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hi guys i was driving the other day and noticed my car was stuck in limp mode, basically it felt like it was not changing gears and was stuck in 1st or 2nd. i restarted the car a few times and finally it seemed to be normal but i had it towed to a local MB shop where they scanned it and basically told me its the solenoid in the transmission which is a dealer only fix and will be about 3k or so. i am posting the scan that they provided me any help would be greatly appreciated as i love this car but im not sure if its worth fixing as i was under the impression that there is a speed sensor part in the transmission which is possibly fixable by sending to a company in california, but unfortunatly i seem to have much bigger and dealer only fix problem ?
Unfortunately you do not have a speed sensor issue that can be resolved by sending the tcu to a company that will replace the failing sensor. You have a failing tcu which needs to be replaced altogether. If the old tcu can be read you need just the pcb. If it cannot be read (and can errors indicate just that) you will need a valve body and a new pcb as the pcb config is tied to a particular valve body.
Unfortunately you do not have a speed sensor issue that can be resolved by sending the tcu to a company that will replace the failing sensor. You have a failing tcu which needs to be replaced altogether. If the old tcu can be read you need just the pcb. If it cannot be read (and can errors indicate just that) you will need a valve body and a new pcb as the pcb config is tied to a particular valve body.
thanks for your reply... i came across this site as they seem to repair everything all together if my understanding is correct ...
My car was misbehaving, kicking at slow speeds, and giving similar codes. I initally thought that it was a speed sensor issue but it turns out that it was the valve body.
Last edited by Erik_350; Feb 20, 2016 at 11:42 PM.
My car was misbehaving, kicking at slow speeds, and giving similar codes. I initally thought that it was a speed sensor issue but it turns out that it was the valve body.
Is this valve body repairable ? How much did it cost you to fix it or replace ?
Valve body is not reparable as far as dealer is concerned. New valve body will require also a new tcu as every valve body has unique flow characteristics that are reflected in custom adaptation in a mated tcu. That is why if tcu is bad and cannot be read the custom adaptations are lost and a new valve body and tcu are required. The replacement is not complex and a good tech can be done in 2-3 hours, but the parts are expensive. I believe off the top of my head that we are talking around $2500 for new valve body and tcu.
Valve body is not reparable as far as dealer is concerned. New valve body will require also a new tcu as every valve body has unique flow characteristics that are reflected in custom adaptation in a mated tcu. That is why if tcu is bad and cannot be read the custom adaptations are lost and a new valve body and tcu are required. The replacement is not complex and a good tech can be done in 2-3 hours, but the parts are expensive. I believe off the top of my head that we are talking around $2500 for new valve body and tcu.
Thanks alx i think the guys at Gnnmotors.com can fix the valve body and tcu i might give them a call tomorrow and see how much they say it.will be
Ok guys i called the local mb shop who diagnosed it and gave me the scan he is not sure if its the conductor plate or valve body .. gnnmotors looked at the scan and told me these are not repairable fault codes and i need a new conductor plate. .. im a bit confused as if i need new valve body which i believe comes with new conductor plate or just a new conductor plate. Can anyone with this repair done at the dealership tell me how much im looking at for this kind of repair at the dealership
Stupid design and very disappointed at mercedes i just bought a 2011 audi a8 and all i can say is that car blows even the 2010 w221 or 2012 in terms of almost everything and audi doesn't seem to screw you by making you goto the dealer.
Ok guys i called the local mb shop who diagnosed it and gave me the scan he is not sure if its the conductor plate or valve body .. gnnmotors looked at the scan and told me these are not repairable fault codes and i need a new conductor plate. .. im a bit confused as if i need new valve body which i believe comes with new conductor plate or just a new conductor plate. Can anyone with this repair done at the dealership tell me how much im looking at for this kind of repair at the dealership
First off, it sounds like you have a conductor plate issue which the 722.9 transmission is notorious for. Second, I don't think it's a dealer only fix. They sell conductor plate DIY kits on Ebay so that should tell you something. In the past, I've wondered what a conductor plate and valve body are so I looked at Youtube vidoes from the MercedesSource guy Kent. He has a pretty informative series on these transmissions. Here's one...
I did get estimate from the dealer for the conductor plate and its $1500 i just wanted to educate myself a bit more on how much people have paid and how many hours of labor is really needed as i dont have good experience with dealers and especially MB dealers they seem to know that if you came to them you have no other choice lol ...
Yes it does seem like im having issue with my conductor body or vgs but i believe i dont have the usual speed sensor codes and thats why im told its not repairable, even ebay listing mention not all are fixable my thing is i dont want to pay for new conductor plate and then week later or so come to find out i need new valve body as i believe i will be paying for vgs or conductor plate twice aswell as labor and time.
Took it to the dealer hopefully its just the conductor plate, its going to be abt $1500 which i think is high as i used a shop discount and parts were coming upto abt 450 so i dont know where the other 1k is coming up they told me its more like 5 hours with transferring data from old plate to mb and then to new plate. Im just hoping sooner or later there will be a recall on this as there should be and ill get reimbursed.
2 days and $1400 later picked it up they changed the conductor plate and all seems to be okay for now .... starting to hate mb more and more after all this i used a 10% off coupon and supposedly got a wholesale price on parts and it was still 1400 ? Charged for 5hrs labor @150/hr i didn't argue i needed the car but after this experience i seem to luv my audi a8 more now it may not be a perfect car but it sure is built tougher id say.
Thanks guys for the all the help and hopefully anyone in future with these error codes can use help from this.
First off, it sounds like you have a conductor plate issue which the 722.9 transmission is notorious for. Second, I don't think it's a dealer only fix. They sell conductor plate DIY kits on Ebay so that should tell you something. In the past, I've wondered what a conductor plate and valve body are so I looked at Youtube vidoes from the MercedesSource guy Kent. He has a pretty informative series on these transmissions. Here's one...
When did MB fix the 722.9 transmission issue ? I'm looking at buying an S car this spring, maybe a '10 or '11 year. Don't want any trans issues!!!
If you ask me id say atleast give the 11 or 12 audi a8l a test drive maybe u will change ur mind abt getting sclass ... as far as tranny issues i was told by the by the dealer that they still use the same transmission even in the newer mercedes models ... and the part number for plate or valve body are same when they change it , basically he told me if u dont do the recommended 40k transmission service you will have this problem .... i think a 100k car n tranny needing service every 40k is stupid maybe they can learn from the Japanese whose trannies are just as smooth if not smoother n dont require any service for atleast 100k miles or so
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