Jerky gear change when braking

[mghfg]

Hi Everyone,
First, please accept my apologies; I am both a newbie to the forum, this is my first MB and I have extremely limited technical knowledge!!

I recently bought a 2006 E320 avantgarde (facelift) estate. What an amazing car (certainly compared to my previous Golf!)... However I have recently started having some issues.

When driving around town, the car will go into limp home mode (no kick down, limited revs etc.) as well as having a jerky gear change at slow speeds down into 1st and 2nd as I brake at the lights etc. This is the same in both comfort and sport mode.

The CEL comes on intermittently, but then will turn itself out a day or so later and does not necessarily correspond to the limp home mode.

When I restart the engine, things have generally been reset but then the problems start again. It seems that it is braking/slow speeds that set it off. I have done some motorway driving and had no problems, but as soon as I arrived in town it happened again.

Worth noting that the fuel economy is between 20-30mpg (both in town and on the motorway)


I bought a code reader and have the following codes:

P0135 O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Malfunction (Bank 1 Sensor 1)*
P0130*O2*Sensor Circuit Malfunction (Bank 1 Sensor 1, open circuit bef cat right)*
P0244 Turbocharger Wastegate Solenoid A Range/Performance*

I erased then to see if they would come up again and they did (occasionally with P0030 and P2239).

I have looked on here and found various threads for some issues with the o2 sensor and others for the p0244 code, but none with all these codes together. It might just be that they are two separate problems....

I am aware that the best solution would be to take the car in and hook it up to Star, which leads me to another interesting conundrum...

When I purchased the car, I also purchased a very expensive all inclusive warranty. The only caveat being that the "wear and tear" clause would not be valid until three months into the policy (1st Jan in this case). Not knowing what this problem could be I am loth to expose myself to a large repair bill when I have just paid a lot of money to avoid one!

Difficult question, I know, but is it worth waiting 6 weeks before taking the car in? or could I risk more serious damage?

Sorry for the essay and many thanks.....

 

[DSM10000]

You need to find a local MB specialist that has the Star computer, the code reader you have can show you basic fault codes but a full diagnostic session with Star will be far more detailed and may well save you a lot of time and money overall.

Fault codes are fine but live data from Star and someone with the knowledge to interpret the data is what is needed.

 

[peter49]

Welcome to the Forum mghfg.
It would be useful for members to hear the outcome of a Star diagnosis.

 

[mghfg]

Thanks very much. I am going to have hooked up to Star on Monday (AMC in Wandsworth) and will report back......

 

[DSM10000]

Thanks very much. I am going to have hooked up to Star on Monday (AMC in Wandsworth) and will report back......

Good luck! please report back

 

[mghfg]

Hi Guys,

Just had the car back from diagnostics at AMC and they think that the codes point to a faulty upstream O2 sensor...replacement cost £302!

I have spoken to my warranty company and it seems that thankfully this is covered (TBC, though).

They also told me that the jerkiness is due to the limp home mode rather than anything connected with the actual fault.

Hopefully this will now be resolved, though I will keep you posted.......

 

[DSM10000]

 

[mghfg]

Ok, So I had the O2 sensor replaced, but driving back from the garage, the same thing happened again; loss of kick down, jerkiness when dropping gears, braking to a stop, intermittent CEL etc. I called the garage immediately and it will go back on to star next week.

Meanwhile, I checked the codes and found that P0244 had come up again. Does anyone know about this - I have read that these cars don't even have the parts concerned - also, I think that on Star it may have come up as a booster fault with a different code (is it normal that something that would generate a generic code on a cheap code reader would generate a different code on Star?).

One other thing..... in my initial post I said that the car had gone into limp home mode. The garage told me that this locked the car into 3rd and literally enabled you just to get home. This is not what has been happening to me. I certainly have lower gears and can get away from the lights fast enough, however, then the power plateaus, although I can get up to 70 on the motorway eventually. It is almost as if I am missing the mid-range of gears (in terms of acceleration) and there is no kick down.

Any ideas?

 

[stability]

id say it was gearbox related

 

[Godfrey]

From the symptoms it sounds exactly like my fault on my 2007 320cdi last week. Mine went into limp home mode and was best driven through manual mode. Hand held fault code read an upstream oxygen sensor (although a forum member correctly told me that there was only the one sensor anyway), but Star identified the problem as the Port Shut Off motor.
If I'd had the time I'd have carried out the PSO delete option that other members recommended, but went to the local dealer and £780 later it was fixed. Hope yours turns out OK!

 

[mghfg]

Thanks for your advice. It is back in the garage today (it needed an MOT as well). They wanted to have another look at the codes, so we shall see.....

 

[WildWoody]

Did the get the problem resolved

and what was the outcome?

 

[rifiki]

I think you in for a £500 bill. Had a similar problem.

 

[Rashman]

I feel lost and afraid.......

Where am I?.....
What date is it?.....
What is happening?.....

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

I feel lost and afraid.......

Where am I?.....
What date is it?.....
What is happening?.....

Maybe a side effect of sniffing those detailing products?

 

[DSM10000]

I feel lost and afraid.......

Where am I?.....
What date is it?.....
What is happening?.....

There, there, be calm, all is well, dhard will be along soon to cheer you up.