holycaoAMG

Karo- Did you feel any difference when they replaced the sway bar links? Handling or ride wise?

splinter

^ good info

Plenty of ancillary hardware and repairs on MBUSA’s tab. Pricey work on your transmission.
Should pull away from stationary in 1st though – when not switched to ‘comfort.’

Unfortunately, none of what they’ve done thus far specifically addresses its woefully thirsty motor oil consumption issue or this thread’s topic. Know that the thimbleful or three from the rear cam plug isn’t the true cause.

Its oil is either massively migrating past the rings or gushing a river through the valve guides/seals. Insist your SA/SM forthwith measure and document its untoward oil consumption. Jam your boot up their tail if they balk. Seems my M272 ‘sturdy as an anvil’ (https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...l-problem.html) firsthand experience has proven to be incorrect. I regret the error.

Know your factory warranty is nearing its end.
Prefer to read of them paying for fitting a new longblock, rather than you having done same from your billfold.

e1000

I got 2 words............ CANYON RUN!!!!!!!

patrick_y

Which Canyon? GMR?

Karo, buy an extra quart of motor oil and leave it in the trunk, just in case for emergency. Sometimes if the engine all of a sudden decides it doesn't have enough oil, it sometimes goes into "Limp Home Mode" (you pretty much only drive in one or two gears).

Keep an eye on that oil consumption! And no more racing other cars to 130 mph Karo! Especially not on public roads! That's not going to help your oil consumption.

Also, remember that oil expands when heated and contracts when cooled. So your oil volume may change slightly based on the temperature. Most Mercedes-Benz dealerships during an oil change fill the cars to 90% of capacity, because there's still oil in the oil pan, and secondly the oil expands.

W203E35

The only thing I feel is the tranny shift smoothly (no harsh downshifts) also yes the car does start in 1st. For some unexplained reason I feel the car got more power. I punched it a couple of times to see how the tranny shifts and I got a screech which never happened before.

My ride for some reason got more softer. Back then I felt vibrations like crazy but now it feels good. I use to feel every crack on the road but not as much anymore. Maybe it's adaptations that now my car feels faster (since adaptation is learning) but if that's the case then I think people who claimed "Sneaky ECU" reset clears adaptations were wrong. Because my car never felt this fast. Maybe the small leak was playing a role in power loss?

As for the oil consumption I can't wait when I take it in. Because for sure I know there is a problem. 500 miles shouldn't be that hard because just work is 60 miles and include extra 10 miles (min) of driving that;s 70 miles a day. (max a week).

Once I take it back in a week then it's going to be interesting.

Patrick-I do have an extra quart of oil but i'm not going to put it in. Once I get the message I am going to drive it straight to the dealer. Tomorrow morning I am going to check the oil level just to be sure if they didn't add more so if I really do burn a qt I wont get the message and they can say see look it's fine.

More updates to come in a week.

e1000-Canyon run sounds good. Also if you want to change your brakes let me know. This weekend is bad for me. I have to teach a class Saturday and Sunday. (counts as hours for a certification) But for sure next week I am free so if you need to change brakes let me know. Hopefully by then I will have the front lip on the car.

Glyn-Thanks soo much for the info. When I take it in, in a week i'm going to keep insisting on a Leakdown test. If nothing happens I will take to their Service manager.

Splinter-I am surprised if it is really burning/consuming this much oil. From what I heard the m272 is a great engine. I am going to do as you say i'm going to wear steel toe boots when I go next time

W203E35

I'm 99% sure the car stops in 2nd gear now. I came to a stop and didn't do a complete stop and I pressed the gas hard (not the Karo way) and I felt it shift down. Then I did a full stop and I didnt feel any downshift. The downshift was roughly around 3-4 MPH...Then when pressed gas it downshifted and not hard eighter. Back then the car would have already been in first. So I feel once the car does a full stop that is when the car starts in 1st gear. I also noticed the car would slow down A LOT QUICKER before. Not not as quick. I guess this was the main reason I was feeling any downshifts. I guess the Valve Body did the trick. I read somethwere here that the Valve Body will help for downshifts and the TCU flash will help for upshifts.

So I guess this is Benz's way of fixing the hard jerk when coming to a stop. Eighter way I am happy with the result. Now the only problem needed resolving is the Engine consuming oil.

P.S. Wow the pedal cover came loose. It slipped upward. I pushed it down. Man I guess i'm really beating the pedal then lool
No joke this really happened.

Glyn M Ruck

I'm pleased we are winning Karo. Damn valve body - Now you must look after your tranny. Pleased to see they replaced the transmission mounting. That has been redesigned I understand & a bad one does not help with rough feeling. If you don't know what gear the car is stopping in that is a very good sign that it is smooth!

Now we must chase down the oil problem. I would love to know exactly what they did with the breather. These guys hate doing leakdown tests because they have to do it 6 times in your case (imagine the V12). We must keep the pressure on them until fixed. These engines are bullet proof but there are always exceptions. I will be highly amused if it was the breather allowing the crankcase to pressurise - time & oil consumption will tell.

Wish I knew what was in that service bulletin.

johnand

What he meant to say is the transmission computer is IN the valve body. It gets replaced as an assembly on the 7G.

LILBENZ230

Karo the ride is smoother because of the replaced transmission mount. The same thing happened to my car and I was very frustrated with it (Glyn probably remembers). Once they replaced it my car felt new again. This was in March, and I think it might be going again.. sucks.

I think some of the stuff is just the difference between the W204 and the W203.

And lastly, let me say this. When the oil leak happened on my car because of the filter O-ring, the oil level wasn't right and I couldn't get it right again. The car kept asking for oil. I just had to have the guy change the oil again. That was 7000 miles ago and it's been smooth sailing since.

Glyn M Ruck

Indeed! It's integral.

e1000

lets shoot for next weekend then. If you want to wait I can help you with your lip too.

holycaoAMG

Glyn-
Transmission flush was completed today. After examination, no glycol, but in filter found metallic peices of aluminum from transmission housing. The "teeth" in the housing seems to be wearing out causing the TCU to compensate for getting into gear. Shifts felt a bit better, BUT not by much, and changing from P to D is still very hard, which makes me worried. Valve body and pan was full of small metallic pieces. ATF was already oxidized since it turned green.

My mechanic says once the adaptations are out for compensating the worn out trans housing, it will hit limp mode and am looking at a new transmision rebuild that will cost me $3500 parts and labor from a junk yard. He highly sugguests i sell my car before it can get expensive, i am not amused..

Glyn M Ruck

What size were these pieces of aluminium on average? Where exactly does your mechanic think they came from? It might pay you to get a recon transmission on swap out or buy one from a low mileage scrapped car. Once installed it will need to be adapted with a STAR.

Did you take any pics of the wear debris? Was there any steel wear debris on the magnet in the pan? How many miles on the car? These trannys seriously need their 38,000 mile services.

holycaoAMG

Size of metallic peices in the filter were big (a little bigger than a bell pepper seed). From pan/magnet, they were microscopic but still there, i believe they could be iron but i wasnt sure. Pieces from the filter were aluminum, my mechanic says the transmission housing is aluminum, therefore its wearing out. I saw everything with my own eyes and we both examined them for quite some time figuring out what the problem is. He states the MB 722.6 should NEVER have any type of metallic debris in them anywhere, and the ones we saw were huge and all over the place. The jerking or any of the above symptoms cannot be resolved nor reversed, and we both know for a fact, i will be looking at a new transmission.. its only a matter of time. At this mileage, i cant believe this.

...Major damage has been done.

W203E35

Glyn-Yup were halfway there. We won the first battle and now it's time for the second one.

LILBENZ-I do feel like the transmounts did play a big role. Now when I put the car in D it doesnt jerk forward.

e1000-next week sounds good.

Here are some pics of my tips. e1000 since you have a 350 and you drive your car hard does you tip look like mine?
Does this look normal guys?

Glyn M Ruck

There certainly should not be pieces of aluminium floating around. I would suspect that a thrust washer has failed which is allowing something to chew into the housing. I also suspect that the first gear one way clutch has failed.

What mileage has the car done?????

How did you check for glycol? If the oil was badly oxidised it should turn black not green. Does the oil smell burnt?

Glyn M Ruck

There is some sign of oil on the tailpipe but it's not terrible. As I say - burning synthetics can mask things.

holycaoAMG

Karo- are you saying after resolving the transmounts, the foward jerking from P to D was cured? Is this true anyone??
That may be my problem.

Glyn- my mechanic said if there was glycol in the tranny, first thing he looks for is the bottom of the pan, cause thats the area where they usually are found. Then did the crackle test. Everything seemed to come out negitive. The fluid in the filter was definately green, but everywhere else, it was brown/goldish black that gave off a metallic shine (meaning there was metal particles in the fluid).

Im very disappointed after the flush, NOTHING changed.
Car is at 89k miles, but i have been having this problem since 70k. Thats pretty low mileage for a tranny like this to already have problems. I am not putting anymore money into the pos, its a fail.

e1000

Karo my exhaust tip isn't that dark with soot but then again, I wash my car once a week religiously and clean the tip. I'll take a pic and post it soon.

Glyn M Ruck

OK - if it passed a crackle test it means there is no water present, could still be glycol but unlikely. I'm afraid 2001 cars were problem children although not generally the Auto box. Do you know the history of the car? Is this the first fluid flush? If so it's way overdue. Should have had the original charge & 2 changes by now.

If looked after this is not normal. I have a friend in Malaysia with a C240 that is over 700,000Km & no major repairs & we have an E240 at the office with the same tranny and that is over 600,000Km now with zero trouble. Both cars have been religiously maintained with tranny oil changes at 60,000 Kms or 38,000 miles. Both transmissions are fine.

e1000

My tip. Keep in mind I haven't washed my car in over a week and I consider it absolutely filthy right now.

W203E35

I wash my car almost every week as well (didn't last week and this week got a free carwash at dealer) but I usually wash everything, all in all this is probably max 1 months worth (tails).

But don't worrry no matter what after 500K miles I'm going to definitely make sure they do a leakdown test. The way my SA said it, it seemed like he will. He said "Next time we will document it....." can't recall the rest

After this is all taken care of i'm going to start driving normal

(That's what I said when I got the car )

Again thanks for all the input/help guys. I really appreciate it. If I hadn't known about the leakdown test and mentioned it I think they would have said you had a minute leak and the rest was from driving aggressively. But atleast now when they do a test I can be a little confident.

P.S. e1000-for sure next week. Sorry about this week, we'll take care of everything next week. I'm going to change my breaks soon as well. So it'll be a good lesson to see a pro like yourself change your brakes

e1000

I drive my car like I'm running from the CHP.

W203E35

hahaha can't wait to meet you this weekend. You must be my long lost brother (wiser)

e1000

yeah man!!!! looking forward to it