Hello,

I have a quick question regarding whether or not to purchase a car, and I'm hoping to get some sound advice...

I went to look at an '81 240D tonight. The car is in pretty good shape and the engine started right up, sounds pretty good. The only problem is the automatic transmission does nothing. You move the shifter and there is no indication that the transmission is doing anything. I did look under the car, but of course, I didn't jack it up and inspect the transmission, nor would I know exactly which items would be suspect. My question is this: what might be the worst case expenditure? The owner offered to sell me the car for $250... Like I said, everything else looked good, the a/c even works... it's been converted to R134 and blows really cold. The owner had messed with the vacuum system some previously and had removed the unit which sits atop the valve cover and bypassed it because he said the previous one wasn't working (he had a used unit in the trunk which he had yet to install). The door locks operated fine and the air blew through the center dash vents, which is the only indication I know of for vacuum system leaks. I do understand that the shift timing is controlled by vacuum, but I'm not sure if that would play into the current problem.

$250 sounds ridiculously cheap, and I'm not afraid to tinker and work on the car, but for the transmission, I would have this car towed straight to a shop. I just don't know how much money I could end up spending if I had to rebuild or replace the transmission.

He said it was working up until about 6 months ago and just stopped. He's not bothered to fix it, and he's got several other vehicles and motorcycles about. He said he's just not interested in this car and wants it gone...

Could anyone please tell me what I might reasonably suspect to be the problem? I could budget up to about $1500 to repair the transmission and still feel like I got a good deal on the car. If the situation sounds fishy, then please let me know what you think. Not being able to drive the car, there might be other problems, but everything I could see where it sat looked great.
Thanks.

Hello, If nothing else sounds like a cheap parts car. I'm like you, I wouldn't touch a transmission job myself. But if everything else is in good shape it might even pay to have one installed. HTH JEFF

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1981 240d aka "The rust bucket"

It would make a great parts car, but that's not what I'm interested in. I want to be able to drive this thing in about three months, which means I could bring the car to my house and try to figure all this out myself over the summer... I'm just not sure what to make of it at the moment. My fear is not that I'd lose my $250, but that I might need to spend a lot more in the transmission or drivetrain than the car is worth.

Dont worry about spending more than the car's worth. 4cyl 240D's been skyrocketing in value these past few years. Estimate good used replacement tranny about $400 in parts + 4hrs labor professionally installed. And that's way below yer $250 + $1500 budget plan, leavin lots of room for unknown variables down the road.

I'd second that. A good W123 240D is worth more than $250 with NO transmission in it, IMO.

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1982 240D automatic
Odometer quit at 307K...about 325K now

How many miles on it? Sounds like a good price. Should be able to get a used trans at a Pick and Pull for about $150. Couple of days to put it in yourself or pay a shop. Does the transmission have fluid in it? Without fluid it won't do anything.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to contact the owner and tell him I'll take it. I'm not sure if I'll get it towed to a shop or brought back to my house for me to fiddle with.

Well, I found a trans shop that's worked on many old mercedes and I spoke to the guy. He was very friendly, and said he'd come up and meet me tomorrow afternoon and arrange a wrecker at a reasonable price and lock the car up in his shop. He said a rebuild might be as much as $1100, or a lot less depending on the exact problem. I'm optimistic.
Thanks for the advice.
Rob.

Well, I bought the 240D and it's a good thing I only paid $250. I spoke to the transmission shop this afternoon and apparently the pump came apart and destroyed the torque converter. He'll have to rebuild the transmission, but needs a new pump and torque converter. He was looking for these two items when I spoke to him. I'd like to hunt for these myself. I typically find that parts found on the internet are cheaper than what the mechanic finds and I've even had instances when mechanics told me parts couldn't be located when I found them in 10 minutes or less of searching on the internet. I did a couple of checks and I couldn't find the torque converter or pump. Could anyone suggest to me where I might find these? New, rebuilt or used?
Thanks,
Rob.

I just spoke to the mechanic again. I'll need another trans because the planetaries are also shot in this trans. He said it would be better to find a used trans for him to rebuild than to try to rebuild this one... I don't know if there are any salvage yards where I live which would have this part. I'm told it's a 722 trans with a 4 bolt pan. I just spoke to a foreign salvage yard in my town which was recommended to me. They told me that they had a trans for a 300D but it wouldn't work in my car and that they couldn't help me.
Any cheap transmissions in Texas? Further south the better.
Thanks.