W140 slow reverse gear
 

Help is needed....

My W140 S500 built end of 1993 always has slow reverse gear (1 - 2 seconds). All the forward gears are fine. In winter, the forward gears might be a bit hard but nothing too out of the ordinary. The car has done 160K and everything else works like dream.

Suddenly, my reverse gear take a long time to engage -- 10+ seconds. I told the dealer and they said to repair would cost more than AUD 3000.

What can I do? On the other hand, I have a 1984 380SEL which has done 300K and the tanny is still working fine... What is wrong with my W140?

Any suggestions? Any one got similar problems?

Michael Tse
Australia

COMMON ISSUE. Do a search in the archives and you'll find a great deal of info.

GOOD LUCK!

Wear in the reverse "clutch pack" is the most common problem, this requires disassembly of the trans.

Thanks for all the info. I did a search on "reverse clutch" and found some info. It does sound like this is a common problem to this car and I am bad luck with it.

I will take the car straight to the dealer and have it repaired. Looks like I will be up to a few thousands Australian dollars. I assume most of it will be labour.

Is there anything I could have done to prevent this problem???

Again, many thanks and will update you all once I have it fixed....


Michael Tse
Australia