So I just replaced the conductor plate on my 2004 c230k (automatic) and still getting these codes and not shifting into higher gears. Any ideas? I am a little suspicious that one of the solenoids may have gone bad or maybe I didn't insert it good enough.

Thanks,

Pete

 

Also another question: do these solenoids go bad? and if so, is there a good source for replacements?

 

Where did you purchase your plate and where was it mfg'd?
If it's not Kostal made in Germany which is OEM Mercedes everything else is junk.
Tiny K in the mold you'll see it on the old one.
The solenoids can't all be bad.
I do think you may have to reset something with DAS but I don't remember.
Do some searching you may get lucky.
I'm at 250K and have never needed it, just keep fluid clean.
Very lucky.

 

Well im gonna have to open it up and check. I got it from FCPEuro.
The fluid was very dirty. Should have changed it earlier.
I think one of the solenoids is bad. Seems like that is what the code is saying but not sure.

 

Pete,

I did this job on my W203 about a year ago. When you put your new conductor plate back, did you latch the transmission linkage back into place? That would prevent the car from shifting gears. Anyhow, I attached some docs that may assist. NOTE: The pdf named "722.6 DIY...", read entry #12. I also attached a image of the linkage connection during my reassembly. Good luck.

Rafael

 

Yes. It was shifting from Park to reverse, neutral, and drive, but wont go over 1st (or 2nd?) gear.
I'm thinking it is a solenoid issue. Also Mercedes said that I need to get the conductor plate programmed at the dealership, but everyone I see here says it is plug and play....so im a bit confused.

 

Concur with our peers, it's a plug and play...programming not required.

 

Well I finally got it fixed after the third time opening the valve body up.

Couple notes that may help someone in the future:

- I initially had a ton of error codes related to the conductor plate. So I started by replacing the conductor plate doing the whole process (new conductor plate, new pilot bushing, new transmission filter and fluid, checked the TCU to make sure it was clean) then took it to a mechanic and had them clear all the codes (ECU and TCU) and yes, you will not be able to clear the codes with a OBDII handheld, these codes need to be read and cleared by a professional grade reader or something above the basic handheld reader level.

*Some videos said you need to be careful which screws go where in the valve body because they might be different lengths. This was BS and wasted a lot of my time trying to be really careful to keep the screws in order. They were all the same.

- When I took it to the mechanic to clear the codes after the initial repair attempt, he printed me a report of the codes that were remaining, which you can see in my original post. The remaining codes seemed to be related to one of the solenoids. Then he cleared the codes and I gave it a test drive and it was driving better for a few minutes then reverted back to the erratic shifting and the codes came back. I went home and I took the valve body back off and replaced the solenoid in question with a used one from the ebay sets. These ebay and amazon ones are mostly authentic but "remanufactured", which is a load of BS, they are just used solenoids but at least they are authentic.

- When I replaced the solenoid and put everything back together and went back to the mechanic to read the codes there were new error codes on the report (not shown) which I didn't understand. These came from the automatic transmission fluid being too low. After I replaced the solenoid on the 2nd repair attempt, I failed to fill the fluid to the right level.

Here are some notes on the AT fluid level:

1. If your AT fluid is way too low, the car will not go into gear AT ALL. It won't go into reverse or drive and you will have a bunch of error codes related to gears and transmission.
2. If your AT fluid is a little low, the car will go into gear but it will be in limp mode and you will have very little power.

Once you have everything properly repaired with working parts and the AT fluid is filled to the correct level, you probably need to go to the mechanic and get all the codes cleared, then you should be good to go. That's how it went for me at least.

I can confirm you do not need to go to the dealer to get the conductor plate "programmed" or "matched" to the TCU.

Last note is make sure you buy the conductor plate from a good source like FCPEuro or anyone that sells OE or OEM parts. Look for plates made by Continental or Kostal which made original parts for Benz. I have heard there are chinese knockoffs which are crap.

These are things they don't really tell you in the conductor plate repair videos or tutorials but digging around forums helped me figure out. It was a tough learning process but if I knew all this from the beginning it would have only taken me like 2-4 hours from start to finish.

Pete