I am replacing the conductor plate on my '02 996.2. After much heartache of getting the retaining screw out the valve body finally came out. It has two plastic covers, that have yellowed and become brittle, over the solenoid banks. One has broken off and cracked, the other has small cracks around its edges. The service manual does not mention them at-all. They have Mercedes part numbers printed on them, that I can not find on the internet.

I have read (https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...id-covers.html) that they are there to protect the solenoid banks from debris, but I think there would be much greater problems, if there were any significant debris floating around in the transmission. So far there has been none at-all. The sump pan has cleaned up very nicely and the magnet did not have very much sludge.

In the post mentioned earlier, it was suggested to omit them from the re-install.

What do you all say?

Thanks

- Rick