I've got a 2002 SL500 "silver arrow" and as detailed elsewhere have recently had a bout of odd tranny behavior. The slight hesitation/grindishness were thought to have been resolved with a 1/2 quart of trans fluid to make up a slight deficit in the transmission.

That problem has returned, albeit it is still infrequent (perhaps even less frequent than before the top-up).

For the last week, though, I have a new issue with the tranny I'm noticing: It now "hangs in" gears for longer, doing that "slows you down when you're not on the gas" thing that sports cars do. It didn't used to do this in the year I've owned it; it would generally always shift upwards and coast like a comfy GT cruiser... I had a 2001 SLK320 years back that did this, but it was from new that way, and was considered to be the sporty shift pattern or some such nonsense.

I'm wondering how your SL's drive, and whether this sudden change in behavior is something I should be concerned about. I'd love to take the car to a tranny place or in for service, but that's like going into a leather bar wearing only a tank top that says "bend me over honey". Before I spend the dough to fix this, I'd appreciate any insights -- including knowing whether this is even technically a problem. Like I said, it drives (sort of) sporty now with the tranny shifting as it does, compared to before this week, but that's out of character with the tranny's previous behavior.

thanks for your advice and comments.

v

The transmission is driver adaptive. So, if you drive it hard, it will adjust to holding the gears for a longer period of time. Likewise, when driving softly, the transmission should shift much earlier for a smoother ride. Try a reset, perhaps that will resolve the problem.

At one point did the transmission become "adaptive"? I have a 1998 model and I feel I drive the vehicle several different ways depending on the circumstance, and I've not noticed any difference in shift points, etc...I'd like to know more - thanks!

I believe it was in 1996, when the new 5SP was introduced. Mine is a 1997 model, and I've noticed delays in downshifts after periods of soft driving around town, in traffic, etc. The transmission reset always made a noticeable difference.

so maybe then it's the recent all-hispeed freeway driving to and from vegas that did this? funny that i've had the odd freeway jaunt in this thing in the past year of ownership but that it only now decided to "adapt" itself, isn't it?

i don't think/know that there's anything wrong; at least, it's quite pleasurable to drive at the moment. on the other hand, i don't have any desire to suddenly come face to face with a $4k repair bill on a random upcoming morning!