kiwie55amg

2004 E55. (13,000 miles)
Car has done a couple of erratic and hard gear shifts betweeb 2nd and 3rd (upshift and downshift), then it is fine. It happened again last week and now the car rev's between 2nd and 3rd (upshifting and downshifting) before going into gear. Once its in gear it is fine (no slipping etc) and all the other gear changes are smooth. It rev's between these two gears only and all the time now no matter what the rev change between these two gears is.

Its at the dealership and they said it was the 3rd gear clutches and have pulled the trans out and replaced the parts, BUT it is still doing the same thing. They said they have replaced the Trans. computer as well to no avail. Now everyone is at a bit of a loss to what is going on.

I've spent ages searching on this forum to find a similar problem but could not find anything.

Any ideas what it could be? Thanks in advance.

kiwie55amg

Anybody?? Anyone had or heard of something similar? Dealership has had the car a week now. Good thing is they have given me an '05 E55 loaner to use.

DFW01E55

Get a new tranny, housing included.
At least they gave you a decent loaner!

kiwie55amg

Yeah with the decent loaner I'm not in a real hurry to get mine back. I'm sure the dealer is though as the loaner has a $179k price on it!!

mclarenm8d

I second DFW's thoughts, add torque convertor. Is your car still under warranty?

Just for kicks, see if the techs can duplicate the problem by driving it around and using their diagnostics equipment to keep the torque convertor lock-up from activating. I'm guessing valve body or a problem with the torque convertor lock-up putting things askew ... but I certainly ain't no expert.

The tranny computer actually senses and stores parameters on the wear. But in general, pretty low mileage for a wear problem, unless it was caused by another issue. The tranny computer can also sense if a solenoid isn't up to par. So, I'm thinking that pretty much leaves mechanical/hydraulic items.

My torque convertor lock-up is intentionally immobilized, but it isn't something to do on a car that is still under MB warranty. I mention this primarily to emphasize that these transmissions and torque convertors can have problems and sometimes need some tweaking.

Adding more fun is that they won't necessarily CEL or store codes in the transmission computer to indicate a problem.

kiwie55amg

Thanks for that mclarenm8d.

Yes car is under warranty and the problem occurs all the time - hot or cold and under any rev range, so it is easy for the techs to duplicate the problem.

They have ordered a new trans. and I still have the 'loaner' E55. I have met with a bit of an expert on these cars who has his own shop and not affiliated with the dealership and he reckons the problem points to the speed sensors, valve body or the torque converter.

I hope the dealership knows what they are doing.

MB Fanatic

Pressure them for a new transmission and torque convertor. I would settle for no less at this point.

kiwie55amg

Thanks for the advice.

Just waiting for the torque converter to arrive from Singapore. So getting new trans, torque converter and TCU.

MB Fanatic

Thats very good to hear.

kiwie55amg

Got car back today. New TCU, Trans and Torque converter. Car is running perfectly. They never did figure out what the problem was though!!??

enzom

As long as it is fixed. Let the mystery remain.

kiwie55amg

True enough, but once these 211 E55's get out of warranty this kind of job could be an expensive repair. It would be nice to know what caused the problem so if it happens to someone else they could search the forum and know where the problem was.