I’m wondering if any of you e63 owners are having similar problems.

1) In manual transmission mode I hit the rev limiter at 5500 rpm’s in 1st gear. I just had the car at the dealership and was told this was normal. If so, this is BS and MB should fix this. Any of you experience this?

2) In sport mode the car starts in 2nd gear. You have to drive the car hard for a minute and then 1st gear will be available. Again MB said this was normal.

As you can see by the above, manual mode is worthless. Sport mode is also worthless unless you have driven the car hard for one stop light. I sure would hate to have an M5 pull up next to me at a stop light without preparing in advance. No spur of the moment racing here.

Also, does anyone know of a ¼ mile track in Southern California?

Thanks

 

ge63,
Yeh, i have had similar problems with my 63. The tranmission seems to have a mind of it's own. I don't have many miles on it yet, but I just sold my sl550 and did not have these kind of problems. I don't know if it is an AMG software thing or what,but I am a bit concerned and will continue to monitor the situation and will keep you posted.

 

Not sure about the 1st gear manual issue but will have to check on this. Will do a few runs and see.....
The transmission 'learns' as you put miles on the car. You are correct that when cold Sport does indeed start in 2nd and has to be driven hard for 1st gear to show up.
One way around this is to hold down the left paddle for 1 sec (even in comfort mode) to get the ideal gear. The gear will show up on the left but the car will still be in Comfort/Sport mode as indicated on the right. The best part of this is that the car will hold gear and will upshift if you are approaching the limiter. I often use this method if I am just cruising along and someone wants to play (aka get smoked). The car pulls harder as time goes by..... at least mine does. To revert to regular comfort/sport mode just hold the right paddle for 1 sec.
Pulling left paddle from a stop gives you 1st gear in Auto mode and still allows upshift when approaching the limiter.
We have been talking about the 7spd tranny here from time to time. You can do a search and see what else was said. As previously stated, I will keep playing with it and let you know what I find.

 

A couple of others have reported issues with the car starting in 2nd gear. I drove the car fairly hard from the beginning and do not remember the car starting in 2nd. I checked it this AM and it starts in 1st in M and in S without me selecting the gear. I have about 2600 miles.

I have not experienced this one.

Are you actually hitting the rev limiter at 5000 or is it just the red upshift light that flashes? For me in manual mode in first it flashes earlier than other gears at about 5000 but the car shifts about 6600 or 6700 the same as in S mode. For all the other gears is flashes red at 6000 then shifts at 7100 or 7200 just like in S mode.

I have to say that the red upshift flash is a huge improvement over to old guess system that was employed before in the M mode.

Hope this helps.

 

Checked this morning on the shifting issues. My car has 1750 miles at this point. Pulling back on the left paddle in Comfort does indeed allow the car to start in 1st gear and it shifts at 7000 RPM by itself to the upper gears. Manual mode also goes all the way to 7000 PRM and will bounce of the rev limiter if not manually shifted.

So to answer your question, no I do not have the same issues. I think that it gets more aggressive as time goes on.

 

Your dealer is correct, and yes it is stupid.
The rev limiter in manual mode (in first gear only) starts to cut in at just over 6000 rpm and cuts in quite violently. This is because this engine revs so freely in first. I plan to complain to Mercedes, and you should too - maybe if enough of us do it they will reprogram the tranny to automatically upshift in first, (but at the real redline of over 7000 rpm), and not hold the gear as it does now. Once you get used to it, you'll tell your brain to shift when the tachometer seems to be approaching 5500, and by the time it actually shifts it will be over 6000 and works pretty well.
And yes in sport mode it always starts up in second, (again really stupid!!!),but you can "train" it each time you restart the car, by clicking the gears down to first with the paddle, and force the gears to shift to second at over about 3500 rpm once, after which it will always start up in first, until you turn the engine off again. (Once you get used to it it is not bad, just dumb on their part).

 

So I played around a bit this morning.

I don't know what I have done but my car starts out in 1st gear in M and S but starts in 2nd in C.

In manual mode, my car hits the redline about 6400. It is violent and it will hold the gear and not upshift until you click the paddle. (I like this feature as the old 5 speed would upshift and not hold a gear at redline.)

While in manual mode, the red shift light seems to work perfectly in first by flashing at 5000. If you click the paddle when the light flashes it shifts right at 6400. The light then flashes again at 6000 with a click it shifts at 7100 same from 3rd to 4th.

I ran the car in S mode to see where it shifts as well. I was in S mode and manually selected 1st gear so that the car would handle the upshifts. I had the same results, the car shifted from 1st to 2nd at 6400 and then shifted from 2nd to 3rd at 7100 and 3rd to 4th at 7100.

I then repeated the sequence in S mode leaving it in D. The shift points were exactly the same. 6400 1st 7100 2nd and 3rd.

The trans short shifting in 1st is something that I remember from my SL55 and CLS55 as well. The 5 speed gearbox short shifted 1st gear in each of those. I remember someone telling me at one time it was to manage torque in first gear. I bet they are doing the same thing with the 7 speed.

As for wanting the car to upshift at redline. I would use S mode and manually select 1st gear. The the car will hold a gear all the way up to redline but it will upshift if you hit the redline.

The only time I use M mode is on a racetrack. I do use S mode and select 1st all the time : )

As I mentioned before, the red shift light in Manual mode is a huge help. I have never been that good at looking down at the dash to see the small tach we have in our cars when I need to keep my eyes on the road.

Enjoy!

Schiz

 

I do not have those same issues with my e63 either- we just picked it up yesterday with 35 miles on it.

We're in the San Diego area - the only 1/4 racetrack that I know was in Carlsbad, and it closed a couple of years ago... shame...

 

The E63 tranny program is just different than the others to protect the 7g. Once you get used to it, you should like it more than the E55 version.

By the way, those in SD should hook up with our crew for some fun. We need more E63s in the mix.

 

While in manual mode, the red shift light seems to work perfectly in first by flashing at 5000. If you click the paddle when the light flashes it shifts right at 6400. The light then flashes again at 6000 with a click it shifts at 7100 same from 3rd to 4th.

Where would one find/see the red shift light?

 

The shift light only works in the M (Manual) mode. It shows up in the center of the speedometer. The whole inside circle flashes in red. It will also come on when you hit the rev-limiter.

I need to check it again but it may only appear when you are really pushing hard.

I do know that it flashes for a second, then goes out indicating when to shift. If you have not clicked the upshift while it flashes it will light up red again when you hit the limiter.

Does that make sense? It does not do it in S or C modes.

Schiz

 

Here is the quote that I found from AMG on the topic at the AMG Private Lounge.....

Enjoy!


"One of the functions that you will find added to the instrument cluster for
2007 63's and the S65 is a special "AMG Display Screen, Main Menu."

The AMG main menu has the following functions:

Central gear indicator, constantly displayed in the upper area of the
display (with upshift recommendation when in M mode)
Engine oil temperature (symbol appears blinking or blue until an operating
temperature of 80 °C is reached)
Battery voltage
RACETIMER

 

Makes sense...... I will try it and see. Thanks!

 

I don't have the issue with starting in 2nd on sport mode. During manuel mode my rev limiter is around 6500 rpm....

I guess I just lucked out with mine

 

Congrats, also recently got my E63. There are five of us on this board that get together in and around SD.

 

The main thing i found needed getting used to was the gear change in M-Mode, To press the paddle and no shift to happen immediately is quite confusing at first but you do get used to it. I came from an M3 SMG which changed immediately so the change needed getting used to.

The start in 2nd in S-mode is an issue i think all of us 63 owners have had. After racking up some milage i think this issue is dissapearing as we realise that it starts in 1st after some aggressive driving. I think thats fine really. I Wouldn't wanna race an M5 as mentioned above if the car was still warming up.

Lastly, the thing i'm getting used to is keeping the thing stuck to the ground, with winter here its always raining and those tyres just spin and spin.

Apart from that i'm loving the amount of power available at high speeds, makes many people Very unhappy on the Highway, especially if they only think thats a normal E-Class in their rear view.

HSH