e300 transmission dead

[malteser]

Dear all,

I have owned my '97 e300 td for the past year, bought it showing 120K on the clock and now 140K. It ran flawlessly untill this morning, when I was travelling routinely on the M1, just 10 miles to my destination (out of a total 100), the gearbox abruptly shifted down to a lower gear, 4th or 3rd, and the engine had to rev around 4000rpm to maintain a 50mph velocity. Just 300yards from my doorstep, the transmission gave up completely, and the car would not move an inch on its own steam. I noticed some oil spillage under the radiator area, and from previous threads I believe that i have had an oil cooler pipe failure which led to the oil leaking out. My question is, what potential damage have I caused to my gearbox? Would a pipe replacement and new oil cure it? or more sinister things have happened as i was pushing the car at 80mph with barely any oil in the box for about 100 miles? Thanks for any comments - deeply saddned - malteser.

 

[television]

Thats rotten luck,,but welcome to the forum.

A new pipe will have to be fitted, and the box filled, then we will all know the answer. With luck it could all be fine.

 

[malteser]

thanks television, i'm really looking for some moral support, cause i really have a sinking feeling. I will attempt the repair, hopefully later on this week, and I will let you all know how it goes and the results. I used to be a vw/audi/porsche tech up to 3 years ago, and havent touched cars since, except to do the odd service, as I am currently a full time uni student. I have never touched mercs before, either, so its gonna be an experience for me, and never came accross a failed auto, cause where I come from (you guessed Malta), autos are a rare breed. I have bought a repair manual CD from ebay, cause Haynes does not exist for this model, for the sake of getting some basic specs for this repair, such as oil fluid capacity, any special tools i need, location of coolant drain plug etc. I dunno whether this cd would contain all this info (seller claims it does), but any suggestions, tips, information, by you experienced people would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[television]

Well as the engine has been spinning with no fluid it is completely empty, so you can use the chart here

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=25558


Keep your chin up as one never knows how these things will go, other people have had the same leak, filled up and had no problems.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

Mine was running for a good few hundred miles with low oil in the box before the problem manifested itself with odd behaviour, and since then I've done well over 20,000 miles without issue.

You need to get the gearbox dipped for level, and refilled. Look around the forum there's a pic of a dipstick tube with the correct measurements so you can make your own. Use MB fluid only.

As for the leak it depends where it was leaking - mine leaked at the top banjo bolt on the radiator, unfortunately to replace it means replacing the entire radiator but we managed to clean the surface of all the pitting, put a fabric washer on, and tighten it back up - that solved it. It'll probably go again one day.

 

[malteser]

Thanks Parrot. I intend to attempt the repair towards the end of this week, and I will let you know what I find, and how it goes. Thanks again - george

 

[malteser]

Dear All,

I have done the repair to my car today, I replaced the corroded pipes and put in new oil. Unfortunately, when i drive the car, it seems to stay stuck in 1st gear. I think its first gear, cause its got a lot of pull, and when revved 5000 rpm, the car is doin 40mph. Can anybody shed some light, as to what may be the problem? Reverse gear works ok too, but i cant basically go anywhere. Thanks

 

[malteser]

Hello again,

I've been going through some threads, and i have read the word speed sensor several times. I wanted to remark at this point, that I've never had any problems with the transmission, except when it failed. I was driving a 100mile journey, during which (I suspect) the gearbox oil was draining. At one point, I heard a bang, and the box shifted to 1st gear, since i was only a couple of miles away from my destination, i kept driving on 1st, but it didn't last that long either. Just a few hundred feet away, it gave up altogether. When i looked underneath I saw the oil, and then i traced it to the oil cooler pipes. I have now replaced the pipes and put new oil in, but it stays stuck in 1st gear.

 

[television]

The fault listed for stuck in first gear is a broken drive wheel for the centrifugal Governor.

I can send you a how to do it paper

 

[television]

OK the other thing listed that I did not put up is that a code on the ECU will or can lock the box up. the thing to do here is to clear the code and see if it works. In your case it has worked so nothing else to do, in extreme cases there is a modified ECU now to solve it if the old one cannot be re set on STAR.

I did not put this up owing to the bang that you referred to.

So pleased that you are driving again

 

[malteser]

Many thanks to Television for helping me out. I tried the car on the motorway, and it's full of vigour. You only appreciate the beauty of a car when you spend time without it. Have a nice weekend everybody.