RE: 2004 C320

In September 2007, I had an issue that was resolved with a new transmission. Apparently, the underlying problem was not fixed.

FYI: This all started at 38,507 miles. In the past 2 years, I have put 5,434 miles on the new transmission. I would think it should last longer than that. If anyone has had a similar problem or has an idea, I would be very grateful to know.

NOTE: I have only noticed the problem from a cold start.

Description: When I remove my foot from the accelerator, the car is bucking/shuddering at low speeds. There have been moments, while driving and at any speed, when I hear a droning sound. The droning has never lasted more than a few seconds.

As an example: As I begin down my driveway, as I remove my foot from the accelerator, the car immediately starts bucking aggressively. As I turn onto my road the bucking continues. The bucking stops as I accelerate. Anytime I slow down, for the first few miles, the bucking returns.

I have an appointment with my MB dealer tomorrow. Anything that I can know, going in, would help.

I do know that my car does not have the Valeo radiator. At any rate, I mean to insist on a glycol test. Other than that, I am completely at a loss. Thanks in advance.

For more information, here is the original forum thread, on an alternate service:

http://mercedesforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22911

 

my car when cold has that drone so i don't think that is a problem. mine has done that for at least 40,000. do you go forward or back down your drive way? if you go forward put it in w or c so that it starts in 2nd gear. my car when cold always shifts and one point and if you are not expecting it can make you think something is wrong. i have learned that when i leave to drive slow so that it wont shift to second right as i lift off the pedal. if that fixes it then i would adjust your driving style while in the driveway till the trans warms up. now i guess it could be more serious like the tq not working properly but you would have to find someone with more knowledge to tell you how to diagnose that. hope your apt goes well tomorrow and that they will goodwill it for you. btw do you have more then one car or have a really short drive to work? i ask because i feel that you need to drive more miles then that a year to keep your car in good shape. and if you are driving short trips and not letting the car warm up fully every day that can be really bad for it and can cause more problems then driving 2,000 a mouth.

 

My car has been doing the same thing for a long time now, I don't think it is as aggressive as yours sounds, but whos to tell. However, it does sound just like what my car does. Today, I was pulling out of the gas station (already drove across the parking lot) the transmission I guess just slipped, or missed completely. I accelerated to get out onto the road and it just rev'd up like it was in netrual, so took my foot off completely and it stuttered a little bit then went into gear. I came straight home, parked and tried switching from Drive, Neutral, Reverse, Park and sometimes it would take the car like 10 seconds to switch gears. Just before it would switch it would stutter like it's about to cut off

I'm not sure what to do now, should I have the transmission fluid changed?

 

how many miles do you have on your car? and yes you should have fluid and filter changed. i think Mercedes says every 70,000 or something like that or 5 years. Mercedes has changed the mileage a few times so i am not sure what the current recommendation is for it. but you are over the time so i would do that first.

 

Thanks for the response... I left the car; I live over an hour away from the MB dealer, as the service tech could not recreate the problem.

I will post whatever the explanation might be. If it is another transmission, I will need to know the underlying problem… I don’t want to be back in 2 years or 5,500 miles for another transmission.

Thanks again… Have a great week.

 

Well for me, (don't mean to hijack the tread, im done after this comment) but I have 121,570 miles I bought it with 58,000 on it to my knowledge the tranny fluid has never been changed. I've looked into this before a while ago and I'm pretty sure I read that the tranny fluid is good for the life of the car. Which I thought sounded wrong...but idk, my mistake if so. Atleast for the C230's with auto tranny's...

Meanwhile, I went outside earlier to drive her around the block and now it is stuck in 1st gear and will not shift, and it is sluggish to change from PRN or D....is this horrible news? or what?

 

You probably did read the "lifetime fill" stuff about your car. It was later revised.

 

So is it bad that my car is stuck in 1st gear?

 

If it's going to spend the rest of its life idling around a parking garage it might not be bad.

LOL the answer to the question is obvious. Car shouldn't be stuck in gear.

 

LOL yeah obviously, but that doesn't tell me what I should DO?!

 

Maybe it is in limp home mode? Try several engine restarts.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what to tell you. You'll need help of a transmission professional.

 

well like LILBENZ230 said Mercedes latter revised the fluid change from life time to 100,000 i think. i wish you had seen that because most people seem to do it at around 75,000 to be safe. and if it is truly stuck in 1st you really have a problem and i would guess need to take it somewhere with a star computer which usually means dealer.

 

I think Mercedes now recommends more like a fluid change every 40,000-60,000 miles for the 5AT.

 

They kept the car for two days… After a number of attempts to recreate the problem, they said they could not. I went to pick the car up this morning…

Not being that knowledgeable about cars maybe I just was not phrasing it well.

Before I left the dealer, I went on a test drive of my own in the back parking lot. I got the car up to 20mph and took my foot off the accelerator. It bucked… I took a corner heading back to the service department… It bucked and droned… I slowed down so not to hit an SL550, my insurance company would have been very disturbed, and it bucked… I parked it immediately…

I went back in and talked with my service advisor. He asked the shop foreman to take it for a spin. I was asked if this was going on at low speeds… We didn’t get 100 feet before it started bucking. He asked all the right questions. As he made his first turn, it droned. I was overjoyed. He knew exactly the problem.

It’s the radiator issue. I didn’t think the 2004’s were part of the service bulletin. Anyway, he ordered a glycol test.

If the glycol tests positive, they replace the radiator and flush the transmission and coolant systems. If it tests negative, I get a new traction control unit. New programming is supposed to fix the problem. FYI: the droning is coming from the torque converter. It’s not locking up but it’s being effected by the radiator issues…

I’m driving the loaner once again… I’ll post any new info I get… I should get my car back Monday or Tuesday…

 

that is good that they know what the problem is . i once was at the dealer picking up my car after some work and after i moved it to where my friend was parked found some problems i was not happy about. i proceed to get in the car and take my aggregation out in the parking lot. i parked the car and before i even made it to the front door the manager was their yelling. lol then after i showed him the problems he was saying oh we didn't do that and your rich parents can fix it for you. that of course made me even more angry and well after they fixed my car i will never go back to the dealer. oh btw the guy was fired a week later after i talked to the owner of the dealership. i will not say if was the cause of that