'86 560SEL Transmission question

[Rockman59]

I have an '86 560SEL with 156K miles. Recently when putting the transmission in reverse it takes about one second for the gear to engage. Previously the gear engaged as soon as I moved the shift lever to "R". Fluid is fresh and full, linkage is tight, car is in excellent condition and driven daily. Any ideas on what's happening with the reverse gear hesitation?

[TheEngineer]

Hearsay has it that it's an indication that the tranny is wearing out. Ultimately, reverse will not engage at all.

[Rockman59]

I also had this problem with a 450SL that I had for 19 years....only it was even slower to engage, took about 2 seconds. I bought the car used in '87 and the previous owner said he was told that it could be fixed but wouldn't hurt the transmission to drive it the way it was. I guess he was right...the tranny was still doing fine when I sold the car a year ago after putting about 50K miles on it. If my '86 follows this pattern looks like I still have many years and miles before reverse stops working.

[zcc]

It's the time to over-whole (rebuild) your transmission. Use only original MB repair kit and syntactic AFT (Old Mobile 1 syntactic AFT is recommended).

[S-Class Guru]

I recently replaced the reverse clutch plates for the same problem.
Mine had worn to the point that I began to hear a slight ticking noise when moving in reverse. This is caused by the thin clutch plates allowing the reverse piston to move too far inward, and it begins to contact the clutch housing. At that point it is mandatory to replace the reverse plates, as the clicking is created by metal-to-metal contact.
when I opened the tranny up, I also found little pieces of the reverse plates in the filter and pan; so it was certainly due.
The delay in shifting is the first sympton of the worn plates. The guys here said the reverse plates were the first to go, the weak link in the tranny.
The good news was, once the tranny was out, I didn't have to go very deep inside, the reverse plates are right in front. The 2nd gear plates are also in the front, and they looked brand new, still had the writing on them.
As stated, it may not get worse for a long time; and until it begins to click or slip, or you find evidence of plate material in the pan/filter, you are probably okay. I would pull the pan and cut the filter open periodically, look for little thin pieces of reddish clutch plate material, about the size of thumbtack heads. Also, keep your ear trained for any sign of a tick,tick, tick when driving (moving) in reverse.
Of course, it's recommended to rebuild the whole tranny if you're paying a shop to pull it out and take it partially apart anyway. In my case, it was working perfectly except for the reverse plates, and I did the work, so I only went as deep as I dared. Now, however, I wish I had done the 4th gear clutches also; that shift is a bit sharp lately. Winter project maybe.

DG

[Rockman59]

Thanks for the info. At this point in the car's life I think I am just going to ride it out and see how many more miles I can get before it really gets bad. We have had this vehicle for many, many years and my wife now drives it pretty much as a grocery getter...no long highway or high performance trips anymore. The car looks great and still gets comments and runs and drives fine but realistically it probably isn't worth much more than what it would take to have the tranny rebuilt. I love wrenching on many things but transmissions are not one them. Again, thanks for your comprehensive comments.

[zcc]

You can get more than 1500 miles.