PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

gmercoleza · #10 01-07-2005, 11:38 AM

Bump to the top - the problem has taken a turn for the worse. Now the trans slips from 3rd to 4th - I had to drive home in 3rd the whole way yesterday. The first shift is tight, no problems. Reverse also works fine. The car is now parked in my garage and I took my wife's Odyssey to work. There's no way I'm driving it if there's any chance of doing further damage.

Due to the research I have done here (lots of info!), I'm leaning away from adjustment or modulation, and leaning more towards friction parts or stuck check balls or pistons. I plan to open the trans tonight and see if there are shavings in the pan (hopefully not). I have done a search but still don't fully understand if this could be related to B1 or not - the symptoms don't seem to be the same. Can anyone chime in? If replacing B1 would solve the problem, that would be great - way cheaper than having to replace the trans!

If there is nothing in the pan, I am going to try and flush/refill the fluid and change the filter. But I also figure that if I'm in there, I should remove and either clean the valve body or replace with a new one. It seems that the valve body is easy to remove in one piece without dropping the trans, but can be very difficult to take apart properly, without losing little parts (correct me if I'm wrong). But I'm very careful and meticulous; I've done many carburetors in the past and, though I'm sure the valve body is a million times more complex and is an entirely different beast, it's nothing that time, patience, and skill can't tackle. I'm hoping this is just a case of gunk sticking up some of the check balls or something like that. But again, I am somewhat shooting in the dark here - can anyone tell me if doing this is worthwhile? Are there any other partial-rebuild steps that I can perform with the trans still in the car, other than valve body and B1?

Supposing I decide to just change the fluid and filter, will I need to purchase any additional gaskets or seals, such as for the transmission oil pan? And should I use synthetic or dino trans fluid? And how many quarts should I pick up? I'm already familiar with the process for draining the torque converter...

HELP!!! Anyone???