Cold Transmission
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Transmission in Cold Weather
Is it normal for my transmission to act weird when it is at 40 degrees C when I start up in the morning? The other morning I was heading to school, and I forgot something at home, so I turned around and floored it so I wouldn't be late. The car's transmission felt like it skipped a gear from 1st to 3rd. The transmission is only about 6 months old because of previous problems. I just don't want to have problems again.
If anyone one knows please post.
Thanks
If anyone one knows please post.
Thanks
Last edited by ML500 5.0L V-8; Mar 21, 2006 at 12:51 PM.
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2010 ML550, 2010 E350 4M, 1966 Corvette Convt C2
Its not normal to skip a gear if thats what in fact it did. It is normal from a cold start to stay in lower gears longer. Its also not great to "floor" a cold vehicle, thats abusive and will eventually cause problems
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From: Chesapeake, Virginia
'11 C300
WOW! Where do you live where it is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit this time of year - in the morning! "40 degrees C" = 104 degrees F. Maybe you should get your transmission fluid checked to see if it is up to handling this kind of temperature.
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When you start the engine on a cold morning after sitting out all night, when I start it and drive off, it seems like it has soo much power and I have to barely press the gas and it launches off and I'm worried that something is wrong. I've had my fluid hose break its seal before and that had to get fixed, before that I had to get a new transmission put in because the control box burned out.
I just need a soild solution to know if it is normal or if something is wrong.
By the way it's 32 degrees F out here with light snow.
Thanks for your guy's inputs.
I just need a soild solution to know if it is normal or if something is wrong.
By the way it's 32 degrees F out here with light snow.
Thanks for your guy's inputs.
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Don't have a Mercedes right now...
You should never floor the car while is cold!!! This is a terrible mistake. I believe that it even says it in the manual that the car tries to change the gears at low rpm to protect the engine. I always drive my car slow until it worms up to full temperature before I drive it fast. BTW, in florida the car gets to full temperature in 5 mins maybe less so it is worth waiting.
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40deg C is not cold, its burning!
maybe ur car was too hot, maybe it didnt want to run kuz it'd sweat and smell bad, ur car wanted to be in a garage, infact a cold garage!
if its 40deg F, please dont floor ur car when its cold, drive it slow, then floor it when u hit the freeway when the car warms up, do alota changing lanes, u'll get to school in no time, thats my strategy
maybe ur car was too hot, maybe it didnt want to run kuz it'd sweat and smell bad, ur car wanted to be in a garage, infact a cold garage!
if its 40deg F, please dont floor ur car when its cold, drive it slow, then floor it when u hit the freeway when the car warms up, do alota changing lanes, u'll get to school in no time, thats my strategy
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Don't have a Mercedes right now...
40deg C is burning for you, not for the engine!!! Check your temp dial again, the temperature starts at 40deg C. It doesn't even report temps below that so when it says 40dec C, it means that that the engine temperature is 40dec or below.
The normal operating temp is 80-85dec C for most MB if I am not mistaken. So when it says 40 dec C it should be driven slow, if you want your car to last.
The normal operating temp is 80-85dec C for most MB if I am not mistaken. So when it says 40 dec C it should be driven slow, if you want your car to last.
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From: Chesapeake, Virginia
'11 C300
OH! Didn't say that this "40 degrees C" referred to the engine temp. Plus when I looked at the pics on your site you showed the outside temp on the instrument panel at 92 degrees Fahrenheit so I just assumed you lived in the Middle East or .... You don't show your location. Now that's a whole different thing. Sorry.
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Originally Posted by kchristos
40deg C is burning for you, not for the engine!!! Check your temp dial again, the temperature starts at 40deg C. It doesn't even report temps below that so when it says 40dec C, it means that that the engine temperature is 40dec or below.
The normal operating temp is 80-85dec C for most MB if I am not mistaken. So when it says 40 dec C it should be driven slow, if you want your car to last.
The normal operating temp is 80-85dec C for most MB if I am not mistaken. So when it says 40 dec C it should be driven slow, if you want your car to last.
You sure it isnt a faulty guage?
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Wait...
I was kind of concerned about some occassional harsh and/or strange shifting while my truck was cold, but then I thought about it and noticed that if I wait for the engine to "cold idle" before engaging any gear (~900 rpm after 30 secs or so for me) and then stop 100% completely between reverse and drive, that it doesn't shift harshly, miss a gear or two (weird slippy feel), or exhibit any bad behavior whatsoever. So maybe ya just gotta be patient and let the ol' German magic lifelong transmission elixir circulate before ya speed off first thing!
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Thanks for the advice guys. For some reason I really didn't know that it hurt it, but I believe everyone. I was just in a hurry and got worried about being too late.
I want my car to last because I love it and It's going to college with me, you know how your first car is. I'm going to keep it as long as I can.
Does anyone know of any good cold air intakes for the 5.0L V-8? I found some on Ebay, but they didn't look that good of a quality. I wanted to put one on to get a power increase and some loudness to the V8, like my friend's GC is.
BTW I live in WV so it's kinda still winter here even though it should be like 60 or more degrees.
Also, thanks for checking out my cardomain.
Thanks guys
I want my car to last because I love it and It's going to college with me, you know how your first car is. I'm going to keep it as long as I can.
Does anyone know of any good cold air intakes for the 5.0L V-8? I found some on Ebay, but they didn't look that good of a quality. I wanted to put one on to get a power increase and some loudness to the V8, like my friend's GC is.
BTW I live in WV so it's kinda still winter here even though it should be like 60 or more degrees.
Also, thanks for checking out my cardomain.
Thanks guys
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From: Maryland
2000 ML430
Originally Posted by ML500 5.0L V-8
Is it normal for my transmission to act weird when it is at 40 degrees C when I start up in the morning? The other morning I was heading to school, and I forgot something at home, so I turned around and floored it so I wouldn't be late. The car's transmission felt like it skipped a gear from 1st to 3rd. The transmission is only about 6 months old because of previous problems. I just don't want to have problems again.
If anyone one knows please post.
Thanks
If anyone one knows please post.
Thanks
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Joined: Feb 2005
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Man, I know enough about cars, but this was the only thing I really didn't know. I asked because the X5 3.0i is fine when its cold. I'm used to driving the first one we got since that is what I drove the first summer of my license. Then I switched over to the ML500 my dad bought half a year earlier. I've always like the ML, we've went through 4 of them since 2000. The first ML500 we had was a lemon. It was an 02 and had everything go wrong with it after a year. I was just starting to worry about the 04's reilability.
