W219 Transmission issue

mattbishton

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Hi all,

Having experienced a significant engine braking sensation when driving my 320 CLS, I took it to Colin Fern in Richmond who diagnosed a faulty inlet motor

£800 later - not fixed.

Went back, gearbox service completed

£300 later - vast improvement - but not fixed.

Since having it done, the engine braking effect does not feel as severe as it did but lately, a couple of times when motoring along, the revs won't increase correspondingly with the amount you press the throttle, almost losing any drive. If you're on the motorway, knock into neutral and then back into drive, it's almost like the transmission has "lost" where it should be and nothing happens, then all of a sudden it finds drive.

Switch off - switch on again and *something" resets and all is well again!

Before I go back for yet more expensive work which won't fix it, has anyone else come across this? I'm thinking maybe the torque converter is on the way out? (Car has done 64k miles)


Thanks!
 

John Laidlaw

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Model year Matt? Welcome by the way!
 

Mr Filipov

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First of all, a friendly bit of advice. Do not put in neutral at those speeds and then back into drive. It is not good for the bands in the gearbox, which as parts arre dirt cheap, but it does involve a rebuild of the damn thing. That is a safety net for an emergency, not something to play about it, and further to that, yes at that speed with the car going in gear it will think hold on, I just went into drive and im doing 70mph.

When you say engine breaking is severe. How severe are we talking about? Is the car just losing a bit of speed or does it feel like the brakes are applied sort of effect when you take your foot off the accelerator?
 

John Laidlaw

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Wow- I hadn't picked up on the part where you said you were on the motorway when changing the shift, as above don't do it! Well spotted Mr Filipov!
What I meant to say last night too is that Colin Ferns are a decent crowd, you'd be better sticking with them- you might want to mention that you've been changing gear as you have...
 

mbishton

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First of all, a friendly bit of advice. Do not put in neutral at those speeds and then back into drive. It is not good for the bands in the gearbox, which as parts arre dirt cheap, but it does involve a rebuild of the damn thing. That is a safety net for an emergency, not something to play about it, and further to that, yes at that speed with the car going in gear it will think hold on, I just went into drive and im doing 70mph.

When you say engine breaking is severe. How severe are we talking about? Is the car just losing a bit of speed or does it feel like the brakes are applied sort of effect when you take your foot off the accelerator?

Sorry no, this was done only once or twice to see if there was any less resistance when rolling at speed - not something I do as a matter of course!!! I am simply trying to understand any trends with this issue (ie. only does it at certain speeds etc...)

It does feel more than just losing speed and occasionally will really feel like the brakes are applied effect (brakes have been checked and no binding calipers or anything like that)

It was mainly yesterday when driving around town, when I went to accelerate the car speed up to correspond with the increase in revs, but pulling over, switching off and on again cleared whatever it was and has done this a couple of times now!
 

mbishton

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Wow- I hadn't picked up on the part where you said you were on the motorway when changing the shift, as above don't do it! Well spotted Mr Filipov!
What I meant to say last night too is that Colin Ferns are a decent crowd, you'd be better sticking with them- you might want to mention that you've been changing gear as you have...

Sorry John I haven't been changing gear as assumed, it was merely once or twice to establish any sort of trend with the fault.

Colin Ferns are a good crowd agreed, however they seem to want to only fix whatever the STAR machine tells them to and then give it back to me, rather than then delving into the issue I brought it in with. I've spent over £1250 with them now and the car is no better than it was before
 

John Laidlaw

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No problem Matt, I was just a bit worried- if it was just a couple time no great problem!
I think most workshops will rely 'mostly' on Star to do the diagnosis, however the better ones will also rely on experience of specific issues too. I feel for you on the money spent so far, and I guess it is a question of whether to move to another indy who hopefully pick up where Colin Ferns has left off, or continue down the route you are on. Where are you based?
 

mbishton

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No problem Matt, I was just a bit worried- if it was just a couple time no great problem!
I think most workshops will rely 'mostly' on Star to do the diagnosis, however the better ones will also rely on experience of specific issues too. I feel for you on the money spent so far, and I guess it is a question of whether to move to another indy who hopefully pick up where Colin Ferns has left off, or continue down the route you are on. Where are you based?

I'm based in Putney, SW London - so CF is on my doorstep and I know he said he had to get rid of his workshop manager who was "out of his depth" who I think I was dealing with, so would agree but not sure I should just go directly to a transmission garage instead as this definitely feels transmission related, as once, when pulling up to a stop, the car lurched forwards twice as I came to stop, feeling like the entire weight of the car was pushing via the gearbox!
 

John Laidlaw

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I know it's a bit of a hassle, but how about Wayne Gates in Harrow? For sure they are highly rated on here- I still think you'd be better served by someone who knows Merc transmissions as well as what they connect to! 12 miles away from you.. (I know in London that could equate to an hour!)
 

mbishton

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Thanks John - I haven't heard of this garage but can see even from the Google reviews that they are very highly rated!
Yes, 12 miles will take an hour, but if it sorts it, I am more than happy to spend that amount of time driving to them.

Thanks again - much appreciated!
 

V6Matty

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Terry and the guys will look after you, they do repair using STAR but they will delve deep into the components to find exactly what the fault it, Tools are only as good as the tools that wield them :D
 

John Laidlaw

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You're welcome Matt- not Matt (not that youre not welcome Matt..erm I'll stop now)
As other Matt has said Terry will for sure get to the bottom of it!
 

V6Matty

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You're welcome Matt- not Matt (not that youre not welcome Matt..erm I'll stop now)
As other Matt has said Terry will for sure get to the bottom of it!

Thanks John, although I hope I'm not now just going to be know as "the other Matt" ;)
 

mbishton

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Booked in with Terry this weekend - will let you know the outcome but he and I both feel it is the torque converter at fault!
 

John Laidlaw

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Booked in with Terry this weekend - will let you know the outcome but he and I both feel it is the torque converter at fault!
Excellent! Yes, please keep us updated...
 

mbishton

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Me neither!! However Terry said he's never come across this before either but has a fair idea of what I mean from my description of the issue - tune in next week and I'm sure I'll have some sort of update.

Part of me feels an ZF torque converter should last more than 60,000 miles so it might be a spurious fault but I've said to Terry to keep the car for a little while and drive it to see what he makes of it, then he will have a better idea. As soon as I get an update, I'll be back to post the info!
 

mbishton

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Quick update - it seems like it was the gearbox ECU aka electroconductor plate within the gearbox which had given two speed sensor DCTs when Terry read the codes with his STAR machine.
Terry changed this and for the moment, all seems well. I will monitor over the next week but so far, so good - it's driving MUCH better and no more "rodeo" effect when you lift off the throttle.
Customer service from Terry was awesome - he took the time to sit down and listen to me (which other garages I had previously been to didn't do) and understand what issues I was having, kept me informed of progress and finished the job ahead of schedule. Another point was that when I arrived (late!) on Saturday, I found the car had been properly valeted too which was a very welcome surprise - it's only a minor thing to some people but something no other garages had done when I took my car to them, so hats off to Terry and his team - another recommendation from me.
 


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