Hi All,

Well, the tranny in my 500sel is about done. (It won't find 2nd, has a hard time going into 4th, and sometimes (when warm) starts slipping all over the place...)

Anyway, the local dealer quoted me $4500, and the indy (that I prefer - Andy at Atwood Euro) was $2600.

I shopped around, and found Phoenix Remanufactured Transmissions, also dba Phoenix Hard Parts, and they quoted me $1395. Furhter, they said they would swap them for $375, which means under $1900 total...

My fear, of course, is that if it's "too good to be true"... I have looked on the web, and there are several complaints about them, but then a business that is this big is sure to have a few unhappy customers, so I'm wondering if anyone on this board has any first hand knowledge.

Thanks, as always, for the help.

-David
92 500sel (160k mi.)
85 535i (255k mi.)
93 ZX11 (low miles, too fast...)

Hi. Sorry, no firsthand knowledge with a Benz trans... but, I DID buy a rebuild from them and installed it in my Ford Aerostar...
They were great to deal with and shipped me the new/rebuilt trans UPS! Had to pay an overweight fee, but delivered right to my garage door. Slapped the return label on the old one and UPS picked it up. No fuss, no muss. Rebuilt trans was still working fine 60K miles later when I sold the van.
This experience was about 2 years ago.
Hope this helps.

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KenP

1996 S500 W140 Coupe

I have a friend who put a remanufactured transmission in his 300SD a couple of years ago. He shopped around and got it from the MB dealer for about $1400. He had a local indy put it in for $700. According to him it was as smooth as new. It also came with a 4 year 48 month warranty. I do not know if the price is still the same but you may want to check it out.

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Tom Hughes
St. Louis
84 300SD
92 300D
86 300SDL

Dealers quoted me from $2800 to $3500 for the tranny, and $1000+ in labor.

Yes, they had a great warranty, but I couldn't find one for under $3500... (If I missed something, and someone has received a quote for less than $3000 from a dealer for a 92 500sel tranny, please guide me...)

Thanks for the reply.

-David

I got a trans service from a German Transmission Co or something like that. It was obviously a small shop on 48th St. near the sky harbor. He has access to used. Give him a call. He seems to be good. Did some other work for me on one occasion. Don't really want to say we have along relationship but he may be worth a call.

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Tom Engel
***********
83 240 230K Manual (8/2003)
83 300D 265K (3/2004)
Just a Driver!

I too am looking for transmission help in Phoenix. I'd love to give him a call but there is no sign of such a thing in the Phoenix phone book - white or yellow pages. Got any more clues to find him?

German Trans Co. 602-231-0579

-David

Thanks, I'll give it a try on Monday.

That transmission price for a 300sd that My friend got from the local dealer really did happen. The price may be different, however, for a 500SEL. If you call Tom Hanson at Caliber Motors he can tell you for sure. 800-252-6877 ext 306

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Tom Hughes
St. Louis
84 300SD
92 300D
86 300SDL

Well, the quest continues....

I stopped by Tirman Auto (MB Indy), which is a very nice shop (clean, organized, very professional), and they quoted me $3000 for the tranny (which is going rate), and they offered a strong warranty (3yrs, unl mi.).

This morning I got a call back from German Trans Co., and a very nice and obviously very knowledgeable gentleman talked to me for a few minutes, and proceeded to tell me he would rebuild the tranny for $1200 total.

Last week I was thinking that $1800 might be too good to be true - is it possible that someone could do this job PROPERLY for $1200?

German Trans said he gives a 1 year, 10k miles warranty, which covers everything except towing...

Comments or experiences requested...

-David

And, one more choice...

I called to get a refferal for German Trans from one of the other reputable indy shops in town, and he says "this is your lucky day, I just took in a 92 500sel with crash damage, 40k miles, good tranny. I'll put it in your car for $1200 total."

So, the question is, would you rather have a rebuilty tranny (rebuilt from someone other than MB), or would you rather have a low mileage (but still used) factory slushbox?

Your opinions are appreciated. Thanks

-David

and inspect the car yourself. It sounds very coincidentsl. I am not sure that if, for example, it came from a junkyard instead that I would trust it. 40K is ridiculously low REAL mileage for that car. Run a carfax on the vin of the car he is proposing. Ask him for the vin over the phone and run it. Try to verify mileage.

I cannot say enough bad things about Phoenix Hardparts aka Silverado Transmissions aka Phoenix Remanufactured Transmissions. In my opinion, lousy product (remanufactured transmissions), appalling customer service, dishonest.

I regret having sent them my money. My advice is -- don't repeat my mistake.

Specific issues -- please use google to find wide confirmation of these patterns over years!

- I bought their deluxe extended warranty

- They promised transmission in 7-10 days.

- They couldn't find transmission to ship it on time

- They later claimed that the transmission was in dyno-test

- They later claimed that they were re-rebuilding the tranny

- Eventually they shipped a defective transmission, plus it wasn't even the right kind for my car.

- Their delay cost me an extra $400 in car rental fees.

- They authorized warranty repair of the transmission to make it work in my car.

Finally, the tranny is in the car after a month. Whoops: their transmission didn't work much better than the old one...rough shifting, constant whirring noise. But it also seemed to me that they didn't know how to do any better. I can live with it, long enough to sell the car (wasn't my plan, but is now...)

I tried to ship old transmission back to them to get my $750 core exchange refund.

- they "couldn't find" a shipping authorization form for a week. they didn't seem to want me to ship it back

- finally, they let me ship it back

- they didn't respond to dozens of phone calls, emails, snail mails

- they initially denied having received the core

- I filed a protest with my credit card dispute organization

- They appear to have given the credit card company misleading and erroneous info, confusing / delaying the process

- eventually they admitted to having received the transmission, but whoops, it couldn't be rebuilt (so sorry, no refund!)

!!! The transmission I sent them was nearly as functional as the one they sent me after rebuilding. All the forward gears had been running properly, no slippage or noise. Their claim was that the "overdrive set" was destroyed so the tranny couldn't be rebuilt. In fact, the overdrive set and everything else they claimed was un-rebuildable were fully functional. My mechanic wrote a letter attesting to this.

They never paid the transmission core exchange fee. time ran out with the credit card dispute.

- They also refused to pay the warranty payment for the work I had done. Note that they only would be paying $260 out of a $750 charge.

Bottom line, this "$1200" transmission ended up costing me over $3500 in direct and consequential damages, all for a tranny that now doesn't shift properly and makes noise.

I'm sorry I ever thought of doing business with this company.

I keep telling "YOUSE GUYS".

This is where to send your Mercedes Transmission(s)!

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

I can not agree more with Davodavo. My bad experience parallels his soooo much that I will not waste our time spewing it out here. I wish I had done more research back in feb when my tranny failled. I am still dealing with warrenty issues and the lack of my core refund. I don't think I'll get my 700$ core deposit and I am without a working tranny and it's been over three weeks since my trans shop gave them the list of needed parts. I've called every day to check on things since my messages are rarely returned and all I've gotten is tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. DO NOT DO Business with these people or you may find yourself in my shoes. To be PC - the above rant is my opinion, but certainly not all of my opinions on the matter. If anyone knows of a legal avenue - I'm all ears.