1986 300e dead transmission -HELP!!
 

Okay I was driving up 3rd avenue in Drive and suddenly the transmission stopped working. Engine was fine but transmission disengaged. I rolled to a stop on the side. And the shifted back to park and then shifted back to drive and nothing. It wouldnt engage. Tried REVERSE//2/3 nothing worked. Engined revved fine. 10 minutes of panic and inspection later( no wierd noises, or fluid leaks or anything) I tried it again and it engaged. Drove three blocks and parked it legally when it started acting up again. Now it wont go to any gear again. Have I lost my transmission?
The 'oil' light came on for a few minutes last night but I thought that was engine oil and one of the phantom things my car does every now and then. Could it be transmission fluid...? I checked some threads on how to check tran fluid so thats my next step but could that cause this type of failure?

What type of transmission fluid should I get?
Does anyone know if a decent benz transmission shop in NYC? (I can get it towed there)
How about a place that can build me a new transmission (I am sincerely hoping this doesnt happen as I cannot absolutely afford it)


HELP ME PLEASE...!

heres a carrot...

www.mbevents.com

bump....
 

bump..help...

Sorry to hear about your prob's. I can't be of much help, but I'd start with changing the fluid. You'll need Dexron III fluid for that tranny. Also, you might as well change the filter too.

I really don't know why it would do that; maybe the fluid is in such bad shape it can't take the heat any more? If the fluid/filter change doesn't work, another possible culprit could be the vacuum system. Check the vacuum line that goes from the intake manifold to the tranny for any leaks. You may also want to swap the vacuum modulator, but that's just a blind suggestion.

Check the transmission fluid level first, if it’s full, change the filter and drive the car. If the transmission does not move in any FORWORDS gears the problem is in the B2 system, servo or band. If the transmission does not move at all, in any gear including reserve, then its internal, rebuilt.

thanks for the tips...Okay the transmission fluid level appeared to be low...so I topped it off to the best of my ability. (transmission fluid levels seem to be very tricky to measure).... the car seems to shift fine now....but im still worried when it might conk out...can low transmission oil cause this kind of problem....? I dint feel the car acting any different before the trans disengaged completely...

im taking it to some transmission people tomorrow to check it out...any recommendation for benz transmission guys in nyc...?

also how much would a rebuild typically take?
what if i wanted to switch it to a manual while i had this 'chance'? how much and who?

any ideas?

Yes, low fluid will cause it to fail to move as there is nothing in the torque converter and nothing to apply the cluthes -- goes to neutral.

Most likely you have a slow leak, and will need to learn to check the fluid level frequently until you decide to cough up for the re-seal. Leak is usually the front seal, between torque converter and transmission, and requires transmission removal to fix. You may be lucky and only have a pan leak or servo leak that can be fixed with the tranny in place.

Rebuild tranny is around $1500, removal and installation will be more, exact amount dependent upon what the shop charges. I'd advise against having a tranny shop do the rebuild unless they do lots of them on MB 722.x trannies -- these are NOT typical American transmissions, and the typical American transmission rebuild will not make you happy.

Peter

I think switching to a manual could be done, but hard to find a manual trans....

Low fluid could cause this problem....

I recently had a hard time trying to measure the fluid in my 1989 300E...

What people on this forum told me to do is (I added a bit more info in too)....

Park car on LEVEL surface, wait until next day (CAR IS COMPLETELY COLD!!!!)
In morning, start the car, shift through all gears like so...
P to R, wait 5 seconds (TIME IT!)
R to N, wait 5 seconds
N to D wait 5 seconds
D to 3 wait 2 seconds
3 to 2 wait 2 seconds
2 to 3 wait 2 seconds
3 to D wait 2 seconds
D to N wait 5 seconds
N to R wait 5 seconds
R to P wait 5 seconds

then apply parking brake and get your butt outta the car!
keep engine running!

get to trans dipstick
remove and wipe clean with lint free cloth (DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT USING A PAPER TOWEL!)
reinsert dipstick COMPLETELY!
REMOVE WITHIN 2 SECONDS!
measure...
fluid should be 10mm (1cm) below the MINIMUM MARK (LOWEST INDENTION)!

DRIVE CAR ON HIGHWAY FOR 15MINUTES!
recheck fluid on level ground and with engine running!
try not to spill AT fluid on exhaust manifold... makes white smoke and brings you THAT much closer to getting cancer... :o

Fluid should be at MAX INDENTION! (Highest indention!)

89 300e shifts hard into 3rd and 4th
 

I also can hear it down shifting pretty loud too??
Is my tranny done??:confused: