lostinvegas
Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2010
- Messages
- 56
I am posting this up mainly for information so if anyone is in the same boat as me they have some information to go on.
I now have a fully working car again but have gone through a nightmare problem which resulted is quite a large bill.
The problem started as a whining noise coming from the engine on acceleration. It sounded a bit like a super charger does. I started to get concerned and booked it in to be looked at. On the way to the garage the gearbox went into limp home mode and would only select one gear. I managed to get to the garage. The diagnosis was the electrical plate (valve block) which was replaced. The car drove fine for a few months. The problem came back so it went back to the garage and the part was replaced under warranty. Once again plain sailing for another couple of months. The problem re-occurred but this time seemed worse. I could not select any gears and I had to be recovered by the RAC. The original garage said it was a more serious problem than just the electrical plate (valve block) and it would need to go to a gearbox specialist. The garage were very helpful and offered to take it to a specialist they use. I decided at this point to get the car home and ring a few friends and family who are mechanics to see who they would recommend taking it to a little nearer to home. The garage recovered my car back to my house and I started making some calls.
This is where I had a bit of bad luck. The first person I spoke to said I should take it to a merc approved garage to be looked at because he suspected it could be a problem with the gearbox oil level. I did this and all I got was a bill for looking at the car, taking the gearbox sump off to inspect the gear box and not being able to see anything wrong. At this point I was getting worried especially as they quoted me £4500 for a new gear box.
This is the part where I had some good luck. I bumped into a mate I had been trying to call for a few days. He is a landrover/rangerover specialist and has quite a successful business. He told me to ring Neil Smith Transmissions in Cannock as they do all his auto gear box work and specialise in Merc auto boxes.
I rang Neil and the first thing he said was he would bet money that the problem was a radiator leak. The radiator would be leaking antifreeze into the gearbox oil and that is what had destroyed the gearbox. They would need to do a glycol test on the gearbox oil to determine if that was the case. Neil recovered the car for me and called me back the next day to inform me there was anti freeze in the gearbox oil and the radiator on my car was leaking. He reconditioned my gearbox and fitted a new radiator. The car was ready in a few days and is now running smoothly. Apparently this is a common fault on the CLK and mine was the 2nd CLK auto gearbox he had repaired that week.
The reason I have posted the above up is so that people in the same situation can get information on this problem. I did research myself but found it hard to find info on this problem. I was a little annoyed that the Merc approved garage did not seem to know this is a common problem, but maybe they don't get many older cars in? (mine is a 2003)
So beware if you need a new radiator get one as you cold get a much larger bill. Also if you are getting a gearbox re-con or a new gearbox get your radiator checked or you could be back in the garage with the same problem.
The cost to me was just over £2000.00 (inc vat) for the gear box to be re-con'd and for a new radiator and fitting.
I can highly recommend Neil Smith Transmissions in Cannock, he kept me well informed on the phone and gave me accurate estimates of the costs as we went along.
I budgeted £3k a year to own one of these cars and I have slightly exceeded that this year (my first year of ownership). If your looking at buying a CLK AMG beware when owners talk about running and servicing costs they are not trying to put you off, these costs are the reality of owning a prestige car with near supercar performance. If you want reliability buy something Japanese.
I now have a fully working car again but have gone through a nightmare problem which resulted is quite a large bill.
The problem started as a whining noise coming from the engine on acceleration. It sounded a bit like a super charger does. I started to get concerned and booked it in to be looked at. On the way to the garage the gearbox went into limp home mode and would only select one gear. I managed to get to the garage. The diagnosis was the electrical plate (valve block) which was replaced. The car drove fine for a few months. The problem came back so it went back to the garage and the part was replaced under warranty. Once again plain sailing for another couple of months. The problem re-occurred but this time seemed worse. I could not select any gears and I had to be recovered by the RAC. The original garage said it was a more serious problem than just the electrical plate (valve block) and it would need to go to a gearbox specialist. The garage were very helpful and offered to take it to a specialist they use. I decided at this point to get the car home and ring a few friends and family who are mechanics to see who they would recommend taking it to a little nearer to home. The garage recovered my car back to my house and I started making some calls.
This is where I had a bit of bad luck. The first person I spoke to said I should take it to a merc approved garage to be looked at because he suspected it could be a problem with the gearbox oil level. I did this and all I got was a bill for looking at the car, taking the gearbox sump off to inspect the gear box and not being able to see anything wrong. At this point I was getting worried especially as they quoted me £4500 for a new gear box.
This is the part where I had some good luck. I bumped into a mate I had been trying to call for a few days. He is a landrover/rangerover specialist and has quite a successful business. He told me to ring Neil Smith Transmissions in Cannock as they do all his auto gear box work and specialise in Merc auto boxes.
I rang Neil and the first thing he said was he would bet money that the problem was a radiator leak. The radiator would be leaking antifreeze into the gearbox oil and that is what had destroyed the gearbox. They would need to do a glycol test on the gearbox oil to determine if that was the case. Neil recovered the car for me and called me back the next day to inform me there was anti freeze in the gearbox oil and the radiator on my car was leaking. He reconditioned my gearbox and fitted a new radiator. The car was ready in a few days and is now running smoothly. Apparently this is a common fault on the CLK and mine was the 2nd CLK auto gearbox he had repaired that week.
The reason I have posted the above up is so that people in the same situation can get information on this problem. I did research myself but found it hard to find info on this problem. I was a little annoyed that the Merc approved garage did not seem to know this is a common problem, but maybe they don't get many older cars in? (mine is a 2003)
So beware if you need a new radiator get one as you cold get a much larger bill. Also if you are getting a gearbox re-con or a new gearbox get your radiator checked or you could be back in the garage with the same problem.
The cost to me was just over £2000.00 (inc vat) for the gear box to be re-con'd and for a new radiator and fitting.
I can highly recommend Neil Smith Transmissions in Cannock, he kept me well informed on the phone and gave me accurate estimates of the costs as we went along.
I budgeted £3k a year to own one of these cars and I have slightly exceeded that this year (my first year of ownership). If your looking at buying a CLK AMG beware when owners talk about running and servicing costs they are not trying to put you off, these costs are the reality of owning a prestige car with near supercar performance. If you want reliability buy something Japanese.
