Rebuilding my transmission myself...

[martattack]

The process begins! I'll keep you guys updated with pictures and such.

Quick background... my reverse went out which I'm blaming on a leaking LB3 Piston seal. So I'm not really doing a full rebuild.. Just rebuilding up to that part of the tranny, which thankfully is very near the front.

Martin

[Green Lantern]

good luck dude! YOU CAN DO IT.

[jnolte]

good luck my tranny blew too

[alphanumeric]

wow man, I hate the feeling of having a blown transmission.. though, I sometimes kick myself in the butt for not getting a c43 rather than my c230k, but maybe I should be glad, since its the updated trans in the 2000 models. I have heard so many forums members here with c43's and blown transmission, I know how you guys feel.. it really sux too... you pay for the name brand Mercedes, you would expect Toyota like quality....

[69chevelle]

"I sometimes kick myself in the butt for not getting a c43 rather than my c230k, but maybe I should be glad, since its the updated trans in the 2000 models."

I was thinking the same thing....Unless you get a 2000 C43.
I actually saw a guy have a white one here in SF...When he told me the year... I couldn't believe him until I looked at the console shifter.

[Cru328prod]

Originally posted by 69chevelle
"I sometimes kick myself in the butt for not getting a c43 rather than my c230k, but maybe I should be glad, since its the updated trans in the 2000 models."

I was thinking the same thing....Unless you get a 2000 C43.
I actually saw a guy have a white one here in SF...When he told me the year... I couldn't believe him until I looked at the console shifter.

my tranny leaks somewhere, stupied ^&*( doesn't come with a dipstick to let u know if you over filled.......guess what......overfilled....i think its the tailshaft seal. so much work i'll have to do for a lil rubberband thing with a spring around it.

[martattack]

Ok, so I've been working on it throughout the week. I didn't get the thing out of the car until Wednesday.. unfortunately I've only been working on it few hours each day due to work.. and I was out of town this weekend. I've pretty much got it all ready to go back into the car which will hopefully be tomorrow!

It turned out being the B3 piston spring retainer broke in half (not quite sure how that happened). Since it was putting an abnormal load on the reverse piston, it caused one of the lip seals to wear out. This in turn prevented the piston from fully engaging the reverse clutch pack.

So I already had the reverse clutches and a seal/gasket kit. I needed a new spring retainer which the dealership wasn't able to get for about a week. I talked with Steve (benzaddict) and was was nice enough to give me an entire core transmission from a 190e 2.6 (similar tranny) for me to steal the parts from. He also let me borrow some special tools required to compress the springs. I seriously can't thank him enough for everything he's done!

Pictures:

Here is the transmission being removed from the car. This was probably the hardest part. Pretty much major PITA, but now that I know how it's done, I could do it much faster. I picked up a tranny jack and got it down with it, but it was still too tall to pull from the car (yes, working on jack stands :( ) We ended up sliding it onto the creeper so we could roll it out from under the car.
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4200-2/IMG_9287.JPG

This picture if of me pulling off the Front Cover/Pump which includes the Reverse piston. I was surprised to see when I pulled it off, springs went flying everywhere. I knew that couldn't have been a good thing!
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4234-2/IMG_9296.JPG

Here is the spring retainer broken in half with a bunch of the springs missing because they popped out when I removed it. Luckily I found all of them.. no missing parts :)
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4204-2/IMG_9300.JPG

This is what happened to the seal because of the abnormal load on the piston
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4207-2/IMG_9305.JPG

Looking further into the transmission, here is the K1 Clutch pack (and B1 brake band). The very outer edge behind that stuff is where I need to get to so I can replace the reverse clutches.
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4237-2/IMG_9303.JPG

After resealing the front pump, I am starting to put the front cover/piston back together. All the springs are in place here
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4213-2/IMG_9375.JPG

Here, I've got the old and new spring retainers. And by new, I mean pulled off of Steve's transmission...
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4210-2/IMG_9370.JPG

Using his handy tool he loaned to me to compress the springs which will let me put on the snap ring
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4216-2/IMG_9376.JPG

Sliding the ring into place
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4219-2/IMG_9380.JPG

Ahh, it's back together.
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4222-2/IMG_9381.JPG

[martattack]

Here, I've started to pull out the clutch rings. I have already slid out the K1 clutch and the B1 brake band.
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4225-2/IMG_9388.JPG

Here they all are. The steel parts didn't look very worn at all, so they will be reused. Some of the clutch disks had some worn parts so they got replaced.
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4228-2/IMG_9392.JPG

I'm not going any further into the transmission for the sake of it not being broke, so I'm not gonna fix it. I am replacing other random seals and gaskets that are easy to get to on the transmission.
http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4231-2/IMG_9395.JPG

That's it for today. Hopefully tomorrow there will be pictures of the transmission back in and me driving it around!! Wish me luck


Martin

[kameraguy]

Martin,

On behalf of myself and everyone else who had problems with their 5-speed tranny, dude you are the MAN for doing this yourself. I got mine rebuilt by the stearlership and it still slips sometimes...grrr... But it's great you know what's up to take this on yourself! Awesome job!!

[jnolte]

this is awesome, i wish i had those skills!

[DRM]

nice work!!! :D

[martattack]

Pretty much got everything back together, but realized I need a new flex disk which I'll order tomorrow morning.. Hopefully they'll get it in by the afternoon! Aside from that, installation went much easier that removal! It was pretty easy to get it lined up and such. Hopefully it will be back on the road tomorrow...


As you can see this thing is just too cracked for my comfort, so I'm putting a new one in.

http://pictures.mkosonen.com/d/4243-2/IMG_9420.JPG

[c280nz]

respect for doing it yourself!
i rebuilt my manual tranny and have the pics and are just waiting for the energy to upload the pics and put up a story like yours.
but man a auto looks like a nightmare compared to my simple one! what a mission!

[martattack]

Finally, It's over and I'll be damned if I didn't just go drive around :-D Reverse is solid, shifts smooth, no leaks.. time to go to bed.

Martin

[strictlyspeakin]

Ah the sweet sound of success! I don't blame you for taking it for a test drive @ 4am once you finished.


Very nice write up.

[benzaddict]

Congrats Martin, I knew you could do it!!