W124 Transmission Help
 

Spring is almost here and my 300ce has to come out of storage soon, but not before replacing the transmission. Those of you who know me, may remember that it wasn't the B2 Piston that was broken in my car (something internal).

There seems to be 3 options for this repair:

1.Replace with Mercedes oem rebuild through the dealer.
2.Have a quality rebuild through Mercedes specialist.
3.Buy a used transmission.

Option 1 is $2400 CDN dollars = $2000 USD
Option 2 is $1500 CDN dollars = $1200 USD
Option 3 I'm not interested at this point (although the MB dealer head mechanic recommended this to me)
*Prices are for the transmission alone and do not include tax or labour or gasket,atf,filter.

The place I'm interested regarding the aftermarket option is:

http://www.eurowa.com/

He has a solid reputation from what I hear. He also offers the same 2 year warranty as the Mercedes Dealer and is the closest to me.

2 other companies I found that interest me are:

http://www.jie.com/Mercedes/mercedes_benz_transmissions.htm
http://www.europeantransmissions.com/

Both seem to be very knowledgable and friendly. My problem is that they are too far away.

My questions for you gentlemen are as follows:

1. Does anyone have any experience with any of these 3 companies?
2. Has anyone had aa excellent rebuild with another shop?
3. Who feels that this should be dealer-only option?
4. Should the torque converter be rebuilt as well?

Here is the info on my transmission:
Transmission # 722.358 03174599
Part # 124 270 43 01

Thank You in Advance

european exchange of hackensack nj is good with the rebuilt /exchange deal on transmissions.

Did you have a transmission rebuilt by this company or did you hear that they were good?

Lino,
What are the warrantee terms for options 1 & 2?
and How many miles (oops) Kilos on the CE?

Both Option 1 and Option 2 offer a 2 year / unlimited mileage warranty.

My car has approximately 119,000 miles.

And for option 2,.. how complete of a rebuild is it? (i.e. typically planetary, sun... should be ok) Are there any other items that will NOT be replaced?

Option 1 (Mercedes) said that they will only replace any broken parts they find when the open the transmission and clean and test the rest and change some soft parts. That's all they would tell me.

Option 2 (Aftermarket) said that they replace seals, clutches, bands and some other parts that I can't remember the names of. All hard parts are checked to meet standards and then dyno tested. They actually prefer the car to be there to do the testing and final adjustments.

What I need is a check list of what should be replaced and checked on a transmission rebuild and compare that to what they offer. If anyone can provide one, it would be realy appreciate it. I'm very unfamiliar with automatic transmission inner workings.

Thank You

I just got off the phone with a Mercedes transmission rebuilder who has been in the business for 50 years. This German gentleman told me that a 722.320 is the same as a 722.358 and that a 300e transmission from 1986-1990 will fit my 1989 300ce. Is this possible?

Hey Lino,
This is a little peculiar. Where is all the good advice?
My $0.02 US (approx. $0.0275 Can) would be that Mercedes will charge you a premium. If a tranny rebuild will fail, most likely it will be within the first few months... If I were going for a rebuild... I would go for the "Mercedes specialist" (Option#2) and save a few Dollars. As long as your satisfied they are honest and capable. You are getting the same deal as far as you can determine.
The used tranny option is also something I would consider, especially if the 300E trannys will work in you car as you have suggested. I think I would look for a low mileage wreck and try to use some parts off of it to help foot the bill and keep as spares for your self... Though, that has been MY focus since I failed to procure a $300.00 front end wrecked 87 300E before Christmas.

What about Option 4: 5 speed manual conversion? :D

I was thinking about that as option 3+. Might be a little involved though unless you luck out with a suitable car being available for the task. Sure would be a nice end result of some bad luck.

Thnaks guys for your advice. I share this car with someone who doesn't know how to drive a manual, otherwise that would have been a serious consideration. I know someone who had the transmission from a 1986 wreck, but it does me no good. I get my manual transmission kicks from another one of my cars ;) .