I posted my transmission problem yesterday about my 79 300SD. When driving home from work yesterday I lost all the gears. Luckily it happened 2 blocks from my office. Now the car is sitting in my warehouse. I move the stick and nothing works. All I have is park. I had all this happen after I changed the transmission filter and gasket. Anyone know of any good transmission shops in the New York metro area. I am guessing the transmission is toast. I think I am looking at a rebuild/replace. Anyone have the same experience with a guess as to what this is going to cost me? I received a few comments from my post yesterday that if the tranny was working I should have left it alone. I was told by changing the fluid things could have gotten loose and messed everything up. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you, David...
1979 300SD (not moving)
1979 280CE (may be for sale soon)
1984 300CD (I will buried in this car)

There's a good mechanic in Port Chester, NY. Call Mirko at Sucic Brothers at 914-937-0888. They are German cars specialist with very reasonable prices. Tell him Paul Wong sent you. Good luck.

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85 300CD Signal Red/Tan sold
83 300D Manganese Brown 109K
97 E420 Midnight Blue 197K sold
98 BMW 328i Vert White 100K, sold
95 BMW 525i White 125K, sold
93 BMW 525iT Red 193K, sold
95 E320 Green Wagon 125K, sold
94 E320 White 127K, sold
85 300SD 156K Grey (Annie), sold
84 300D Lapis Blue 170K (Judy), sold
99 ML 320 Black (lease), 1998 C230 White (lease)
00 Honda S2000 Red (lease)
86 Mercedes 300E (sold)
84 Porsche 911 Red (sold), 1965 Porsche 911 White (sold)

To me, it almost sounds like your tourque converter went out, or maybe the front pump. The same thing happened to me. Do you hear a loud thumping sound coming from the transmission?

Check with Mercedesdismantlers.com. I bought a rebuilt from them last year for my 81 300SD. Was much better pricing there than local trans shops.

First check the Trans fluid level. Since you just changed the fluid, you might have a leak.

P E H

Sounds very similar to what my 82 300d did, unfortunately mine is still sitting in the yard and I am driving my 11 MPG Jeep 70 miles a day to & from work.

This happened to me with my (now wrecked) 1982 300D. It turns out that the line to the transmission cooler at the bottom of the radiator had broken at the fitting, allowing all the fluid to leak out. New fitting plus new fluid fixed the problem (this with over 300,000 miles on original tranny). I would first look for loose or broken lines before buying a new transmission. The most obvious fix is often overlooked when the panic sets in.
Did the tranny cut out all at once or did it start slipping then become inoperative? The torque converter uses the same fluid as the transmission and I believe it can be drained and refilled also. Did you add enough fluid when refilling? The right M/B fluid? I routinely have my tranmission drained and the filter changed and never had this particular problem and I am running a tranny with 327,000 milee on my 81 SD.

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Stage Wizards Lighting and sound designer
1981 SD 328,000
1985 300TD, 266,000
1984 300 TD, 267,000