Faster Gear changes!

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Pauljay

Active Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Messages
106
Location
Surrey
Car
2000 CLK 430/55
Hey Guys,

I had some bad news recently, my fan for cooling the radiator died in heavy traffic and my car overheated badly to the point I thought I had cracked a cylinder head!

Luckily I got away with it but my gearbox developed a bad leak and I needed a new pan.

So I thought, while the gearbox is open why not do a mod I've thought about for a while.

I did some research as to how to modify or map the transmission for faster shifts. The solution I found was switch to Blue Solenoids to replace the brown topped ones in there.

This has a downside though which is firmer shifts like a manual transmission making the gear change jerk a bit when cruising.

The payback to me was greater than the loss of comfort so I went ahead and ordered 2 Blue solenoids (part number 240-270-0089) to replace the Brown topped ones in my car.

They cost £175 each and had to be ordered from Germany as the Dealer doesn't stock them. This is actually a Maybach part which has a larger opening for the gearbox fluids to travel through enabling faster shifting with no other mods applied!


I can report back that my car has been transformed!

Gear changes are TWICE as fast and my car pulls like a train!

The whole demeanor of how it used to feel and drive has gone up two fold.

I am very happy as the car seems to have gained more power! Maybe because the gear changes are instant? I don't know, but she flies faster!

A warning though to those that like smooth gear shifts when cruising, this is not the mod for you.

I've noticed that when changing up or down at town speeds the transmission has a tendency to jerk slightly especially when coming to a slow stop. It's not too bad, but you definately feel the gear change.

Some people have posted that the quality is OK, others say that after 1000mi or so it gets better.

Foot hard on the pedal and you don't feel the shifts, just seemless power. Hard braking or breaking slightly firmly produces the same effect, so the shift smoothness is speed dependent.

Manual shifts are the same as before except just faster.

I've read that a TCU Tune will smooth the shifts when cruising. I may try that at a later date to see if I can benift from anything else.

One thing though, this mod only works on Tiptronic Transmissions from 2000-2004 as from 2005 the gearbox solenoids were switched out to the blue ones for AMG cars atleast!

For those handy with tools here's a paste of how to do it yourself.
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http://www.cherokeesrt8.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=57949

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__________________
" Star in the hood. "
 
Sounds good.

Would love to see a vid of this beast in action.:rock:
 
Impressive

Hi Pauljay, when we next meet you must take me for a spin in your car so I can experience the quick gear changes, it sounds impressive!
 
Hi Jazz,

I really should get a vid going, I'm visiting Ollies on the 6th May for the first time so maybe do it then!

Brabus SL,

Hi Cliff,

Sorry we ran out of time today! Next time definately. :devil:
 
Its a massively common mod over in the states... i remember reading about it on benzworld a LOT!
 
Hi Paul excellent stuff. I'm doing ATF change next month and might aswell do this at the same time. Would you mind telling me the part numbers for the blue top valves ?? Cheers.
 
Just bought 2 via Inchcape for £156 each. Looking forward to fitting them once it stops raining. Cheers.
 
It would be interesting to see the fluid vale part of the units as I wonder if the existing ones can be drilled to a larger port size, negating the need to buy new ones.
 
Can a similar mod be done to a 7g? Mine is on a ramp right now, maybe worth doing as I think its awfully lethargic at changing?
 
Hi Guys,

Sorry if I posted up mis-guided info, I wasn't aware that the C43 AMG couldn't take advantage of this mod (mainly as I was researching my own car).

I did read somewhere which I'll post if I can find it again, that depending on your chassis number you could find out if you had the Blue or Brown solenoids in your transmission.

The main switch over was in AMG cars from '05 onwards so I guess this mod still applies to most other Tiptronic Transmissions.
 
Great results mate.

I dont have any issues with the gearchanges in my C55AMG, quicker than a 54 plate C55 i've driven before.

Still nothing beats the sharp/quick gear changes I had in my M3:eek:
 
Here you go Dieselman,

I copied these pics from another post. You may be able to bore a larger hole with the right tooling. :thumb:

 

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