boshowen

Hello my name is Ryan, I have a 2005 e55 AMG w/ 82,000 miles. I am a 24 yr old Mechanical Engineer

After not driving the car all winter (battery unplugged for 6 months) just 2 days after first start up I saw my first check engine light. P0715 (Conductor Plate) and 7030 (Incorrect Gear Ratio). Luckily I already have the parts as last summer the car would slip into a neutral state on the highway while still in gear. I would pull over and restart the car and id be good to go, 2 others time the car would not shift from C,M,S and I’d be in limp mode in Comfort with no check engine light (again restart the car and the problem would go away). Friday I drove 200 miles to my parent’s house with no issues other than a check engine light going 80-90 for most of the trip - ready to put these parts in:

- Conductor plate kit (plate, plug, electrical plug) -FCPeuro
- Sonnax overlap control kit (adds O-rings to the shift bushings to ensure the fluid pressure doesn’t snake around the OD of the bushing) -VRP
- Shift Kit -VRP (only major difference is the Lube Regulator Valve assembly - as the VP Valve is measured to factory Spec)
https://vrpspeed.com/index.php?route...product_id=397
- Blue top Solenoids – VRP (which surprisingly were already installed)

Install was simple and went off without a hitch! If I were to redo it, I would do it the exact same way.

When finished, the car was worse than it was before the tear down. I added 3.5 qtrs of fluid and reconnected the battery I immediately noticed an issue. I put the car in reverse and when I let off the brake the car didn’t roll, I would give it gas and the car would not roll, give it gas a second/third time and the car would engage (sometimes abruptly). I would put the car in drive and the same thing would happen where I would let off the brake and the car wouldn’t roll as it normally would. When the car would gain speed it would slip in 2nd gear and go into limp mode (check engine light back & the same 2 codes were back) I drove the car in limp mode to an Ex-Mercedes technician owned service shop hoping it was a problem with the car not being able to read the new conductor plate – he was able to write the VIN to the new plate no problem.

Diagnosis Assistance System (DAS) codes:

- P2069 & P2066 which basically just say that the P0715 & P030 codes are stored
- P220A – The speed comparison of Y3/6n2 and Y3/6n3 is implausible (speed sensor at the engine and transmission do not match – this is what trips the car into limp mode - slippage going on)
- P2500 – The transmission has an impermissible transmission ratio.
- Stored Event – DTR: Communication with Transmission control unit is faulty

The tech and I focused on the issue of putting the car in R/D and it not moving, then slipping into limp mode. Only thing we could think of was loss/lack of transmission fluid pressure. He topped me off using a Mercedes transmission dip stick and the issue is still there. The only thing we could think to do was to take the valve body out and remove the shift kit, put the original style PR Valve and Lube Regulator Valve & Spring.

The issue seems to be lack of fluid pressure, the tech thinks I did something wrong – for example not taking out an O-ring in the valve body and blocking off a port. The slipping very well could be an issue with the transmission. No metal in the trans pan, but oil looked like it’d never been changed. I could see the clutch packs going bad without a fluid change (?)
Could it be the plug not sealing all the way into the valve body and leaving the system open to the atmospheric pressure? Im just spit balling here, my plan next Saturday is to open it up again and remove the shift kit, I don’t think the problem is the new conductor plate, solenoids, or Sonnax bushings so im going to leave those in.

Has anyone done a conductor plate job and spiced up the VB and experienced similar issues? Anything helps I respect all your experience and knowledge.

BC928

Yes that would at the surface seem like a hydraulic circuit malfunction , which would point to the shift kit.

GinDistiller

Remove the shift kit asap. I literally did the same thing you did when I got my car, these valve bodies do not take the kits, they really shouldn't be selling them as I've heard the same story from others.

My car was undriveable with the kit, I removed it and all was back to normal.

SICAMG

You have the wrong size regulator valve in the bore. That's what the "HEADS UP " part is in the directions.

boshowen

Thanks for the reply dudes! what a sham/ waste of time. I'll have to wait until Saturday to do the work but ill report back and let everyone know how it goes

cnterline

Contact Russell at SGA. Whipplem on here

SICAMG

I had a valve body done by IPT and they did the same thing. Car would barely move to where I almost towed it to get it home and in the garage. Swaped the valve to the correct one and all fine again.

redc36

just to chime in with my research. I also started thinking about valve body refresh and reached out to an official sonnax distributor. I was told that 0106 casting of the valve body does not have a sonnax repair kit. He said that 0106 is a special AMG cast with different bores and sonnax DOES NOT have a repair kit. Their kits only support 0006, 0206, 0406, 0506 and 0606 Castings. And they stopped manufacturing the 0406.
I sent them VRPs 722.6 link from above and the distributor replied that its for the above castings NOT 0106 (amg cast).
VMR valve bodies in Holland, which used to be Valve Body Xpress of Europe were recommended by SONNAX themselves for 0106 related rebuilds.

BC928

Other threads have talked about using Sonnax parts - possibly not what you reference above, however.

boshowen

Hey thanks, you sent him my make and model and was told its a 0106 cast? im reading online common cast is 0006, 0606 - how can you be sure before tearing down the car?
So if i were to put back in the bushings and take out the overlap control kit (along with taking out the shift kit) how would i know which of the 3 bushing is which? Sonnax has score marks on theirs and its clear to see which one goes where, OEM doesnt

2-3 shift (upper valve body)
1-2 & 4-5 shift
3-4 shift

2005 e55 AMG

.I'll call Sonnax and VRP tomorrow and straighten it out, but will be tough to do without the valve body cast number (car is in a different state until saturday)

-Ryan

JoeJErnst

Yes!

Russell at Sound German Automotive sells his own modified valve bodies. I doubt there is anyone outside the Mercedes engineering center who knows these transmissions any better than he does.

redc36

2 days ago I took the trans pan off my 2005 E55 and it was 0106 casting. it had 03/28/2005 build date so I know its original. Again it was 0106 and Sonnax distributor confirmed there are no sonnax upgrades for 0106 AMG valve body. He confirmed it with sonnax direct in the past since few other e55 owners contacted him in the past.

redc36

0606 0006 is for e430 .... e500... not E55

boshowen

Awesome thanks for the heads up, I talked to Russel last night and he said it should be relatively easy to tell which bushing is for which gear selector and to put the OG parts back in. Really what he said was these parts dont really do anything (shift kit included) and that i should've stayed more organized lol !
Last suggestion of his was to make sure the pin was aligned with the correct notch on the plastic plate hanging off the transmission when reconnecting the valve body (im sure you know what im referring to if im not explaining if correctly)
Im pretty sure i did it correctly, would anyone happen to have a pic/diagram of how thats supposed to look?

I'm going to call Sonnax to pick their brains about the fluid pressure loss and see if they agree (which from what you are saying im sure they will agree) also calling up VRP to get my money back F that!

Cant thank you guys enough

E55amg0220

If u end up needing a new vb i bought a new one from mb when they thought thats what i needed and then i bought a new trans cus they said it was the trans an converter luckily when they looked up vmi i had new mb trans in it before i bought it so they warranted it and i took out my new vb an kept it since i just bought it for 900 bucks. So wrapped it back in the mercedes box an its just sitting so let me know. Good luck

redc36

just curious is it 0106?

E55amg0220

Ill go look an take a pic

Ok looks like it is a 0160 an has a new conductor plate on it and all new solenoids blue tops as well.

boshowen

I called Sonnax and the guy i talked to said the overlap control kit i have (part number: 68942-05K) would fit 2005 e55 AMG, and that they don't sell cast 0106 Valve body assemblies.

Shout out to Jason from Sonnax who also gave me this:
OEM Valve body bushing Specs
1-2,4-5 Overlap sleeve ID = 0.339"
2-3 Overlap sleeve ID = 0.406"
3-4 Overlap sleeve ID = 370"

Any info on how exactly this shifter linkage sits in the transmission? i didnt look when i dropped the valve body, pretty sure i put it in the right groove. Russel thinks it could be as simple as that not being aligned correctly.
Even if its a hand sketch or something, it'd help before i tear it down again.

whipplem104

I got asked some questions about this and I am not familiar with some of the parts so I did not know the answer and I keep everything in order but I had an AMG valve body here and I took it apart to see what was different besides a few things that I knew already. The PRessure Regulating valve listed above is way bigger than a normal one in the AMG valve body. So a kit for others would not work. There would be no pressure at all.
Also just so everyone knows this valve has ZERO effect on shifts. I mean ZERO. It is not going to help at all. There are no kits on the market place that you can put in your stock valve body at home that will. It just is not how it works. I am not saying that modified valve bodies do not work. Just that it is not a do it yourself thing. Springs and shims do not work.
Also the overlap sleeves with o rings is most likely not going to do anything as well. If those sleeves are worn enough to cause problems then you should get a new valve body. They are not even moving parts. Which is why they are not anodized for wear.
And the question about the manual valve going on the pin above. It goes into the groove on the yellow piece of plastic so that when you move the shifter it moves the valve.
Hope this helps.

TECHNICIAN

The plate in a 722.6 is not vin coded

I'd be willing to bet the pin isn't engaged in the plastic shift selector properly

boshowen

It was the shift kit, i took it out over the weekend and the problem went away immediately

Thanks for everyone's replies

redc36

thanks for the update.

quick Q:
1. VRP Shift Kit - caused shifting issues
2. sonnax overlap kit - was OK? installation was compatible with 0106 casting?
3. Blue tops and conductor plate - OK

boshowen

Exactly, I measured the ID of the overlap control sleeves and they all matched the original. I also called Sonnax and they said that they dont make the 0106 Valve body Assembly - but that the overlap control kit will work for AMG. I had him look up through their R&D department the specs they designed to (listed above) and like I said it matched pretty much spot on to stock sleeves.

F the shift kit, waste of time and money. It was robbing pressure from the system and not engaging correctly, I have the original blue tops if anyone wants them - I thought the car had brown tops , half price

Day 4 and 300 miles late the conductor plate and solenoids are working correctly

golfer1971

Would it be recommended or good to just replace ALL the other stuff (overlap sleeves, TCC damper valve, other springs, etc.) but just NOT the pressure regulator valve?

Basically everything except that one valve that's too small.

boshowen

Soo the plot thickens, I talked to VRP and they sent me a link to the product description from their website which blatantly calls out that the TransGo shift kit PR valve doesn't work for V8's. My problem specifically was that I placed the order over the phone and didn't read this!
VRP says you can use the lube regulator and the springs, but i didnt i took the whole thing out. Not worth the 75$ for half a kit! and Russel says it doesnt do anything anyways



The Overlap control kit works
-Ryan