Auto box info for E300 TD

[jimti]

Hi, I have just had an AA check on a car and the report says that reverse is running at high revs, (could be slipping)the person selling the car says all his previous Merc's were the same & is not faulty. I have a couple of questions,
1/ can an auto box slip in just 1 gear?, all the other gears are OK
2/ Is this just normal for these gearboxes, so I have nothing to worry about
3/ If it is slipping, what sort of cost am I looking at to get it fixed
4/ are there any local independent dealers around Canterbury area
Thanks for any help, this site looks like a good source of advise and information

Jim T

 

[Dieselman]

If an auto is slipping it is most likley to be due to low fluid level.

An auto can slip in one gear but this will manifest itself by slipping when first engaged then driving as the slip reduces.

Neither of these symptoms describes reverse as being too high revving, that can only be a ratio isue.

You haven't said what year car it is but if it's a 5 speed electronic box it has two reverse gears. One in S mode and a higher one in W.
Seriously..it is for reversing in snow.

5 speeders were fitted '97 on.

The torque converter doesn't transmit a lot of drive at idle and low revs but as the torque builds a bit the car will then fly, either forward or backward.

 

[jimti]

thanks for your reply, it is an S reg (99) I will have to check it wasn't set to W. The guy selling the car informed me that the AA bloke had never checked a Merc before and didn't really know his way around the car. I will run it down to our local MB dealer to check it out before I part with my cash, hope it's a good un. it has 130k on clock, looks tidy and is £9950 after a bit of haggling..FMBSH to boot, would be a pity if the box is no good

 

[Dieselman]

To check for S / W operation run the car in neutural and flick the switch. You will JUST feel the gear change.

Another test is to drive the car away and pull the stick back to 1st. If it changes down the box was in 2nd to start with.

It is quite common for the switch to be stuck in the W position even with the rocker to be in the S position. this can be rectified by removing the console trim and flicking the switch underneath.

If the auto box generally works well and smoothly then there probably isn't anything wrong.

 

[silverarrow]

i have been told by a mbz mechanic to switch over every so often with the s/w switch you can tell what gear 1 or 2 by how fast it takes off have you checked the fluid level and for leaks and i woul change the fluid £100 from a good indep garage make sure they change the torque con fluid ie seperate drain plug make real sure not over filled mbz had a lot of problems with over filled gearboxes from the factory

 

[jimti]

thanks for the advise, I will get the fluid changed just to be on the safe side,

 

[jenz]

Slipping Reverse

Hi

I have a 300TE24v and recently (3 months or so), my reverse gear slips. However, it works fine in the morning - yes like you mentioned it has high revs, but when the temperature reaches above 80 degrees or 10 minutes driving the reverse slips.

I have had the gearbox and filter changed about 4 days ago and I am still experiencing the same problem. During this work the oil was drained from the gearbox and about 4.5 litres of ATF oil added from the 5 litres.

Does anyone know what fixes I could try?

Regards
Jenz