Heeeelp - car stuck in 2nd!

[sagalout]

Well the gremlins have struck again on wy W202 c200.

Went for a drive today and on the way back the car yet again went into safe mode - stuck in 3rd. Stopped engine, restarted and was ok for a couple of miles then did it again.and again. and again. Then it stuck in 2nd. Now when I restart the engine its still stuck in 2nd. Its also very lurchy when switching from P to D and D to R. None of the other gearbox options work. I've tried the 5 second rest thing and also disconnected the battery for half an hour but nothing has helped so far.

Does anyone have any suggestions or is it going to have to be limped to the dealers?

 

[Ian B Walker]

Just wondering if it is a fluid problem. Probably not but a guess and worth checking. Ah.........hows about the plug on the front left hand side of the gearbox (looking from the front of the car) is it full of oil? Or........maybe an ECU problem. Over to the next person to suggest something.

 

[sagalout]

Cheers Ian, might need to postpone tuesday if I cant get it fixed by then (dont fancy a 70 mile trip in 2nd gear!) Will let you know tomorrow.

 

[jeffwebb]

Don't know if you've tried this but I once had similar problems with an auto box and, on the advice of a mechanic, put the car in gear and accelerated aginst the brakes. This apparently builds up a pressure which will blow out odd bits of crap which cause the sort of problem you describe. Hope this helps.

 

[rajinder_1]

Hi Sagal,
Before you try anything, best thing is to get a diagnostics done on the car this should give you some indication to what the problem is..... it could be something as silly as a loose connection or serious as ian said a ECU problem, but without reading the fault codes you will never know and its like searcing for a needle in a haystack....

Regards

Raj

 

[Dieselman]

2nd is the default gear if there is a serious problem with gearbox or communication to the ECU. It could be as simple as a sensor gone but needs a diagnostic to check.

 

[sagalout]

Just dropped it off at Harrogate MB. Doesnt sound promising according to the servcie manager. He says that they dont really have much in the way of diagnotics on these models so its a case of trial and error. They are doing an inspection today at £100 but he's not hopeful that will provise much info. After that its £500 for an ecu plate, £1000 for a gearbox control(?) and £4k for a gearbox, in that order.

Looks like I might just have to ebay the car for pennies, which is such a shame as its a really mint car in every other way

 

[Glenn Smith]

Just dropped it off at Harrogate MB. Doesnt sound promising according to the servcie manager. He says that they dont really have much in the way of diagnotics on these models so its a case of trial and error. They are doing an inspection today at £100 but he's not hopeful that will provise much info. After that its £500 for an ecu plate, £1000 for a gearbox control(?) and £4k for a gearbox, in that order.

Looks like I might just have to ebay the car for pennies, which is such a shame as its a really mint car in every other way

What poor service i'd take it elsewhere, they should be able to diagnose to componenet level, apart from the experience they must have.

 

[Carlo]

Have a look at the gear-oil.Last week we had a MB E220 diesel with a broken radiator.The coolant whent into the gearbox and gear oil in the coolant circuit.

Carlo

 

[sagalout]

Cheers guys, just had a chat with IBW (124works) who has made me feel a lot better - top bloke

Looks like I'll be taking it over to him once MB have done their initial checks today, and hopefully the w202 will live on!

 

[sagalout]

Well one MAF replacement and £520 later(!) and the car seems to be fixed by MB. Going to take it for a long test drive now to be a bit more certain but the drive back from the garage was fine.

 

[jaymanek]

MAF! Sounds weird... hmm... is this the cure to EVERYTHING!

 

[Ian B Walker]

Well one MAF replacement

Holds breath. Hope it is only the MAF sensor.


Got your email, its cool, when you are ready

 

[sagalout]

Cheers mate,

Yeah, I'm holding my breath too! Just done about 40 miles this afty and no problems so far. They said it was showing 2 error codes, one on the MAF and one on the gearbox ecu. They replaced the MAF and cleared the codes (he reckoned that a malfunctioning MAF can trigger an error in the ECU) and since then its not reported any more errors on their test drive.

Fingers and everything else crossed!