Hey guys I brought my car to the dealer today becuase of the jerk problem and they tested it and said there was glycol contamination. I thought this was a 2002 thing my car was built in march or may 2003. Anyway they said they were going to replace the radiator and flush out the torque conv. and tranny I believe. Anyone who has had this done did it fix the problem? I am just hoping the glycol didn't mess with other stuff like the engine, intercooler, etc.. Even though my car is under warranty I want to enjoy it and not have to take it to the dealer constantly.

I had the problem and got a new torque converter which fixed it. here should not be glycol problems with other components.

You may have a new transmission coming to you, but the stealership is trying to screw you over. I have been told by more than one source that Mercedes-Benz bulletin on it specifies that if the glycol contamination problem exists, they are to install a completely new radiator, transmission, and tranny ECU (or upgrade of the software to it, I'm not sure). If your car were out of warranty, they would demand that you do the whole tranny replacement and pay for it - but since it's a warranty repair, they are just trying to do the bare minimum and leave any deeper problems caused by it to surface after the warranty has expired.

i know that according to the tsb for the problem, there is a limit of how much glycol contamination is allowed without changing out the whole tranny. you should ask the dealer to see some numbers just to make sure. i have the tsb if your intereted.

How do you get glycol contamination??? Is this common in all MB's???

its something to do with the defective radiator (valeo) that mb put in, and the fluid gets into the tranny, and contaminates it.

Which MB models are affected?

Wholy ****, I just got my car back from Fletcher, It was this exact problem. It was going on for 3 to 4 months. I took it in the first time and they said I was crazy, nothing wrong with the car. But I know my car. It was jittering in low rpms and driving me nuts. So they found the problem and replaced the raditior and the torque converter. It runs fine now. Am I going to have to worry about this happening again. I went on the board several times and coudn't find anything related to this problem until today.

as far as i know it only affects the 02 c32 models. and now i guess some 03's as well

if you open the hood, and look underneath the panel that the MOBIL 1 sticker they have, you should see a sticker with the brand VALEO on it. if you do you might want to go get the glycol test done, especially if you feel anything funny or different with your transmission.

My dealer told me they were replacing the (radiator) and flushing the system and the torque converter they never said they were replacing it. Does anyone have the documentation that states the torque converter should be replaced? Bvic is it in the TSB?

The glycol test is prone to errors. There's a lot of measuring, mixing, and waiting involved. Unfortunately, I can't trust MB techs enough to take their time and do it right.

Mine came back negative but the car still jerks like crazy when it warms up. I'm considering buying the glycol test kit and doing it myself.

Also, for those of you wanting to really flush out your transmissions... It can be done. The torque converter has a drain plug and the rest of the tranny can be emptied via the pan.

here is what the tsb says


Perform repair based on the test result:
1. Up to 100 mg/liter of glycol contamination do not perform any repair (considered normal due to
condensed water and not a leak).
2. As of 100 mg/liter up to 400 mg/liter of glycol contamination, replace radiator and torque converter.
Clean and flush lines.
3. As of 400 mg/liter, replace radiator, torque converter and transmission. Clean and flush lines.

i got the glycol test kit part numbers if you want
glycol test kit part #1 A000 989 00 09
glycol test kit part #2 A000 989 00 14
ATF sample container W000 589 49 98 00

I appreciate that. It was exactly what I needed.

i also got the procedures for doing the test i can email the whole tsb to you if you want it.

this are some Awsome detail infos!!!