Hi All!

I am here in the LA area and I was curious if anyone had any suggestions for a shop to do a Transmission Rebuild or swap - depending on what is cheaper? I have a 1981 300SD (w126). I have been putting off getting the transmission rebuilt or swapped and now it's time...

I had one quote for roughly $3K? I was hoping for the $1500-$2k range if possible.

thanks in advance!

Swaps are tricky unless you know where the transmission came from. Most mechanics won't do a swap with a used transmission or if they do there will be no warranty on the work. If you are DIY, you can only loose your own labor in the process.

The obvious shop in the area would be Sun Valley. They specialize in Mercedes transmission rebuilding.

rebuilt remanufactured mercedes benz automatic transmissions

Dkr.

I guess this is a reapeat but I am going to leave it.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/sun-valley-mercedes-transmissions-llc-van-nuys-2

I bought used rear trailing arms from Sun Valley Mercedes but they are also know for their rebuilt transmissions. A couple of our members have mentioned them and even gotten advice from the one of their transmission guys.

The best way to be sure you are getting a used Engine or Transmission is to test drive a body damaged car that is selling cheap and if they are OK buy the whole car.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I'll put a Sun Valley trans in before having mine rebuilt. They have a very good reputation. There isn't much reason to screw around unless you need cheap. Cheap can turn into expensive and a time hog.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Over a couple of hundred thousand on my Sun Valley Trans. No leaks, shifts great.


Very humble operation. I think the owner's name is Mark. Search "Sun Valley" here. Lot's of positive for Mark and his Sun Valley Dismantle / Transmission company.


Should I ever need another older MB trans...I'm trekking back to Sun Valley.

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1986 300SDL 440,xxx

Thanks guys! I will reach out to Sun Valley - since I am close. Do you know if they will do the swap as well - or just sell the transmission?

I believe they can, but they are cramped for space and may not be able to R&R it, but only sell you a rebuilt trans.
Also, I have met Mark and he is a straight up guy. You won't find a better place for an MB trans rebuild.

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All Diesel Fleet
1985 R107 300SLD TURBODIESEL
2005 E320 CDI (daily)

LOTS of parts for sale!


EGR block kit
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/355250-sale-egr-delete-block-off-plate-kit.html

1985 CA emissions 617 owners- You Need This!
Sanden style A/C Compressor Mounting Kit for your 616/ 617 For Sale + Install Inst.

Sanden Instalation Guide (post 11):
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/367883-sanden-retrofit-installation-guide.html

How old is Mark? I may buy one to have as extra for when one of the SD trannys let go. All of my friends are getting old and don't want or need to work. I expect Mark might have things to do besides build transmissions.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Here is my thread on Sun Valley

Sun Valley Rebuilt Transmissions thoughts?

I waited three years till I moved to SoCal to deal with my aging 722.3 tranny. You are in the right town. Take it to Marc. I have 20,000 miles on my rebuild and I love it. My daily driver. I did lose my neutral safety switch three months after receiving the rebuild. When I removed it I found it was a non mb clone. Marc has a good service policy and would have undoubtedly fixed it for free but I didn’t bother since it only takes 15 min to replace myself.

I had my trans swapped out with a fully rebuilt unit. They did the swap for $500 which is a deal. $2300 out the door as I recall with no goofy core claw backs. I suspect the trans will outlast my interest in the car.

I’m bad with ages I’d say he’s 50? He had a lot of 722.x in progress but the new mb trannies are filling up the place. Apparently they need rebuilding and special mods that improve durability.

My thread documents a little of what to expect. It was a one month process and I should have just bought a beater car to drive in the meantime and left the 300sd with them. Marc is one of the more interesting people I met that year. He likes to talk and you can learn a lot.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

Do they sell on an exchange basis?

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon

Yeah, you need some kind of core. You can bring in yours if you want the numbers to match or in my case I said I wanted a 722.303xx and the made one and swapped mine out.

There is just one price though. I never asked but I think mine had a bad pump. Most rebuilders will ding you on the core refund in that case given the cannot reuse the pump. SV has one price. You can literally go down to pick n pull get a trans with stripped planets and send it to them. Same price. It all works out for a super deal after the smoke clears.

The trans is no longer OE. It is modded to SV specs for durability and drivability. There are many tweaks including custom internals that won’t break like OE. I forgot the details but depending on the unit, over spec’d springs, fasteners, and modified valves are used.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

I bought a trans for my Dodge Cummins. The builder charged me $250 or so which included shipping the new trans to me and my core back to him.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Wow what did he do? Change some seals? That sounds really cheap.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

They swapped mine out while I waited. They gave me a chair and box for my laptop to do a little work while I waited... just a couple hours from drive up time to heading home.

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1986 300SDL 440,xxx

Hey all, I just picked up my 1981 300sd after completing the transmission swap and it is sooo much better! Mark is a gem. He was unable to do the swap so he suggested I take it to Boulevard Auto Repair in Glendale to do the swap. It took about a week or so for them to get the transmission ready, to Boulevard for the swap, and then the actual swap to happen. The process was pretty easy.

That being said I do have some minor concerns that I am trying to sort out.

1. When i picked up the car and drove it home - the transmission was still flaring a bit in 2nd gear - pretty much only 2nd gear. It seemed to die down after a it warmed after about 3-4 miles a few dead stops. I am going to keep monitoring it, but is this something I should be concerned about? Mark does warranty the transmission for 2 years, so I am not too concerned, other than figuring out when I can take it back up there.

2. When Boulevard swapped out the transmission, the AC blower stopped working. They noted that it was not working when I picked it up, and it was when I dropped it off before the swap. I am going to check fuses and a few other cables to see if something became loose or blown. Question - is this something that could happen with the transmission swap? the push button control looked a little off when I drove it home.

Thanks in advance!