300E transmission delay
 

Hello,
I'm interested in a 1993 300E on E-Bay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180044445641&fromMakeTrack=true
and wonder about two things in particular:
The seller says: "One thing we did note was that when you put the car in reverse there is a three second delay before going into reverse, 1..2..3.. & it is fine. This is common on these cars as they age, after all it is a 14 year old car." Is this in fact common? What does it indicate?
Beyond that, it has traction control. How does that work on this model and year? reliable? effective? repairable? How does it compare with plain old positraction in terms of effectiveness?
Thanks
seo

it seems to me i have read numerous times here that reverse usually goes first...... that is usually followed by "rebuild necessary"

It is on it's way to reverse not engaging at all and then a rebuild. One of my rules for used MB buying is never, ever buy a car with ASR. Try a search - first generation ASR is remarkably troubled. No one seems to know exactly when second generation ASR started so I just avoid it altogether.

I agree with the previous posts. My car takes a long time to shift into reverse. Everything else is doing great. I have called a lot of shops and every single one immediately says that the tranny needs to be rebuilt. My car runs great in the other gears, but reverse sucks.

You're looking at around $2k for a rebuild (if you pay somebody else to do it). At least that's what I was quoted in Seattle. So factor that into your purchase price!!

even before reading the details, i'd be very worried about that seller's rating and inquire why he's running a private ID auction