No 4th gear, what's wrong!
 

Just bought a 260e, you can put it in drive and it drives great in all gears until it goes to shift into 4th, then it just slips and revs freely.
All other gears, reverse included, work fine. Is there something specific to 4th gear that can be fixed, or does the whole transmission need replacing?
What about the modulator or the cable, can either of those help it any?

Anyone have any input?

sometimes the transmission filter element becomes unglued and will get partially sucked in to the fluid inlet on the vale body and restrict pressure, this is usually from lack of service that the filter fails, unless it was done recently i would start with a transmission service, new filter pan gasket and fluid and go from there

Good tip. Thats probably the cheaper way to start, so I'll probably give that a try after I've checked a few other things out.

no 4th gear
 

Very easy. the two teflon rings that supply oil pressure to the k2 clutch pack are shot. Don't ask me how I know. These little rascals are the last things in the back of the tranny case. And by the way, a new drum for the clutch pack will cost you $680.00 plus tax. Good luck!

Since this is a 260e, will a transmission from a 190e 2.6 fit? I just so happen to have a spare, and using that would be MUCH cheaper than fixing those 2 teflon rings you mentioned.

trans service would still be the cheper attempt, i have actually only seen the teflon rings cause issues when they are incorrectly installed, not saying thy won't but i just havent sen them fail, how many miles on the car?

168k, which really isn't that bad. And the car has all the service records, always serviced at the dealer, so I have a hard time believing something like that would fail with relatively average miles on it.

you mean the filter the teflon rings or the trans in geneal?

Don't know, I'm a diesel man since 1960. Check the numbers. Example:The 300SD has a 722.303. According to my book, the 260e and the 190e 2.6 have the same transmission. (722.409) Reddog

Yea, I've also read they both share the 722.4. And carson, I have a hard time believing the teflon rings would fail like that. The filter, sure.

that is what i thought you meant, as i said the only times i have seen issues with the teflon rings is when they were installed incorrectly when resealing the front pump area.