Gearbox woes

[neiledgar]

My wifes car is giving hell at present and i wondered if anyone has had the same problem, its a Mercedes C22 cdi, the battery was flat with sitting and when we got a new battery and fitted it, the gearbox fails to change through the gears. The car starts fine and runs A1, put it in drive or reverse and it moves off fine, the only thing is it wont change through the gears when in drive, it starts in first and stays there!!
Everything else in the car is perfect, are there any known faults that can cause this when the battery is removed, or is the gearbox thing just by chance and nothing to do with the battery change. The car was running fine with no faults before battery change. The battery went flat due to light being left on, and sitting for three months, as my wife was ill and was not driving the car during that time. Thanks guys i hope someone has had the same fault, any advice would be gratefully received!!

 

[bob6600]

Could be a 'ghost' fault caused by the flat battery. Seems to have tripped a fault for the conductor plate which would cause it to stick in first. You may be able to clear the codes and it may be fine. Either way, it needs to go on a diag, preferably STAR

 

[panason1c]

Nothing to lose by disconnecting the battery for an hour, or so, and then re-connecting it, probably won't help, but you never know!

 

[wongl]

After reconnecting the battery to the car, have you turn the steering wheel full-lock to full-lock with the car stationary but with the engine running?

 

[neiledgar]

have not tried this one, so will go out and try it later on

 

[neiledgar]

ok panason1c, i'll give that one a try as well as wongl suggestion as well, nothing to lose, thanks guys!!

 

[bob6600]

After reconnecting the battery to the car, have you turn the steering wheel full-lock to full-lock with the car stationary but with the engine running?

Isn't this just to reset the BAS and ESP faults so the vehicle knows where the centre of the steering is? Can't do any harm I guess.

 

[dredd32]

Agree with bob6600 as this happened to me a couple weeks ago after having some work done at an indie,although mine lurched into 1st and reverse. Took it to Merc who put it on STAR and cleared some electrical faults. Running fine now

 

[BlackC55]

It can happen sometimes. I expect a fault code erase will sort it.

 

[Peterjj]

Yes that happened to me with my c43, I hadn't used the car for a while and the battery just about started the car . The car seemed stuck in first gear ! You then panic thinking of all the worst scenarios . I drove the car very carefully around the streets for 5-10 mins ,got it back home and left it a few hrs . It was fine after. My boot lock also won't work with a key so I fitted a lead to to the battery called a comfort lead made by cetek which is under the rear seat squab should ever the battery go flat I can then get power to the boot to reach the battery