New to M-B. A170 CDi with a G/Box Fault

[Rez]

G'day everyone! I've just purchased a T reg A170 CDi (privately) and have discovered an autobox fault that wasn't there when I test drove it and was wondering if anyone else has experienced this and what my options are.

The autobox as mentioned behaved perfectly well during the test drive just last week. Yesterday I collected the car and immediately noticed that the car seems to struggle with the change from 1st to 2nd and takes its time engaging reverse.

As I accelerate its almost as if the car briefly goes into neutral, the revs rise and then 'clunk' I'm in 2nd gear. 2-3 and 3-4 are all fine. When I stop and select R the pause is noticeable too but this is a lesser irritant than the 1-2 problem.

After a couple of gearchange attempts the dashboard gear display then showed an 'F' until I stopped the car and turned it off and back on again. I've scoured the owners manual but can't find any reference to what 'F' represents. I'm guessing failsafe mode as after that the car drove like it was pulling away in 3rd!

I eventually got home (130 miles) and was surprised to discover the car was behaving in an almost normal manner. However the following morning the gearchange issue had returned. It seems to be a warm gearbox behaves better.

Sadly I can't return the car as it was a private sale... :sad:

Any advice or suggestions would be gratefully received.

Rez

 

[Rez]

*Bump!*

Anyone?

TIA

Rez

 

[jberks]

Gearboxes are a known weakness on the A class. I suspect this is why it was for sale and they warmed it up before your test drive to mask it. We've all done it, e.g had a cold start issue so ensured it had a run round the block before the potential buyer turned up. That's the downside of a private purchase. The upside is the lower cost, but I suspect you'll end up down or even on the deal in this case.

All I can suggest is that you get it to a local MB specialist and have them look it over. Get the whole car checked to ensure there isn't anything else lurking before committing any money to repair.

 

[Rez]

:sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:

Local Dealers just given it a diagnostic and concluded that the Electro Hydraulic plate needs replacing for a cool £1272... and to top if off they charged me £114 for the privilege of telling me this!

I'm not normally a violent man but if I ever meet that sad sack of $h!t who sold me the car....

Rez

 

[television]

Have you though of going to a gear box specialist, the ones in this little union are all very good, and cheaper than MB

http://www.fedauto.co.uk/

Malcolm

 

[mattkh]

a 170 cdi

G'day everyone! I've just purchased a T reg A170 CDi

Rez

Hi Rez

What is the mileage and how much did you pay for it ?

 

[Rez]

Thanks for the responses.

I did in fact call an Auto Transmission specialist in Nottingham and spoke to a very knowledgeable sounding chap... but his news was even worse!

Bearing in mind he hadn't driven the car he suggested the problem may in fact be more likely to be the clutch packs in the transmission... and given the marvelous packaging job the Benz engineers have done on the A-Class powertrain in fitting it all into such a small space, getting the box out to repair the clutch packs is likely to be of the order of 16hours labour leading to a £2000 bill for an overhaul of the box.

This just gets better and better!

The car is a T reg with 89k on the clock and was purchased for £3.6k...

Rez

 

[mattkh]

3.6k

Hi Rez

Call the previous owner and try getting some money back for the repair. Are the local Trading Standard officers any good in such a case ?

 

[Parrot of Doom]

Caveat Emptor - hes got no chance of getting any money back without the aid of a baseball bat.

First, forget the dealer quote. Its massive to pay for those nice coffee machines.

Second, have a look in here, you may find someone local who can help.