Sue Max

I have 2002 C220 CDI coupe. Been in the shop for a week. I had a problem with it few months ago but bizarrely a new battery seemed to sort it. RAC patrolman (same guy that time as this! How amazing) reckons we rebotted the tranny computer which was good enough last time.... (Car needed new battery anyway....). Anyway - week ago, I am sitting in traffic and the red message Transmission comes up and the F word. No gears, nothing! I am in normal road position. Eventually after frantic turning off and on, I get a gear and limp to the roadside.

Car has NOT thrown ANY codes.

I limped her into the shop with RAC patrolman driving behind me.

Selectronic car (yes, I know few of you know anything about them), but this is a manual gearbox.

Symptoms.... before the stop (the F word!), the car had been VERY troublesome in first and second, but once warm, not displaying any "kangaroo diesel" type problems. Jolting and almost bucking action, like bringing up the clutch too fast when you were first learning on a stick-shift!

My indy guy (DOES have STAR - he has his own 500SL which spends more time on the ramp than on the road I am told!) says this is "gearbox overhaul" job. TBH I think they are thrown by this - not sure they know what the problem is, given the car is NOT telling them stuff.

The RAC patrolman listened to the "new battery solved it last time" story so we took off the battery cables to reboot the comp again but it does NOT solve the jolting. I believe my Indy guys have taken it out for test drive a few times but not reproduced the F stop action.

Is this familiar to anyone?

TBH the car has not been right for a week or so before this. NOT writing any codes - it almost felt like my Saab did when it threw itself into "safe mode" once.

Any ideas? Could it be Selectronic issue and NOT the gearbox? Cannot understand why it only plays up on cold.... then becomes OK for the remainder of the journey.

Thanks

Carsy

Sorry, I don't know any thing about the gearbox.

How long since you changed the oil & filter if it has one ?

Sue Max

The straight answer to that is "I am sorry, but I have no idea - not in my ownership (20k miles, 17 months)".

Funny, I found myself wondering whether perhaps I have been using or losing gearbox oil without realising it.......

Glyn M Ruck

Suggest you try & contact vakity. He knows more about the Sequentronic than anybody on this forum. It is an automated MT & clutch. It will not be the transmission itself. It will be the hydraulic control circuitry, servo's, electronics that are playing up.

These transmissions should only be worked on by a Sequentronic specialist.

Sue Max

I agree Glyn (and nice to hear from you again, BTW - you were very helpful last time).

I will try to contact Vakity. It's a shame you don't have the knowledge on here - wish I could contribute too!

It does SEEM to be a "clutch" problem - as I said, it is like a learner driver on a manual gearbox - it brings the clutch up too quickly! Lurches.

Trouble is, the car is not worth much and second-hand cars are cheap ATM in UK. Not worth spending hundreds or even thousands of pounds on it, but equally I will see next to nothing back on it if I try to sell it with an undiagnosed problem which renders it as a non-runner.

I am off tomorrow to go buy another Saab convertible like I used to have! Not a pure car like my previous one (Finnish built), but a bit "infected" by GM parts (02 car - the other one was x plate (2000)). I need a motor tho', and spring is here - all the ragtop drivers about here - gonna join them!

I will try to reach Vakity tho - even if only to discover the extent of the problem and perhaps flag up some info for someone else on here! Does anyone know him? Thanks.

Glyn M Ruck

This was the major contact we had with him.

I think we learned more than we helped.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ghlight=vakity