I've been royally stuffed around with parts delays for the transmission. Was told at 2:40pm yesterday the parts I ordered Monday 'might' be delivered next week.... 'sometime'.
I cancelled the order and ordered another kit from Sydney to be shipped overnight....3 days now and it only shipped this morning,
AFTER I had already started to cancel the order.... because....
Yesterday I ordered an original Mercedes Benz kit from Melbourne, to be shipped overnight. What a PITA and DOUBLE the price.... but it's a genuine MB kit and it was confirmed overnight shipping.
So now I have 2x filters on the way.
Still cheaper than $1200 at the dealers. I estimate this service (Engine oil+filter, Air filter, front & rear Diffs, Transfer box, & Transmission) has cost me around $270 in parts & fluids, and a days work. Which is fine because I'm not working to make any money at the moment. Time I have, dollars I do not.
So if anyone wants a genuine Mercedes/Mopar transmission filter at 'cost' ($45 posted) please contact me. I don't think it's worth keeping a spare for the next service in another 100,000kms!
I've also worked out why they stopped putting the drain plug in the pan. When they moved to Synthetic fluid, MB advised that with the new combination of synthetic fluid and carbon clutch friction material, the gearbox was now "sealed for life" and did not require any fluid changes. They have since revised this, and now advise a change at 40,000-60,000miles, to remove the loose carbon from the friction plates floating around in the oil. But after that, no more fluid changes are required until the transmission reaches "end of life". There was a lot of discussion what that meant.... Who's life? It appears they meant the life of the friction plates in the transmission. So if you're 'heavy' on the transmission, you will get a shorter life and need a recondition sooner, meaning you will get new fluid
THEN! If you are gentle on your transmission and never wear out the friction plates, then you never change your fluid after the one and only "flush" at 40,000-60,000miles. Hmm....