Hey people,
I have few questions if anyone is willing to answer them for me. I just bought a 98 SL500 and I'm having problems with the transmission. I was driving my car the other day and noticed it down shifted by itself. When I stopped at light and started again it would not shift out of first gear. I turned the vehicle off and restarted and it was fine until today it did almost the same thing but instead of not shifting it would shift very late and no lights came on. I've been a GM technician for 16 years and could tell you anything you want to know about GM car but when it come to the MB I'm a little lost. Does anyone know of a common problem with them?
I have one more quick question about coil spring shims. How do you know what size shim you have. I noticed in the front there were 3 notches on the shim and 2 on the rear. Does that mean anything?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Mark

 

One culpert is the raditor and whether or not water has leak into the tranmission. That is what to mine hence a complete rebuild with a new raditor on top of that!

 

Does your car have the 5 speed transmission with the S/W rocker switch? If so, it's called a 722.6 and mine in my SL600 failed this summer.

The transmission was introduced in 1996 and had a major upgrade in 99/2000 and it's now used in the R230 SL. So, it you have this transmission, it falls into the same period as mine. It failed big time requiring a complete transmission rebuild. One of the parts which fails is a bearing for the input shaft which is just a bronze bushing which disintegrates leaving the shaft to move around and cause mayhem. This has now been replaced by a roller bearing.

Now, I won't say that your gearbox has the same problem as mine, but you need to know that the gearbox in this time window gives problems and was upgraded by Mercedes, presumably to fix them. So, don't ignore any transmission problems, they could indicate more trouble to come. It may be your transmission ECU just needs to be reset (you could try disconnecting the battery, leave for 15 minutes, reconnect, restart and turn the wheel lock to lock to reset the ESP).

 

BlueSL - guess what. I have a 99SL500. the trans failed due to a bearing that came apart and spread needles all through the trans. Sounds like that problem caused MB to make some changes in the trans.
I am in the process of replacing with a rebult trans.
Rocco

 

Yes, it's not for nothing that transmissions have a maximum torque rating; big V8 and V12 engines can put a strain on them and it sound like yours has suffered the same fate. As I recall, ny rebuild ran to about $4000, including sales tax, for my R129 SL600.

 

Im getting ready to spend $4,000 to get a guaranteed rebuld installed. Saw the trans - definately a broken bearing. Broke right in half and needle bearings went all over including into the planetary gear.
Wow what a mess - I did hear that mercedes changed that problem bearing in later trans. wonder if there is any way to get them to help pay for my problem. only 80K miles on the "never change the fluid" trans.
RRV

 

10 year old car, 80k miles, I doubt they will be interested. It's a big powerful V8 and the torque will tend to expose problems in the design. The fact that the transmission is rated to withsstand the torque doesn't mean it has an indefinite life in doing so.

The same happened with my SL600 except the greater torque made it happen sooner.