I have seen some absolutely amazing un-overhauled mileages listed on a Transmission thread today, and I got curious:

What mileages have you gotten from engines before overhaul? And what kind of money did you sink into repair if you had to rebuild?

I have an '88 190e 2.3 with 116,000 miles on the clock, with a pretty hard shift but no overhauls. I was quoted roughly $1600 (US) for tranny overhaul, which they didn't considered necessary at this time.

My dad recently had to replace a head gasket and cooling hoses on a '93 190e 2.3 at 80,000 miles - but there were mitigating circumstances. This repair was what I consider pricey at $1500 (US).

I'd be interested to hear some figures on the 300E/124 series cars -- I hope to purchase one at some point.

Not to start another wild thread on this (I read a lot of the heated Mobil 1 debate), but does everybody think Castrol GTX is okay for a 4 cylinder? I only just got the car and have only done one change so far. Also, my plan is to change the oil every 3000 miles. Comment?

Based on the poll results from the poll that our hosts are running, most people here use either Castrol or Mobil in their cars. I would suspect those using Castrol are using convential oil and those using Mobil are using Mobil 1, which is a full synthetic. If you plan on changing your oil every 3K, then Castrol GTX will be fine. Since my engine is a diesel, I use Shell Rotella every 3K.
To answer Matty190e's question. It really depends on well the car is maintained and how it's driven. Even for a tranmission I think it would be best to go easy on it until the tranny fluid has a chance to fully warm up. I routinely see people put their cars into reverse and before coming to a complete stop, throw it into drive. This would be quick way to kill a tranny. So I guess what I am saying is be kind to your machine and she'll return you in kind. You can go to the MBCA web site and find an article about the average life of different components on the car. Their web site is http://www.MBCA.org.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

I don't know the history behind the problem, but the 91 300 CE I just purchased had to have the tranny replaced two years ago. The car had about 80,000 miles on it and MB replaced the tranny for about $3500. As an added bonus they provided a 5 year warranty with the replacement.

Chris