Pitts Pilot
Active Member
This is about the shi4y 7G gearboxes that Mercedes Benz-the-truth pass off as automatic transmissions.
I'm not alone, there have been several threads on this Forum lately regarding jerky 7G transmissions, both the 722.6 and the 722.9.
I started a thread regarding the occasional neutral I got when the box on my SL was cold, and others have complained about "Jerkiness".
Well MB this is not good enough.
Not happy with the "Box full of neutrals" I was occasionally getting even after a recent B service and change of transmission oil MB Basingstoke did, I booked the car in with MB Wandsworth.
MB Wandsworth reported no fault codes (as did MB Basingstoke by the way) and could find nothing wrong.
OK I said, I'll video the 'box full of neutrals' the next time it happens and they said "Great, but we will need significantly more to persuade the Warranty department to agree to change the valve unit (the main candidate for causing the problem)." Great. That's encouraging; NOT.
So with low fluid levels on my mind I went to see Olly at PCS.
Had the oil been changed at the B service, and was the level correct? Answer: YES to both questions, so fair play MB Basingstoke.
Now, since Olly dropped a splash of oil from the drain plug I've got the 'Jerky blues' too!
First couple of gears the car lunges forwards with as much smoothness as the sharp edge of a broken bottle.
What the Fook is going on NOW?
The car has done 38K and takes off with all the precision of a learner driver's first lesson on how to use the clutch.
I don't know exactly how little oil was removed from the gearbox with the "Splash" that Olly used to check the level and the colour, but how can a modern transmission be SO sensitive to oil level?
The answer to that is of course it's not the oil level, it's the valve unit that controls the gear changes.
What makes my blood boil is MB's childlike innocence regarding the problem.
What are the odds that they have seen this problem on other 7G boxes before?
Pretty high I suspect, or am I and a few others on this Forum the only owners in the UK to experience problems?
So why the denial and the impenetrable attitude to their warranty scheme?
There is a genuine problem with some of the 7G transmissions, so MB, stop the "What? You have a problem? We can't find anything wrong" approach, and admit there are customers/owners out there regularly experience whiplash when they set off each morning.
So what to do? Well, for me it's back to MB Wandsworth. Leave it overnight so it's cold the next day. But this time, I'll be there as they open up, and I'll make sure that the car is not moved (and thus warmed up) by a car park guy moving it before a senior mechanic gets to test drive it.
I also intend to call MB Warranty on Monday morning and chew their ears off about false neutrals and jerkiness. If enough of us do this, it WILL make a difference
Rant over
Robert
I'm not alone, there have been several threads on this Forum lately regarding jerky 7G transmissions, both the 722.6 and the 722.9.
I started a thread regarding the occasional neutral I got when the box on my SL was cold, and others have complained about "Jerkiness".
Well MB this is not good enough.
Not happy with the "Box full of neutrals" I was occasionally getting even after a recent B service and change of transmission oil MB Basingstoke did, I booked the car in with MB Wandsworth.
MB Wandsworth reported no fault codes (as did MB Basingstoke by the way) and could find nothing wrong.
OK I said, I'll video the 'box full of neutrals' the next time it happens and they said "Great, but we will need significantly more to persuade the Warranty department to agree to change the valve unit (the main candidate for causing the problem)." Great. That's encouraging; NOT.
So with low fluid levels on my mind I went to see Olly at PCS.
Had the oil been changed at the B service, and was the level correct? Answer: YES to both questions, so fair play MB Basingstoke.
Now, since Olly dropped a splash of oil from the drain plug I've got the 'Jerky blues' too!
First couple of gears the car lunges forwards with as much smoothness as the sharp edge of a broken bottle.
What the Fook is going on NOW?
The car has done 38K and takes off with all the precision of a learner driver's first lesson on how to use the clutch.
I don't know exactly how little oil was removed from the gearbox with the "Splash" that Olly used to check the level and the colour, but how can a modern transmission be SO sensitive to oil level?
The answer to that is of course it's not the oil level, it's the valve unit that controls the gear changes.
What makes my blood boil is MB's childlike innocence regarding the problem.
What are the odds that they have seen this problem on other 7G boxes before?
Pretty high I suspect, or am I and a few others on this Forum the only owners in the UK to experience problems?
So why the denial and the impenetrable attitude to their warranty scheme?
There is a genuine problem with some of the 7G transmissions, so MB, stop the "What? You have a problem? We can't find anything wrong" approach, and admit there are customers/owners out there regularly experience whiplash when they set off each morning.
So what to do? Well, for me it's back to MB Wandsworth. Leave it overnight so it's cold the next day. But this time, I'll be there as they open up, and I'll make sure that the car is not moved (and thus warmed up) by a car park guy moving it before a senior mechanic gets to test drive it.
I also intend to call MB Warranty on Monday morning and chew their ears off about false neutrals and jerkiness. If enough of us do this, it WILL make a difference
Rant over
Robert