E320 2dr...1996... Gearbox problems...help please

[aman]

Hi i have a 2 door E 1996 looks stunning drives great other then gearbox issues.
The car drives well in all forward gears but struggles to go into reverse gear when warm or hot.....
When in reverse she shudders a lot and seems to be lacking in power (struggles to reverse up hill or over curb... sometimes even with no gradient)
Does any one have a clue what is wrong with ...experienced similar...know what i can do about it?
Changing the gearbox is an option but i really hate to loose the original gearbox but if that is sensible i will consider.... repair is preferred but i want it to be back to perfect..... who to go to? quality of parts? If you were to go get an engine rebuild i understand this is commonly done with inferior parts....is this the same for gearboxes??
Any advise recommendations would be much appreciated...

Thanks
Aman

 

[umedc]

Hi i have a 2 door E 1996 looks stunning drives great other then gearbox issues.
The car drives well in all forward gears but struggles to go into reverse gear when warm or hot.....
When in reverse she shudders a lot and seems to be lacking in power (struggles to reverse up hill or over curb... sometimes even with no gradient)
Does any one have a clue what is wrong with ...experienced similar...know what i can do about it?
Changing the gearbox is an option but i really hate to loose the original gearbox but if that is sensible i will consider.... repair is preferred but i want it to be back to perfect..... who to go to? quality of parts? If you were to go get an engine rebuild i understand this is commonly done with inferior parts....is this the same for gearboxes??
Any advise recommendations would be much appreciated...

Thanks
Aman

HI i had 320sl which use to shudder in reverse had gearbox rebuilt at cost of 1900£ looks like yours migth be same , reverse clutch gone?

 

[Roger Jones]

Where to go?

http://www.fedauto.co.uk/memfind.htm

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=16

http://www.automaticman.co.uk/

Recommended in the MB Club Good Garage Guide (members' recommendations):
http://www.hardyengineering.co.uk/
http://www.stephensengineering.co.uk/

Where are you? How many miles on the car?

When you find a good transmission specialist, you should have no worries about parts. I doubt that there are many cowboys in this highly specialized game.

Please keep in touch. Your findings and results will be of interest to others.

P.S. Here's some more, easily found via Google:

http://tinyurl.com/3jnnkh

 

[Matt_Bigwood]

Sounds horribly familiar - I had a 1996 W210 E280 with exactly the same reverse juddering symptoms (I'd posted about it a couple of times on this forum).

Tried the various suggestions of changing the gearbox oil and torque convertor fluid, but made no difference. Turns out that a clutch in the auto box had failed or was failing. I made numerous phone calls to gearbox specialists in Bristol/Gloucester but most weren't interested because of the age of the car, and had one quote of £1800 +VAT to strip the box to see what the cause of the problem was - and parts would have been on top of that. Two or three didn't even reply to messages.

A service manager at the Mercedes dealership near Bath said a new box would jhave been around £4000 including fitting, and even more if I needed a new torque convertor.

In the end I effectively gave the car away and have bought a 2001 E240.

I hope your problem turns out to be something different.

Matt

 

[Roger Jones]

Aman

Can't swear to this, but it might be possible to pick up a younger box for middle to upper hundreds of squids from a breakers and get it fitted for a similar amount or less. But get the problem diagnosed properly anyway. Presumably the box is the 722.369.

 

[Smiley]

Depends what the rest of the car is like condition wise - a ca. £2k repair (which is what it will be in the end) is not really economic unless the car is really really good and / or you are keeping it for a long time.

 

[Will]

Most practicable option would be a good used gearbox from a breakers IMO if everything else has been checked (ATF etc)

It's surely not worth rebuilding or fitting a brand new gearbox into a 12 year old E-class unless it's something really special - ie 30k miles from new, etc (although I guess that it's probably done quite a few miles if something like a clutch in the box has worn out?)

I take it this is a 124 coupe/cabriolet but realistically a good replacement box will get you back on the road with the least hassle and should last many more years to come

Will