Hello friends:

You have all been so good to me, and have given me such good feedback in the past. I really need some help here and am really not sure what to do. I apologize for the long post, but hopefully it will be self-explanatory.

1. On 12/29/02, I was involved in a pretty serious accident with my 1993 190e 2.6 I did $7,000 worth of damage to the car and pretty much destroyed the radiator. The car spent about 1.5 months in the body shop, and I got it back in early February.

2. Last week, I started experencing problems with my transmission. It was shifting in strange places, and it wouldn't go into the last gear. See Strange and sudden 190e transmission problem - has anyone experienced this? for my post on the specific problems I was having.

3. Before the accident, I had NO problems with the transmission at all - no slipping, no problems shifting, everything was fine.

4. I took the car to the dealership on Friday, and they said that the fluid level was too high and adjusted it. I drove it home, and as I was driving, it popped out of 4th gear, and would not go back in.

5. After inspecting it, the dealership told me that the clutches on the transmission are worn and are starting to deteriorate. They basically said that I need a new transmission.

6. The dealership said that a MB remanufactured transmission is $2,460.00, with about 8 hours worth of labor, to bring the total cost to $3,100.00

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Is this the right price?? PLEASE tell me that I can do better than this, because I surely do not have $3,000.00 to spend on a transmission right now with being in school and not making exorbitant amounts of money. I have put a call into the insurance company, and they are going to send someone to the dealership to inspect the car. I suppose I can hope that the insurance will pay for it, but I think that's pretty much a losing battle. The only hope is that my service manager said that there might have been coolant that got into the transmission area and diluted the fluid (the mechanic said that it had a different tinge to it than normal transmission fluid did). That would be the only hope I would have, but I'm sure it's a snowball's chance.

Can someone give me some advice here? I just don't know what to do. I'm wondering if I should just sell it and part with my losses. It would surely be a disappointment though - after $7,500 in repairs.

Do I keep the car, or do I sell it? Can I find a better price on the replacement of the transmission, or is $3k going to do it?

Thanks for any help you can give me friends.

Peace-
Michael.

go here http://www.adsitco.com/newdesign/productdetail.asp?ID=6814 alot cheaper and they have a good reputation. Not a hard job to diy but it is time consuming.
m

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Martin Ingram
Colorado Springs
2005 320 CDI
2006.5 VW Jetta TDI
1991 560SEL (179000 Sold)
1972 280SEL 4.5 ('The Lead Sled' 320000 miles when sold.)
1972 220D (225000 when sold)

A dealer unit is the Mercedes of rebuilt transmissions.

Adsit - not a lowest-cost supplier - has them for $1395, and you would probably get hit for $200 to ship the rebuilt unit and get the core back to them. 8 hours for labor is about right, which you should be able to get for $600 at an indie. So that's $2200 plus or minus. If there is a rebuilder in your area, you might be able to save the freight.

You need to measure spending that against getting $1500 or so for the car and buying something else. If you think the car with a new transmission will get you through 4-5 years, and if you like the car, it's not such a bad deal.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

You may have some recourse with your insurance company since the coolant lines may have been damaged in the accident causing the tranny to overheat and burn the clutchs. Contact your agent and the body shop I'm sure they'll help you out.
Good luck

Can't disagree with any of the above comments. I have a decent amount of experience with insurance co.'s and my advice is to stand tough. It's quite obvious this is related to the accident and upon more investigation, the mechanics should discover this.

Be persistent (but not annoyingly so) with your carrier. Let us know what transpires!

On another note, I'd also find a good indie -- I don't recall if your up in Madison now, but if you are, you know my opinion on this one! Good luck!

Our local indie rebuilt ours ('91 190E 2.3, SoCal) for about $1500-$1800, as I recall.

Steve