6speedC230SS

I just got a 2005 c230 ss 6 speed and i have noticed that in first gear when you hit the gas to the floor there is a slight pause. Can anyone tell me why this happens.

Blake P

The same thing happens on my automatic '04 C230. Also, there is sometimes a slight hesitation when the car shifts from 1st to 2nd when the engine is cold. I had it checked out during Service A and they said it is normal.

6speedC230SS

so then once the engine is warmed up this will stop happening

Blake P

That has been the case in my experience.

vadim

If you have a new car, you should break it in first. Rule #1 during break-in period: never floor the car. Stay soft on that gas pedal until you hit 1000 mi. The engine will eventually loosen up, you will keep seing improvement far beyond the first 1000 mi.

tuscanraider

Unless its a lease!! Then you can beat the hell out of it. I floor my car every chance I get, bounce the needle off the red-line every shift. I also don't see any performance difference between octane grades, so it gets regular... At lease end the dealer takes it back. I love it.

vadim

By doing that you are just screwing up the engine. It will bite you in the butt long before the lease is over. Break in is needed to unleash the engine's full potential - you are just robbing youreself of more fun for no reason.

Then again - there is nothing wrong in revving the engine to high RPM - it certainly is much better than underrevving. Just don't floor it when it is brand-new.

MBc230

This is actually a known issue discussed before on this forum. It's more noticable on an auto tranny but you can still feel the lag respone in a manual tranny too. Spoke with service advisor and MB purposely programs that throttle lag into the ecu, there's pratically nothing you can do about it -- unless you get a performance chip which rids of the lag.

Do a search for throttle lag/pause and see what others done to cope with it... Pretty much performance chip upgrade to fix that.

I was thinking an ecu upgrade as well, hopefully to fix that throttle lag and give a few extra ponies in the process...

Capt Nemo o2

It does that to help heat up the cat. The catalytic converter needs to be at a certian temperature to be effective. This is to help with polution, the quicker the cat heats up, the less time passes where its not working!

DaCeptak0n

My E320 does that and was told by 2 service advisors and service techs that it happens on every merecedes-benz model no matter what, except the AMGs are not as long of a pause as the regulars are. They all said that it is for a saftey type thing becuase if you kick it and in putting yourself in danger, then at least you have a better leighway to stop the car....

I mean thats what they told me and i don't mind it...mine's a lease but i don't beat the heck out of it...

vadim

How can gear shift hesitation help heat up the cat?

Outland

The hesitation isn't hesitation, its lag caused by the drive by wire Throttle. Most cars with DBW are like this.

vadim

This still causes "perceived" hesitation. I was just curious how this can affect quicker cat warm up.

In 2.3L M111 this is done by directing more air to the cat for the first 45-50 seconds. This is the reason these cars are so noisy during the first minute after a cold start.

lars

I remember that this was the earlier consensus. My car still has this lag when the engine is hot if I idle away and then floor the gas. It does not do it if I tip into the gas gently which, of course, is what a good driver would do.

6speedC230SS

Dont want to sound like an idiot but what is dbw

vadim

= Drive-By-Wire - electronically-controlled throttle, as opposed to mechanical linkage between the gas pedal and the throttle.

Capt Nemo o2

The hesitation I was speaking of was the delay in shift, not the throttle lag. By allowing the engine to rev higher before shifting it uses more air dueto the higer revs, which sends more hot air through the exhuast.

Jim Banville

The dbw throttle in my Sequoia will snap your neck if you don't press it gently from a dead stop.

A moderator should consider putting (throttle lag) in the title of this thread, since that is what we're discussing.

mctwin2kman

Even my W201 delays the shifting for higher revs to warm the engine and exhaust quicker. This is for emmissions reasons. The Automatic on all cars I have driven all do this. There is even a solenoid in the tranny in the W201 to make sure it does this. The W203 is also electronically controlled to hold gears higher for this operation.

6speedC230SS

well today i drove the car for about 5 minutes before getting on it and the pause was unnoticable. it probaly has somthing to do with the engine having to be warmed up

vadim

Ok. There is a lot of confusion regarding terminology in this thread. Hesitation is a pause between the input from the driver and the reaction of the car to this input. Gears shifting at higher RPM is not a sign of hesitation by any means.

mctwin2kman

Oh I know, that is why I never mentioned Hesitation. It is a delay in the shifting, actually called Upshift Delay! As for the throttle delay, these are Benz's and not designed for racing or off the line performance. The AMG's are for that. They are designed or at least intended to be Luxury cars and no luxury car needs to launch your head to the head rest upon launch, they are designed however to have some expception passing power and ability. Anywho, I got a 6 speed and I sense no delays when I hit the gas in my 2003.

SickSpeedMonte

Thread resurrection alert!

I've been searching this issue for a little wile now and this is the closest report that I can find to what I am experiencing.

What happens with me is there is a feeling of a miss on the 2-3 shift (At least I think that shift... the damn thing has 7 gears so its hard to keep track)

oh, BTW, 2007 C230 sport 2.5L auto

It will rev up and go to shift, and there is a period where the car stops accelerating, enough to toss your head foward a little bit. Its not violent or anything, just annoying.

It seems to get better when the car warms up, but it's a while after the engine is up to temp, so Im assuming the tranny has to get up to temp.

I stumbled upon the adaptive driving reset procedures where you turn the key on and floor the throttle for 5 seconds, so I'll give that a shot.

Has anyone else experienced what I am describing here? It's still under warranty, but I'm hoping the reset will cure it.

TIA!

SickSpeedMonte

The reset seemed to help a little once the car warms up, but its still pretty bad when its cold.

Glyn M Ruck

This forum is intended to give useful & sensible advice to others - this is neither - In fact plain dumb from someone with no feeling for things mechanical.