With your skill level I think it would make sense to set yourself up to rebuild your transmissions. Let's face it, the guys who do this for a living aren't exactly PhD's right?

Yes its an unknown area and there might not be much written on the subject but how bad could it be?

As for parts, yes you have to be more careful now when buying parts because the hinternet has driven parts prices down so far that many sites sell junk. I have had good experience with FCP Groton. They will tell you who their part is made by and many times have a couple of choices. They also will source OEM parts too if that's the way you want to go and since they are near you and me, UPS Ground shipping usually means you have the part the next day or in two days from them.

I know you have some serious adversity there with your cars now tied up with transmission issues, but your original decision to run W124s was a solid decision and there is nothing better. Just look at the stories people tell about the newer cars and see how complex they have gotten to be. I mean have you ever had to change a battery in a W210 or both batteries (yeah two) in a W211? its just freaking stupid.

One more thing. Two years ago I bought my W210 from a local family. It was an elderly lady's car and she bought it new in 2000. It was in the garage all the time, had 52k on it in 2014 (documented by MB) and was dealer serviced until she couldn't drive any more. Within six months I had a coil pack fail, a cat fail, and it developed a refrigerant leak. Right now it is throwing a code for a bad oil level sensor and you have to take the pan down to replace it. That's not the worst of it. The car was cosmetically flawless save for three or four chips in the paint on the leading edge of the car. We hardly drive the car but now it has at least a dozen chips down to the metal on the nose and hood and last week I found a rust bubble up on the roof near the leading edge of the sunroof. This is a car that was never driven in the winter and always garaged. The water borne paint they use now is junk so even corrosion resistance on the newer cars is nothing like on the W124s. No, there is no better series of car than the W140 and the W124 so you just need to get past the current situation with the transmissions because you have everything else under control. IMO.

 

I thought of going the JY tranny route to save money, but with my baby grandson ever present, the time to swap them out and possibly repeatedly, just isn't in the cards. Plus, I had to bear the expense of a long tow one cold Thanksgiving for failure of a MAS and a alternator simultaneously. It serves me better to make a reliable car again, than to drive a crap shoot.

The part's quality issue is the pits. Buying from a dealer on everything is just not in the cards for many of us. Best example I can think of is the dist on the 103 engine. Find a Bosch dist discounted for $50, or from a dealer for over $300. The $50 one is made in Spain....where is the dealer OE dist made...who knows. The cheap ones carbon track...I'm on my second.

In answer to your tranny question...I'd save up and go the Sun Valley route for $1,700 and you install it. They give a generous guarantee and members here have had great luck with them. In my case, I'd have to have another car while I fooled around putting in their reman tranny. It makes more sense to give them the $500 for the install and keep me from working in the dirt. If I had facilities again, it would be a no-brainer.

Kevin

 

Another option is a 5 speed swap. I know there was a 717.411 floating around CL within the past week. Thats what I did when the transmission failed in my 300TE.

I agree 100% on finding good quality parts lately and its one of the reasons I gave up on using an old Mercedes as a DD.

 

How about something like this? Then you can have a 5-spd auto

New 722.6 Gearbox in you old Car?

 

Two transmissions spewing hot fluid from the filler tube seems too coincidental. There may have been a water leak in the system for any fluid to boil out the filler tube. What kind of fluid was used? Was it overfilled? Is there any part that the coolant cools for it to leak in?


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Yes, there is a tranny coolant line that passes through the radiator. However, it becomes pretty apparent when the line through the radiator becomes violated and easy to test.

Kevin