My 2005 E55 AMG has run great for the most part. It has 70k miles and I've been driving it since 50k. I was driving the car to a thanksgiving meal and about 45 minutes into the mostly highway drive I started to hear a whine I'd never heard before. I hadn't accelerated right before the whine or anything it just started to make the noise. I then pulled over and investigated for a few minutes but found nothing. I had a passenger in the car rev up the engine a bit in park to see if the noise was dependent on engine speed. I didn't hear the noise so we took off and I accelerated hard to get back on the highway. The transmission slipped trying to get into 3rd gear but eventually found it. The noise was more prominent now so I pulled off to a gas station about a mile away and on the way to the gas station the transmission became stuck in 2nd (limp mode). I turned off the car and got gas. When I turned over the engine again everything seemed normal except for the noise (no CEL or limp mode) so I took off down the road to test the transmission a bit more. After about 30 seconds of driving the sound came back. I pulled up to a stop sign and when I let off the brake and got on the gas the car was in neutral while saying it was in drive. I had lost all gears but reverse and now had the CEL on. I reversed onto the side of the road and had it towed back home.

I first checked error codes and found a P0730 incorrect gear ratio error and then a few "The Gear Is Implausible Or The Transmission Is Slipping." errors (P2561, P2563, P2560) for gears 1, 2, and 4. Another error I got is a P220A stating "The speed comparison of Y3/6n2 to Y3/6n3 is implausible. Finally I got a 6230 ESP error and a 6210 ABS error - not sure if these are meaningful. I read up on all of the issues this could possibly be such as conductor plate, atf wicking into tcu, and coolant mixing with atf. I first disconnected the battery fully in order to reset the tcu. This seemed like it solved the problem as I was able to drive completely normally but after about 20 minutes the sound came back and then it was back into limp mode. I got the car back home and let it sit for a few minutes and then tried to replicate the sound and it came back fully after about a minute of getting on the gas with the brake pressed down in order to heat up the atf by running the torque converter hard. The sound seems to only be made when the fluid is pretty hot. I could not tell exactly where the sound was coming from but it sounded like the back of the engine. I got it up on stands and dropped the transmission pan and found metal shavings in some very dirty fluid along with a seemingly normal amount of clutch pack wear on the magnet.



I plan to drop the transmission next weekend and see if the transmission pump has gone bad. The fluid level seemed fine to me too. One odd thing I noticed is that the fluid when measuring with the dipstick seemed a lot cleaner and more red than the fluid that drained out of the pan. Let me know what you guys think.

 

That's some nasty fluid.

 

I would pull and check the pump

 

Trans is done and will have to come out by looking at what is in the pan. They are easy to rebuild if it needs to be done.

 

Just completed the rebuild on mine. Same issue. 2nd and 3rd was gone and oil pump was bad. Sent mine to Southern Hotrod in Louisiana. OEM+ rebuild. Similar price to OEM parts. Only problem is shipping the unit to them. They do not have cores.

 

The fluid always looks cleaner on the dipstick, it’s always surprising when it’s drained

 

Mine did the exact same thing in a nearly identical chain of events, but with 3 differences:

1. When it started misbehaving, I immediately babied it home (which was an hour away)
2. When I drained the pan I measured the fluid that came out and it was 3 quarts low
3. My drained fluid had no metal shavings in it

I refilled with fresh ATF134 to the recommended level and it went back to normal, 3 years since with no issues.

 

Did you ever change the transmission fluid since you owned the car or done any other tranny maintenance? I changed the fluid, filter etc. around 55K miles. Also did the blower oil at the same time- now THAT'S some smelly, nasty stuff!

 

I do a drain and fill every year on my truck,I do tow, and the E55. This way the fluid is perpetually clean....always. Little much, sure but being a transmission rebuilder by trade fluid contamination is the start of almost all the issues I have seen. Fluid should look like brand new all the time ....to an extent, but it is the number one most overlooked service on any vehicle on the road beside brake fluid changes that I have seen.
Limited slip differentials are up their as well and get real dirty in no time.

 

I also drain and refill from the drain plug every oil change (4000) miles. With an unknown used car I do this until the fluid isn’t dark. Fluid is cheap, and contaminates fluid holds heat and doesn’t lubricate well.

 

Many maintenance items are overlooked on this car.

They’re stout cars, but with poor maintenance , they can leave you stranded on the road or worse, big $ fixes.

 

Correct Armo and cdk. To me when you are looking at what a major hassle a transmission problem is,if you are going to be under the car just pull the drain plug and drain the trans fluid...very easy and the best way to keep tabs on it.

 

I do it for every vehicle I own, (all 28 and all operational) . The nonsense of sealed transmissions and 10,000 plus mile oil changes leads to problems.

 

10,000 ??? I just saw a 10 year 300,000 mile, Synthetic Blend Rotella "Guaranteed" motor oil in Walmart. WTF ???