Thank you, thank you, Lou. I'm glad to have some of this on record when I go in for my service. Sounds like you have a really cool shop foreman, btw.

So I suppose the car now feels like it should...that is, as smooth taking off and accelerating through the gears 1-2-3 as the car feel on the highway or going through the 3-4-5 gears? Also, what about when decelerating? Is it any smoother? I've noticed that when I'm decelerating for a signal and it turns green at the last moment before the car has a chance to downshift all the way to first that if I get back on the gas there is abrupt jerk as well.

At last you have the velvet back in the hammer.

Collin

P. S. Lou, what dealership to you go to? and what city, please? Just in case my guys need to call yours.

Lou Zer,

That's great news that your problem has been resolved. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I hope this doesn't happen to other 02 C32 owners but if it did at least they'll have a good road map to resolution with your posts.

Thanks to all that have answered my questions as well. I'm going to see my MB Dealer in the next week. So maybe I'll be a member of the C32 club soon. =)

Has anyone taken their C32 to the track yet? I heard that the cross drilled rotors crack due to heat and stress after track use? Has anyone experienced this and/or any truth to this?


Thanks again for your replies.

03ML350

Collin,

Yes it is in character with what I expect from the car. The up/down shifts are still crisp and sporty (vs. the "did it shift" smooth shifts of my E 320 loaner) but completely in character with the car. The get back on the gas jerk seems to be gone too. That one was the most violent and annoying one so I'm glad its gone.

After three days of mixed driving I've only encountered two mild jerks. One coming out of a strip mall making an up hill right hand turn where I had to make some abrupt brake/gas pedal inputs. I was really jerking the car around at that point and the jerk was milder than any of the pre-repair ones. The other is a sharp slow 180 deg. right hand turn at my work parking lot that seems to result in a minor jerk. Again milder than any of the pre-repair ones. Still this means that 99% of my pre repair jerks are gone. Well see if these remaining ones go away as C32Andy was mentioning earlier in the post.

Crossing my fingers...my car went in today to get the tranny looked at. I copied this thread and took it in to the service writer. We'll see what happens.

Collin

I want to get the tranny jerk problem fixed on my 02 also.

When you guys say replace the 02 tranny ecu with a 03 tranny ecu, you guys mean physically swapping out my current tranny ecu module with an 03 module correct? Its not simply updating/flashing/reprogramming the current tranny ecu right? I'm assuming also that the tranny ecu is a seperate module than the engine ecu.

Thanks.

Very informative thread. My '02 C32 does the "tranny jerk" :v about once a week. I have noticed that it does it mainly while making right turns (or shortly thereafter) and mainly when the car is cold. Has anyone else noticed these as being precipitating factors?

i notice on my 02 that it is prone to do the jerky jerk when the car is cold. it does it sometimes when it's warm but not too many times. it has a personality of it's own. i find that when the car is cold and i accelerate hard (about 3/4 throttle) it'll jerk most of the time.

reset your ecu. pull the ground off the battery...pump the brakes a couple times, let car sit for 1 hour. Plug it back in, take it for a spin...any error codes? shut off car, and start it back up..all gone. Clunk is gone...at least it did for me.

bump. i'm almost convinced about buying an '03 tcu now

.

I'm planning on doing it, probably next month when my budget clears up. Been scanning eBay and Googling sporadically, but do you know of any places where you could get a refurb/"like new" one?

I wonder if this is what some of the other folks were talking about, where they had their 02's flashed to 03 code. I'll be damned if I can find anybody in Chicago who knows how to do it, though...

this may be of no help at all but maybe these folks can fix the 02 tcu's instead of replacing them

http://www.beckmanntechnologies.com/contact.php

did you read the post above? the '03 tcu has to be brand new because it has to be SCN coded to your car - can't do this with a used TCU.

there was an update to the '02 software, it does not work. i think people are confusing this with the actual '03 tcu software, which cannot be flash onto an '02 tcu.

here's an interesting tidbit - my tcu was replaced in 2005 by the previous owner under warranty. SDS shows the TCU as being made in 2005, but it still has the '02 style part number.

How were you able to find out that your car had the tcu replaced? Service history at the dealer?

yes.

.

Very interested. Keep us posted.

Anybody have a PN?

Thanks for letting me know, I had no idea about having to code them like that.

032 545 1232 - '03 and later
030 545 2332 - '02s (there might be others for the older ones like this)

This is from Jerry's earlier post in the thread, bump-quoted recently by Dingleberry.

I requested info on one of the new P# ones. Will update when I get a response

this is what STAR read when connected to my car:
ETC - Electronic transmission control
MB Number: 030 545 3032
HW version: 47.2005
SW version: 03.2002
Diagnosis version: 2/1
Pin: 11


it appears that the PN you want for an '03 "design" TCU needs to start with 032. as you can see, my TCU is made in 2005, but it is still '02 "design"

FYI - STAR also says that I have the latest software...the latest crappy software that is
you cannot put '03 "style" software on an '02 design TCU

MB has supplied several during their relatively limited C32 model run.
My superseded and (dealership) reprogrammed TCU continues to engage the torque converter’s lockup with a wallop at light throttle.





+1

Still believe it’s the 2002’s software programming that’s at fault, erstwhile OP’s success notwithstanding.

splinter, do you have the 030 or 032 TCU?

so the 034 TCU is the latest revision? is still for the c32? can it still be SCN coded for an '02 like the 032 TCU?

Like yours, mine is the 030 545 30 32.
Tempted to try Jerry’s recommended 032 545 12 32 – or one of its derivatives.

Don’t know if there’s a proven workaround for seamless retrofitting to our earlier versions.

bump