14 transmission fluid, I have also replaced the oil filter and the pan gasket. there is a magnet stuck to the pan from the inside, be sure to clean that too !

Later on, I drained another liter and a half, and added a liter and a half, and kept half a liter to top it up once i find my relevant dipstick (Does not come with the car)

There are alternatives to the somewhat expensive MB fluid, but since i couldn’t find an MB certified one, or at least a fluid that claims to be the same, I decided to bite the bullet and go with the original.

UPDATE: After one year (today is April 19 2024), the transmission is working exactly the same as it was before changing the fluid, things seem to be going just fine.