Update on my malfunctioning transmission. The car has been in a transmissin shop in Jacksonville, AR for two weeks. They called today and said they had done everhthing external that they knew to check, including dropping the pan. They said the inside looked good and very clean when they dropped the pand and could see no problem. Their suggestion now is to let them go into the transmission and rebuild it. However this is not a MB dealer. My concern is they go throught the transmission and put it back together and it still doesn't work. Should I allow someone like this go throught the transmission or should I pick the car up and go the MB dealer in Little Rock?

Speaking from experience, before I would do any serious transmission work, I would buy a bottle of Trans-X. Many mechanics swear by it. You probably have a stuck valve in the valve body. This happened on my 420SEL. I put a bottle in the tranny, not long after that, it turned back to normal, and to this day have put 60,000 miles on it, with no problem. Give it a shot before you dump a ton of money into it. And I would have a mercedes specialist tear apart your tranny instead of a generic shop.

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93 300D 2.5 Turbo, Black/Palomino 273K
09 E350 Black/Black 41K

Did they try a valvebody gasket and retorque?

If the trans does not shift beyond second it has a specific problem that can (and should) be identified to either mechanical or valve body. This is done by pulling the valve body and exercising the tractive components (bands and clutch packs) with air pressure and if functioning a replacement V/B gasket and retorque often fixes the whole matter. If not it is reasonalble to assume that the V/B is defective. Knowing how to do this testing tells whether you have someone capable of advising you. You probably will find the best MB trans rebuilders in independent MB specialists shops. Trans shops don't do much diagnosing and MB dealers often don't do much more than install MB rebuilds.

Making this decision is important as it definitely affects the outcome and how one should proceed. If rebuilding is the answer and the V/B is the problem you could wind up buying a V/B after the rebuild. If I have a question about the V/B I believe a MB rebuilt becomes a good way or a used trans.

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician