I knew it was running too well.........

mercedes13156

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Hi.

The old bus is giving me grief. It's the C220CDi and that's the second time it's jumped out of gear on a downhill throttle off downchange. Its a 722.6 gearbox and has been faultless until yesterday. When coasting downhill and changing down, it gives a bit of a jolt, then drops into a false neutral. if I brake a bit and coast for a few seconds, it just seamlessly selects the correct gear and drives away. The oil level in the gearbox is OK and it's happening when the box is up to temperature. There's nothing else going on with it.

I've not had the time to read the codes yet.

Any clues?
 
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mercedes13156

mercedes13156

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Nah! Just had the MoT done and it was brought to my attention that there are two pipes sitting next to each other at the front of the engine bay (right side looking forward) which are wet and leaking red ATF. these will be the pipes to the cooler. I suspect the ATF level in the gearbox is low. I'll dip it tonight and top it up while I work out what pipes these are and how to replace them.

There's no codes in the gearbox that indicate anything wrong.
 
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mercedes13156

mercedes13156

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Looking from the front left side under the bumper, it's these two pipes. Easy to fix / replace?
 

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LostKiwi

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Looking from the front left side under the bumper, it's these two pipes. Easy to fix / replace?

Have you tried just tightening the connections?
The symptoms you described are classic low fluid level symptoms.
 

John Laidlaw

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^ that's a good call- these unions will be cone seated and can vibrate loose over time, certainly worth a try before splashing out on new hoses (excuse the pun !)
 
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mercedes13156

mercedes13156

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Thanks guys. It's lashing with rain up here at the moment, and set to continue for the whole week. I've stuck two litres in the box and it's working fine for the moment. I'll let you know how it goes with tightening it all up.
 

om613

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Those look like power steering hoses.
All the MB atf cooler lines I've seen are steel pipe.
 
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mercedes13156

mercedes13156

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Those look like power steering hoses.
All the MB atf cooler lines I've seen are steel pipe.

You might be right. I'll check that out when i get it up in the air. Thanks!
 

om613

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My CDI has an oil, coolant and ATF flat plate heat exchanger.

Not sure the rad is used anymore to regulate the ATF temp.
 
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mercedes13156

mercedes13156

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I was thinking what an odd username picture , until I looked closer ...excellent:)

I took it off my dashcam. It's just a couple of miles down the road. It was there for weeks. It's been burnt off and now looks like a car went on fire on top of it with just the arrow left.
 
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mercedes13156

mercedes13156

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Hi again,

I've just had the old bus up in the air and discovered it's actually these two pipes. They're leaking ATF. See attachments. Both pipes were heavily corroded and when I started to clean the muck off they started leaking quite badly. I'm worried that if I undo the clamp it will all just leak out and I won't even make it to the workshop.
 

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mercedes13156

mercedes13156

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Update. The old bus went in to my trustie for replacement of the two pipes from the gearbox to the radiator. The pipes were sourced from Dingbro for £120. The mechanic who always works on my cars got the pipes off the gearbox end in seconds, but the two steel connections into the radiator which had aluminium sockets were corroded solid. Who the **** puts a steel pipe into an aluminium hole and seals it with an O ring? Basic chemistry. Anyway, after four days of soaking the connections in releasing fluid, I clicked and collected a new radiator from Euro Car Parts in the full and final knowledge that the old one was a write off. I got the call saying the radiator would likely be a write off at 4pm. I collected it at 4:45pm and I handed it in at 5pm. The next day, the pipes came out. The sockets were cleaned up and the new pipes were installed in 15 minutes. What to do with a spare radiator? You take it back to ECP with your receipt and they refund you the full price back into your account in 24 hours.

Warning. Have a look at these pipes next time you're under the car. Mine corroded inside the retaining clip. Open the clip and clear all the road muck away to prevent a leaking pipe and possible gearbox problems
 
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