Meet Silvia the s211 e55 7 seater

[merc85]

Well i dropped the Car to my Friend at Mercedes Waterhouse Chelmsford, I will report there findings as soon as i know........

I drive the car in Comfort, Does the car start off in 2nd? be cause if it does im not so sure it's doing so, seems more like 1st tome.
If it is in 2nd the lumpy gear change seems tobe 2nd-3 and then 3rd to 4th it snatches more going up the box than down.

Im not exactly sure if its temperature related or not, It only does it fro cold but i think its more mileage related if that make sense, because i drove it straight along my bypass 3 miles the car had reached 80 degrees and still did it 2nd -3rd.

Baring that in mind im wondering if the Oil PUMP in the gearbox is weak. Anyway after aprox 3 miles its smooth as silk.

 

[John]

Yes, it should start in 2nd unless you press the accelerator hard enough for it to drop to first.

You could try accelerating away carefully and switching to manual mode to see if it will show you what gear it is.

Or, in C, try pressing the minus to get it to change to first. Or accelerating and pressing minus to see if you can hear it drop a cog.

 

[clk320x]

Well i dropped the Car to my Friend at Mercedes Waterhouse Chelmsford, I will report there findings as soon as i know........

I drive the car in Comfort, Does the car start off in 2nd? be cause if it does im not so sure it's doing so, seems more like 1st tome.
If it is in 2nd the lumpy gear change seems tobe 2nd-3 and then 3rd to 4th it snatches more going up the box than down.

Im not exactly sure if its temperature related or not, It only does it fro cold but i think its more mileage related if that make sense, because i drove it straight along my bypass 3 miles the car had reached 80 degrees and still did it 2nd -3rd.

Baring that in mind im wondering if the Oil PUMP in the gearbox is weak. Anyway after aprox 3 miles its smooth as silk.

Get a few beers down you Gav, and have a good night sleep. Lets see what they say tomorrow, I’m praying that it’s not too expensive!

 

[merc85]

Haha i'm just getting over Man flu and cycled 21mile home with the wife after dropping the car off, soooo no beer for me tonight, although i may just have a nip of Scotch before i go to bed lol

 

[zipdip]

Haha i'm just getting over Man flu and cycled 21mile home with the wife after dropping the car off, soooo no beer for me tonight, although i may just have a nip of Scotch before i go to bed lol[/QUO

Gav you have lost the plot,you cycled home from Chelmsford,I cannot even imagine the cycle route back to Harwich,the car looks great, you are losing your marbles.

 

[merc85]

Haha sorry i didnt mean it sound like that, No i only cycled back from Colchester, My friend is the Service Manager at Chelmsford, He took the car in for me once id dropped it to his house. I took my bike and the wifes with me as she fancied to cycle too lol

 

[merc85]

Okey doke, had a lengthy update from my friend at Waterhouse Mercedes Chelmsford.

The box has a fault with 3rd and 4th gear at cold, The Tech doing the job has had alot experience with these box's back in the day.
Whilst other possibilities cannot be ruled out Clutch pack being one, he believes the issue is with the Solenoids that control those 2 gear's,

I also had read this on the American forum. i think i posted a link in this thread.

So, my position was either.

A) Live with the box doing what its doing, As the previous bloke i bought it from had done / Sorry thats not me and i can't believe anyone would.

B) Get the work Done replacing 2x new solenoids and conductor plate fluid and filter. Aprox £800

Or C)
Find a Good reconditioned unit at a reputable place and have them supply and fit said unit aprox cost on one place i found was £1,850
But again there is a risk of not knowing how good Box or said Garage is like.

So i have gone with Option B) and Asking them to do the Solenoids etc, £800 i accept is a large gamble and i may well be no further forward But thats how the cookie crumbles.

I have asked for a Glycol check to be carried out before said work despite fluid looking fine before anymore work.

If the above work doesn't cure the problem im not sure how i will proceed, Shame the car wasn't spot on after all as is usually the case when buying a second hand car despite assurances.

Will keep you all updated.

 

[clk320x]

Good call Gav, I would have gone for B too. Good luck.

 

[bob6600]

Same here Gav, I think you went for the best option.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

+1

 

[pmcgsmurf]

I'd have went option B too, very good call, nothing worse than dealing with "good used" and then ending up in a loop the loop.

 

[John]

I would pay to sort it too. It would piss me off every time I drove it otherwise.

 

[chrisk2010]

+1 from me. I did go for B last year when the car was going in limp mode. It’s nice and smooth now

 

[merc85]

Well i heard they dont have the equipment any longer for a Glycol test :/ So they are getting a price from a separate place to do it.

Checking out various threads my Car should be safe as its outside of the Vin numbers and Year, also the effected chasiss range do not include my car, Although it has been known for a 2004 vehicle to suffer. I think i have a revised Valeo unit fitted.

Delivery date:23 01 2004
Vin:WDB2112762A500511
Eng:113.990

Start Bulletin States

Model 203.040/061/064/065/081/084/261/264/281/284/740/747/764
Model 209.365/375/376/465/475
Model 211.065/070/076/083/265/283
Up to Production Date 09/2003

Still i will see how much this test will cost.

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachme...ice-bulletins-star-bulletin-p-b-27.55-50f.pdf

 

[ragpicker]

Really great thread, combined with the Brutus epic it provides loads of useful info for anyone considering one of these cars.

I’ve got the same gearbox in my 911, changing the solenoids and valve body isn’t too hard. One you’ve got the gbox sump pan off the valve body is right in front of you. I rebuilt the box in my car with Kevlar clutch packs, new frictions, new shaft seals, reamed valve body and amg blue top solenoids. Made the world of difference to the urgency and commitments of the shifts but 2-3rd is now very jerky due to the increased number of clutch plates in that basket.

I would guess that if this issue goes away with warming the box up, that it is likely solenoid related. A clutch pack wouldn’t get better, i would expect it would stay the same.

Good luck with it!

 

[merc85]

Well no update as such, A price for the test didn't come through, they were going to chase it but i said not to worry as a new radiator would be going in Shortly regardless and obviously my one should "touch wood" be ok.

Still Silvia is sitting there waiting to be worked on, Fingers crossed end of the week i should know. Im not worried how long it takes tbh as its giving me a bit of a breathing space to find the ££s lol.

She's in good company btw

Thankyou Ragpicker for the heads up , will keep you all posted when i know more.

 

[merc85]

Well they made a start on the box this Afternoon and the Service Manager kindly took some pic's for me so i could update the thread.

The tech who's doing the Job did comment on how clean everything looked inside, I've really got my legs fingers and errr anything else i can crossed!
The electrical plug the and conductor plate had also been leaking.... This is all obviously all part of the repair we had planned so its good that it needed doing. Anyways here are some pic's as it all came out.

I'm glad im not doing it myself tbh, I'm struggling with my nerves lately and this would have finished me off lol
Anyway will keep you all updated on progress. Thankyou for everyones imput and advise so far

 

[merc85]

 

[ragpicker]

Nice to see the 'blue tops' in there as standard on the AMG box. Non-AMG cars have brown topped solenoids, the only difference being that the blue tops have a larger diameter aperture for fluid flow. You can drill the brown top ones out to match the diameter as a simple upgrade to the non-AMG box shift speed.

 

[merc85]

You know your stuff sir, I really hope this cures the fault.....