I’m beginning to start the search for a shop that can do a rebuild on my transmission in the 90 to 300 D. Just trying to get an idea of a ballpark price range.

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Current fleet
2006 E320 CDI
1992 300D - 5speed manual swapped

former members
1984 300D "Blues Mobile"

1978 300CD "El Toro"

The very best rebuilder of Mercedes transmissions is Sun Valley Mercedes Transmissions located in Pacoima, California. They do ship automatic transmissions. The owner is Marc.
Phone: (818) 782-2300. Website: mercedesdismantlers.com Email: sunvalleymercedes@gmail.com

Thanks. I just called and talked to him. Price not too bad actually but I’ll still have to do the swap work or pay someone to do the swap work so I’ll have to factor that in.

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Current fleet
2006 E320 CDI
1992 300D - 5speed manual swapped

former members
1984 300D "Blues Mobile"

1978 300CD "El Toro"

X2 for Sun Valley on the rebuild. Sorry, nothing to offer on the installer.

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

Oh boy. I was going to say I had one done at Sun Valley recently. I looked back at this old thread about my experience from start to finish there. 2016. Time flies.

Sun Valley Rebuilt Transmissions thoughts?

I daily drive this car and it shifts perfectly. I would say it is better than OEM but I never drove one of these cars when they were new. Wait I was only 13 when they were new. Anyhow, the trans is a dream. It transformed the car.

My other diesel, a 300d has a rebuilt from another shop in Pasadena. About the same age. It doesn’t shift as well as the sun valley. It feels good and fresh but it just isn’t as well balanced - that is the 1-2 bang is too hard and the 3-4 is too soft so you can never tune it out with vacuum or Bowden cable adjustments. Marc told me he has played with the orifices and springs on his rebuild to improve that Mercedes “Feature” which he says was intended to add extra plate pressure so the transmission could be used for truck applications. The Sun Valley trans is re engineered and I can feel it.

It has held up well. It did lose a neutral safety switch in the first year. When I swapped it I noticed it was a no name part. Looked and felt good but didn’t carry enough current to kick my starter solenoid. I replaced it with an MB OEM.

If you really plan on keeping and using the car it is probably worth shipping it out to California for rebuilding or exchange.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

You didn't mention how many miles are on it and how does the ATF look and smell ? .

When was the last time (if ever) you HOT CHANGED the ATF & filter and drained the torque converter ? .

I too had my tranny rebuilt by a factory trained ex M-B Dealer Mechanic, it was okay but never shifted *quite* the way it had when new, I took the time to service my my ownself , made up the simple pressure testing tool and discovered the modulated pressure was off a fair bit .

So I warmed it up (remember it's German so it's designed to shift later whe the ATF is cold) and drove it reading the gauge (this can more easily be done at home with the car off the ground safely chocked & blocked) and making minute adjustments until the modulated pressure was *perfect* then I buttoned it all back up and began driving it, I'm currently driving with an open end 8MM spanner in my pocket and making tiny adjustments until I get it where I like .

Mercedes sets it up to shift into second gear before 8MPH, I like it to shift into second a little bit later, I have that now and third gear comes in at 20 MPH then it hits 4th gear at 30MPH, if I stand on the accelerator it grabs 4th gear after 30 MPH but before the forced up shift at 40 .

My Sweet tells me the car is *much*smoother now and quieter too .

I like it to have some pep off the line but I also like that 30 + MPG's it got way back when first I bought it .

Anyways, don't be in a rush to drop 3 large if it may just need proper fettling, no one but YOU is going to take the time necessary to do that and it's not overly difficult .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Ive installed a 722.9 from sunvalley, the unit was very nicely redone and drove great. It was on a freinds glk350

R and R of this at a shop should not be too wild, its a pretty easy one.