Snatching Autobox in 1998 W210 E320 Saloon

[dan653]

Hi,

I have a small, but annoying problem in my W210.

Well, 2 but one is so insignificant it doesn't bother me

1) when the gearbox is cold, it doesnt change gear until about 3000 revs, when i first leave in the morning, i drive the car in Winter mode, and am very light with the throttle, to allow the engine to warm up. But the gearbox wont change up, it just very very slowly increases the revs, i have to put my foot down some until it will..... When warm, it will change up at about 1300 revs if i am light with the throttle, so why doesn't it do it when it's cold. (the same happens in Standard mode too)

2) this one is slightly more annoying, When i put my foot to the floor to pull out onto the dual carriageway in the morning, the car will accelerate quickly and smoothly, the gear change perfect at about 5,000 revs. HOWEVER if i really boot it, the car doesn't change gear, instead it revs higher and higher (til about 6,000) then stays there, then about 3-5 seconds later the gearbox will snatch the next gear and lurch forward. I have learnt now to avoid this situation by letting off the gas so it changes up, then re-applying it. However i would like to fix it, if there is a solution.

Thanks
Dan

 

[television]

Your first problem is not a problem, it was practice to hold the two first gears when cold to warm up the CAT on your car, so you have no fault there. Re the second fault its unknown to me, but maybe someone else has something. I think that the kick down switch is under the pedal, this could be lazy and taking a couple of seconds to return.

Gear box, these have whats known as key start re setting. very few faults are left in the long term memory.

malcolm

 

[dan653]

Thanks,

so how do i reset my gear box.

Dan

 

[television]

When you belt the car up to 6k rpm, have you got the throtle on the floor,what happens if you take it up to 6k without using kink down. Onr thing you could do,your car from new had a sealed for life gear box, MB have back tracked on this one, and now recommend oil changes at 60k so its quite possible that yours has never been done

malcolm

 

[dan653]

When i boot it to 6000 without kickdown... it does the same, it's funny because the gearbox is very smooth right up to 5,300 ish... so i can accelerate hard and fast up to there, then have to slightly release the pedal so it changes up, then boot it again (without activating kickdown)

If i let it rev past 5500 ish, it just revs higher, and higher slowly, as if the car was a diesel at max revs and max speed... But it's not its a petrol in 2nd gear or 3rd gear. I hope you understand my comparison... it will do this for about 2-3 seconds... then at about 6000 revs it will snatch the gear and be off again !!

I'll book it in for a autobox fluid change... is this expensive?

Dan

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Autobox fluid change shouldn't cost anymore than £150. make sure that you use a specialist or MB dealer and that MB ATF is used.

 

[The Rock]

Hi,
There is a situation where asking a car to accelerate fast causes no acceleration at all. It is related to the Mass Airflow Sensor, or MAS for short. When a MAS fails one of the symptoms is no acceleration under full throttle, just high revs. Other symptoms are wrong gear selection in an auto box, lumpy when cold (although I never had this problem whne mine went). A dealer or specialist could check it out. Steve.

 

[nialler]

Had exactly the same problem Dan on my 2000 W220, change the gearbox fluid and it's much much better, the specialist found brass in the bottom of my tray and said it was the torque converter shedding bits so may at some time in the future have to put a recon box in it, quoted €1,800.

 

[television]

Don't forget the the sealed for life is no more, the recomended changes for oil is now at 60k miles, and this should include the filter. there are many cars out there that are up to the 100k mark or more and never had a oil change.


Malcolm

 

[The Rock]

I've always suspected the "Sealed for Life" policy. I mean - how can something that needs oil never need an oil change? It's just barmy. Someone needs a kicking.

 

[G MAN]

Be careful , George W might be listening.................

 

[G MAN]

& on that note I'm off to the neutrality of the West of Ireland, see you all in a week.

 

[Gaz clk55]

Hi My 2000 CLK 55 AMG has he same problem snatchy gear changes at hi revs.. I'll get the oil changed.. Cheers Gaz

 

[television]

Hi My 2000 CLK 55 AMG has he same problem snatchy gear changes at hi revs.. I'll get the oil changed.. Cheers Gaz

I cant recall one person who has not said that changing the oil has not improved the changes, the first SL I drove was a 50k miles car, the box was not bad. my car is only 16k from new, and so much nicer than the 40k car I just sold, they both have the same 77.2 box, I can see me doing it at 40k, if I live that long. As The Rock say's Barmy. the ZF boxes were sealed for life, not any more if you read some BMW forums.

Malcolm