purrfect

hi all

i own an S320 1997,

about a week ago i started notecing that the gears are being shifted with a "kick" and then it got worse,

it would just miss the gear shift and i would have to let go of the gas pedal for like 3 sec's for the car to switch gears, and now i noticed that the car is "stuck" on the 1st gear (this is after 1 week)

can anyone tell me what can this be and what can i excpect in terms of costs for this ?

do i need a new transmission ? <- and if so what are ongoing rates to get those ?

Please Advise!

also,

i'm located in toronto canada
any ideas who is a good mechanic in the city for benz's ?

any advice will be greatly appreciated !

NZ_Benz

Hmm I think you might be in for a rebuild sounds like it was low on fluid and ate itself, first thing would be to have the fluid and filter changed and take it from there see if that improves things.

purrfect

i'm taking it to aamco scarborough today to have it checked

they offer a free twoing service and something called a transcan to identify the problem,

i hope it stays below 1k, this time of the year i hardly would call this "buying a present" money...

will post back shotly with results

thanks.

BENZBAEZ

Probably just the solenoids in the valve body. The electronic board goes bad. Clutches hardly ware out on this trany but the internal seals start to leak causing some slipping and erratic problems.

purrfect

just got out of aamco scarborough

they couldent find any computer errors after scanning it with the scanner and they told me that the oil inside is bad

also told me that there are no chuncks of metal meanning there are probobly no broken parts in it

they quoted me just under $1900 to take the transmission apart, inspect it, replace ONLY THE SOFT PARTS as they call it, and i got them to agree to give me a rental for 2 days until they finish the job in 2 days

they promissed lifetime warrenty with it

i feel like this is allot for this kind of a job

the extras they included was
free towing of my car to their shop
and free rental car for 2 days (or $60)

thanks

NZ_Benz

That sounds ok if they have to un-mount the box from the car and replace all the parts and re-fill and refilter.

purrfect

actually things took an ugly turn

i called them today to verify everything was fine and the guy told me that i need some hard parts as well

the parts were

sprag asemly
k2 forward drum
and 3 more parts which i dont remember the names for ( ill post next time i have a chance)

and quoted me $3600 for the job, what a rip off

what happens if i dont want to proceed the guy said i'd still have to pay the original $1000 for the labor of taking it out > dissassemble > reassemble > put back + some of the "soft parts"

which will come out to $1500 + taxes

RIP OFF !!!!

i asked him to stop the job and asked what would be the cost of leaving everything as is and for me to tow the car away he said he cant do that since he took it apart and that he "has" to put it together and charge me for the entire thing $1500


also he said that if i want to put it together he wont be able to have it done by tomorrow and that i will have to keep the car there until after next week

which creates a hugh expense for me with the car rental (at least $500)

i am frustrated as all hell about this and seriously considering about going to the media with this

also, when i said, what if i pay you the $1500 and you keep everythig as is condition, just put the tranny in a box and ill tow the car away

suddenly he said "ill check into that" and came back with , yes we can do it

so its obvious aamco is a complete rip off and they are out to lure you in with "free towing" and 1 day car rental's and meanwhile they are sticking it to you in fees and labor charges.

any suggestions anyone ?

Rod Spohn

"so its obvious aamco is a complete rip off and they are out to lure you in with "free towing" and 1 day car rental's and meanwhile they are sticking it to you in fees and labor charges.

any suggestions anyone ?"

Learned that lesson myself several years back with them. Sorry to hear they are the same every where. Do you have a better business to report them to up there? Use it & get the word out that about all you can do unless you take it someplace else and they don't find the same issues and fix it without the hard parts. Then you have some ammo

jhodg5kc

Well, first thing..NEVER take a Mercedes to Aamco...you need to bring it to someone who specializes in Mercedes transmissions. To properly rebuild your trans w/ fresh clutches/bands, torque converter will usually run about 2-2500 for a shop that's doing the job Right. Add is worn out/broken internals and the price can go up quickly.

You can always bring it someplace else for a 2nd opinion. Perhaps you can find someone that has a good core they can rebuild as to cut down on your rental/turn around time.

Jonathan