w124 e250 diesel gearbox problem

robfree

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s500 coupe/ e250 diesel/e300 diesel
Hi

I changed the filter and gasket on my 1994 e250 diesel gearbox. I then refilled the gear oil. Unfortunately I was advised by my local german autoparts supplier that it took 6 litres of ATF fluid from new, so baout 5.5 litres if changed. I put 5 litres n and it worked fine for a short while, but it started to leak out through the new gasket I fitted. I think this is because I overfilled the Gearbox. I can now only get reverse gear and no forward gears. I emptied the fluid again and filled it with just 2 litres and let it run in park for a while. It now feels like it is trying to get into gear. but it is not fully getting there. If anyone has any ideas I would really apreciate it.
 

Xtractorfan

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I think on your car the gearbox and Torque Convertor have to be drained seperately, if you only drained the gearbox then there will still have been a couple of ltrs in the system, so you probably overfilled, you need a dipstick to check the proper amount..
 

simon_wall69

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Is the oil level now correct? There are two markers on the dipstick, one for hot and one for cold? Did you drain the torque converter as well?
 
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robfree

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Thanks for the reply. I only drained the transmission pan where the filter located. I have not had a chance to check the levels yet because this only happened yesterday and I had to leave the car in a different location. What steps would you recommend going through first.
 

Parrot of Doom

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Was an E300TD, now a Lexus LS400
First things first, you need a dipstick. You can't do anything else until you check the ATF level is correct.
 

roofless

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w124 e220 estate
A 94 w124 will have a dipstick for the g-box or both cars i have do
 
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robfree

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Is this the dip stick in the engine bay for the ATF levels? It sits at the back drivers side of the engine.
 

brianbrian

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w124 250D, SL129-deisel
I would drain of ATF check that you have put rubber gasket on properly, if you want to do the job properly also drain Torque converter, with Torque converter drained you need 7.3 litre of ATF if you dont drain torque converter you need 6.2 litre of ATF. Hope this helps
 

roofless

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Is this the dip stick in the engine bay for the ATF levels? It sits at the back drivers side of the engine.
yes & it will have a clip on the top to hold it in position
 
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robfree

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Can anyone tell me where the torque converter drain plug is? I will give this a go tommorow and start from scratch. I put 5 litres of ATF in without draining the torque converter, so I tkae it that I did not overfill it and that it is probably just a bad fitting of the gasket that caused the leak. Is there any particular ATF fluid that should be used?
 
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robfree

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When i refilled the gearbox, I filled it with the engine off and the car in Park. Sould I refill it when the engine is running and in park?
 

brianbrian

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Yes, now you no where the dipstick is ,you need to take car on a approx-5minute drive so gearbox oil is warm, keep engine running in P to check ATF level on dipstick, but I would not do this until you no you have approximately the proper amount of ATF in your g/box to much it will go all over the place to little lots of damage. Hope this helps let us no how you get on.
 
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robfree

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Will let you know how things go. At the moment I cant go in any forward gears, so I will run it in Park for a while and measur it then.
 

brianbrian

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Never run engine with no ATF in G/BOX. now you need two of you to drain torque converter one to turn engine over by hand, the other to see torque converter between engine and g/box where there is small grating, when you see g/box torque converter turning very slowly you will see there is a grub screw, you need to undo this as its the draingrub screw for the torque converter I allways replace this as well. Hope this helps
 

roadhog

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W124 300D x2, C124 300
Oh dear, this brings back (expensive) memories. I too had my ATF and filter changed a while back, preventative maintenance nothing wrong with the box. Approximately 80 miles later my gearbox had the same symptoms as yours now. Reverse would work but trying to move forward felt like the box was trying but not getting there initially which soon changed to no forward movement at all. I opened it up and found a small (1 inch long) pin with a knuckle at each end floating around on top of the filter case which turned out to be one of the brake band reaction pins. I ended up having the box rebuilt.

I really hope that yours turns out to be something different (read cheaper) but I'm inclined to think that the gear boxes don't like new fluid. :confused:

Please report back when you've sorted it. :)
 
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robfree

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w124 gearbox problem

I drained the ATF Fluid and took off the sump cover on the gearbox. There was a little bar with a ball shaped point at either end. I would say that this is my problem. I noticed that a few other users on the site had this problem, Has anyone discovered where goes. I think that it is part of a protection system that protects the gear box if overfilled with ATF. The bar looks as though it fits perfect into a little cylinder, but it could come out quite easy if it was pushed form the inside. Any Thaughts?
 
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robfree

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I have found that the little pin that fell out when I removed the filter is actually a push pin that is connected with the B-2 valve. Does anyone know if this acn be replaced with the transmission in place and are there any guides or videos of this on the net.
 
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robfree

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Hi Brian

Please see the updtae and let me know what you think.
 


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