Need a new auto gearbox after 52,000 miles??

[charliebutton]

I know nothing about cars, am skint after Xmas and need your advice...

I have an A Class 160 Avantgarde auto ('00/W reg), 52,000 miles, which has been off the road since Xmas. Auto transmission keeps failing and sticking in 2nd gear, intermittently at first, now more or less permanently.

Took to Garage 1 (independent Merc/BMW "specialist") who said I needed a new gear selector unit (cost £400). Fault reappeared on drive home from garage. Back to garage 1, then said gearbox needed stripping down and rebuilding (estimate £2500).

Took to garage 2 (MB main dealer) for second opinion. Said I needed new gear control unit (estimate £960). Work done but fault not fixed. Now say I need completely new gearbox (estimate £4100 so that's £5000+ for whole job). They don't recommend fixing old gearbox as there would be no warranties etc. Garage says it's asked MB for contribution - so far the answer is "no" and we're in stalemate position. By the way the car has always been professionally serviced at right intervals but has had other unusual faults (e.g. leaking petrol tank requiring replacement) mostly just after warranty period ended.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Should a Merc auto gearbox last more than 52,000 miles? Does anyone have any ideas for cheaper solutions or tips on how to negotiate a better deal? As I said I'm completely non-technical so anything that needs doing I'll have to find an "expert" to do it!

 

[squealinneil]

I don't know much about A class except that I've heard they self destruct when they're about 4 years old.

The Daily Telegraph's Honest John has recommended Trevor King of King Automatics, 'The Chalk Pit', College Road, Epsom, Surrey KT17 4JA, tel. 01372 728769 several times for people with duff ATs. It's worth a call.

Or, a salvaged unit would be a LOT cheaper. Try Mercman. Below is his blurb from another MB BB.

"I Have been quizzed on what i do and what is available many times, here's a little information for contact etc.

Supplying new and used parts for all models from 1960-2003

At least 50% discount on stealership prices.

Believed to be the biggest of our type across Europe.

Daily delivery Nationwide.

Contact me directly at work at :
E-Mail : parts@mercman.net
Tel : 023 8078 4444
Fax: 023 8078 2444
url : http://www.mercman.net (limited functionality at the moment.)

When dealing with me personally, please remember to mention MBClub and you will recieve better discount.

Thanks, Ricky"

Or, if you can wait, sometimes ebay will come up trumps with a real bargain in this section.

http://motors.listings.ebay.co.uk/C...QsacatZ10398QQsatitleZQQsocmdZListingItemList

 

[pascal]

Charlie
What sort of crazy Main Stealer could recomend that you spend almost
the whole value of the car (when fixed) on repairing it in the first place.
So that means he is saying the car is worth about £240 + the £1,000 you
have spent on it already. He's a good case for 'Watchdog'.

Why dont you name and shame him Charlie?

I would write a stiff letter to Mercedes Uk and Mercedes Germany's public
relations officer. I will probably do know good, except allow you to let off
some steam.

Your plight is making me boil with anger, even though it does not affect me.

I'm sure all other members feel the same

Good luck Charlie

 

[jberks]

No it shouldn't fail. I'm fuming. Even Ford wouldn't expect you to pay such a reduculous sum. I'd take the car back to everyone that worked on it and demand a full refund. Its implicit that they know what they are doing, so to charge you so much for parts you clearly didn't need is borderline fraud. Their misdiagnosis is their fault, not yours so they should foot the bill - or at least most of it. This is happening more and more, expensive electronics fitted to cars on the off-chance, owner charged full price and if it didn't work - we'll try something else... Perfectly good ECUs are replaced almost as a matter of course these days.
My local independent fits parts and removes them again if it doesn't cure the fault - charges for labour but I think that's fair enough. I would speak to the dealer again, mention that you have a consumer journalist friend who is eager to write a story on your appalling treatment and suggest he might like to speak to give DB another chance before you drag their reputation through the mud. After that, watchdog, the national consumer columns etc. Merc should be replacing the whole system FOC, warranty or not.
(It may be worth printing out this column and taking that too - remind them we are all merc customers and stuff like this influences our loyalty!)
Good luck.
Any solicitor contributors willing to take this up?

 

[squealinneil]

I agree that spending £1,500 odd & not having any improvement in the gbox is silly & I would be demanding all of my money back from both garages in the hope I'd get a big chunk of it.

I'm afraid if MB contribute anything you'll be lucky. The car is, after all, 4 or 5 years old, has covered 52K & I'm assuming wasn't dealer serviced for all of those miles. If you can get the lion's share of your dosh back it would be enough to pay for, and have installed, a perfectly satisfactory salvage gbox (with a 30 day + warranty). You could then sell this thing & buy a really good, proper, bulletproof MB like a 190E or a W124 or W123 230E with the proceeds from the sale.

 

[guydewdney]

also talk to George Fraser in Acton, west london - he knows these thigns back to front (ATs not A classes)

hes fixed my box twice now - once was a stripped main gear, once was a failed bearing (30,000 miles later)

1200 quid the first time - 250? quid the second. now drives perfectly... nice bloke etc etc - place is total chaos, and you will be waiting for ages - but its worth it.

I too tried to get dosh from MBUK - they said they might consider it - if the work was done by a main dealer - i then told them the main dealer refused to do the work as the gearbox is 'a sealed unit, sir'

Guy

 

[squealinneil]

charliebutton,
Are you following this discussion?

 

[charliebutton]

Yes, thanks, and appreciate everyone's suggestions and comments. It's good to know that people are bothering to help out.

Garage 2 is going back to its Head Office to see if they can contribute - unfortunately they're probably thinking in hundreds whilst I'm looking for thousands. However, I did buy the car from them and have had all servicing and extra work done by them except the last service and work done by garage 1 (thought an independent might be more competitive).

Should know by tomorrow what they're prepared to offer. If no good, will try to get the car back from them and arrange transport to one of these gearbox guys that people have suggested. Car's virtually undriveable at the moment. If they won't give it back without me paying the £1000 then I'll have to try some more forceful arguments, as suggested!

Plan is to have it repaired and sell it. Not sure what I'll get to replace it - kinda lost my confidence in automatics!

 

[piestore]

gear box

hi

a new gearbox for an Auto A class is less than 1500 quid (exchange )plus 8 hours to fit where does 4K come from???????

 

[beaky]

What was the end to this story!

Anyway, sorry if this old chestnut has been covered before, but have owned a 2000 (W reg) A Class Auto from new, the car is coming up to 33K mile mark and I've heard a lot of horror stories about the Auto boxes going around about this mileage and costing a small fortune (£5k) to fix. My question is do I: -
a) Sell the car
b) Take out an extended warrantee (it's always been serviced officially in the Merc dealership)
c) Not to worry as it's a very rare

Comments please, Thx

 

[Parrot of Doom]

Personally if you're worried, I'd find a good automatic transmission specialist, and have them look it over just in case. Doesn't need to be a Merc specialist.

 

[justin1820]

i would like to see someone fit a gearbox into an a class in eight hours?!

 

[Bolide]

Anyway, sorry if this old chestnut has been covered before, but have owned a 2000 (W reg) A Class Auto from new, the car is coming up to 33K mile mark and I've heard a lot of horror stories about the Auto boxes going around about this mileage and costing a small fortune (£5k) to fix. My question is do I: -
a) Sell the car
b) Take out an extended warrantee (it's always been serviced officially in the Merc dealership)
c) Not to worry as it's a very rare

You've only covered 6k / year since you had it but that's not necessarily a good thing. I'd be tempted to take option A and avoid the problem entirely. The gearbox will fail eventually, the only question is whether you will be the owner at the time

Option B is only viable if it covers the entire cost of a replacement and I'll believe that when I see it. Gearbox failure is normally wear & tear and not covered


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[MW]

Do these have sealed for life gearboxes? My W124 has its oil changed every 18K and oil and filter every 36k. At present it has done 122,000 miles. So far its factory smooth. Sealed for life is true. It is just OK for 55-85,000 miles, then you are on your own.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I think you've just put your finger on it MW. Auto boxes do require regular oil changes and I would imagine the smaller the box i.e. A Class the more critical to longetivity this can become.

 

[tech lee]

i've recently stripped out and repaired the same gearbox as yours. there are a few repetitive problems with this box but to say it's a sealed unit is rubbish.
hope you get a solution for yours.

 

[Pzd]

Does the D light next to the lever blinks?

I had an electrical problem with the lever and the gearbox won't change from 1st to 2nd

PZD

 

[quattrokid]

Afternoon gents. I am new to this forum and wish to jump on this bandwagon with similar symptoms:

My 2000 (W) reg avant garde auto slips in 1st gear as if your driving on ice, then once up to 15-20 mph and 2 nd gear is selected it picks up drive and accelerates as it should through the rest of the box. mine has this tiptronic style manual control as well.Its a great cheap buggy except for this gearbox problem which is giving me cause for conciderable concern....

Mine was serviced today by Ayr Merecedes and they told me I need a new gearbox with 47410 miles on it!! I AM NOT IMPRESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had an Audi 100 S4 quattro with auto transmission which I had to sell last year because of my financial situation so Mum gave me this Merc on condition I sold the Audi and this wee Merc could be a cheap runabout so my WR Ur quattro could remain my summer "toy"
The S4 had 200478 miles on its clock when I sold it with no transmission problems EVER... so how is it Mercedes can have a gearbox failure/problems after a few years of use and with the other owner...charliebutton we are experiencing Meredes extorsionate fees to replace a gearbox with only 40k miles average mileage between us?

I was quoted this morning £1169 for the gearbox plus the labour rate for fitting so looking at not far off 2k to do this job... while I am on a roll, the injector seals are leaking so they quoted me 500 quid to replace those with a 7.9 hour job sachedule?.... 7.9 HOURS to replace seals on injectors??? I must be missing something here, because I am sure the entire engine was built in less time than this?

Knowing my luck, this gearbox may happily continue to work for a few years yet BUT everytime I pull away from a junction or traffic lights or an up hill gradient I pray I dont get rammed up the bum or I dont slip back down the hill before 2nd gear is selected!!

Is it REALLY a few thousand pound job for a car that isnt worth much more than twice their quoted price for a box change? there must be an "A class" mountain somewhere of dead Mercs because the owners have written off thier cars because the cost of a replacement gearbox outstrips the value of the car!!

Can anyone suggest a decent Merc specialist in the Glasgow area please who wont fleece me or do I trade it in for an Audi A2 tdi??


thanks in advance

Richard.

 

[Tontastic]

Decent specialist in Glasgow ...

Afternoon gents. I am new to this forum and wish to jump on this bandwagon with similar symptoms:

My 2000 (W) reg avant garde auto slips in 1st gear as if your driving on ice, then once up to 15-20 mph and 2 nd gear is selected it picks up drive and accelerates as it should through the rest of the box. mine has this tiptronic style manual control as well.Its a great cheap buggy except for this gearbox problem which is giving me cause for conciderable concern....

Mine was serviced today by Ayr Merecedes and they told me I need a new gearbox with 47410 miles on it!! I AM NOT IMPRESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had an Audi 100 S4 quattro with auto transmission which I had to sell last year because of my financial situation so Mum gave me this Merc on condition I sold the Audi and this wee Merc could be a cheap runabout so my WR Ur quattro could remain my summer "toy"
The S4 had 200478 miles on its clock when I sold it with no transmission problems EVER... so how is it Mercedes can have a gearbox failure/problems after a few years of use and with the other owner...charliebutton we are experiencing Meredes extorsionate fees to replace a gearbox with only 40k miles average mileage between us?

I was quoted this morning £1169 for the gearbox plus the labour rate for fitting so looking at not far off 2k to do this job... while I am on a roll, the injector seals are leaking so they quoted me 500 quid to replace those with a 7.9 hour job sachedule?.... 7.9 HOURS to replace seals on injectors??? I must be missing something here, because I am sure the entire engine was built in less time than this?

Knowing my luck, this gearbox may happily continue to work for a few years yet BUT everytime I pull away from a junction or traffic lights or an up hill gradient I pray I dont get rammed up the bum or I dont slip back down the hill before 2nd gear is selected!!

Is it REALLY a few thousand pound job for a car that isnt worth much more than twice their quoted price for a box change? there must be an "A class" mountain somewhere of dead Mercs because the owners have written off thier cars because the cost of a replacement gearbox outstrips the value of the car!!

Can anyone suggest a decent Merc specialist in the Glasgow area please who wont fleece me or do I trade it in for an Audi A2 tdi??


thanks in advance

Richard.

A decent Merc specialist in Glasgow is TJ O'Neill in Carntyne industrial estate, however don't think I would recommend them for a gearbox, they would just price to swap one out probably. I used Strathclyde Gearbox Services at http://www.gearboxservices.com/ who seemed competent when they replaced my diff. No other experience with them other than that.

 

[Glenn Smith]

I agree that spending £1,500 odd & not having any improvement in the gbox is silly & I would be demanding all of my money back from both garages in the hope I'd get a big chunk of it.

I'm afraid if MB contribute anything you'll be lucky. The car is, after all, 4 or 5 years old, has covered 52K & I'm assuming wasn't dealer serviced for all of those miles. If you can get the lion's share of your dosh back it would be enough to pay for, and have installed, a perfectly satisfactory salvage gbox (with a 30 day + warranty). You could then sell this thing & buy a really good, proper, bulletproof MB like a 190E or a W124 or W123 230E with the proceeds from the sale.

What is &amp? is it some kind of text talk?