I have just had the dreaded reverse shudder start in my 95 s320 with a 722.508 tranny. From what I have read here, it is the B-3 band clutch. The forward gears work perfectly and I cannot find a good local MBZ mechanic who will look at it. Before I am forced to take it to the (gasp) dealer to pay them $100 an hour to tell me I need a rebuild, has anyone tried fixing this themselves? I have rebuilt many car engines and trannies over the years (mainly MG's, Jags and other British cars), but the 722.508 repair manual someone posted here scares me (that tranny is more like a PC than a tranny!).

Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone out there has any words of wisdom...and, if anyone knows of a good, honest tranny shop in Oakland or the North Bay (San Rafael or Novato) near San Francisco, CA.

Thanks!

I had the B3 reverse clutch replaced in my '91 420SEL (W126, 722.3 transmission) by Walnut Creek Transmission (an independent transmission specialist in Walnut Creek, not too far east from Oakland) about a year or so ago. Their pre-work estimate was $1,300 remove the tranny and just repair/replace the B3 clutch, or $2,600 for a complete re-build. I told them to open it up, and tell me what they thought the rest of the tranny looked like. To their credit, they advised that everything else looked pretty good, and so I could get away with just the B3 repair (unless I knew I was going to keep the car for a real long time, then it might be worth doing the whole rebuild.)

The car had 167,000 on it at the time, and I opted for just the B3 repair, plus replacement of seals and the vacuum modulator. Total was right around $1300 as advertised, and things have been fine since then (now at 182,000).