1999 Mercedes-Benz A140 notchy gear change
 

Hello, I have recently purchased a 1999 (T) Mercedes-Benz A140 ACS (Auto Clutch System). I have been driving this around now for a few days and I am amazed that a 15 year old vehicle could feel so smooth and stable, everything feels new and stiff apart from the gear change. When I go from 4th gear to 3rd or from 3rd gear to 2nd the change feels notchy. Have you ever pulled a manual car out of gear without using the clutch? If you have you will know that you can sometimes feel the gears meshing as it comes out of gear giving a slight rumble to the gear selector. This is exactly what my A140 feels like, I am sure that the clutch is dis-engaging as I am able to get it into the lower/higher gear.

The other issue I have noticed, not sure if this is linked to the above problem is that I can sometimes have difficulty selecting first gear from a stand still, you really have to push the gear selector to get it to engage properly.

Hope someone can shine some light onto this, hoping I haven't purchased a dud.

Richard.

Do you think that a change of gear oil would rectify this problem? I think it may be been caused by the syncromesh not working correctly, this would link to the issue with not been able to get first gear easily. Even though the car has the Auto Clutch the gearbox is still the same as a manual version.

Since I have been absolutely inundated with replies, Not. I decided to go ahead and change the gear oil. I looked for the genuine Mercedes Benz 235.10 transmission oil but drew a blank everywhere. I was directed to Comma 75w80 MB10 oil, according to my local Mercedes dealer this is created to the same spec as MB235.10 and would be a suitable replacement.

I set about changing the oil, but, found that the exhaust causes access problem to the filler plug. I had a 14mm Allen key trimmed down to size so that it didn't foul on the manifold. I then managed to remove the filler and drain plugs (They were incredibly tight!) I let the oil drain fully and then filled the gearbox back up with the Comma oil, it took 1.8L exactly.

I measured the amount of oil that had drained out, there was 1.5L I then took the car for a drive, 4th gear was still a bit notchy! I decided to go for a drive up and down a dual carriageway to let the oil circulate around the gearbox fully. I gingerly took the car from 4th to 3rd and to my surprise it was silky smooth, I tried this a few more times and it was the same every time.

I shall have to see how it performs tomorrow, it is still difficult to get the car into 1st gear when stationary, not 100% sure why that is. Will keep this post updated.