B180 CDI CVT AUTO 2010 transmission fault

[jamcasey]

I am currently in dispute with the garage I bought my W245 from. I got the Transmission fault error message on the dash etc and took it back to them to check. They have said that it could be one of the three listed below but they would not know until they dropped it out

1. ELECTRONIC PLATES WITHIN THE G/B, £1400 to fix
2. ELECTRONIC PLATES AND A VALVE WITHIN THE G/B, £2100 to fix.
3. FULL G/B REBUILD, £3800-£4500 to fix.

As its only 5yrs old and only has 36500 miles on it I asked for them to pay for it which they refused to do as it was out of its warranty. I got legal advice and sent a letter before action out lining my issues and that I would sue them if they did not fix it etc. They called me back and said that they garage who serviced it (not them) put the wrong transmission oil in it. They have said that a TQF oil had been put in it rather than a cvt ATF oil and this is mostly likely the cause. I have done around 3000 miles since the service in about 5 months.

What I wanted to know is could the TQF oil cause this fault?

 

[wongl]

You need to get a STAR diagnosis and post the fault codes back here to zero in on the likely cause of the fault.

 

[jamcasey]

Its booked in for a star diagnostic check on Monday, I will post the results after that.

 

[MickyP64]

The speed sensor issue is quite a common problem with these transmissions – basically the electrical connection between ECU and speed sensor goes open circuit. The ECU/speed sensor can be repaired these days for around £400. ECUtesting.com seems to be the best bet and they give a lifetime warranty on the repair. Had this happen on my A200T a couple of years ago but I was lucky enough to have a dealership warranty on the car so I got the whole valve body/ECU unit replaced. I was told by the mechanic that the design of the newer valve bodies has been improved in order to address the issue (not sure if your car has this ‘improvement’ – my car is 2006).

However the transmission has recently gone faulty resulting in the car going into limp home mode once again, it’s going into the workshop tomorrow for diagnostics. I’m not expecting the problem to be speed sensor related - I’ll be seriously disappointed if it is!...but being a pessimist I fear the worst.

I’ve bookmarked a UK company that apparently either rebuilds or supplies reconditioned CVT’s for these cars – price is somewhere in the region of £1600.

 

[MickyP64]

Just re-reading your post…

The MB service schedule suggests that the ATF should be changed every 37000 miles, your car has only done 36500 miles – how many miles had it done when the ATF was changed - 33500? I guess if the car is calling for a service before 37000 miles they may have changed it then, but the mileage/service schedule doesn’t add up so why change the ATF?

Are you the first owner of the car?

If the car’s only five years old I’d imagine it should have full MBSH and would only have been serviced by an MB dealership, or at least a decent MB indie - is the present garage you’re dealing with either of these?

How can they tell what type of ATF/oil was used when it was changed?

Surely if an official MB garage put the ATF into you gearbox they ought to know what they’re doing, and if they’ve used the wrong ATF they’d be at fault. If an MB dealership was at fault I’d be on the phone talking to MB Customer Services at Milton Keynes - with that relatively low mileage the very least you might get is a goodwill gesture from them, thinking about it I might be on the phone to them anyway considering the mileage regardless of the ATF.

I have read other posts where people have taken MB to small claims court regarding CVT problems and won.

 

[wongl]

The speed sensor issue is quite a common problem with these transmissions – basically the electrical connection between ECU and speed sensor goes open circuit. The ECU/speed sensor can be repaired these days for around £400. ECUtesting.com seems to be the best bet and they give a lifetime warranty on the repair. Had this happen on my A200T a couple of years ago but I was lucky enough to have a dealership warranty on the car so I got the whole valve body/ECU unit replaced. I was told by the mechanic that the design of the newer valve bodies has been improved in order to address the issue (not sure if your car has this ‘improvement’ – my car is 2006).

However the transmission has recently gone faulty resulting in the car going into limp home mode once again, it’s going into the workshop tomorrow for diagnostics. I’m not expecting the problem to be speed sensor related - I’ll be seriously disappointed if it is!...but being a pessimist I fear the worst.

I’ve bookmarked a UK company that apparently either rebuilds or supplies reconditioned CVT’s for these cars – price is somewhere in the region of £1600.

Save your money by getting a STAR Diagnostic first to see what the problem is. If the fault is intermittent, there is a good chance that the connecting wire is broken or loose in the TCU. See the last post in this thread http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/engine/113116-b-class-cvt-transmission-failure-5.html