W210 gearbox problems, need STAR in Rotherham South Yorkshire area

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3ayg

New Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2015
Messages
27
Location
Rotherham
Car
w203 c220 cdi coupe & w124 230e - now 300D ;)
Hi everyone ive been using this forum for years for DIY and troubleshooting for my various MB's but never got round to signing up but now the time as I need to ask some questions of my own. I've recently bought a w210 e320 cdI and its giving me some grief... When I first bought the car it was in limp mode, wouldn't rev over 3k but everything else was fine after research on here I was confident that it was the MAF, replaced with a Pierberg one and problem solved :thumb: car worked great but was a little underpowered and the exhaust gasses smelt a little strange. After more research I figured the cats were blocked as the car has 200k on the clock. Anyway de catted and used an injector cleaner and the car went like stink.

Then I come to go to work and the car was stuck in park :mad: now I was really starting to resent the thing but I have a sweet spot for the 210 even though it's got the bad era of mercs reputation, after messing around for 30mins trying all sorts it just suddenly released so I did more research and changed the brake switch, still no change I then read about the dreaded spilt drink so decided to strip the module down and see if there were any obvious signs of that.

Once I had the module out it was obvious someone had tried to hide something, the wood was bodged on with double sided tape on the "secret hole" that I believed to not work had been bodged open with a cut down pen a washer and some tape and figured the recent heat had melted the tape and the pen lifted leaving the selector in P as a temporary fix I though I'll open up the selector and remove what ever locks it into P as cash is tight at the minute, after my own "better bodge" the car worked great no problems at all for a few days but then the gears started acting funny, if I accelerated hard whilst cold it would slip into neutral between 3rd and 4th and sometimes slip and rev between 3rd and 4th I figured it may have bad fluid with that mileage it may have never been changed so I figured I'd use the other car until I could get round to an oil change.

Anyway needed to use it to transport the pooch a few miles and thought it won't hurt if I drive steady but the gearbox has now gone into limp mode... No kick down stuck in 2nd won't Rev past 3k etc.

Before I jump in with £££'s I want to diagnose the problem properly but would prefer not to drive far, can anyone recommend a specialist with STAR near me? And a rough idea of how much diagnostics should cost?


Sorry for the life story but I really like this car and want to get it sorted it's a good example of a w210 bodywork wise and I would really like to keep it around for years to come.

Thanks in advance :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
Could be the speed sensor plate in the gearbox, but your really need STAR diagnostic to confirm this. If you end up replacing the speed sensor plate, make sure you replace the transmission fluid and filter at the same time.
 
As above, most likely conductor plate needs replacing but get it on STAR to confirm.
 
Thanks for the replies people the speed sensor plate is what I was thinking, that's the same thing as the conductor plate isn't it?
Anyway I have my own unit with a 2 post ramp and I am pretty good with my hands I think I will be able to DIY that once I'm sure that's the fault but it looks like a time consuming job especially if you haven't done it before and I'm thinking is it worth changing every one of the common faults the 722.6 box has while I have it in bits?
And if so what are the other faults? So far I'm planning on...
New selector module
New pilot bush
Conductor plate
Atf flush, new oil, filter & gasket

But I have also read something about a spring that stretches and causes problems?

Because of its 200k mileage and the fact that non of these have probably been done I'm thinking it's probably best just to future proof it, what are your thoughts?
 
And if so what are the other faults? So far I'm planning on...
New selector module
New pilot bush
Conductor plate
Atf flush, new oil, filter & gasket

Selector module is not necessary but the others are advisable, based on the plate being faulty (yes it is the same thing, electro/conductor plate)

It's not too difficult if you have a ramp. Have a look at Olly's 'how to' here

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/howto/115863-how-change-automatic-gerbox-oil-flush-722-6-box.html

It covers the flush, conductor plate is easy to remove once sump is off. You do need a dipstick and a way to measure the ATF temp
 
Thanks alot, I'm confident I can do it myself I want to get it sorted this weekend as I need the car for its unbelievable boot space next weekend I have found a mobile auto electrician with STAR but he said with gearbox the car would have to be in the air for diagnostics but surely if I can just get the fault codes that should confirm that it is the conductor plate?
Cheers
 
Forgot to mention my dad has a snap on plug in that will be able to reset the codes after it is fixed but I believe that will not give me the codes that I need to diagnose the plate?
 
The Snap On should be able to read transmission codes, should be rpm sensor related. Also, the vehicle does not need to be in the air to read the faults
 
So I've spoke to an ex merc technician who told me not to waste money on diagnostics ect and to first try the pilot bush as it causes loads of problems and is cheaper than STAR so I tried that still no fox , after speaking to him again he said the fault code will need clearing, got my dad to clear the codes tonight (which there were loads of) and hey presto it's now out of limp mode but it's still not right I mentioned before that the selector had been bodged well I thi k that is causing some problems as sometimes triptronic works then it won't, there were 4 fault codes that involved the selector like shift lever position identification failure, controller supply voltage too high, controller voltage too low, communication with selector module unit resistance too low.
Based on these codes I'm going to replace the selector module this weekend.

It also mentioned the speed sensor 3 sporadically faulty but that was a stored code not current and after been cleared that didn't come back

Fingers crossed the module will save it, if not i think it's safe to say it's the speed sensor and I will also change that and flush fluid then all bases are covered I don't believe there is anything else that can go wrong.... is there?
 
"Not to waste money on diagnostics"

Yes, because throwing parts at a car will fix it quicker...
 
Try Star at Moorends (just off the M18) on: 01405 741672.
 
I can only recall the 722.6 box pilot bush having one main problem; leaking atf.
Sometimes this can wick up to the tcu and flood it.
 
I have only used the car a couple of times since and it has been mostly normal just every now and again when I come to set off its in too high of a gear, based on the fault codes I've bit the bullet and ordered the selector module (I suspected this from the start as if looks like something has been spilt) and the electro plate because of the speed sensor faults.
I was also having an intermittent starting problem would take 2 or 3 attempts to fire up as if it wasn't getting fuel the scanner brought up no signal from crank sensor and no signal from cam sensor, changed both with parts from ecp and it now fires fine... I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this car now!
 
Just an update fitted the speed sensor and the new selector last weekend and the car was working just fine all gears ect working triptronic but felt a little sluggish, decided to check for boost leaks and found the actuator vac pipe was split, replaced that and the car absolutely flew! Bearing in mind I've got rid of the cats and egr it went like stink but every now and again the gear box is very very lazy gears up at 2k no matter how much I put my foot down, I have to hit the kickdown switch to wake it back up if I floor it from a stand still it goes through the box higher up the revs no problem.
Any ideas what this could be? I opened the tcu and found it had a slight amount of oil from the pilot bush, I spent a long long time cleaning it off with a air gun and some very absorbant cloth it seemed to come up OK just wondering if the oil could have damaged the ECU?
 

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