Lost Drive today. W211 E270cdi

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The Mirror Man

Active Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
216
Car
W211 E270 CDI Elegance.Rover 75 Tourer
2004/186k miles and FSH. I've had it for c8k miles without any issues.

Driving gently today the transmission shifted through a couple of gears (as normal) and then, what felt like a jerky shift, lost drive completely at about 40mph. The engine revs dropped to tickover. While coasting, I manually shifted from D to N and back again a few times but it would not reengage Drive. I pulled over, put it into R which engaged fine and then back into D, and it engaged Drive as if nothing was wrong.

Is this a common thing that I don't need to worry about or a known sign of major transmission failure to come??
 
You will have to have it diagnosed. Could be low fluid, transmission speed plate or something more sinister... Need the codes really..
 
No, needs to go on Star.
Bugger!

Im planning to buy a dip stick from ebay. Are they all the same? Are the Min and Max marks in the same place on all ATF dip sticks?
 
Suspect you need more than a dipstick! Get it on Star
 
At 186k miles it could well be a lot more, a gearbox oil change may offer up a fix but I'd get it on Star.

Depending where you are a member may be able to offer a bit of help on this.
 
Id be really grateful if anyone has a star they could plug it into.
 
Well you might try a local garage,to see if they have a star,I say that because Gavin who has threads on here for his "Brutus" project lives less than two miles from me and told me a garage I would never have thought had a star and knew how to use it,the garage is a little off my normal routes around where we live and this garage had lots of Ford Granada's they seemed to be breaking for spares hence my never having called in,look for a garage on a industrial estate one that does not sell cars just repairs them,just where do you live?
 
hahahaha Yes mate. Im in Cumbria. Bottom left corner.
 
UPDATE. STOP PRESS.
I rang Glynn Dunford, a local MB trained Indie man in Ulverston this morning because I have a 600 mile drive over the next 2 days and I felt uneasy about driving without knowing the fluid level in the auto box. He warned me that he wouldn't have time to take a proper look today but would check the ATF level for me, so I popped it down to him.
Glynn is 22 miles away so the car would be well up to temperature by the time I arrived. On the way there it dropped out of drive at exactly the same place as before: that is 3 times now.
Anyway, long story short, Glynn tested the ATF level and the ATF fluid barely left a mark on the bottom of the dip stick. 1lt of fluid later and I was back on the road.

So it looks like the problem was low AFT after all. Fingers crossed. Thanks again Gylnn. Top man. It's also booked in for a fluid and filter change and new seals when I get back after my journey.
 
Where has the Old Atf gone would be my question. At least its driving normal again :)

That was my thoughts but the guy has only had the car for 8,000 miles what worries me is just how long that box has been low on ATF,
 
Don't know where the ATF has gone. The undertray has been off for a while but I havent noticed any marks on the floor where it is parked. The mechanic checked the radiator header tank which was fine (and it that had been the problem the auto box would have been full of water). I can nly assume it has been leaking slowly for a while.
On the positive, I drove 600 miles over the last 2 days without any automatic gear problems :). On the negative, my exhaust is now blowing from somewhere around the manifold :-(.
 
On my old W210, my low fluid problem was due to pinholes developing in one of the pipes that moved the fluid from the box to the cooler. It obviously got worse with time as the hole got bigger. I think most of it ended up in an area under the radiator. Yours is obviously going somewhere - maybe it is the seals and that will sort it, but you should keep an eye of the fluid level regularly if possible to give you as much warning as possible!
 
On my old W210, my low fluid problem was due to pinholes developing in one of the pipes that moved the fluid from the box to the cooler. It obviously got worse with time as the hole got bigger. I think most of it ended up in an area under the radiator. Yours is obviously going somewhere - maybe it is the seals and that will sort it, but you should keep an eye of the fluid level regularly if possible to give you as much warning as possible!

It's booked in for an ATF, filter and seal change now, and Kwikfit say the exhaust fumes in the car is from a failed seal/gasket between the turbo and exhaust so it's going into Glynn Dunford, my local Merc trained indie in Ulverston to have the lot done.
 

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