ajkennedy

Did search. Nothing recent and most posts were just those lucky souls that could take their Merc to the mechanic.

I am looking for any guidance out there on how to physically changeout the tranny mount myself.

I purchased it new for $35 (OEM) and it arrived today.

Anyone that has tackled this, would really appreciate a few words of direction before I put her up on jack stands in the morning and have a go at it.

Thanks,

Art in San Jose

Skylaw

AJ, I don't have any detailed knowledge of the process - except that by reading on the same topic in the R-107 forum on BenzWorld, I am sure you're going to have to prop your transmission up while you do this. After reading, I decided to have my dealer do it for my 450SL.

xexpo

What brand is your transmission mount?

Here is how you can do it in 10 steps.

1. Remove 6 screws holding the rear plastic cover under the transmission and remove the cover.
2. Place a jack under the center of the transmission pan with a solid block of at least 10"x10" to spread the weight. You do not want to dent the transmission pan. I placed a 12"x12" composite (fiberglass) cutting board on top of my floor jack.
3. Jack it up until you make a firm contact with the bottom of the transmission pan and jack the transmission slightly up. I jacked up about 1/2" more.
4. You will see black steel plate right under where the transmission mount is. There are 6 large bolts holding the plate and and 2 small bolts attached to the bottom of the transmission mount on the plate. Remove 2 small bolts and set aside.
5. Then remove 6 bolts evenly and remove the black plate. The plate is heavier than it looks so be carefull handling it.
5. Once the transmission mount is exposed, you will see 2 bolts at the arms of the transmission mount attached to the transmission. Remove both bolts and take out the transmission mount.
6. Transmission mount arms are angled, make sure you put the new one with same orientation as the old one. One of the bolts has a ground lead with washer, make sure you include that when installing the new transmission mount and keep the bolts somewhat loose at this point.
7. Place the black steel plate over the 6 bolt holes and with all the holes centered, put in 2 bots at each corner without tightening them. Center the 2 small bolt holes with the holes at the bottom of the new transmission mount and install the 2 small bolts and tighten them.
8. While centering the holes at the black steel plate tighten the 2 large bolts at the corners and install and tighten the remaining 4 large bolts, securing the black steel plate in place.
9. Then go back up to the 2 bolts at the transmission mount arms and tighten them.
10. Install the plastic rear cover.

You're done and enjoy smooth driving again and let us know how it went.

Hope it helps.

ajkennedy

Update:

I did the transmission mount just fine per the steps listed above. Thank you very much for the guidance. It took just under an hour, but I was slow and careful under there.

Then, I found a "free lance" MB mechanic on CL and hired him to do the engine mounts. Cost me $100 and took him less than 2 hours.

In the end, these three mounts (2 engine, 1 tranny) cost me all in:

$140 parts
$100 labor

$240 USD total.

My local stealership quote in writing: $2,211. Unreal. Many thanks to the contributors in this forum that helped me get up the courage to try part of the work myself, and to CL for letting me find a mobile, MB mechanic who works for cash!



Thanks

Art in San Jose

shellshock

Just out of curiosity, what symptoms were you having that prompted the replacement? I'm having a strange, speed dependent vibration at highway speeds, and the shifter vibrates/snakes. I'm still up in the air what could be the issue

tusabes

can you share the CL mechanic? was it a mobile mechanic? I always see that "Honest Christian Mobile Mechanic" listing on CL south bay, was it him?

babyman1737

Just to verify, I see my car (s600) has 8 bolts to hold the plate on plus 2 for the mount. Anyone else ran into 8 instead of 6 bolts? Perhaps thats standard on post facelift w220, or even because it's an s600?

EDIT: It seems the transmission change was somewhere around 2002 according to WIS. Anyway, my 2004 model had 8 bolts, two of which were a little tricky to get at. It's amazing what a new transmission mount will do for the smoothness of the car. $15 from autohausaz if I remember right. I wanted to pass along a picture of the old mount on the rright and the new one on the left. You can see where all of the rubber has torn away from the old one, very flexible and wasn't doing it's job.

LAL

Pretty much what is happening is what happens when you need a tranny mount replaced. I have a vibration between 35 and 40 mph driving at normal speed starting out after a stop. If i get on it starting out there is no vibration. My mechanic says it has to do with alignment and torque.

xliemx717

just changed my transmission mount, took me less than an hour, $17 for part at AZautohaus and $2 to reant the bay for an hour. so, less than $20 vice the $350 at the dealership. BTW on my 01 S600 there were 8 bolts not 6. so guess V12's have 8 bolts.

LAL

Thanks for the reply. It's nice to get comments or replys to posts it helps greatly.

xliemx717

more info for trans mount change for DIY

tools needed:

8/13/16 mm sockets

16 mm wrench if V12 w/ 8 bolts

even a novice with little to no mechanical experience can do this.

roger1409

I need to change my transmission filter on my 2006 Mercedes S430.I have some
knowledge of the process-except how much fluid to put back, and how to put it in,
I have no dip stick or dip stick tub on my Benz to refill with I think? Anyone know
about this?

drewk88

Roger,

My S600 has a dipstick tube but no dipstick.
There's a plastic cap on the tube which you have to break to remove.
I bought a dipstick on eBay for around $20 and I bought a few of the plastic caps from an online euro parts store.

Ragnarb767

Great instructions! Smooth ride...fantastic

vlad957

Is there only one transmisson mount that has to be replaced on the c43? Or are there two?

Ragnarb767

There is one. I also replaced my engine mounts. I still have a nagging vibration between 65 and 75 MPH. Also at slow (2-3MPH) grinding type noise from front driver side...still investigating

vlad957

It could be unbalanced tire ware. Or your breaks, rotors? What kind of tires do you have on the car?

vlad957

When im driving slow about 20mph and let my foot of the accelerator. I feel a jerk and a slight bang. Kind of by the transmisson and by the diff. I changed my diff fluid recently and had my tranny serviced. Also had my engine mounts replaced. Next ill be replacing the flex disks and the cv joi t on the drive shaft. I heard these go bad on c43's.

Ragnarb767

I have perelli tires ans will get rotated and balanced soon. Also going to change lower control arm and ball joint....

tusabes

This is all unrelated to the w220 s class