I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was loosing reverse in my 1995 E320 wagon. Well, it's all but gone. After research I have determined that it is too risky to have the reverse fixed only and not have a complete rebuild. A rebuild is very expensive too, especially seeing as I just had the headgasket done in March! (When it rains it pours). So, my questions are:

Is $1350 a reasonable price for a used transmission with 110,000 miles on it and a 6 month warrenty on parts? (Another $850 for labor).

Is there any value to my transmission after it has been removed or should I just let my mechanic take it? It has 196,000 miles on it and obviously in need of a rebuild.

Any words of advice in general?

I do trust this mechanic. The owner of the shop is a Mercedes master mechanic and the work they have done to date seems very good.

Thanks

That sounds high to me. Have you checked car-part.com for comparables? Complete overhaul according to Mitchell is supposed to be only 12.3 hours, after 6.9 hours to R and R.

It would not be much more expensive to just replace the reverse bands and put it back in. As long as it still shifts nice, I would just do the reverse and reseal the front pump. As long as you change the fluid religiously every 30k, stick with it.

Otherwise the used tranny you put in is a crap shoot 16k from now. If your reverse gave out at 190k, you really want to risk only 50-80k before it needs to come out again with the used one? Your tranny could last up to 300k assuming everything else shifts nice other than the reverse issue.

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2016 Monsoon Gray Audi Allroad - 21k
2008 Black Mercedes E350 4Matic Sport - 131k
2014 Jeep Wranger Unlimited Sahara - 62k
2003 Gray Mercedes ML350 - 122k

$2200 plus tax and extras for a used trans installed? With a 6-month parts-only warranty? Apparently the mechanic knows that you trust him, ... enough to bend over.

I'll bet you can have a rebuilt installed for that, with a real warranty, shop around. I've seen working used transmissions here for less than half that also.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

My 300D rebuild was like $1200 I have the receipt somewhere.

I'll sell you a 1994 E320 trans in Ohio, unknown miles, car has under 200k but he said the trans has 100k on it for like $300.

Without proof (a receipt) of mileage on the transmission I would be a little uneasy. I will think about it though. Thank you.

The net effect of my post was, $1350 for 110k miles is bs.

Went and found my receipt, I lied, my rebuild was $1,500. But $150 more for zero miles... I know what I'd do. I think that trans shop is kind of expensive too.

IF you are loosing reverse it will be cheaper to fix the one you got then buy a rebuilt or a used one over a grand sounds a bit high. its ether clutch pack problem or a hydraulic problem

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

I did a little research yesterday and found three used transmissions for sale:

85,000mi = $1150
136,000mi =$1000
110,000mi =$1000

All have 6 month warrenty on parts. I guess $1350 is a little high.

what is a reasonable quote for labor?

Did you do the car-part.com search? Even the $1000 is on the high side.

I'm with the fix the one you got crowd. Reverse is known to be a weak point in those trans and fixing it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Buying a used one is little more than gamble and even the low mileage trans is likely 1/2 way though it's reverse's lifespan.

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90 300TE 4-M
Turbo 103, T3/T04E 50 trim
T04B cover .60 AR
Stage 3 turbine .63 AR
A2W I/C, 40 LB/HR
MS2E, 60-2 Direct Coil Control
3" Exh, AEM W/B O2
Underdrive Alt. and P/S Pulleys,
Vented Rear Discs, .034 Booster.
3.07 diffs 1st Gear Start

90 300CE 104.980
Milled & ported head, 10.3:1 compression
197° intake cam w/20° advancer
Tuned CIS ECU
4° ignition advance
PCS TCM2000, built 722.6
600W networked suction fan
Sportline sway bars
V8 rear subframe, Quaife ATB 3.06 diff

I'm with the fix it crowd too if there's nothing wrong other than the reverse not working. I think post #43 in the link below pretty much summarizes the experiences many of us have gone through with the B3 wearing out.
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As a follow-up to my original post:

- As multiple people advised, the problem was indeed a worn-out B3 reverse clutch. Earlier 722.0 to 722.2 transmissions use a B3 reverse band, with an external adjustment. No such luck on the 722.3 transmission in my 1991 420SEL (W126). It has a B3 clutch mechanism for reverse engagement, with no external adjustment.

Repair of the B3 clutch requires removal and opening of the transmission, and so the question becomes: just repair the B3 clutch, or do a full rebuild, or even consider swapping in a replacement rebuilt transmission? Prices for either a full rebuild of my transmission, or a new rebuilt replacement transmission, were in the $2600 to $3000 range (from multiple shops), at high SF Bay Area labor rates. I got a quote for just the B3 repair of $1300 from Walnut Creek Transmission (Walnut Creek, CA), who also priced a full rebuild at $2600.

I basically told them: Look, I was already intending to sell the car in about 6 months (which is true), so I would prefer to jsut do the B3 repair. But, if you see signs of other imminent problems, or generally worn parts in other areas of the transmission, I will do a full rebuild, so as not to leave any "ticking time bombs" in the car.

After opening up the transmission, the mechanic said that the B3 clutch as toast, but that everything else seemed in pretty good shape. His advice was that just doing a B3 repair was fine, but if I was going to keep the car for a long time, it might be worth doing a full rebuild. I opted for just the B3 repair, which also included new seals.

In looking at the problem myself, before taking the car in, I had tried to adjust the vacuum modulator a bit, to see if it helped reverse engagement at all. Adjusting the vacuum modulator produced the expected changes in the firmness of forward-gear shifts, but didn't seem to impact reverse engagement at all (more or less as expected). But, I noticed that there was a small amount of ATF under the rubber dust cap of the modulator adjustment "T-bar". Mechanic confirmed that the modulator was leaking slightly, so it was also replaced.

Car now engages reverse right away, and foward-gear shifting is good (as it was before) - nice firm shifts at full/heavy throttle, and softer shifts at low/partial throttle. If anything the low-throttle shifts are a little smoother than before - this is presumably due to the new vacuum modulator "side issue" (slight leak of old modulator probably lowered the vacuum applied to the transmission during low-throttle shifts).

Price was as quoted $1315 including sales tax. $700 was for removal, diagnosis, and replacement of the tranny, $350 was the labor for the repair itself, and the parts (B3 clutch pieces, modulator, seals, etc.), new ATF and filter, and sales tax came to $265.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=99048&highlight=722.3+clutch

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1993 400E, 256,000 miles (totaled)
1994 E420, 200,000+ miles
1995 E420, 201,000 miles

Didn't do car-part.com. Tried but they wanted to get back to me via email. I made 10 inquiries yesterday. Here's the thing.. I have two quotes for labor to drop the trany, one is $1000 and the other is $850. This is to pull it out and put it back in. The reverse parts are something like $250. Now add time for rebuild and you are up there, maybe $1500 or more, (just to rebuild your reverse). Then, from what some experienced forum members have said, along with my mechanic, you are running a risk of debres getting through the screen and into the rest of the trany which will kill it.

I think it is a safer bet to put a low mileage used in it. However, I may do a rebuild. I'm torn. Just dropped $2500 into the car in March for headgasket and a bunch of other items (including a trny service). Did it because the car seemed solid and I had no issues with the trany. 4 weeks later I start to loose reverse. I swear I am cursed.

All used trany's very from $1000 to $1600. That's after calling/emailing 10 places.

I'm not sure what you're doing but just go to the site, enter your model information and you'll get a list of all the transmission available, way over 100. of which only 6 are over $1000. Most are between $500 and $800 but some as low as $300. The market for used transmissions won't support $1000+ prices when a rebuild is 12+ hours of labor.

http://car-part.com/