E320 Auto box problem

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

Jukie

MB Enthusiast
SUPPORTER
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Messages
2,080
Location
NE Cumbria
Car
MY11 E350 CDi Avantgarde
I have a 1996 E320, 87000 miles and a 4-speed electronic box with the following problem. Invariably (95 times out of 100) when the car has been standing for a couple of hours or more, upon starting the engine and driving away, the box will not change from 2nd to 3rd until I hit about 3,200 revs. Then it will change from 2nd to 3rd to 4th in instant sequence. Thereafter, the gear change is as one would expect.

At all times, the shift up or down is smooth and there are no untoward noises coming from the transmission. The box was serviced a couple of months ago (oil & filter change). In addition, no fault was reported by a diagnostic computer.

Any ideas / clues would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Mine does this, I think it may be something to do with warming up the oil faster but its a design feature.

I'm sure it's mentioned in the manual somewhere.

I'm willing to be corrected though :)

Cheers,

Phil
 
mine does something similar: it holds it in gear for longer to get the oil/engine warmed up faster, then when the needle hits 80 exactly it works normally.
 
Originally posted by Shude
mine does something similar: it holds it in gear for longer to get the oil/engine warmed up faster, then when the needle hits 80 exactly it works normally.

Interesting that. Goes against what you would presume - keep revs low when oil/engine is cold.

Hey just thrash it, the temp needle moves fast LOL

Of a morning I come out my road, over a roundabout and straight onto a National Speed limit B road. I keep revs under 3K for the next 10 mins or so. This means up to 80mph in 5th and keeps me going until I need to overtake anything, by which time engine is warn and I can rev higher.
 
Originally posted by GrahamC230K
Interesting that. Goes against what you would presume - keep revs low when oil/engine is cold.

Well, I guess MB know what they're doing! ;)

oh yeah and you noticed that c230k engines get hot quick? :D I pull out of the carpark at work onto an A road/dual carriageway/national speed limit. It only lasts for a mile (exactly, it has "start of measured mile" and "end of measured mile" on it) then there's another roundabout. Usually the engine is up to temp by the end of it and I've really not been driving it hard. My father drives for an hour on the motorway in his diesel vauxhall and the engine doesn't get up to temp by the end of that! ;)
 
Originally posted by Shude

oh yeah and you noticed that c230k engines get hot quick? :D I pull out of the carpark at work onto an A road/dual carriageway/national speed limit. It only lasts for a mile (exactly, it has "start of measured mile" and "end of measured mile" on it) then there's another roundabout. Usually the engine is up to temp by the end of it and I've really not been driving it hard. My father drives for an hour on the motorway in his diesel vauxhall and the engine doesn't get up to temp by the end of that! ;)


I don't really trust the temp guage like that. I could make that swing straight up to running temp, without getting far off my driveway if I wanted!

A comment from my mate with an M3 was how suprissed he was at the time diference between his temperature guage reaching the norm from cold and a good while later beofre oil pressure is ready for you to hoof it.

Why don't MB put these guages on there performance models?

It's bad enought the rev counter isn't as big as the speedo!
 
Originally posted by GrahamC230K
Why don't MB put these guages on there performance models?

If it's any consolation there is a stack of different readings on the CANBUS, if I press and hold the rest button on the climate control front-end I can get all manner of different temperature readings from sensors all over the engine etc. You can get the current speed in KM from it too :D
 
Thanks, guys. A couple of people reckon it's deliberate while the CAT warms up. It's something else to go on!
 
Jukie,

That's what I've been told by various MB mechanics too, while the engine temp is cold, the gearbox keeps to high revs through the shift pattern to get the exhaust catalyst up to operating temperature as quickly as possible. Amazing what programs lurk in the ECU. ;)

S.
 
Originally posted by Steve_Perry
Jukie,

That's what I've been told by various MB mechanics too, while the engine temp is cold, the gearbox keeps to high revs through the shift pattern to get the exhaust catalyst up to operating temperature as quickly as possible. Amazing what programs lurk in the ECU. ;)

S.


I wil have to adopt this style then, all for the good of the car of course.
 
My engine takes about 6 min of town driving to warm up , its really fast. Our e220 cdi takes a lot longer to warm up
 
"18-01-2003 03:39 AM"

Wow Fuzzer, you couldn't sleep? or just got back from a night on the razz? :p

S.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom