E320 cdi 2001 auto GEARBOX PROBLEM

[dan41275]

Hi

I picked up a 2001 E320 cdi with 90k on Thursday 6th Dec. Has ran with no gearbox problem. As part of the deal to buy it I read some comments on this forum which suggested changing the gearbox oil and filter. He has agreed to do this and I will be sorting that out this Monday 10th Dec.

Had a problem this morning though that it seemed to be locked in 2nd ( I run it on the W setting ) No matter how high the revs it would change up either via tiptronic manual adjustments.

Turned it off and then it was fine but it seemed to hold onto the revs a lot longer than normal before changing gear? I bought the car off a non franchised delaership and now only have 2500 miles warranty remaining. This will be gone by end of Jan. If it is going to go round it would be great if it happened now.

Any suggestions?

 

[Daeths]

Does it improve whe warmed up ? The box is designed to hold the gears longer in the colder months to speed engine reaching optimum temp.

 

[television]

Or is the engine output down MAF ????

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Transmission....

I had this problem at about 105k......I think you may find the shift lever needs replacing, it cost me about £200 for the part, its a common enough problem. Drive the car in S setting and make sure it change sup normally. If it locks into 2nd and does not exceed 40mph then you have a fault but its not the transmission unit itself. If it locks into this mode the only way to get from D to P is to turn off the engine.

First though, the W setting locks out 1st gear, car moves off in second.

Incidentally this is another one no one will tell you about. There is a cooling fan for the ECU, fails and fries the ECU. Its not expensive, I recopmmend replacing it. No one ever checks it at a service, first you find of the problem is when the unit dies....

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Good point re the cooling fan Olaf,

Where is this fan and the ECU situated?

As an aside my front screen washer jets failed the other day and on investigation found that the pump had died. The jets looked partially blocked as well so I decided to remove them and to my surprise found that they have electrical connections and are heated. I can say that in my ownership the heated jets have never worked so these units must have failed very early on in the cars life (within first three years). So I renewed pump and jet assemblies. I assume the jets are heated from the same controller as the heated mirrors (which do work). So hopefully no more iced up jets on a cold wintry morning.

At the same time I removed the Air Con auxiliary fan electrical connection at the fusebox to isolate the unit (according to MB this is a recommended fix) to avoid this fuse blowing and cutting out the engine ECU. I've been meaning to do this for some time.

 

[television]

I have sent out the fan mod many times on the engine ECU

 

[Myros]

is this fan thingy

something I ought to be doing to the mem's 210?

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Hi Malcolm,
Yes, you sent it to me some time ago, only just got round to doing the mod I think all this wet weather had something to do with it. I think it would be a good idea to have the mods and recalls listed for new people joining the forum. This site has become very proactive and must be one of the best MB sites out there. The info I have learnt has certainly made my ownership experience much better, always a bit daunting moving onto the next generation of Merc, the germans do love their technology.

Regards
Malcolm

 

[dan41275]

Hi

thanks for the advice. its going in tomorrow for a new filter and oil at a mercedes specialist in Preston. I still feel that it holds onto the gears for too long. This week though I have done Preston - London and back and got a whopping 44.5mpg average!

One thing that is apparent is that the engine never reaches its optimum temperature. On the way down it got to 50 degrees at best but never above 60. I take it that it should be running at 80 degrees and this is why my heater never gets hot? I posted this problem on the other forum on this site.

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Apologies to Television

Thanks for the one about the ECU mod. I should of course have said that the MB dealers normally wont tell you about the cooling fan fan issue.