Mercedes E shutting itself off

[aetanner]

I do not have much expertise in Mercedes cars. I am writing about a problem I had and would appreciate your guidance.

I have a Mercedes E with an automatic gearbox. In the past I had a problem with this car, where it would get stuck in the third gear and would not go into the fourth gear. In such cases, after I stopped the car, and put the gear to P and then back to D the problem would go away. In any case, I mentioned this to the garage when I took the car for service, and they said they fixed it. For a while, I did not have this problem.

Recently I was driving on a deserted road on a rainy day and it seemed that I had the same problem. I thought, rather than stopping the car, if I shifted the gear from D to N, and then back to D, the problem would be solved. Instead, as soon I pushed the gear the car started chocking and it stopped, and the engine shut itself off.

After this incident, the car started normally and I continued to drive without a problem.

However, I am concerned about this development. Is it normal that the car would shut itself off if the gear is shifted to N from D while driving? Is this a sign of a bigger problem? (You can imagine what trouble this can cause in traffic.) Have I damaged the car by trying to shift the gear to N while driving? What can I do to ensure that this problem is not repeated, so that no harm is done to myself and my family?

I will go to a Mercedes garage but I am concerned that I may not find someone who would patiently to a novice like myself. So any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[television]

Hello and welcome, is your car around the 98 to 2001 vintage

When you say that the car will not change up at times, is this when the gear shift has not been touched, and left in the auto position

 

[aetanner]

Hi, the car is a 2007 model. The problem I was referring to was that I would start the car, put in D, and then it would not change up. The gear was always in D and I never touched the gear (until this recent occasion). Stopping the car, putting into P and then back to D seemed to solve the problem. Thank you for any thoughts.

 

[brandwooddixon]

Being a relatively new car is it under any sort of warranty?
If so I would start there to ensure that your costs are covered.

Certainly the engine shouldn't die if the car is put into nuetral whilst moving.
I would hazard a guess that the original problem hasn't really been fixed, just masked.

Im not sure of MBs take on this as with some car manufacturers the gearbox wont actually change gear if doing so will damage it. When I worked for Rover and Jaguar in the past one test involved putting the car into reverse whilst moving forwards and vice versa. Similarly you'll find that if your road speed is high enough the gearbox wont change down a gear if that would cause the engine to over rev.

 

[aetanner]

Firstly, let me note that my car is a E220 CDI Avantgarde Saloon (2007 model).

I will talk with the Mercedes garage to see what they will say. I am not sure if the gearbox is under any kind of guarantee, but I will inquire.

In any case, I tend to agree with brandwooddixon that the original problem was not fixed, but just masked.

Depending on the response from the garage (if the problem can be fixed, costs etc.), I will then have to decide on whether to have the car fixed or sell it off. (That will be a hard decision because I took very good care of the car, agonised over every little scratch and made only 25000 km in almost four years).

So, here is the next question from the novice: In such a scenario what kind of finding/response by the garage would convince you to sell and get rid of the car?

Thanks.

 

[television]

I wonder if the MAF has a fault and it is an engine power down thing,, if the power output is down, then the gearbox does not know what to do and can lock up,, and restarting clears it