2003 mercedes vaneo w414 gearbox help

hodge911

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hi all I have my 2003 w414 vaneo 1.7 crd trend automatic .
since buying it I have wondered if there Is a problem with gearbox most of the time it seems fine while cold changes gear nice and kick down works ok but when up to normal operating temperature that I think I have a problem .
it changes up ok but when I come to a hill and put my foot down expecting it to change down it wont it just slows down forcing me to then drop down a couple of gears using the semi auto bit .
say if I change down to 2nd it will start to pick up to allow me to hit 3rd for a while then 4th and finally D .
on the flat it changes up smoothly but in my opinion a bit quickly and again if I floor it there is no kick down .
but while cold all works spot on . on motorway car seems fine and will sit happily at 70 / 80 mph no problem
I have had the gearbox oil and filter changed which helped a little bit but it is really spoiling the car for me .
it has 112k miles on it with up to date dealer service history and 1 owner from new
any ideas on what to do next .
I have read that the 1.7 can be sluggish but I did not expect this much
 

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A bad MAF can give kickdown issues but to correctly diagnose it it needs to go on Star or similar.
 
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hodge911

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A bad MAF can give kickdown issues but to correctly diagnose it it needs to go on Star or similar.

will snap on solus do it I have a one on loan that I used to diagnose / fix the srs light problem.
what system will it be in as there is no light on dash for engine management system
 

LostKiwi

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It'll be in engine management but it may need live data to show the issue. The MAF can fail by giving bad readings as opposed to no reading (which will bring up a light).
 
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hodge911

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Tha.ks I'll put it on snapon in morning and see if I can find anything out
And let u know thanks for the input
 
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hodge911

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right o peeps all sorted now and the best bit is it didn,t cost a penny :):)
after a couple of hours surfing the net [ as the saying goes ] I found videos on youtube on how to "reset" the automatic transmission .
now I must admit I was very sceptical on how it may work but for the sake of 3 mins of my time I had to give it a go .
and MY GOD what a difference its like a different car.
going on the route I did last night on the hill where I had my foot buried to the floor and doing 35 mph while being overtaken by an eight legger tipper truck :eek::confused: before manually dropping a couple of gears as the thing didn,t kick down on its own tonight came to the same point put my foot down and wey hey it changed down and took off reaching 75 mph by the time I was at the spot the tipper overtook me
now thinking of its previous owner [the only one] a lovely "OLD BOY" who when he took me out on a test drive didn,t go above 40mph on the flat I can somehow see how it was so bad
as a result I shall now start looking for my upgrade parts I fancy putting on
 

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Great result! I been meaning to do that for a while now, but haven't yet (I was somewhat sceptical too) - now I definitely going to reset mine.

As to upgrades, etc - since W414 is essentially a W168 with a big booty ;) and having owned a few (168s, not what you thought!), I have a few pics of mods I've done - be happy to share.

In the mean time, here's an accessories brochure for 168/414, to get you started.
 

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hodge911

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thanks glk .........
out of curiosity do you know if the seats out of a 168 wil be a straight swap over for the vaneo seats just the rear seats look different size i.e the middle seat looks a fair bit narrower than the vaneo ones as per pic below pic is of the 168 rears s-l1600.jpg
 
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ZZZZ

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That's an interesting question. I replaced the interior in my old W168 with a full leather one, from another 168, but never actually thought about vaneo as a potential donor - too late now, sold that 168 three years ago ;)

Looking at accessories brochure - page 28, etc - looks like the same patterns come in different part numbers, so most likely you're right - the rear seats are different, probably the sliding door gives a extra inch or two to play with.

This is the rear seat bench from that old car:

35447958180_b32e611c1c_o.jpg


35447959400_c3e66792e7_o.jpg




and the front ones:

35836209785_deb5b0680f_o.jpg


35795799226_4bd52ba948_o.jpg
 
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hodge911

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That's an interesting question. I replaced the interior in my old W168 with a full leather one, from another 168, but never actually thought about vaneo as a potential donor - too late now, sold that 168 three years ago ;)

Looking at accessories brochure - page 28, etc - looks like the same patterns come in different part numbers, so most likely you're right - the rear seats are different, probably the sliding door gives a extra inch or two to play with.

This is the rear seat bench from that old car:

35447958180_b32e611c1c_o.jpg


35447959400_c3e66792e7_o.jpg




and the front ones:

35836209785_deb5b0680f_o.jpg


35795799226_4bd52ba948_o.jpg
iv,e also just noticed that the seat belts are actually attached to back of the rear seats on the vaneo ........... so maybe seats from the viano / vito may be a better option
or my other thought is to visit local trimmers and get a shock for converting my seats to leather ??
 

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That accessories brochure also covers Viano, so check it to see if seat covers are the same?
 
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hodge911

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That accessories brochure also covers Viano, so check it to see if seat covers are the same?
Will do .
Take the 3 mins to do do tranny reset mate it is so easy and the difference it made to mine is unbelievable.
Do you know how to do it ?
If not just ask and I'll let you know how its done
 

ZZZZ

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Take the 3 mins to do do tranny reset mate it is so easy and the difference it made to mine is unbelievable.
Do you know how to do it ?
If not just ask and I'll let you know how its done
Thanks, I should have a how-to somewhere, but if you got a link / file handy, I'd appreciate it :)
 
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