I Joined the club: Reverse slipped today
 

SO i was backing my car up a small drive way, when i started hearing a whining noise and the car war not moving. i pushed the gas harder and it moved ......after that, i noticed some slippage in reverse...ever since i got this car in august, it had slow reverse engagement like 1-2 seconds. but this was so sudden today, and i am very angry as this thing will not give me a break........:mad:

any how, it still backs up but if under load it will slip...i know there are hundreds of pages about this, but it is quite confusing........

P.S. I lost a drop or two of tranny oil today when i was changing my radiator. I don't think that is the problem as the car shifts perfectly in the other gears and oil level seems ok from what i can tell .......

so what should i do? any short term remedies until we go for a rebuild ? i don't have the money for that now...

thanks,

not really, the delay was the first sign in your trans on it's way out. all you can do, short of a rebuild, is drive it. when i first got my coupe, i've found that it had a reverse slip for over 40k miles!!! it finally grenaded itself when the front trans pump decided not to pump.

you should be fine. keep driving until you get the money to figure out what's going on.

So this is good-old reverse clutch disk wear or something else?

It still reverses fine, but would struggle to get on ramps for example...

any chance the transmission could lock itself up/quit on the highway? i am trying to imagine worst case scenario....

thanks

Reverse hasn't worked in my car for over a year.

Who needs it anyway? :D Just be aware when parking.

Ok,

Question: What is the average life span of a Mercedes transmission assuming it had service performed on time? I might buy a used one in the future, and trying to understand if a 90,000 miles transmission is considered low millage or at its life end? i understand this depends on a lot of factors, but just generally speaking?!!

I don't know about average, but my 1997 E320 with 181,000 miles is on the original engine and tranny and rides/drives as new.

Isn't that a different series/ transmission? I know my engine is indestructible ( i have seen factory cross hatching in mine at 180,000.....), but not sure about the transmission. i have found a couple of used ones online with around 100,000 miles for sale.....but not sure about longevity on these...

I will not be doing this anytime soon unless things go bad (i.e it stops shifting in all gears)....but paying $2500 for a transmission rebuild is just too much, their should be cheaper alternatives...

thanks,

Hey latief. Bummer dude. I feel for ya. If it ain't one thing, it's ten, huh.

Best I can determine is this trans (722.3) can be reasonably expected to go about 140k on average before it starts getting 'tired'. Slipping in reverse is the classic symptom of 'tired', again based on what I have read. I will send you some information I have gotten elsewhere on this. I will send you a PM.

If you want to R&R the trans yourself, you can get a rebuilt from Peter Schmid for about $1500. That will save you about $1000 to $1500 since an indy is going to charge $2500 to $3000 for this job.

There are some good write-ups on the forum here on trans R&R's. Here is one of them:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/267415-m103-engine-pulling-woes-need-advice-moral-support.html

You have to read down a ways to get to the info you need.

Look for a PM from me shortly. Pete

My local indy quoted me 1500 for the rebuild if i bring them the tranny. if they remove and install it in the car it will be $2200. Fair price i guess, but way too much for a $500 car ...it does not make sense, and i don't have the money for it....maybe in the future ......:)

My 300SD blew the reverse band/4th gear clutch around 281k....and it was very well maintained. I swapped in another trans, which has performed beautifully....I drive it almost 500 miles a week.

My 300E is at 145k with everything original still. Both have 0 delay in engaging or shifting.

the answer is, for free, put some godamned transmission fluid in it...you're low on transmission fluid OK? Top it off

I will be changing the fluid within a day or two, we'll see what happens then !

thanks,

Just came back from changing the fluid. Let me say this, although I have been working on cars for a short time, this was by far one of the worst jobs i have done.....I was very careful, but boy oh boy does it get miserable down there under the car and really fast.....

anyhow, i drained the converter and transmission. everything seemed nice and clean, but there was some silver residue in the oil pan, not much though....

I went by the factory cd recommendation, and poured in 4 liters of oil as a first start. it is really hard to read the level of oil correctly. Being the newbie i am i read the dipstik and it seemed to have oil all over the place... so i thought maybe i overfilled, but i got the scare of my life as the car would not move in reverse or forward. i guess the oil level was too low for pressure to build..i freaked out for a couple of minutes, and decided to read the level again. it was very low, so i filled roughly around 5.5 liters in there, but i think i overfilled a bit (i can't really tell), the tranny started working fine, and the reverse is engaging faster than before..it got dark, so i called it quits for a day, and drove the car for a bit and parked it. tomorrow i need to find out how much oil i have in there exactly, and if i need to remove or add some...

can someone tell me how to get an accurate reading on that damn dipstick?

thanks,

The owner's manual explains how to check the oil level WHILE RUNNING IN NEUTRAL

And lets hope you cleaned the outside of the transmission pan area before working...dirt...no..dust is like boulders inside a transmission. Even in the owners manual the don't recommend using a weaved fabric or paper towel. they recommend LEATHER of all things, becuse it foesn't deposit fibers or lint.

I may sound overly cautious...you would too after paying $2500 for a rebuild.

Good luck tho, Trans issues really suck.

Thanks, but i always have oil all over the dipstick when doing that ....

I was very careful with the cleaning. Not perfect i know, but the best i could do ....

Is there a way to read the level when cold???

In Neutral running is really the only way to check accurately..
if you checked the level with the car off, it's an okay guess that you could need to add a few litres, but if the car is off and you have trans oil all over the stick, then there's something wrong or WAY too much oil.

Did the fluid fix it?

Sorry for not updating this.....this turned out to be a big messy issue. the transmission will need to come out in the near future...

I got the level correct, but the new oil caused a front seal leak that is driving me crazy...i poured a can of Lucas transmission additive in there..surprisingly, it caused the reverse to become stronger and engage faster?? but the oil leak is still there, and I know it is only masking the problem of the worn reverse.....

So, once you need a transmission rebuild ...you need a transmission rebuild..this one is only going through its last days.....it will die soon i am sure....

Trannys are one thing I fix right away if it starts acting up. Better than being stranded/being towed home. :eek:

wish i had the money!!!!

but one the time comes, and if i decide to work on this myself, i will pull the whole engine and tranny assembly...i am tired of being stuck under that car......