C63 Guy

So, many of you know I recently had the transmission on the Dragon rebuilt, much to my satisfaction. Got some good clutches from Level10 and a new MB torque converter and have been having a ball ever since.

Well, recently I noticed a strange noise coming from under the car and my mind immediately went to "WHAT NOW?!?" Did some listening with a stethoscope, took it to a couple of Mercedes service ninjas and no one could figure it out. It was definitely coming from the bell housing, and it was getting progressively worse so I figured it was probably the torque converter, as the car still shifted great but made crunchy noises at idle while in gear and at low-ish rpm. Lo and behold, I have it disassembled fully expecting the worst and my oh my was I surprised... I killed the flywheel/flexplate/whatever they're calling it these days:



Yoikes!

It was probably cracked from when I cooked the old trans, so I'm not totally surprised that it happened. I'm just glad it didn't completely let go while I was driving. I dunno what it costs yet, but it's nice having friends on the inside, so it shouldn't be too bad.

I'll keep you all posted.

Josh

olszowa12

That could go really bad if it had cracked completely while on the road

Hope it turns out well and won't cost a fortune to replace

yooker

Is it possible to just swap out the torque converter for the multi clutch pack in the E63 + a software upgrade for the transmission?

GMW

Yikes, you might want to add a periodic transmission inspection to every service just to stay ahead of any problems.

EUGENE-Taiwan

Yep always keep the ears open when driving!!!

nice catch Josh!

GermanCars

Man, check out the plating coming off the around the crankshaft bolts! A bit too much flex in the flex plate.
What's the crank look like?

C63 Guy

Yeah, we checked that and the crank looks fine. Fortunately there's shims on both sides of the flexplate that took all the scarring and abuse. My big concern was the torque converter interface to the pump and axle (that's where it barfed from last time), but the tech that disassembled it said it looks fine, so that's one less thing to worry about...

Josh

Sincity

Hope it will be reasonable to replace. GL.

obsidian05e55

Damn.. So is this something we all have to worry about, if we mod this car in similar ways, or is this just attributable to aggressive use?

MB_Forever

Sorry to hear that Josh...... you know you scared me when you titled your thread "Another transmission thread...." because when I first read it, I actually thought you fried another tranny I was thinking how the heck could he be driving his car to take down yet another tranny

C63 Guy

LOL, I've been driving it much less, uhm... 'abusively' since the rebuild. Still driving it hard because, well, that's how I do it. But no brakestands or anything harsh like that. Since it's apart I was considering sending the TC and valvebody to Level10 to have them built to take some real abuse, but then I'll probably really abuse them, so I decided against that. I hope this is the last of the wreckage from the first trans detonation.

Thanks for the concern.

Josh

SMP

Josh, sorry for your troubles. Since you have the transmission out and the flywheel off, you might as well change the main seal. With all that heat build up during your breakstands, most likely that's the next thing to go.........at least that's what I would do.

mkonei

i had a Level 10 aod....total garbage. just an FYI

barberfirestop

Try Paramount in North Crolina, we race our SRT8'S with his tranny's and with over a 1000RWHP, We havn't seen any failures, our trannies are 5 speed NAG1, I believe it is a Mercedes trans stock, works stock up to 500 RWHP, then you need Paramount,, 1 year warranty.

Brian GT PRO

wow...The tranny issues just don't stop with you huh? LOL wow well good thing it didn't come apart under load and high speed, good catch!!

MB_Forever

The stock mercedes 5-speed should actually be good for 600 rwhp.... that's what some of our 65 guys are running without any tranny upgrades

EUGENE-Taiwan

how that is interesting! will that fit on the C63?

and I'm guessing it will handle a **** load of TQ too.

LZH

Yea, it'll fit in a c63. But you'll never need it in any 63 that's n/a so what's the point?

EUGENE-Taiwan

Well I really hope some gets their C63 boosted

MB_Forever

+1 one would not need it for the 63 cars. Plus, it maybe very difficult (programming-wise) to mate the 5-speed to the 63.

C63 Guy

Checked out their site. Looks to be all Mopar, but I'll give them a call anyway. If they can build a 722.9 to the specs of the 722.6, I'd commit a caper to make that happen, then put a 250 shot on the Dragon and go funk up some clowns... Just kidding.

1000lb-ft. Does that qualify as an asterisk load?

Thanks, man. But it wasn't so much a good catch as an "OMFG WHAT THE HELL IS THAT NOISE?!?!?!" LoL. And hopefully this is the end of it. My tech didn't think to inspect the flexplate before because apparently this is the first one that's failed this badly. His shop ended up calling AMG in Germany for the shims because there isn't even a part number in the system for them because they had never made a replacement set before!

Good idea. Fortunately I already have one on hand... Don't ask.

Josh

C63 Guy

Let's see: New bellhousing (yikes CAD/CNC nightmare). New harness (OMFG wiring nightmare). New ECU/piggyback/whatever to talk to the trans (whoa programming nightmare). New axle (probably the easiest part, actually). New bank loan (no thank you bills nightmare).

Yeah. I agree +1000. For all that effort I'd rather try and turn it into a 6sp manual with something like a T56.

Josh

MB_Forever

LOL, is that a no?