1996 E320 Transmission R & I question
 

Hi! I'm new to the forum, but not to wrenching on my own cars. I am presently in the process of replacing the fried 722.329 transmission in my E320. I have already disconnected and removed everything except for the top four bolts that attach the transmission to the engine block. I can barely see these bolts much less reach them with a wrench or ratchet! Does anyone have any helpful suggestions that might help me access these bolts?

Thank you,
Christine

You need a long Extension that reach from the back of the transmission I think.

You need that long extension with a flex-socket.

Also the trans must be lowered at the back mount.

One problem solved, one to go...
 

Thank you all, especially Mr. Dalton. The bad transmission is out and the replacement is in. However, now I have a new issue! The engine will turn over and actually tries to fire, but won't continue to run. I've checked and rechecked all of my electrical and vacuum connections and they are secure. It must be something that occurred during the transmission swap because the car was starting and running great the day that we removed it. Any ideas on where to start looking? :confused:

Christine

There are several dozen fingers protruding off the flywheel that are read by the crank position sensor. If one or several of these got bent (not difficult to do) during the trans R&R and the crank sensor doesn't see them, then it will give the ecu fits as it tries to put a firing order together with faulty crank position information.

That sounds exactly like what could have happened. I'll check that out first thing in the morning. Thanks a bunch!

Christine

Okay, here we go... Yes, we apparently bent a few of the fingers. I bumped the engine over several times and straightened them out to the best of my ability this morning. The engine now runs, but it still "hunts" slightly at idle. Maybe I need to continue searching for more bent fingers? :(

After the thunderstorms cleared up this evening I took the car out for a short test drive and the transmission doesn't seem to want to upshift. Even with the slightest application of the accelerator, it bucks several times before shifting into the next gear. I had a difficult time installing the kickdown cable assembly because of the tight clearance between the transmission and the tunnel. If that little metal rod isn't properly locked into module, would it cause this?

Christine

The cable should be removed with the trans. If you try to install it without easy access to the throttle end of it, you'll likely never get it right. What you need to do now is remove the kickdown cable completely. You'll have the trans mount lowered to do this. (A 2x4 wedged between the trans and tunnel now can help keep enough room to do the entire operation) Take the cable and fish it over top of the trans so that you have the throttle end near the shift linkage and neutral safety switch and the trans end nearby ready to be installed into the trans. On the throttle end push the cable all of the way in. At full extension of the cable (protruding on the trans side) there is a detent that will hold the cable at full extension. The detent doesn't hold with very much pressure. In the trans there is a little hooked finger, position it upright and centered in the hole the cable goes into. Now make sure your oring is secure on the cable. At this point you are ready to install the cable into the trans. Very carefully of course as the detent will trip with the slightest mis-step and you need to reset it if it does. After you have sucessfully gotten the cable end over the hook you can tell if you have it right as you can pull on the throttle end of the cable and you will feel the spring pressure that is attached to the little hook inside the trans. You will likely have several attempts to accomplish this so you should actually be able to tell when the spring pressure is there relative to the several attempts where it isn't. Do not attempt to pull the hook up out of the trans and attach it to the cable, it's infinitely more difficult to do it that way. With the hook centered in the hole and the cable at it's detent the connection of the two wants to happen, and once it does it will not come un-done unless you extend the cable to it's detent again. If you have gotten this far you're essentially home. Clip the cable to the trans at the case and at the top of the vacuum box. Attach the vacuum line to the cable. Then attach the cable back to the throttle linkage