Got the diagnosis on no upshift; transmission is toast at 191k??

[jbach36]

My car totally out of nowhere after stopping for lunch, suddenly wouldn't upshift. No advance warnng, just one day ... it didn't feel like upshifting anymore. I was stuck driving around at 5 mph.

Had to have it towed to a good MB specialist. They gave me a price to replace the transmission with a rebuilt for $3,400 rather than repairing it. I called a few transmission specialty repair places, and it'd be maybe $2k to repair it (not rebuild it).

The car has a book value of what $3,000 or so. I keep the car up very nice, so it is worth more. I do want to get this fixed, and will try to find a "recently fired" transmission mechanic or something in order to keep the cost down. I talked to one MB transmission specialist recommended on this forum, though he lives in another state. He said it's probably a plastic gear that failed that is preventing the transmission to upshift. He said if that's the problem, the tail housing has to come off, and the drive gear for the governor replaced.

Any suggestions for the Atlanta area?

How long has your transmission lasted? I think this one went too early. I was thinking 250k-350k was the norm.

jeff 1991 300d, 191k

[jsain86]

Originally Posted by jbach36

My car totally out of nowhere after stopping for lunch, suddenly wouldn't upshift. No advance warnng, just one day ... it didn't feel like upshifting anymore. I was stuck driving around at 5 mph.

Had to have it towed to a good MB specialist. They gave me a price to replace the transmission with a rebuilt for $3,400 rather than repairing it. I called a few transmission specialty repair places, and it'd be maybe $2k to repair it (not rebuild it).

The car has a book value of what $3,000 or so. I keep the car up very nice, so it is worth more. I do want to get this fixed, and will try to find a "recently fired" transmission mechanic or something in order to keep the cost down. I talked to one MB transmission specialist recommended on this forum, though he lives in another state. He said it's probably a plastic gear that failed that is preventing the transmission to upshift. He said if that's the problem, the tail housing has to come off, and the drive gear for the governor replaced.

Any suggestions for the Atlanta area?

How long has your transmission lasted? I think this one went too early. I was thinking 250k-350k was the norm.

jeff 1991 300d, 191k

Try unplugging the kickdown switch under the accelerator pedal. Sometimes when they go bad it stops your upshifts

[pmckechnie]

If you search for NO SHIFT you will find several people including my 91 300D that have had this problem. It was the plastic governor gear broken. Fix was replace the gear with the transmission in the car. Cost for me was less than $3.00 + labor.
If you could tell us more about your problem maybe we can help.

PaulM

[tyl604]

1981 300SD. My first tranny went out at 125K. My second went out at 250K. Still my daily driver. Original owner.

Just my experience.

[JamesDean]

Originally Posted by pmckechnie

If you search for NO SHIFT you will find several people including my 91 300D that have had this problem. It was the plastic governor gear broken. Fix was replace the gear with the transmission in the car. Cost for me was less than $3.00 + labor.
If you could tell us more about your problem maybe we can help.

PaulM

Yep. I agree. The 722.418 in that car uses that plastic gear that dies.

If you have access to a lift its probably like an hour or two worth of work. It was pain for me on the ground though but still manageable.

I called local transmission places none of them actually wanted to fix the problem, just replace it. The one place asked me what the car was worth to me right off the bad. All I needed was them to pull this thing and replace a plastic gear, nah.

$3K is high for a rebuilt. Sun Valley is only $1500 plus shipping. Figure another 600-800 to install...

[jbach36]

I'm hoping it's the plastic gear. I'm having a mobile mechanic going to try to fix it. Maybe I'll get lucky, and that's all it is.

[leathermang]

Originally Posted by jbach36

...... and will try to find a "recently fired" transmission mechanic or something ......

Hope you don't find one that was fired because he was bad at fixing transmissions.....that would be a bummer.....

[97 SL320]

The fastest way to tell if the plastic gear is bad is to install a pressure gauge on the governor pressure tap then drive / run the car wheels off the ground. Pressure should rise with speed.

[Mxfrank]

+1 No upshift from which gear? Or no upshift at all? A measurement of working pressure would help pinpoint the problem. If it's the governor, you can buy a new gear or a whole used governor and pop it right in.

My transmission lasted 320K miles, before it failed with a bad K2 clutch pack. The 722.4 is weak, but it's not all that weak. I had my transmission rebuilt by Transspecialities in NJ. They did a great job including installation, for much less than you were quoted. I have more than 20K miles on the rebuild without a problem.

TRANS SPECIALTIES | Remanufactured transmissions | rebuilt transmissions | transmission parts | torque converters

Originally Posted by 97 SL320

The fastest way to tell if the plastic gear is bad is to install a pressure gauge on the governor pressure tap then drive / run the car wheels off the ground. Pressure should rise with speed.

[Skippy]

If it's not the $15 fix then it sounds like a perfect excuse for a manual swap.

[ROLLGUY]

Originally Posted by Mxfrank

If it's the governor, you can buy a new gear or a whole used governor and pop it right in.

It is the secondary pump that causes the gear to break in the first place, so just replacing the gear will not entirely fix the problem. If the other gear has a tooth missing (common), then both gears need to be replaced. If the secondary pump is left in there (actually just the gears need to come out), then the plastic gear(s) may break again. It is not worth the effort to replace the gear(s) without disabling the secondary pump as well.
Everything explained here: Trans experts, join the huddle, I need help with a diagnosis

[oldsinner111]

My trans has 352000 miles,and shifts well.I use syntheic atf.

[jbach36]

Governer gear replaced, and the car's back, shifting and running just fine.

My general and mobile mechanic did NOT check the pump, though I would loved for him to have done that. He said without a lift, the job is just too difficult for him to do. He did spin the pump, said he didn't hear anything moving around in there like loose pieces to the plastic gear that broke. I'm guessing if he spun the pump, that the gears on the pump are fine.

I guess time will tell.

[barry12345]

Welcome to this century. The treatment of a lot of functions as pure unethical profit centers is a way of the times now.

As an example. We have a small job up for bids currently. I know the cost of materials and the approximate time to do it. The bids that have come in except one are at least twice what the job is worth. It is almost if the customer is not aware of things enough you get a free bath.

Only one bid is in the ballpark incidentally. There is no exceptional skill level required either to do the job.

It superficially seems a couple of thousand dollars profit for a small job of one days work by one individual. Including their markup for materials is no longer enough in this period in time.

One bid was basically six to seven thousand for one days labor I estimated. I would do the job myself but newer regulatory issues do not allow it anymore.

It makes you wonder what things are coming to. I have done the identical job many times myself.It is far from rocket science.

I also had to tell the Toyota dealer to stop phoning all too often for example as we will bring the car in at the 18,000 mile check when the wife gets it to 18,000 miles as required.

Not before. Unless there is some inherent problem with the car that the company wants addressed quietly.

I think you get a cabin air filter, oil change basically and perhaps new wiper blades for three to four hundred. The factory tires will be on their last legs by then as well as the original tires are very poor wearing.

Insurance premiums on our properties took a large jump when the invoice arrived last week. So bad we will be shopping around. Never saw an increase like this one.

There were no claims by us for many years. The last and only one was years ago and minor. Also I noticed the deductables have gone from five hundred to two thousand with the new premium rates.

We as a couple are too old for these things to make a major differance. Still not old enough to not care how they will impact the average guy and his family that are much younger than ourselves at the same time.

I am crazy enough to expect any company charging 100.00 an hour to work on a vehicle. . To have the customers interest in mind. Not just seeing it as an opportunity to gouge or unethical profit center instead.

It would have been nice for example if you had taken the car to a Mercedes dealer. Plus they had just diagnosed and repaired the actual issue and let it go at that.

Cows probably have a better chance of flying though in my opinion today. I almost think the average working guy and family have become little more than targets for greed. This may especially include the so called middle class as well.

I think for example our property taxes are going to take a major leap soon as well. The local town tried to annex the area a few years back and failed.

Since that time town taxes have ballooned to five to six times what we pay and they have gotten away with it. Certainly the county we are in is all too aware they did and will try to play at least partial catch up soon enough I think as well.

Just becoming a sad state of affairs overall from my perspective.

[ROLLGUY]

Originally Posted by jbach36

Governer gear replaced, and the car's back, shifting and running just fine.

My general and mobile mechanic did NOT check the pump, though I would loved for him to have done that. He said without a lift, the job is just too difficult for him to do. He did spin the pump, said he didn't hear anything moving around in there like loose pieces to the plastic gear that broke. I'm guessing if he spun the pump, that the gears on the pump are fine.

I guess time will tell.

If the same symptoms occur again, you will know what to do. The gear broke on my bro's '91 300D and I replaced it. About a week later, it broke again. I then removed the secondary pump gears (along with replacing the governor gears again), and all is well. Just letting you know what you could be in for.....Rich