Car does not move forward after engine rebuild
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jun 2023
Posts: 13
Likes: 3
2003 S500, 2019 GLC 300
Car does not move forward after engine rebuild
Hello all,
Last year I decided to rebuild my S500 M113 engine. After breaking it down, cleaning every bit of it with the giant parts washer at my dealership and my at home ultrasonic cleaner, getting my heads machined, and finally a complete reseal, I decided it was time to put the engine back in. The engine is back in and running great. After making sure engine pressures and temps were good, I decided to reverse the car out of my garage. The car reversed, no hesitation.
Once at the bottom of my driveway, I decided to switch to D and scoot the car up a bit. I give the car gas in D and the car falls further down the driveway, and no forward motion happens. The engine is revving the whole time. I only go up to about 2000 RPMs because I dont want to mess up the break in of the motor, but still nothing. So then I decide to get risky and try 3000 RPMS and the car shakes a bit then the revs automatically dropped back to like 700-1000 RPMS and meanwhile my foot is still in the same position on the gas pedal as it was at 3000 RPMs, I didn't let off the accelerator at all. I'm also slightly power braking in this instance so I don't fall further down the driveway while in drive.
I put wheel chocks behind my rear wheels to try and see if the car accelerates forward without me holding the brake, but it does the same thing it did before. It gave me a little shake at around 3K RPMS and lightly jolts like it wants to move forward but the car doesn't accelerate.
The transmission was fully functional before the car sat for over a year. Looking for some ideas of where to start with diagnosis. I'm wondering if it's possible that I reattached the bell housing of the trans and the engine wrong but I don't think thats the case, because I was able to turn over the engine after attaching torque converter bolts and then tightening all bell housing bolts. I also attached all 6 torque converter bolts while I had 3-4 bell housing bolts barely hand tight just to line them up. Is it possible that I pulled the torque converter out of place? Do I need to do some kind of programming or ECU/TCU flash reset? Or is it possible that my transmission is cooked? I've done a bit of reading that mentions something about the B2 piston in the transmission that can mimic the symptoms I'm seeing. I'm praying I wont need a new transmission but I'm prepared to do a swap if necessary. Vehicle has no CELs or codes btw. I don't have STAR or Xentry but my Foxwell has 'mercedes programming' which does allow me to actuate and monitor many of the systems.
Thanks in advance!
Last year I decided to rebuild my S500 M113 engine. After breaking it down, cleaning every bit of it with the giant parts washer at my dealership and my at home ultrasonic cleaner, getting my heads machined, and finally a complete reseal, I decided it was time to put the engine back in. The engine is back in and running great. After making sure engine pressures and temps were good, I decided to reverse the car out of my garage. The car reversed, no hesitation.
Once at the bottom of my driveway, I decided to switch to D and scoot the car up a bit. I give the car gas in D and the car falls further down the driveway, and no forward motion happens. The engine is revving the whole time. I only go up to about 2000 RPMs because I dont want to mess up the break in of the motor, but still nothing. So then I decide to get risky and try 3000 RPMS and the car shakes a bit then the revs automatically dropped back to like 700-1000 RPMS and meanwhile my foot is still in the same position on the gas pedal as it was at 3000 RPMs, I didn't let off the accelerator at all. I'm also slightly power braking in this instance so I don't fall further down the driveway while in drive.
I put wheel chocks behind my rear wheels to try and see if the car accelerates forward without me holding the brake, but it does the same thing it did before. It gave me a little shake at around 3K RPMS and lightly jolts like it wants to move forward but the car doesn't accelerate.
The transmission was fully functional before the car sat for over a year. Looking for some ideas of where to start with diagnosis. I'm wondering if it's possible that I reattached the bell housing of the trans and the engine wrong but I don't think thats the case, because I was able to turn over the engine after attaching torque converter bolts and then tightening all bell housing bolts. I also attached all 6 torque converter bolts while I had 3-4 bell housing bolts barely hand tight just to line them up. Is it possible that I pulled the torque converter out of place? Do I need to do some kind of programming or ECU/TCU flash reset? Or is it possible that my transmission is cooked? I've done a bit of reading that mentions something about the B2 piston in the transmission that can mimic the symptoms I'm seeing. I'm praying I wont need a new transmission but I'm prepared to do a swap if necessary. Vehicle has no CELs or codes btw. I don't have STAR or Xentry but my Foxwell has 'mercedes programming' which does allow me to actuate and monitor many of the systems.
Thanks in advance!
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jun 2023
Posts: 13
Likes: 3
2003 S500, 2019 GLC 300
I have the car completely jacked up and I started and put the car in reverse and the rear wheels did turn after a bit of a delay. I checked the oil level and it is well below the 25° C mark, only covering the tip of the dipstick. I'm assuming the rear wheels wouldn't turn if TC wasn't seated, so im assuming it's either the low fluid level or the pump.
