My 420sel just lost all forward and reverse gears HELP! Cars a 1991 and the transmission was rebuilt 2 years ago and has been working perfectly till the other day .I reversed out of a parking space switched into drive and nothing , reselected reverse nothing no gears . Checked the linkage all fine ,oil level fine ,dropped the oil pan everthing looked clean and the filter was not blocked and gear change plunger was moving in and out of the valve body . Moving on decided main pump might be kaput so pulled driver side oil cooler line and started engine after a brief spurt no oil flow so dropped the transmission .Removed torque convertor lokked fine full of clean oil .Removed main oil pump , drive tabs were in place and pump looked great Removed valve body everything looks clean no signs of broken bits or dirt ! Please anyone any ideas what could be causing the lack drive .There was no wierd noise no warning just suddenly no gears . Help!!!

transmission modulator? solenoid? not sure

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1990 190E 3.0L

That sounds like the weirdest thing ever.

So you had reverse - then nothing.

I guess it isn't this but you didn't specifically mention it - so I'll ask => was the torque converter fitted to the fly wheel correctly?

Can you post up some pictures of the end of the torque converter - and some pictures of the front pump?

What does the condition of the oil filter look like? (Picture?) Was the oil clean - is there something stuck in the filter preventing flow?

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Same thing happened to my SD. Turned out to be the front pump seals even though they looked good.

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85 300 SD ~ 115K
82 500 SEC Euro ??K
78 450SL 164K

Have you checked the drive line? .........perhaps...just perhaps, the drive shaft or axles have sheared or whatever.

Never experienced a sudden loss of motion without some noise.


.BTW...Don't get under it to check with engine running in drive though...

I had a Dodge do that once.Turn out a metal part inside tranny pan had broke,it shifted the gears.A $1.00 part,I made one with spring steel.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

Hi Guys ,thanks for the replies here goes .
The driveshaft and flex plate are fine.
Torque converter looks perfect and the oil was clean.
Tranny filter was clear and very clean.
Modulator looked okay nothing broken.

So maybe those seals behind the front pump /(white teflon rings?) or something in the valve body (pressure relief valve?)
Tomorrow I will seperate the valve body and check out the relief valve .
To be continued :-

steve

Well after much head scratching still nothing found to explain the lack of gears .Stripped the whole valve body cleaned everything very carefully reassembled and refitted transmission . Voila I have gears ,guess it was a stuck valve !Still makes me worried everytime I go from reverse to forward though .