Reverse delay in a 91 560SEL
 

Hey everyone,

When I got this car at 114k, putting her into reverse always had about a one second delay. All forward gears are smooth and its quick to go from reverese to drive. I was told the car had new trans fluid and filters at 100k.

Yesterday, after putting her into "R", it was about 15 seconds before she caught and reversed normally.

I've been sitting here reading threads on transmission repair for about two hours, and I just don't get it. I didn't see a thread with this type of symptom, as most of the info relates to forward gears shifting hard/soft. I'm just assuming from what I've read that this is a vacuum problem or a band problem - right? I'm not looking at a rebuild at now 120k miles am I?

Thanks,
Craig

560trans
 

yes you are.the large set of clutches in the case are reverse gear and they are always the first to go.you probably experienced nice cool weather and nothing was up to temp yet hence the delay.the good news is that this can be fixed without stripping the whole trans.i call it a mini rebuild and usually done in 2 days.although you say that trans had service before you got the car ,it was probably it's first and only therefore the wear in reverse.