What is your opinion as to how long a Mercedes transmission will last. Assume proper maintainance and not using as a towing vehicle.

My impression is somewhere between 150K and 175K for normal city/highway driving and around 200K for mostly highway driving.

__________________
Mr. BILL

91 300E 120K
90 300SE 275K (sold)
92 BMW 525iM 120K
90 BMW 525iA 175K
85 300D 175K (sold)
84 300SD 245K (sold)

I have 222kmiles on a 240D...tranny still ok. I had 190kmiles on my 300sdl...tranny still ok.

I think you're a little low on your estimate...maybe more like 300 to 400k miles.

Now watch mine puke tomorrow.

Joe

The 300se has approx. 110,000 MILES on it, and so far, only done an overhaul which costed approx. RM2,000 (USD526).

The 260E has approx. 95,000 KM, and has also been through an overhaul when it had approx. 80,000 (and that costed about RM10,000 -> @ USD2,600!!).

Both has original tranny and engine (both of which was also overhauled last year).

__________________
... Kerry

126 tailed by a 203, 129 leading the pack.

Mr. Bill

Check out http://www.mbca.org under technical...when do parts wear out. They say most last 150kmile but some go 300 to 350kmiles.

Joe

My 1982 300SD has traveled 297000 miles with just normal fluid and filter changes. She still shifts perfect.

__________________
J. William Tarbrake
NY State Dealer 7014303DLU
Registered repair shop R7014303
82 300SD modified for waste vegatable oil
92 300SE 270K miles perfect
79 450SEL (2 tone custom paint for special occations) SOLD
80 450SL
79 450SL 69K Miles FOR SALE
86 Carver 28 Voyager twin 270 Crusaders (SOLD)
94 CARVER 32 Voyager(SOLD)
67 Chris Craft 40' Aft Cabin(twin ford 427 side oilers)

over 350K on trans! still kicking. SSSSSHH,,,, don't tell anyone.

__________________
Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

I've got 200,00 on my tranny. It is 50/50 city highway and I thrash it daily getty on the highway.

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1990 190E 2.6
1996 Grand Voyager 3.3
1985 Mustang GT 5.0 5 SPD
1982 Suzuki GS 750T

I was recently thinking about posting about transmission life, and sure enough, someone did it first!
I have 83,000 miles on my C280, and still doing well. But I drive hard at times and hope that this will not too greatly reduce transmission life.
I hope I have your luck, JDUBS! I think a lot of it is just luck and the way it happens. I also do about 50/50 city/hwy.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

I've got 291,000km (180k miles) on my W123 280E and apart from the occasional abrupt shift when cold, the tranny is fine.

I gave it a fluid and filter change which improved shifting no end about 2,000km ago: I'm pretty sure that the previous owner neglected it. It had the wrong filter fitted, for a start, and the fluid was dirty.

Next step is to get the linkage adjusted ... there's a little reluctance to shift which is probably down to the controls rather than the tranny itself.

Having said all that, this is probably an extremely dangerous thread. Everyone who posts here will probably suffer transmission failure in the next few days!

I'm pushing 200,000 miles in my 420SEL with no tranny problems whatsoever. That is a combination of city and highway driving.

__________________
Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

I've got 225,000 on my 84 300cdt. Bought it w/150,000 on it and my driving is almost all highway at 80mph (200 m/day). It is simply remarkable what a filter/fluid change does. The fluid looks fine, the filter looks very clean and yet changing them (including draining the converter) results in a very marked difference in shifting and overall driveability. I do let off a bit at shift time on hard acceleration (on-ramps) to ease the strain and hopefully extend the life. Hope this doesn't jinx me...

I'm just under 285,000m with a combination city/highway driving and no problems. Just regular fluid and filter changes. It shifts very well when merging onto the interstate.

There's a simple cure for all these broken transmissions. Get MB to sell you a car with a manual transmission. I've never had one break. The record for me is 533,000 miles on the 240D and I've never so much as replaced a seal, only changed the lubricant.

If you want a big repair bill, the automatic is guaranteed to fail at some point.

My annally retentive $0.02,

blackmercedes,

I appreciate your comments, but I'm no young pup, and I won't drive anything but a manual. That's why I said "get MB to sell you a manual".

I think that there are many younger buyers that don't even know how to drive a manual.

Just my thoughts.

Have a great day,

The followings are some of my friends and mine experiences w.r.t. their Mercedes' auto tranmissions:
(Note: 90% TRAFFIC in HK is GO-AND-STOP city driving)
BAD...
Friend: 1987 W124 230E- slippage at 50,000 miles
Ex-boss: 1989 W126 300SE- slippage at 40,000 miles
Friend: 1986 W124 260E- unacceptable harsh shift and get used to it...Trans rebuilt 3 times in mileage of 190,000 miles
My secretary: 1994 C220- Bought at 11,000 miles and harsh shift since then.
My business partner: 1994 E220- harsh shifts since 20,000 miles...and now getting worse at 40,000 miles
Friend: 1992 W140 500SEL- slight harsh & slip and still decide what to do...
Friend: 1994 W140 600SEL- shift noticable since new (too much torques???)
Mine: 1990 W126 300SEL- rebuilt at 45,000 miles

GOOD...
Ex-boss: 1991 W126 560SEL- 22,500 miles shifts silky smooth
Friend: 1998 CLK230 Compressor- new electronic trans,shifts smoothly, precisely and quickly.
Mine: 1995 W140 S320L- shifts perfectly at 25,000 miles and hopes keeping on...
Friend: 1993 W124 E280- 30,000 miles, trans runs perfectly smooth...


They perform not very well generally and Mercedes should learn something from Toyota's bullet proof ECT-i transmissions.

[Edited by Davis Lo on 03-02-2001 at 12:48 PM]