3 Point Fan

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I am looking at a 1988 560 SEL for purchase. This is my first Mercedes. However, I have lots of experience working on American and German (VW and Porsche) vehicles. This particular car is in pretty nice condition, but has a weird problem where the transmission will not engage in reverse. Forward gears work. The car has 100K miles, and has average (but not great) maintenance. Is this a common problem that might be an easy fix, or is this serious requiring a transmission rebuild? Other than dealerships, are there reputable independent M-B shops in the Detroit area? Any info is appreciated.

3 Point Fan

Does anyone have any input on this problem? Besides having the transmission serviced, what else should I look at? The car does move in reverse, but it moves SLOWLY. Any ideas?

egxpimp

get ur tranny checked...i would tell u whats wrong but i dont know all i know is once i mest up my dads tranny it would go forward but not reverse and he got it fixed pretty fast for like 600-1000$ dont recall, its nothing serious tho.
Enrique

3 Point Fan

Enrique - Thanks for the reply. $600-1000 is a pretty serious repair in my eyes. Could you find out what it was? Anybody else have experience with this? I have seen it on TWO 560SELs for sale in my area lately. One is an occurance, two or more is a trend!

GTR John

My dad 560 SEC had a bad clangng noise when shifting into reverse. Yo uwould shift into reverse and wait abotu a split second, and than bang, the car would rock a lil and than you were in reverse. It worked,but I wouldn't doubt if it was almost done. The car had around 100,000 miles.

zygorepma

I have had the same problem with my car and as of yet the mechanic cant figure it out, he wants to replace the reverse system, did you end up figuring out what your car was doing ? Please share this with me.
Thanks

3 Point Fan

I wound up not buying that 560SEL, as I did not know what was wrong with the transmission. Look for a reputable shop well-versed in Mercedes-Benz to look at your car. Good luck.