Help needed with a few issues on a CLS 320CDI

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum.

A few months ago I purchased my first Mercedes. It is a 2007 CLS 320CDI with the 7G. As with any second hand car you only have so long to see if you can spot anything obvious and it seemed like a good car. It does however have a few issues. I would not say they are breaking issues just annoyances which I wish were not there.
I was wondering if someone might be able to shed some light if they have experienced similar problems or possibly know what may cause them.
The first problem which I have is when the car is cold and after the choke backs off, under light acceleration in 1st, 2nd and sometimes 3rd gear it seems like there is some surging going on. The best way I can describe it, it feels like I am constantly putting my foot on the accelerator, taking it off and so on and so forth. As with any car it could be a number of things. My guess would be it has something to do with either throttle position sensor, throttle body (fuel/air mixture) or possibly the gearbox/torque converter itself. This seems to go away once the gearbox and engine are up to temperature.
The second issue that I have involves the gearbox itself. I had it serviced as soon as I bought the car as it was due to be done. I am not sure if the oil put in it has something to do with the issue or not and good luck proving if it was done correct or not even though it was don by a Mercedes indie. On the odd occasion for about half a mile or so it decides that it will not upshift no matter what you do. It will downshift as requested by either applying the accelerator or using the tip tronic but it does not upshift until it wants to do so. I had it happen on few occasions when going to places I regularly go to and it got me thinking what is the common occurrence when this happens. What I did notice is seems to happen after going down a steep hill. It seems as if the oil is shifting to the front of the car and that it causing a starvation and reluctance to upshift until it has settled again. Is that a known issue of sorts or is it just a one off?
And the third issue that I have is when the car is stationery and is going to a full lock so I can park I started getting like a rubberised squeaking noise. It starts happening when the turning gets to the point where the wheels are starting to camber to help with the turning circle. I have had ball joints replaced not long ago and this only started happening since then. Could this be something to do with the steering arms or is it something I should not be too concerned about? It does not make the sound when car is in motion as there is not as much pressure on the steering rack due to stationery weight etc.

Sorry for the long thread and I hope someone can shed some light on my issues.

Kind regards
Ivaylo Filipov

 

Is anybody able to help with any of these?

Thanks

 

Welcome to the forum!

Have you considered going back to the indie and explaining the issues above? I would presume they have the full STAR diagnostics and can check if there are any fault codes or at least plug the STAR machine in and go for a drive to see if the issues above present themselves again?

There are some very good indies on this forum/ experts who may know exactly how to solve the above issues.

I hope it all gets sorted soon.

 

Hello and welcome, I meant to have answered last night. there is a good indie in Welwyn called Welwyn mercs he is about the nearest good one near you.

If you paid him a visit you would have something positive to go back with.

 

was the car performing correctly before the box oil service ?

 

Steering noise perhaps a ball joint or arm bush, and the gearbox sounds like it might need a bit more oil in it.

 

Hello and thank you for your replies.
The indie that I have been to local to me has got a STAR and the car has been plugged in a number of times with no faults showing. He has checked the oil level a number of times, updated the gearbox to the latest software available too but no luck.
From what I could see it was performing just fine with nearly a two hour journey after being picked up when I bought it and for the week after that before doing the oil.
The steering noise I thought about it a bit more and since I have had the top ball joints replaced now I suspect it might be bottom ones too. If it is that it will not be too expensive to fix. It was doing it on and off before and conveniently did not do it when I had it checked over, but it is doing it all the time now so might make another trip to the garage when I have the time.
I will definitely consider going to Welwyn the only issue with that would be once the car is warmed up it does seem to have any of the issues with the box and for a good hour drive it will definitely warm up well and good.
I just do not know if these issues have just appeared or if I have bought a duff one. I mean for the steering issues that I am not too concerned about I will chuck a bit more money at it and it will be sorted, but the gearbox/torque converter combo does scare me a bit knowing the prices for these two.
Thanks for your help guys.

 

I wonder if this is the start of the speed plate failing in the box, again we do now know that the switches on the selector can stick, I have that.

 

One thing I have noticed television is that it will only stick (will refuse to upshift but it will still happily downshift) only after going down a pretty steep hill. It is almost as if the back of the box is getting starved of oil and will not upshift due to that until it settles as from what I believe the shift points are very dependant on the oil level.
I know I have said that in the main post but I think that could be quite possibly the cause of this one possibly.

 

I still think the oil could be too low try adding half a litre.

The oil expands as it heats filling the oil pan more. It is the only thing that changes as the box heats up that will not give fault codes.

Unless as the behaviour changes on hills there could be an oil pick up issue with the filter.

 

Thanks Roxie will give that a go and see if anything changes.

 

The fault with the shunting is engine related, could be a sticking turbo, blocked left EGR pipe, exhaust back pressure sensor failed or something else!!!

My guess could be that the engine fault is causing a confusion with gearshift or you have the makings of a speed plate issue.

If your Indie is using STAR there should be a fault code for something, I cant see there not being.

 

Thanks for the advice. It has been hooked up to STAR a few times but there is no faults coming up at all. I think on that one I will roll with it until something more significant happens. Really do not fancy second guessing expensive parts unless I know that will solve it. I had the lambda changed when I got the car as that was gone but that was about it for sensors.

 

I have seen cars that will not give any code or fault when doing the same thing as yours, always fine when the car is warm.

 

That is the one. Does it up to the point of car being fully warmed up with no faults and then it goes back to being absolutely normal again as if nothing has happened. As I said previously it probably will be a case of wait and see what happens. I can throw money at it but that does not mean the correct part will get changed along the way. It is only a hinderance in stop start traffic at low speeds ie up to 15-20 mph. Driving around with the car still cold is absolutely fine providing I apply more throttle than the threshold point of it doing this.

 

Ivaylo,

Sorry to hear of your problems.

If you bought the car within the last 6 months and from a Dealer, then the problems are his to fix at his cost. UK Legislation gives you this degree of protection via THE SALE OF GOODS ACT.

DON`T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY TRYING TO FIX SOMETHING THAT IS NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIX.

GOOD LUCK.

Regards

John

 

Thanks for the info, however I was not aware of any of this and am now comfortably outside of the 6 month period. I got told the same thing a few months back but only to realise I was month out of the period at that point anyway. It is on me to prove the problems have been there when I bought the car, but that could be a wild goose chase as it is not guaranteed anyone will take the word of the garage that has been trying to rectify them. I absolutely adore the car and will put up with it for the time being as it is on finance. Once that is up I will be getting the W218 as it is starting to grow on me.

 

This thing with the gearbox is now getting beyond a joke. With everything single thing that the "specialist" does ot just gets worse. I wonder if it anything to do with the work he did in the first place which was a simple box oil change. Dod not notice any issues up to that point. All the problems followed and now with the latest software it is worse than ever. If I had the choice I would not drive in stop start traffic as that is where the issue appears to be, in the low gears under low acceleration. Gets to a point where if i apply a bit more throttle everything is sound again. I can live with the other stuff but if there is anything that will make me get rid of this car this will be it.

 

Not the easiest box to oil change as the oil goes back in through the sump bolt hole that the old oil came out of.

Needs proper equipment to change the oil properly and my guess is the oils still low.

jib

 

Luckily the car is going back to that particular person next week. I will swing by the idea of putting more oil in it. In all honesty I would rather it had too much oil than too little. Woth too much the worse it can do is go through the gasket, whereas too little and this is potentially causing damage to the box itself.