W210 E280 Gearbox Oddities?

[Steve421]

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a 2001 E280 E Class (W210)

Took it for a drive this morning and it was lovely, but I noticed the gearbox seemed a little.. "off".
It selects drive and reverse fine and seems nice and smooth, however it seems to stick in some gears. For example I drove up to 40mph and came to a stop, the car seemed to be stuck in 4th and was very slow to pull away, other times it seemed okay. Kickdown also seemed either weak, slow to respond or wouldn't respond at all.

I did notice however that manually changing gear with the stick was fine, and the car went through the gears no problem (although would only go as high as 4th?)

Any advice would be great

Many Thanks,

Stephen

 

[Trickythemerc]

This is very much about how the box has been looked after. If they are well serviced they are pretty bullet proof even at very high mileage, you need to hit 50 mph before it will roll out into 5th gear. The ATF fluid should be nice and clean and not have any burnt smell to it and of course the level must be right. Other problems are the conductor plate failing and the pilot bushing for the electrical connector leaking and allowing fluid to wick up the wiring loom into the TCU. Sticking in the higher gears when coming to a stop does not sound good.

 

[Steve421]

Hmm, that doesn't sound ideal. So it's one of those scenarios where an ATF fluid could work wonders or it could be a bit of a nightmare. It's a tricky one as the car itself is lovely, almost no corrosion, a heap of equipment (electric steering wheel, seats with headrest, rear headrest drop etc), 54k miles and 2 keys for £795, the gearbox could be a nightmare though.

 

[AMGeed]

If the conductor plate does need changing its around a £400 - £450 job at an indy so still makes the car sound a bit of a bargain if its as good as described.

 

[Steve421]

Hmm, I drove the car again today and performed the gearbox reset procedure with the pedal, started the car and all was fine, lots of power, gearbox nice and smooth. Joined the motorway and when I hit the kickdown point the issue occured again. No warning lights but the car felt at least 70% down on power (although I could still do motorway speeds). I stopped, performed the reset again and it was fine again, but when I tried kickdown again this time the engine light came on and the car once again felt down on power. Unfortunately as i don't have the adaptor I couldn't check the code linked to the engine light, and the mechanic side of the garage had closed at that point.

 

[Joesoap17]

Are you handy with tools? Reason I ask is that the conductor plate, connector filter and seal is about £130 and not that difficult to change, I did mine on the drive at home with ramps and axle stands, throw in another £60 for fluid and it may be worth a punt?

 

[Joesoap17]

Mine has same 722.6 5 speed box.

 

[Steve421]

So it turns out it was the MAF! Disconnected and the car starts and drives beautifully, smooth as silk! New Bosch one on order in the mean time. Ended up getting the car for £600 so I'm very happy.

 

[Joesoap17]

Sounds like good un, the forum will keep you right on any future issues.

 

[zipdip]

Well done great car for £600 plus a MAF let us know how this bargain car goes in future.