My 1990 Baby Benz 190E (2.6) was running perfectly. I came to a stop at a stop sign, and when I went to pull away, the engine reved, but the car wouldn't move forward. It was like the shift had been bumped into neutral. I could get it to go in reverse, but not forward. I had to back into a driveway, and have the car towed to the shop. The mechanic says "something broke inside" and wants to sell me a new transmission. I find this hard to believe because, prior to this, the transmission behaved and shifted perfectly. There was never any slippage. The fluid doesn't smell burned. There were no noises to suggest that "something broke." If I need a new tranny, so be it, but I think this has to be something relatively simply like a broken vaccuum line or electronic sensor. Any trouble shooting advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Its called a B2 piston failure. Its sudden, its unexpected, there are no warning signs, not even a loud bang or wierd shifting or something, it just goes and you can't go forward only reverse. It is embarrasing when it happens on the road. Do a search and check your savings cause its going to cost you between 1k and 2k depending on how far you want to go with the overhaul Sorry.

Any 86-92 Benz owner who hasn't had their tranny overhauled can have this happen to them. It doesn't matter if you use synthetic or change the oil every month, when its time, its time. There is an updated B2 piston design or something make sure they use the updated repair kit.

I agree that it sounds like the B2 piston. Replacement of that should cost about $120 in parts and it can be done through removal of the B2 cover on the side of the case. No need to remove the trans.

__________________
'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Thanks to both of you for the come back. Yal, your diagnosis was not what I wanted to hear, but was certainly what I needed to know. Pete, while your advice was certainly more encouraging, the job may be beyond my skill level. Despite this, I will check it out. Unfortunately, I have to go out of town and probably won't be able to get back to this for about a week. I hope you will both be watching the forum at that time in case I need to ask another question. Thank you, thank you, thank you!