MountainStone

I've always had the low-speed 'jerk' but last weekend my transmission started acting odd at all speeds. Called my indie and described the symptoms. He called a friend of his at the dealership and then recommended I go have the glycol test done. I had the glycol test performed when i bought the car last year and it was negative but I have the suspect radiator.

I wasn't much worried because I have an extended warranty that covers the transmission. When I attempted to contact my warranty company (Auto Repair Warranty, Inc.) I discovered they stopped operating last December and are currently being sued by the Ohio State Attorney General. Hopefully the owners lose everything they ever owned but I'll never see a dime and now I am looking at replacing the transmission, torque converter and radiator out of my own pocket.

I go for the test on Wednesday and am not driving the car till then. My indie says the transmission is about $3000 and the labor books at about 14 hours. Add the new torque converter and parts/labor for the radiator and it gets frighteningly expensive.

Anybody here care to share what they paid for a replacement (assuming there's anybody here who shelled out that kind of money and kept the car)?

splinter

Sorry to hear of your fly-by-night warranty scammer.

A thorough flush may save it from being relegated to a core if it’s only recently suffered glycol contamination. Any SDS adaptation info to share since it began “acting odd at all speeds?” It’ll detect and quantify ECU & EGS-commanded shift behavior directed to and fro the valve body; electrohydraulic control unit in MB parlance. No sense throwing good money after bad by performing exploratory surgery if there’s a more sensible solution at hand.

$3000 for a properly remanufactured transmission from MB is the ante. Wholesale pricing is, of course, considerably less. Regret not knowing of any competent independent transmission specialists to recommend who have proven expertise with our 722.6’s AMG-specific rebuilding nuances.

Fourteen hours of labor is more than double what the R&R task actually requires. If your technician’s rate is ~$120 an hour (similar to what they charge around here), he should work twice as quickly. Have swapped several transmissions over the years in a modest garage with relatively basic shop equipment and hand tools. Doing so never required more than an honest day from start to finish, including appropriate fastidiousness and verifying my work.

Are you still stationed at McChord AFB? Recently enjoyed yet another tour of Vandenberg with kin that served as a Colonel there. Couldn’t help but notice its fully equipped auto shop replete with A&P-certified airmen. Almost as thrilling to me as witnessing a Delta, Minuteman or Atlas blasting off the launch pad. Gist of it being perhaps scheduling some liberty or calling in a favor might be appropriate if replacement is, in fact, deemed necessary.

http://www.mbwholesaleparts.com/vcm/...r_July2010.pdf

TemjinX2

i remember hooleyboy posted that you can get your transmission rebuilt to take up to 1000 wtq for $2k. You might better off sending it to them if your going to get it rebuilt.

c32AMG-DTM

Sorry to say it, but if you took your C32 to the dealership for replacement of the transmission, torque converter, TCU, and radiator... you'd approach an invoice nearly equivalent to, if not surpassing, your recent "trade-in" offer. Since your warranty is kaput, I'm not recommending that... just offering as a data point.

splinter's advice, as usual, is on target. TemjinX2's observation is also intriguing - you may want to PM hooleyboy and/or MBH Motorsports to explore that alternative. Downside would likely be the downtime without a functioning C32... not sure if that matters to you.

Good luck; keep us posted on how it goes.

MountainStone

Thanx for the link and the input, Splinter.

Forgive my ignorance but how do I share 'SDS adaptation info'? My indie stated his dealer contact related they recommend a thorough flush first, but 9 out of 10 ultimately return for a transmission replacement.

I will ask about the R&R hours at the dealer, but my indie told me the last one he performed required removal of the intake manifold to access the top two bellhousing bolts. He charges $89/hour vs the dealership's $150/hr so I'll have to do a little math depending on what the dealer quotes me. I swapped the transmissions in my old Nova, Monte Carlo SS and my Corvette but all had more access than this little C class; I can't talk intelligently about what it would actually entail to perform the job.

I am still at McChord but compounding my woes is leaving for a six-month deployment to Qatar in one week. My poor wife will ultimately have to sort this out in my absence. We do have a very nice auto hobby shop but I won't have the opportunity to use it for this project. I suppose the good news is that I don't have to hurry the process.

MountainStone

Wow. Really? Thanx for the input; lemme get into the search feature...

TemjinX2

i would just PM hooleyboy. I remember he mentioned it on his c55 supercharge thread. I remembered because its the only thing from renntech that i thought was cheap or you can just email renntech directly.

splinter

Ironic we both have experience replacing GM transmissions. Used to grenade them (TH350s, 200R4s and 700-4R/4L60s) with alarming regularity during my hot rodding days. Ultimately ended up joining ATSG and ATRA to learn how learn how to build them myself and make ‘em survive.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the only MB transmission I’ve personally replaced was in the Mrs.’ W124 - after more than 150,000 miles of faithful service. It actually proved less laborious than doing same on my former F, G and Y chassis. Also, a friend (who owns the local Michelin dealership) billed a mere 6 hours to install a fresh torque converter in our C32. No doubt the C’s tunnel has scant little space in which to fit a spanner upside the bellhousing. He may well have rounded down the invoice a bit, as I do when plying my trade on his behalf.

Not at all, MountainStone. Although it specifically addresses the 722.9, our 5-speed’s workshop diagnostic menu is essentially identical.
Note the acronyms TCU, EGS and ETC ought to be interpreted as interchangeable jargon in this instance.
SDS adaptation intel… http://www.mbwholesaleparts.com/vcm/...telligence.pdf

Trust you’ll be able to get things squared away without additional hardship. Thank you for your service, Sir.

320 dreamer

hooley had renntech rebuild his tranny and that was the cost he quoted 2k. you might search southernhotrod.com as they build high performance trans for the mopar nag1 which is the same as the 722.6 they also have a torque convertor for about 900$

betrezra

That's the trans shop I was looking for.... thks for that. My clk55 will need a trans rebuild down the road.. and was thinking about the tq convertor mod as well. THX>

Autotechnica

lol, anyone else confused? I've read several of your posts from other threads and you seem like a knowledgeable guy. I just never really understand what the eff you're talking about, haha!

I have a 2002 MY, I've just replaced my Valeo unit with the BEHR. I've only flushed the coolant, not the tranny fluid. I'm not sure what constitutes as the tranny acting "odd". I've read these tranny's aren't all that great anyways. I have the 1500-2000RPM jerk like almost everyone else. Sometimes it's a hard jerk, sometimes barely noticeable. Sometimes my tranny will also fail to downshift at lower RPM's, even when I hit the kickdown on the gas pedal. However, this may be a result of the TCU adapting to my lazy style of driving habbits. The manual mode works great! It Responds instantly. Hopefully I have no contamination. I bring my car to a MB mecahnic who works out of his house (cheaper that way). I'm getting the tranny fluid drained and refilled next weekend. I will take a sample of the fluid and have the Glycol test done at the dealership. The mech says that if there is any contamination at all, he recommends having merc take out the tranny, taking it apart, then cleaning each part before resassmbling. No thanks! That sounds expensive. Hopefully the results will come back negative. I have about 60,000miles on my car now. I'm just going to drain and refill the fluid, then repeat the process again about a month later. Will that be sufficient in removing most of the coolant if I do in fact have contamination?

BTW, how much does a Glycol test costs and how much do they need for a sample? I don't know if the transmission fluid can be seen in the coolant, but my coolant was very clean.

thanks.

Bryan