Hi all. I got a bad transmission in my 89 300E. I can do the labor myself but the prices for the transmission are all over the board on websites. What is a good price for an exchange transmission?

I have a low mileage transmission from a 124-1987-300E... I am located in southern Indiana...if you are interested either PM or send me a email jim16671836@yahoo.com thanks Jim

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James A. Harris

$1500-$2100

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Jerry

2004 SL500 Black 55K Miles
2002 s500 Black 90K Miles
1986 300E Gold 233K Miles
1966 Twin Cessna 320D
1989 Jeep Cherokee 233K Miles
1994 Ford Van E150 399K Miles

You should call Mercedes and find out whether an reMANUFACTURED transmission is available. A rebuilt transmission at a local shop just has a rebuild kit in it (new wear parts like clutches), and the quality of the rebuild is limited to the standards and skill level of the shop. A remanufactured transmission from Mercedes might cost more, but the skill and standards are "limited" to that at Mercedes itself, which is a lot higher than a local rebuild shop. Furthermore, a remanufactured transmission has all the updated parts that the manufacturer has to offer, and a local rebuild shop doesn't have that kind of intimate knowledge about your specific transmission.

Greg

Mercedes rebuilt transmissions used to be a good deal - but they raised the prices over a thousand dollars recently. They seem to be pricing these things with the specific intent of getting your car off the road so they can sell a new one. I wouldn't do business with them anymore. There's plenty of people that can do a nice job of rebuilding your transmission.

call sun valley, you ship it to them they ship it back, they only use mb parts, 818 768 8667

I understand your ranting I miss my simple well engineered 300d, no computer, it ran great but the weak link was the trans it was on the second rebuild in 250000 but the engine was great

The whole issue is a little more complicated than just trying to get the old cars off the road. There was an article in the Automotive News a few weeks ago that indicated that Mercedes was actually going to lose money on every car they brought in from Germany this year - and they were thinking of trying to ration them, i.e. sell less, so they could lose less money. They have a serious currrency exchange problem that just hit them this year because of past currency hedging. Of course they do make some cars here but when you lose money on every unit from Germany pushing more cars out the door is not the answer. They know they can't raise car prices in line with the currency devaluation or they'll be immediately uncompetitive with Japan/Cadillac, etc (sad to say but that is their competition these days). So they sit, hoping that the currency valuation will soon swing the other way, and raising parts prices like crazy in the mean time, driving down resale values and residual values. If the dollar keeps sliding, as it seems likely to do, they've got a real problem.

I assume you are talking about the w123 model 300d and not the w124 models or are they both about the same when it comes to transmission reliability?

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JD

As mentioned some vehicles are made here. And making more here is probably the long term answer to the currency volatility problem but that's something that takes a while to bring on stream. The Japanese have done a better job of this. I'm not aware of what's going on in Hawaii.

Wow!!!