Anyone know what the relationship between presafe and the car shifting gears is?

I have been randomly getting into a situation where my car will remain in a cartain gear and not shift iany more. sometimes I'll be driving and slow to turn and it won't downshift, or I'll stop to pay a toll for instance and it will downshift but stay in irst or second. In either case I have to shut off the car a restard it, and in either case I get a pre-safe inactive code. Restarting the car and it goes away. it happened to me twice yesterday, and once a few onths back.

only 04-06 cars are equipped with presafe but I'm not sure it that's the cause or the symptom in this case. The shifiting seems o be the only
affected system when I get the code. I'm going by the dealer today I guess to let them have a look. I haven't been in a while.

 

I have the same problem on my 05 600. Not sure what it is... my dealer tried to resynch the windows and everything but that didn't work. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the battery.

 

so what did the stealership say...??

 

got tied up in the office putting out fires.. I'm going tomorrow

 

common benz tranny issue , my 04 clk500 did it , my 03 w203 did it.

 

those are both 5 speed tranny's this is a 7 speed.And neither of those cars have Pre-safe. Not that it matters much..

What was the fix in your case?

 

Well,,

I took the car to the dealer yesterday, nothing.

My SR told me that Pre safe and the actual tranny were not really related.

Also that the shifting issues could be the actual shifter going weird.

THe problem is that this thing is soo intermittent it is nearly omposible to find unless its actually doing it.

I told him if it happens again, and is in a good gear I will drive it directly there and they can have a look before I shut down the car. Thats a stretch, but at least its a plan.

I also plant to do my tranny fluid and filter in the meantime.

That's all I have for now. I haven;t seen this issue since the first post and I have been drving almost every day.

 

I don't think its the tranny either... on my car it seems to come in spurts. It happens a few times repeatedly and then stops for a week.

 

I'm thinking its the gear shifter but I still can;t do anything till the problem stays.

 

I am starting to think its the battery. I noticed mine is cranking slow today and I did drain it twice before on accident. Usually it acted up right after draining the battery down.

 

I don't think so, Once the car starts the alternator takes over the systm so its not really using the battery much at all.

 

Let's say I replicate the problem... how can I (or mercedes service advisor) check if its the gear shifter? I tried changing gears and it won't... it stays in S.

 

YOu drive it straight to the dealer and leave it running so they can hook up to it and try to find the problem.

I wish I could make mine do it but it seem to only want to do it when it wants to.

 

My '00 had similar symptoms - it was the shift controller module (that may not be the correct term for the part - it's a functional description).

 

My 2004 S500 has been getting stuck in various gears, each time this is followed by the presafe inactive message (or something to that effect). I did take it to the dealer and they said it is a valve body in the trans. They wanted $1875.00 to replace it, I said no and left. It does suck though when you go to pull out and it's stuck in 6th gear! I'm sure that will wreck something else inside the trans. But shutting it off cures the problem, for now. I'm getting tired of not trusting the car at turns and stops, I think I might suck it up and get it fixed??? I wish someone out there had seen this issue through to a resolution. Any new info would be great! Thanks!

 

Hmmm interesting..... I was told my vaalve body was bad long before these exact symptoms you are having started on my car. I've just been doing the turn off restart also. my valve boy quote was only 1300, but I passed also. that was about a year and some change ago.
I have been thinking however, and your post kinda confirms it for me too, that the valve body will be a final fix for this issue and was seriously considering biting the bullet and letting them do it in a few weeks. righ now the car is locked away in my garage.

Look at it this way, the valve body job includes a full tranny fluic fush anf refill which runs about 350 to 400 itself. so the 800 to swap out the valve body and reprogram it might not be all that bad. My car had 123K on the clock with the original tranny fluid as far as I can go back which is 38K.

 

I scheduled the valve body replacement, which "had" to be done at MB service... at least the independant service tech could not convince MB to send him one. We'll see if this fixes the shifting and presafe warning issues.

 

I finally took mine in today because this was just getting on my nerves!!

I looked at the diagnostic and as I already knew the TCM failed many points. Unfortunately on the 7 speed tranny, the TCM is no longer located under the passenger footwell, the Valvebody and the TCM are one!!!

Oh well... the unit costs around 1600, then there's about 300 dollars in other stuff, and labor so I am out of around 2600.00 for the repair.

At least this will fix 3 out of 3 bugging issues I have been having with this car which have been the stuck in gear/presafe issue, the key not wanting to come out when I shut it off, and the random errors with nothing when I try to start it.

This will put me at about 3200 out of pocket in 3.5 years of ownership not including my self inflicted mods..

so at 125K, I'm still not doing so bad with this car.

Oh, and I get to drive around in a 2010 C300 with the AMG kit for free..LOL.

 

Cool,
Yeah, I gave in... waiting patiently. it's funny because they know i'm a car guy so they ham it up like they are heart surgeons... "Sir, the valve replacement was a huge success, your automobile is undergoing a series of computer simulated driving conditions and it is adapting well to it's new valve body" I guess the learning computer must get comfortable with the new valve body on a dyno with the computers hooked up?? Haha, I felt like the 6 million dollar man, we can rebuild him... stronger, faster.... what ever happened to the old 700R4 transmissions? They had to make them into super computer robots that no one can diagnose or fix!

 

Phew, so if I understand this right, the TCM on the five speed auto tranny in my S500 is separate of the valvebody? And the problem that ya'll are having is due the the TCM, and NOT the valvebody?

If so, I sure do feel better! haha

 

$2200 is almost half what my entire w220 cost

 

Then i will buy your w220 how much do you want for it?

 

I had the same "pre safe inactive" issue and the transmission not shifting properly or higher than 3rd gear on my S600. I drove immediately to the dealer. Showed the Service Advisor the message, then turned off the car to fill out paperwork, get loaner etc. When they went to move the car from the Service Entrance it would not start, acted like the battery was dead, but lights worked etc. Ultimately they replaced the internal transmission control module, saying it was full of fluid. Had just gotten it back 2 days prior because of a trans leak. Anyway, it appears to have solved the pre safe issue, but my transmission STILL doesn't shift well and the torque converter seems to be very rough when it engages. At the dealer AGAIN for that issue.

 

My car is an '03 and has presafe. I have had that message a few times. Nothing consistent and my car still shifts fine even with all of the abuse it has taken.

 

Picked up my 2004 S500 today after the new valve body. It is smoother and no presafe warnings or shifting problems. It's nice to pull out in front of someone and know that the car will go! On to the next issues, the $1000.00 driver side seat bottom cover with heater and the $1000.00 light that goes around the shifter gate and is half way burned out! Gotta love that German engineering!