LexBenz

Hey Guys, I'm new to W124. I bought one since I really love the looks of it. Two weeks ago, I purchased a nice 1992 300E with slight transmission issue. Jerking from first to second gear that really bothers me. I brought it to a Mercedes independent shop, they tried to adjust the modulator, but no changes happened. Then last Monday I took it to a Mercedes dealer then after paying $330 just for diagnosis including the transmission vacuum, they said it could be the valve body or the trany itself and no definite answer.

Now the issue is, when I picked up the car just tonight, I noticed both side vents are blowing hot air. Center vents are not working at all. I tried to turn it off, but it didn't work. It still blows hot air on both side vents but a little weaker. I played with the thermostat , all the buttons next to it and the recirculating air but they are all not working. Do you guys think the vacuum test they did to my tranny affected my A/C. I'm worrying now. Thanks

Plutoe

Wow what a deal, I gotta have one of those value cars---in any event you no doubt do not have any refrigerant or a bad compressor that can't make 255psi to cool the car--this is not a a shade tree DIY. You need to have a shop put a set of gages on to start the diagnostic process

LexBenz

So those are signs of no freon and not from messing up the vacuum system? The previous owner kept the car well. In fact they said it's one of the cleanest car they've seen. I also checked the history of A/C service last night. It was serviced last year June and they replaced the schrader valve.

LexBenz

I just got an information that my A/C evaporator is leaking freon so now I know they didn't do anything on my A/C unit.

My current option now is to buy a rebuilt transmission and replace my A/C. I know it will cost me money but that's the way it is.

But before I buy a rebuilt tranny and have my friend install it for me, I was thinking maybe I should replace the springs of the valve body tranny first. My car still shifts okay but I have a harsh shift from 1st to second gear then a little flaring in shifting from second to third. I brought it to the independent shop at first and they just adjusted the vacuum modulator. It didn't solve the problem so I brought the car to the dealer thinking maybe they know better. They just checked the bowden cable, fluid level, vacuum system and modulator. They said they are not defective. They didn't offer to open the pan and check the valve body for an additional $165 on top of my $330 bill to check the external parts. If they only offered to open my pan, it will be okay with me. They just told me it could be my valve body or my transmission itself that causes weird shifting. The service adviser also mentioned that they only have one tech that has knowledge on older Mercedes and I thought I made a wrong decision to trust this dealer for my old 92.

Now I'm doing my research online and I just read about the k1 and K2 springs, also the tranny pistons. Maybe replacing these parts could save my transmission and money as well. My 92 300E has only 151k miles (my 97 C280 has 250k miles with no problem except for oil leaks that were fixed). Any advise if it is worth to try replacing these kits and spending more money on trial and error, or just go buy a rebuilt tranny. Thank you.

Plutoe

"Maybe replacing these parts could save my transmission and money as well."

Yep my advice is to find three 100 USD bills and smoke them!!----that's what you will save!!