722.6 in W210, unwanted neutral

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Llewelyn

Active Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
179
Car
S210 320CDi D6
twice now in the S210 320CDi, it's managed to get itself into neutral while pulling an overtake move from about 40 mph. Starts off by downshifting as you'd expect, (not talking kickdown full boot) then seems to get into neutral rather than driving. let the revs drop back to idle and it goes back into gear and works. If I try to replicate it when not overtaking, naturally it doesn't do it. Previous owner had the oil and filter changed, so shouldn't be that although I've not yet checked oil level. Box seems to perform as it should all the rest of the time, too - not getting flare changing gear or anything, or undue slip.

Any thoughts? common fault?
 
The gear linkage on your car is mechanical.

A member on here years ago had a similar issue, turned out to be worn engine/gearbox mounts - the drivetrain moved as it was revved causing the linkage to be moved enough to pop it out of gear.

Worth a thought :)

What’s the mileage on your car out of interest?
 
if not a linkage/mount issue: would look at connector plug oil leakage.
 
Yes the pilot bush should be changed if it wasn't done during the ATF change.

I would also get the codes read to see what is going on
 
around 160K miles. Linkage might be a possibility - I might try to see how much movement of the lever takes it out of gear, see if it seems critical. Still trying to work out if there's a credible way to read fault codes besides finding someone with a reader - I got a 38-pin to OBDII connector, and I can connect the phone to the car via bluetooth OBDII - this lets me see some things, e.g. engine revs, throttle position etc. doesn't show any codes, trouble is I don't know if that's because there aren't any (unlikely) or because the software doesn't read them (more likely)
 
around 160K miles. Linkage might be a possibility - I might try to see how much movement of the lever takes it out of gear, see if it seems critical. Still trying to work out if there's a credible way to read fault codes besides finding someone with a reader - I got a 38-pin to OBDII connector, and I can connect the phone to the car via bluetooth OBDII - this lets me see some things, e.g. engine revs, throttle position etc. doesn't show any codes, trouble is I don't know if that's because there aren't any (unlikely) or because the software doesn't read them (more likely)
I think the basic OBD readers just do the standard engine codes, stuff like transmission codes ideally needs STAR :thumb:
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom