W212 E350 cdi emission update - possible to map over?

[TheBeautofBridgend]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forum, so please forgive me if this has been asked before.
I recently purchased a 2013 W212 C207 E350 Cdi auto 265bhp. It has 40K on the clock. After a few weeks of ownership we noticed a strange occurance where after a cold start while driving uphill the transmission would shift from second to third then after a few seconds back to second again with a physical jerk. After this it was as if power had been restricted (limp mode?) and the gears developed long legs, it would rev all the way to 3000rpm before shifting, and the shifts were jerky. I'd pull the car over, turn it off, back on and it disappears for another few weeks. No fault codes are generated as a result, it's been scanned by the main dealer and a merc Indi. Which makes me look a bit of a fool because nothing is logged.
On further investigation it appears that the car had received the diesel gate emission update and the characteristics of not shifting into top gear until after 75mph are there. Other than this annoying issue it's a lovely car.
My question is has anyone successfully remapped the engine ecu and transmission tcu to overwrite the emission update?
Surely I'm not alone with this?
Any help or guidance would be greatly received.
Cheers

 

[Tonygw]

HI And welcome, I don't think its possible to return the car to "pre" update, although others on here may know better.

But it sounds as though it may need a transmission service. Some boxes (again others on here can confirm) require their first oil flush/change on the gearbox at around 40K. Do you know if its ever been done?

Although, did you buy the car from a dealer as you could always return it for further investigation?

 

[TheBeautofBridgend]

HI And welcome, I don't think its possible to return the car to "pre" update, although others on here may know better.

But it sounds as though it may need a transmission service. Some boxes (again others on here can confirm) require their first oil flush/change on the gearbox at around 40K. Do you know if its ever been done?

Although, did you buy the car from a dealer as you could always return it for further investigation?

Thanks for the response. I forgot to mention that the 722.9 box was serviced only last month, I had it done thinking that it may be the cause, but the technician said that the old transmission oil he dropped was clean, still the service was carried as for piece of mind.
I bought the car privately, but it was serviced all it's life up until I bought it by mb main dealers.

 

[Tonygw]

Ah no worriess, have you tried a gearbox reset? there is a simple procedure on this forum somewhere that allows you to easily reset the gearbox adaptations to factory. It can then re-learn your driving style.

Some people have found this can work well. I cant find the link to it but I am sure if you search its on here somewhere.

 

[TheBeautofBridgend]

Ah no worriess, have you tried a gearbox reset? there is a simple procedure on this forum somewhere that allows you to easily reset the gearbox adaptations to factory. It can then re-learn your driving style.

Some people have found this can work well. I cant find the link to it but I am sure if you search its on here somewhere.

Yes, that was my first attempt as a solution. No good unfortunately, it still continues to play up at random!

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

It's impossible to revert to the old version. I've spent days looking for tuners that will do it, even driving up to Newcastle from the south to someone who said they'd try, to no avail.

The only 'gearing' issue that will be created by the ECU update is that it won't change into top gear (7th or 9th depending on your model) until you break the speed limit (74 MPH) or accelerate really hard.

You can get a generic OM642 remap which will increase power and potentially some efficiency, but you cannot revert back to how it was.

Sorry.

 

[TheBeautofBridgend]

It's impossible to revert to the old version. I've spent days looking for tuners that will do it, even driving up to Newcastle from the south to someone who said they'd try, to no avail.

The only 'gearing' issue that will be created by the ECU update is that it won't change into top gear (7th or 9th depending on your model) until you break the speed limit (74 MPH) or accelerate really hard.

You can get a generic OM642 remap which will increase power and potentially some efficiency, but you cannot revert back to how it was.

Sorry.

Cheers for confirming my thoughts, I think I may just get the gearbox conductor plate upgraded , new solenoids/valves etc and go from there. Reading more about this online it's pointing to early conductor plate failure. £250 repair plus box service.

 

[FiveAlive]

I find that mine increasingly goes into 7th by 60 mph after a small burst of enthusiastic acceleration - and not even full-throttle enthusiastic, but just enough to keep it from changing up by itself until I level off. Perhaps it is gradually adapting itself back to sense. To be honest, three years since the update, I've made my peace with the reduced fuel economy and everything else about it is absolutely fine.

Regarding the OP's issue: after the update I had a couple of instances of limp mode, about 1000 miles apart, which didn't light the EML, disappeared after a restart and haven't recurred since.

 

[rf065]

The only 'gearing' issue that will be created by the ECU update is that it won't change into top gear (7th or 9th depending on your model) until you break the speed limit (74 MPH) or accelerate really hard.

I read about all the update problems before mine got updated, but actually found if I used the paddle controls I could get into 9th gear at 62mph which was lower than before the update. Also, the harder you accelerate, the higher speed you need to get to before it will go into 9th, so gentler will get you there quicker.