So as a (hopefully) final installment in my quest for a rebuilt tranny for my 92 500sel. The choices were:

Dealership rebuild - $4500

Indy rebuild - $2600

Phoenix Reman Tranny - $1885

German Trans - $1200

Although I was tempted to go with Phx Reman (they offered a strong warranty, and also had the most experience - they rebuild over 100 tranny per month), the guy at German Trans convinced me that he would do a good job and stand behind it.

I picked up the car (he got it in and out in 48 hours), but at first it wasn't quite right. He agreed that there was something wrong, and he said to come back in a few days and he would fix it. (It was short shifting sometimes, but the big problem was that at 20mph if you floored it there was a harsh kickdown.) A week later, I gave it to him for a day, where he replaced the valve body, and now it works fine.

Wow, I forgot how wonderful the MB tranny's work when they are working properly. I bought this car mainly on my experiences with my 560sel (which had a great powertrain, best automatic tranny I've ever driven), and it was a little dissappointing living with the failing transmission for the last 10k miles.

So, in final, German Trans gets a B+ rating. Not perfect (I was a little frustrated when it wasn't fixed right the first time), but he took care of it without hesitation, and has agreed to continue to service it for as long as needed.

-David

Glad you fixed it less expensively.. dealers and some others are shafters.... you got a good price, hopefully it holds together

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

What happened to it? There seems to be lots of front oil pump leaks (cheap sleve bearing that supports torque Conv nose spins in oil pump housing) Also lots of friction lining flaking off clutch disks--apparently bad adhesive since no noticeable wear on the friction disks

To go through the tranny right is 10 hours on the bench. Parts about $300 + $400 oil pump if it is bad. R&R of 5 hours

You got a very fair deal IMHO

From the outside (symptoms) - it was starting in first gear, flaring to third, and then (near the end) having a hard time getting into fourth...

Dissassy and inspection showed severe wear on the discs (some of the metal plates needed to be cut off...), the "basket" has a pin on the back (something to do with reverse?) and this was broken off, there are (at least) two plastic seals (guides?) that have a lip - one is the white one (3" dia) and the other about 1.5" dia - both of these showed damage, the 1.5" (more yellow in color) was badly damaged.

I just spoke to the mechanic (I called him and asked him this question). He said the primary two problems were that the clutch discs in the front drum had locked up, causing problems with the front planetary gears which caused problems with gear selection. The broken pin on the basket allowed the reverse piston to travel too far, destroying the clutch plates therein.

I don't know if any of this helps anyone...

-David