I hope someone can help with this. I took my 2006 CLK 500 to the shop to have the radiator replaced since it had developed a crack and was leaking. The car was driving fine when I took it into the shop yesterday morning. I just picked it up an hour ago. As soon as I left the shop the check engine light came on and the car started behaving very badly. It did not want to accelerate at all and when it did accelerate it was very sluggish and erratic. It would rev up but not go anywhere, then the RPMs would drop and the car felt like it was trying to downshift or something. It feels like something is wrong with the transmission but I've never had a problem with it.

Does anyone have an idea as to what is causing this? Would replacing the radiator have caused this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ben

 

You should get the code for the CEL.....

I don't believe the radiator replacement itself would cause what I interpret from your post.

You should check that the vacuum hoses are connected. The techs may not have reconnected things properly, or at all. I had my radiator changed a couple months ago. I didn't find anything loose or not connected yet but I did find a grind stone (I shutter to think why a grind stone was used) logged in the drain hole of the rain collector on the drivers side. Also had to re secure a number of wires between the bumper and the radiator fan housing.....

 

A section of the radiator is used to cool the transmission fluid. Changing the radiator means some transmission fluid will be lost. Your transmission may now be low on fluid. The level needs to be checked. Your car has the 722.9 7-speed transmission which is a bit more complicated to check the fluid level. The shop that replaced the radiator need to take responsibility for this.