w202 C250TD Slow pulling away when cold

[Bird]

Its a 98 facelift C250TD with 5 speed electronic controlled box 115K miles.

This is my second Mercedes I have owned & my first diesel; I have one problem that I would like advice on.

Warmed up its normal, but for the fist 1/2 mile when cold, pulling out of my drive way & from the T junction down the road it feels like its trying to pull away in 3rd gear, even with the gear selector put in 1st its the same.
Foot firmly to the floor, kick down switch engaged there no real acceleration until the turbo kicks in a good bit down the road.

This creates a dangerous situation- if a car heading my way appears within 50-60 meters whilst I am pulling out of the drive, I have no option but to stop or continue & get hit! Turning right not an option unless it?s V. quiet

Is this normal for diesels / this model?

Cheers in advance
B

 

[concordepilot19]

certainly not normal for diesels, my C220 cdi (which is less pokey than yours) actually revs higher in each gear until the cat is warmed up. I even get a good take off with "W" selected.

 

[wingco]

I have a 1997 w202 C250TD with the five speed box. My car used to be very slow to pull away when cold, and it is still not brilliant. The gear box actually used to "slip" when cold, but it felt like you were pulling away in a high gear. The problem gradually got worse until it would not change properly, clunk into gear and eventyally get stuck in 5th or 1st.

MB say this gearbox is sealed for life and never needs a fluid change. This is crap. Ask any MB technician on the quiet or an independent and they will tell you to change the ATF and filters. I ended up having a new valve block, ATF and filters (£900 with out labour). That was a 87K miles.

I would change the ATF and filters before it gets too bad, unless it has been done recently. Search the archives here for the 722.6 gearbox. This is a well known problem.