1995 s420 transmission problem
 

my 420 has been driving superbly and no indication of any tranny problems .
Without warning ,2 days ago ,it would not go into reverse ,so i put it in to N and flinstoned it in order to get home .
It drives just fine going forward .
Next morning ,reverse is now N gear and going forward it whines and kinda grinds
and does appear to be going in to top gear ...I did not want to force it by going at 60mph .

I am not a mechanic ,but it does appear as if it is serious .

I am always reticent about going to a dealer with such a problem so if have some idea as to what it might be i may be able to get a savvy mechanic to fix it

On a 722.3 or 722.4 transmission it can be two things, but it the usual lip seal

But it can be this too:

http://www.europeantransmissions.com/Bulletin/DTC.merc/97-20.pdf

But it always the inside seal on post 15

no reverse / jerks in reverse when cold - Mercedes-Benz Forum

Martin

Hi There

many yhanks for the reply

no reverse at present ..but does drive forward

not sure whether it is worth spending that much money on a car that is only worth 3,000.
at most

thanks again

Donal

The value of the car is relative, if its paid for, and in otherwise good condition, the cost of the transmission will keep the car going a long time and be cheaper than replacing the vehicle with another with unknown issues. I see you are in Florida, so the car is probably still very nice otherwise...I would just fix it.

car is in perfect condition ..body,a/c , etc

I am recosidering ..what you say makes sense

Nothing wrong with finding a good used trans with low ish miles for a few hundred bucks.

I am not a transmission expert, but is it normal for a transmission to go completely out all of a sudden? That does not seem the be the "norm" on most cars, but I know that these W140's are a different vehicle in a class of their own with strange behaviors. It is a little scary knowing your transmission can be perfect one minute, then completely gone the next with a $3000 repair staring you in the face. Sure makes me worry about my W140 (which shifts perfectly at this time and quick to shift into reverse).

Most cars will start to show signs of failure well before they completely conk out. I wonder what happened to this transmission to make it go out without warning?

My 300SD failed suddenly, it had 281k and one day I drove to the lake, parked, went to reverse from my parking spot and it lurched then had a whooshing noise, things went downhill from there...forward gears still worked, but reverse was very weak. Ended up finding pieces of the reverse band/clutch in the pan once I swapped it out for a good used one. (which has been installed for 42k+ with no issues)

Same thing with my 1995 E320. Reverse became very shy, then quit. That was @160,000 miles and 7 years ago. It was the reverse clutch, it happens to most 722.xxx transmissions. I did the rebuilt thing with Adsit For about $1600.00 exchange and
i'm thinking that included a rebuilt torque converter to go with it. The new trans. has gone 60,000 miles so far without a hitch or a leak. Fluid looks great. Go for it. Get a rebuilt transmission. My mechanic charged 4.0 hours to do the job.

If that happened to my car at the lake, I guess I would have just pushed it on in... LOL.

Yeah, definitely sounds like a MB thing. I have never heard of a transmission going all at once without warning, save on some of the 1990'ish-1993 Town Cars (and other RWD FMC cars those years) where some sort of cable or something can break and instantly ruin the transmission.

The transmission in my dad's '99 caravan made a lovely noise one day at 96k original miles while going about 10mph in a college driveway and ceased to function at all (forward OR reverse). He dumped it.

When my SD's trans failed I was still able to drive it 40+ miles home, then another couple weeks around the city, over 200miles and it was still "functioning"....not well....but it moved the car adequately. :D

Yeah, the 90s Mopars (maybe even late 80s/early 2000s) had terrible transmissions! I had a 1995 Chrysler Concorde that was a beautiful car that had the transmission fail at only 79K 1-owner miles! It started jerking and making a terrible noise, but it came on gradually they said. I bought it at a deal needing transmission work. It needed to be completely rebuilt and it cost me $800, but I only paid $700 for the car and at the time it was only 6 years old, so I had a like new Chrysler for $1500 after that. I ended up selling it because I wanted a Lexus. :)

I think the transmission in my aunts '98 Plymouth Voyager (Caravan) made it to 110K, lol.

So far, the transmission in every Mercedes I have had has been fine. Knock on wood, the transmission in my '93 W140 (229K) and my moms '88 W126 (around 180K) shifts fine and quick to go into reverse. Both are due for transmission filter and fluid change, but we are not going to do a flush.