E270 Transmission problem. No Drive. HEEEEELLLPPPP

[RetiredSlider]

Howdy,
After recently purchasing my CLS55 I just got hold of a nice low mileage E270CDI for my father which i picked up from a trader last night. It's only got 58,000 miles on it on an 03 plate.

We drove it back from Cardiff (to Oxford) and it was absolutely fine. I took it out to get a Chinese for a quick hop down the road a little while after. Also, totally fine. Drove it to the MOT station to get the car MOT'eed this morning. Again - fine (and it passed with no advisories)

As the car was pulled into the MOT bay it lost all drive (in D or R) It got turned off, turned on again 10 mins later and drive came back. I then collected the car, drove it down the road and it was fine initially but after about half a mile again it died with no drive at all.

I parked up by the side of the road. Put it into park then back into drive and it won't rev past 1000rpm in drive or reverse. It rev's cleanly in P or N. You turn the car off, remove the key. Put the key back in again and re-start the car and drive comes back again. I limped it back to the garage (where it is now) and it seemed to drive OK at low rpms.

Does ANYBODY have any idea. It's a new car (to us) and it's causing great concern. It was bought of a trader (rather than dealer) so although return is legally possible - it's unlikely.

Thanks in advance.

Chris :fail

 

[bob6600]

Does the garage have a code reader?

 

[RetiredSlider]

Yes, both they (and I) have put a full code reader on it (engine + transmission) and there is no codes thrown.

 

[brucemillar]

No drive can = no/low ATF. get that checked out first. If you dont have a dipstick then use a bit of curtain wire. If it is low enough to lose drive it will be very low. If the dipstick tube still has a red locking tab then fluid has never been changed so check for the colour and make sure it does not smell burnt.

 

[claggy001]

When I got my CLK320 last August it only has 63500 miles on the clock but had some similar symptoms - working fine if you keep the revs low, sticking in particular revs, complete loss of drive on one occasion. Turning the engine off & back on would immediately reset everything back to normal.
Some trawling of the internet suggested a failed speed sensor which is part of the electrical plate in the gearbox.
Booked it in with a local indy who suggested checking ATF level first but STAR diagnosis quickly confirmed that it was the electrical plate which had failed. Sounds scary but the part was just over £200 plus 1.5 hours labour, so not too bad in the end.

 

[RetiredSlider]

Ah very interesting Claggy.
I have also been looking into the Valeo problem - however I don't think this has the right symptoms

 

[dinoy]

check atf level and top up if low

 

[mornin clatter]

Hi , i live near Witney and i have a dipstick for the autobox if you want to check it. What kind of code reader did you use? I have a cheap Autel and it gave me codes for the problems i had with my gearbox. We could also try my scanner. Hope you solve it.

 

[RetiredSlider]

Thanks for the kind offer matey. The car's having the tranny fluid checked tomorrow and hopefully it'll give us an indication as to the problem. I think (from my research) that it's leaning towards the problem being with the conductor board. It doesn't seem to be a complicated fix if that's the case.

I'll get it across to Merc Oxford and get them to do a STAR hookup on Tuesday to confirm.

 

[mornin clatter]

After doing some reading myself i think the same...but you never know...it could be the bush pilot problem as well, with oil getting to the module and get erratic behaviour. Do you get the check engine (mil) light on as well?

 

[michael8554]

Agree with "morning clatter", if the ATF level is low, where's it gone?
Leaking Pilot Bush.
You won't get patches on your driveway cos it fills up the honeycomb in the undertray then blows away at speed.
Michael

 

[RetiredSlider]

Hi Again Guys,
That's the weird thing, i get no engine check light and no codes on the scanner which is really confusing as MB's throw the mil light for bloody anything


Chris

 

[brucemillar]

Hmmmm

Post 4 Have you checked the ATF yet? Low ATF will not throw a code or an EML. It will however lose you drive (as I pointed out).

 

[RetiredSlider]

Yes indeedy,
I think it's being checked as we speak. Should know for sure by EOP today.

 

[RetiredSlider]

Ok,
So the gearbox oil level is fine and neither the gearbox nor the engine has thrown up any codes on a regular scanner. So I'm thinking that STAR is now the only option.

Feels like the conductor board chaps.
Here's hoping.

 

[bob6600]

Conductor board would (should) throw up a fault code

 

[RetiredSlider]

I thought that too but have read that if the car is getting an inconsistent signal from (for example) the speed sensor on the conductor board then it'll cause the car to go into mechanical limp home mode and may not have actually thrown a code readable by anything but star.

We got it recovered to Mercedes Oxford this morning and they are going to give us a call later with the results.

I'll let you know the outcome.

 

[mornin clatter]

When i had problems with my gearbox, i experienced both types of limp( i can't find the thread where the difference between them is presented). I think one is called mechanical when you can barely crawl from a standstill( in my case it started in 3rd gear but changed upwards). The other, electronic in which you only have the 2nd gear. In my case i got the mil light no matter what limp mode i had, so the car never went in limp without mil light. Again i am not sure about the description of the 2 different limp modes, hope someone can agree or correct. My error was P0705- Transmission Range Sensor Circuit malfunction (PRNDL Input).
My opinion is that whenever the inconsistent signal from the electronic plate would occur you would log an error. If star won't pull any codes, maybe it could be just the quality of the oil, maybe could do with a change, but the again you wouldn't loose drive. There has to be some codes stored.
Most likely you and us will know more about it today .

 

[RetiredSlider]

Yep,
So Mercedes Oxford didn't get back to me today (even after me chasing twice at 4:30 and 5:45) I was told they'd phone me back (both in person, then again at 4:30) but they didn't. Which is disappointing.

Hopefully i'll hear something in the morning.

 

[RetiredSlider]

So...
Frustrating news from Mercedes Benz. Apparently the STAR diagnosis hasn't shown up any sort of failure or fault but have found some swarf in the gearbox. I find this very confusing because that would indicate that they'd dropped the sump - but i only booked and am paying for a STAR diagnosis.

They want to drop the gearbox (for £300) to investigate further then charge me £4500 for a replacement box.


Errr... no.