I posted here a few months ago about my 99 E430 transmission sounding like tin cans were rattling around in it and under the car. Well after 4 hours under the car today the transmission is removed. I will detail below the removal process from memory to help anyone in a similar situation. I have another vehicle which I have been using all winter but demands of my business are such that I was finally able to get around to this work. As I suspected the input shaft has 3/16” play which from everything I’ve read means the sprag bearing fell apart. I found this website with rebuild details so I think I’ll at least take it apart. If there is too much damage I’ll have to buy a junker. Does anyone know what year they updated the sprag bearing design? Anyone with any first hand advice on what to look for? I guess I should dump the torque converter too. Any info on inspection? Any advice questions or constructive comments are welcome.

722.6 Trans rebuild info:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37436253/722-6
Exploded diagram:
http://www.ganzeboom.net/images1/ganzeboom/parts/Mercedes/722.6.pdf


Tools Used:
½” & 3/8” drivers, 8mm-20mm sockets, 1”,6”,12” + universal joint for 3/8 socket driver, 15” of ¾ “ pipe for socket driver extension, jewelers screwdrivers, regular screwdrivers, a few metric open end/box combination wrenches up to 20mm (3/4”) , Torx drivers. There are a lot of TORX and type bolts, both male and female. I had the drivers for all the female and got lucky with the 12 point sockets I had that fit the few male Torx heads I had to undo. 2 ton floor jack with large jack cup.

First a friend and I blocked up the car using a floor jack, placing structural 12" concrete blocks with 16" long 2x12s with 2x4 blocks screwed to each end to make a cradle of sorts for the front and rear of each tire to be wedged by. Please note these are structural concrete blocks which means the cavities are concrete filled 12" deep, 16" long and the standard 7.5" tall. And they were place under each tire (all 4) with the 2x12 cradle on top. This made the overall height of the tire off the floor approximately 9", thereby giving a clearance under the car of approximately 19". I had read on one posting that the minimum clearance was 24" which did not prove necessary for removal in my case. After spreading large sections of cardboard under the car we formulated a rough removal plan since I have no shop manual and have just read postings which proved to be somewhat inaccurate according to my experience.

Removal Process
I will enumerate the tools and procedure here as best I can from memory for everyone's enjoyment, use and edification.
First we un-clipped the wiring harnesses of two rearward O2 sensor connectors from the bottom of the tranny pan and then using two straight blade jewelers screwdrivers, carefully pushed the connector tabs on each side of the each connector off the tit while pulling apart the connector. We also removed the bottom plastic engine pan which is held on by 4 chassis screws.
Moving the O2 wires aside we found the harness going into a plastic wiring molex case behind a metal plate just above the front passenger side of the trans fluid pan. Removing two TORX type screws, we were able to remove the plate and see that the wiring case was shared by the transmission electronic connector wires. This connector has a tab on it that you spin 120 degrees counter clockwise. As you do so the connector comes out of the recess until it is free. A cup of fluid then came out and was quickly caught be a pan. We then remove the transmission cross member which is bolted to the frame by 4- 16mm? chassis bolts (bolts that don't have nuts) and then we removed two bolts holding the rubber transmission mount on the cross-member to the transmission. We proceeded to attempt to remove the two nuts on each side of a bracket off back of the trans pan that supports and prevents excessive vibration of each exhaust pipe. Although the nuts on the stud bracket seemed be copper, all of them were seized and wound up breaking off(the stud bracket is simply a removable bracket with two studs on it made for production line installation it is easily replaced by appropriate nuts & bolt later (stainless or copper). Then we first removed 3 of the 6 bolts holding the drive shaft flange to the rubber isolator on the transmission flange using a 20mm socket on the bolt side and ¾” openend on the nut. We later discovered we should have gone ahead and remove all of them to provide extra clearance between the trans output flange and the forward drive shaft. I put the transmission shifter into the Low1 which then me to under the car to unclip the shifter from the shift rod, which now easily clears the heat shield. (The shifter was missing the plastic bushing.) Then we removed the brake pedal interlock at the rear of the trans on the driver’s side by removing a TORX type bolt. The connector is removed by a ¼ turn cc. We removed the two fluid cooling tube fluid bolts (20mm I think). Driver’s side lost about 2 cups of fluid while the passenger side was a few drops. We removed the two bolts on the drive shaft center bearing which allows for rearward movement of the shaft (required later). We then proceeded to remove the transmission bolts around the bell housing. This is a male style TORX bolt which we were very luck to find my 12 point 11mm 3/8” socket fit into. On assembly I will have the correct socket, but we were luck that we weren’t stopped in our tracks by not having the correct socket. We used a combination of 1”, 6”, 12” and a universal extension to get all but the top two bolts off from under the car. We left 3 bolts on the bottom secured until the top two were removed. Under the hood I pulled the plastic cover off the top of the engine and unscrewed the plastic air intake from the mass airflow sensor next to the filter plenum, removed the TORX bolt near the transmission level / filler tube that supports the air intake. . I also removed the transmission fluid tube bracket near this point at the same time. I had my buddy remove another bolt on the trans housing so we could remove the fill tube entirely. Then I carefully lifted the plastic intake pipe off the throttle body being careful to remove a rubber tube (EGR?) near the firewall and making sure not to break the plastic clip between the air intake tube and the manifold. This made removal of the top two transmission mount bolts much easier. I stuffed the throttle body with a plastic bag and also covered the air filter housing. We had placed the floor jack under the transmission pan and removed the bottom three bolts. I operated the floor jack while my buddy separated the transmission with a pry-bar. After some wrangling we worked it backward and down where we slid it onto a sheet of heavy duty cardboard and slid it out from under the car with no trouble. The trans weighs about 150 lbs. I checked the input shaft and sure enough, there is about 3/16” play on it. I hope this help somebody. I’ll post here on progress.

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Problems while owning '99 E430
Continual ABS/BAS problems.
P.S. pre-catalytic convert rusted out at 90k
Ignition key actuation problems.
Gear shifter shift gate issue.
Bad antenna amplifier.
CD changer.
Heated seats never worked.
Biannual air conditioning failure.
Power windows and moon roof.
Leaky valve covers.
Rear power window broke.
Poor rear lamp connections due to bi-metal corrosion.
Maybe my spring perches will fail someday!
Engineered like it's not a car

Thanks for the links.

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Jim