natza

I've picked up a E55 2 weeks ago and have already ran into my first problem

Yesterday when I took my new beauty out for a spin, I noticed that my paddles are not working anymore, they're completely dead no matter what mode I'm in.

I then tried shifting through gears with the stick in "M" mode and noticed that whenever I try to change gear, the dash display will show the gear that I change to, but instantly change it back.

For example: I'm stationary, it will show "2" I push the stick to the left, "1" will pop up for half a second and it will just jump back to "2" without me doing anything ?

Any ideas?


//Edit: I just noticed that the "M" mode shifting only works when pressing the stick to the left side i.e downshift, still it jumps back to the gear it's already in / the gear never actually changes. Pushing it to the right does nothing at all.

hayseed

iTrader: (2)

I had similar symptoms .. I repaired my keyless go a while back and one of the connectors under the shift console facing the rear of car was loose , had to go back in and secure it

latemodel21

sounds like your upshift button may be stuck (or an issue in the floor shifter "up" switch).

Is your E55 2004 or older? if so, an open connection between the floor shifter and the steering buttons could cause this ... because, 2003 and 2004 E55s have an analog steering wheel shift button configuration with a "normally closed" up-shift button, so hitting the up button opens the circuit allowing the input at the floor shifter to pull-up to 12volts (so an open circuit would act the same as hitting the up shift button on the wheel).

Hope that helps,
Chris

natza

Thanks, it is indeed a 2003 model, so this very much sounds a like a possibility!

Is there anything I could do myself for a possible fix, or at least troubleshoot this further to find out the exact cause? e.g if it's the button on the wheel or the floor shifter?

latemodel21

a simple way would be to pullout your up steering wheel switch (they pry out easily with no damage).

edited ... was half asleep and gave info backwards ... this is correct now

below are the readings if all is intact in the steering wiring and the connection to the floor shifter .....
if you pry out the "up" button and probe the 2 wires (with the key in position 2, one lead of your meter on ground, meter set to dcvolts),
with neither button depressed, both wires will be at 5.1 vdc
with the up button depressed, one wire will be a 12-14 volts dc ... the other near zero
with the down button depressed, both wires will be at about 1 volt dc

if you have trouble with that, PM me your email address and I can give you some more info or walk you through it on the phone.

Cheers,
Chris

Saied

Hi
this is my first post post
​​​​​​​have you solved it?
I have exact same issue with my s55

Strigoi

You might want to try PM'ing him and hopes he gets an email. They haven't been on here in months.

latemodel21

This is often a problem with one of the steering wheel mounted shift buttons , or a wire in the shift button harness.

You did not go into detail about your issue, but here is some useful info and a guess (if your car always wants to shift up and you can make it go down one gear with the touchstick)
Being that this is an S55, for the steering wheel mounted shift buttons, it uses the "analog" shift button configuration in which the up and down buttons are in series.
The up button (which is a "normally closed" switch) opens the circut allowing the input to floor shifter to rail to battery voltage; the down paddle (which is a "normally open" switch) shorts the entire circut to ground (through a 100 ohm resister in the up button).
what does this mean to you? ....
If the right (up) shift button is broken, or ANY of the wire associated with the steering wheel shift buttons is broken (open)including the wire leading from the steering column to the floor shifter, the car will forever think you are trying to upshift. WHICH SOUNDS LIKE THE PROBLEM you are trying to solve.

you can probe the voltage of the shift buttons to verify operation.
with the key on,
the wire leading from the "up" shift button to the clock spring should read approx ...
5.1 vdc with no buttons pressed
1 vdc with the "down" button pressed
12-14 vdc with the "up" button pressed.

hope that helps,
Chris

tlambert

Saied

Thank you so much, Chris,
you were right and the problem was the upshift button on the steering wheel.
to make it short, this time when I pry the out the 101 resister on the upshift button came lose so I soldered it.
everything seems fine for now

latemodel21

Happy to help. Nice job on finding the problem quickly.
Cheers,
Chris

breeze247

Please forgive a bit of an interloper... I have a 2003 CLK55, but the electrics on these cars are very similar and this is the most recent post I can find.

In summary, I recently replaced my gear selector. About a month afterwards, I went to use the shift buttons on the wheel and found that they weren't working. I rarely use the buttons (actually I have fitted aftermarket paddles) unless on a track.

So I started thinking that the gear selector (or swapping it) was the issue. That said, I thought it would be worth stepping through your diagnosis post to see if I could find a fault.

Against your guide, this is what I found:

• with neither button depressed, both wires will be at 5.1 vdc - yes (I got ~4.9)
• with the up button depressed, one wire will be a 12-14 volts dc ... the other near zero - yes
• with the down button depressed, both wires will be at about 1 volt dc - no - one of the wires goes to 0 (the one that goes to zero with up depressed)

Is that enough information to diagnose a fault? I appreciate that the CLK55 might work in a slightly different way to the E55. Just trying to avoid getting a replacement gear selector...

Thanks in advance.

latemodel21

Yes, all of that info above would apply to a 2003 CLK55 (a more complete list is 2003-2004 E55 and all 2003-2006 SL55/66, CLK55. S55/66, CL55/65 and SLR Maclaren )
HOWEVER ....
wish I had better news. (and do get a second opinion)
But, It is my understanding that there is a NARROW window of opportunity to designate a replacement floor shifter as "shift button compatible" (this only applies to 2003-2006 AMGs with analog shift buttons, other Mercedes models that used digital shift buttons are NOT subject to this issue). When the new shifter is installed, the shift button option must be selected as it cannot be changed later. If your shifter was replaced by a Mercedes dealer or specialist, they would have / should have known this. SO, they ARE on the hook to make this right (with a brand new shifter). If you installed it yourself, I am afraid you need to buy another shifter and start over. Or, if by chance, your original shifter only had a mechanical issue, you could swap its electronics into your new shifter and I would think that would work.

Chris

breeze247

Buddy, this is exactly the reason why I use these forums, thank you so much for coming back.

I've just double checked with the yard that sent me the selector. The one they sent came from a C55, which means it would be digital buttons rather than the analogue buttons that the 2003 CLK55 used. So that makes sense. The challenge I have is that what I need is quite specific. I need a selector that does analogue shifts (and has been programmed from the factory for them), and also has stop-start. Frustrating, because there are a great many of these selectors for sale, but as soon as you apply that criteria it narrows massively.

I may end up needing to choose between stop-start (which I now have) and shift buttons. I use stop-start all the time but on track days I really can't use the stick to shift.

Hmm....

Thanks again Chris, really appreciate it.

Andres Morejon

I am having a similar issue with my 05 E55. The transmission always upshifts to the highest possible gear, even under decent throttle. When I click downshift it down then goes immediately jumps back to D. Is my 1st step to take apart the steering wheel and measure the voltages? I see talk about 03 models, does this apply 05 too?

latemodel21

The 05 And later use digital paddles, so while the problem may be caused by a similar failing component like your up paddle or the up switch in your shifter. the testing will be a little different in terms of the voltages you are looking for. With the 05 you could disconnect your up shift paddle and the car should still operate normally and if you're up shifting problem goes away you know the problem is in your up shift paddle. If it remains than it is probly in the up shift switch of your floor shifter

breeze247

Chris

I’ve just spoken to the dealer and they can get the part for £475+tax. Ouch. They said that it would come from Germany and needs to be coded to my chassis.

Does this mean the unit will be all set up for manual buttons on the wheel or is the ‘chassis coding’ something else, like an anti-theft requirement? I don’t want to buy the selector and then need to pay somebody again to code it. I can fit it myself no problem.

Separately, I have been looking at eBay sellers who are selling the part number that my car came with. Everybody is telling me that the part does not have engine stop-start, even though the dealer has confirmed that it is the correct number and it was fitted to my car at factory.

Still thinking that getting the same part number, with stop-start, coded for shift buttons used is the answer, but it will take some time. I also need to make certain there isn’t a security point that I have missed.

latemodel21

Very good question about the coding.

The price is not surprising. For reasons that I am not 100% clear on, the floor shifter is considered a "security" part making it more difficult to purchase over the counter. I would not assume that the coding that they are talking about includes the AMG shift function enabling ... but I would not assume it does not (or could not). You should ask a tech at mercedes if it does (or could) include this. The possibilities exists that they ... will, could, wont, or cant (it is possible that it has to be in your car to be coded for that during the "marriage" process). I wish I could give you more specific answers, but I've not had to solve this for any customers (thankfully). What was the problem with your original shifter? can you move the electronics over to the new one?

perhaps this is the excuse you need to get your own star tester? (I always love an excuse to buy a new tool : )

Chris

breeze247

For those of you that like a happy ending...

A few posts above I flagged an issue that I was having with my CLK55 shift paddles.

In short, after trying another shifter, I thought to contact the person that bought mine from me to repair and he agreed to sell it back. He accidentally sent a different shifter the first time around (he buys, repairs, sells with warranty) but the second time he sent me back my original shifter fully repaired.

Everything working perfectly.

***To those of you that have shift buttons on the wheel, my advice is to repair rather than replace unless you can be 100% certain of the spec of the car you are buying from. ***

breeze247

Thanks again for your help Chris

latemodel21

Happy to help, glad it all worked out !

I do agree that folks should be wary of replacing the floor shifter on certain AMG models (2003-2006 AMGs with analog shift buttons) . This issue does not come up often, but when it does it rarely has a happy ending.

The buttons in your wheel, while part of this antiquated system, are updateable (with no worry of coding issues, etc) . One can use the "Mercedes Paddle Adapter" module that interfaces the newer digital paddles to the older "analog" system in this car. I am the manufacturer/developer and the module is available from me or from various forum sponsors (or comandonlineUK if you are on that side of the pond : )

Cheers and stay safe!
Chris

tlambert

Glad to see you’re still posting Chris and helping out. The forum needs tech guys like you.

latemodel21

I will never be too far away as long as there are things left to modify on my AMGs : )

Glad to see you are still around lending a hand as well, Tim !

Cheers and stay safe!
Chris

bbirdwell

This is why I like this forum; lots of technical information! Many thanks for your participation!

BTW, the supercharger clutch scatter shield I purchased from you years ago still looks great and provides significant piece of mind.

Andres Morejon

So I got a scanner and my car has the upshift steering wheel pulsing between operating and non operating. Only for the upshift. I cut off all paddle button wiring from the wheel and still it upshifts. Could it be my car is an early 2005 and still analog? I have WIS but can't tell where the wires go. I think it's circuit s111/1. Any ideas?