It seems like a joke. I was winding down the rebuild of my 1983 240D transmission, Manual. I had replaced all the main bearings, synchros, shims and large outside snap rings succesfully.

On literally the last gear I had to put back on, on the outer countershaft, i noticed the gear was upside down. When I removed the snap ring,(172) I dropped it into the transmission through a very small hole on the bottom of the housing.
The snap ring is relatively small, about a 1/2' in diameter and I think made of soft steel.
I know this sounds ridiculous, but would it be SMARTER to leave the snap ring in there and reorder it and install a new one on the end of the countershaft? I noticed on my rebuild that the 3rd Gear synchro spring had been eaten alive and digested by the transmission and that thing is 5 or 6 times bigger!
If I take the chance to reopen the transmission to get the ring out, I will have to remove and reinstall the main bearing snap rings and main bearing shaft and shims. I think I was just lucky to put the thing back together correctly the first time~~~~~~

I dropped a small snap ring in my transmission --can I leave it? 83 240D

Here is the piece number and diagram

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I always thought a piece of lint coud ruin a transmission - but I guess that's the modern automatics. I don't think you're going to find anyone that going to tell you that it's not a problem - it just sounds awfully risky to leave it in.

I would fish for it through the drain hole with a retriveing magnet the kind on a antenna like shaft...........

William Rogers..........

Do not leave it there, every time you drive it, you will see a picture of the ring in your mind's eye and never know !

__________________
1993 190E 2.0L (Euro.) sold
1991. 500 SEL (Euro.)
1991. 300 CE (Euro.) sold
1993. 500 E (U.S. spec.)

like someone else said ...........fish it out!!??and if you can't ..then take it apart and do the job again.....you did it the first time ...you can certainly do it again. ...and the second time around is always easier....right??

Good luck

William Rogers got the right idea. I could spend a lot of time fishing that sucker out of there, even if I had to do the job over, than to have it eat something really expensive.

Just my $.02

Wes