fastneutron

I have a 1998 C43 and have been wondering about the behavior of transmission shifting on my car. On Sport mode and by just pressing the pedal to the metal from full stop, the RPM would reach almost rev limit and hold for approximately 4-5 seconds and then all of the sudden it would shift up abruptly. Sometimes when taking over another car, my car would just hesitate and just reach rev limit until I let go on the pedal and press again. This is really dangerous since I would expect that the car with this much power would have no problems with speeding up. After reviewing pretty much all postings from this website and at benzworld.org, it seems like these are common problems with MB cars. Correct me if I'm wrong. If I'm correct, I think MB is hiding a flaw in design of its transmission programming. Some people have said to get the tranny software reuploaded to fix the problem, but when I contacted 2 dealers in Southern California (Fletcher-Jones in Newport Beach and Penske in West Covina), no one knows about reuploading transmission software or they are really hiding a major quality issue with these cars. I'm an engineer and I know that no system is perfect, but MB should inform customers of how to fix these problems.

As far as I'm concern, MB should fix these problems because it is a safety issue with the lag. They should forget about the adaptive transmission model. I bought my AMG for the performance and speed.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. I feel a little better that I'm not the only one experiencing these problems. I'm posting this also on benzworld.org, mbusa.com, and amg website.

Denlasoul

Definitely get your transmision reprogramed. See if it makes a difference.

fastneutron

I've asked 2 local dealer service departments for MB and they keep telling me that there's no such thing as reuploading tranny software. Do you think they just don't want to inform customers that they're aware of this problem?

mis-u-jerr

My service advisor said that they "remapped" my trans, rather than reloading the software. Don't know if it has the same effect or is the same thing, but they should get the idea from what you said... The other day I floored it getting on the freeway, waaaaaaaaa - ccclunkk! Let off right away. I wasn't looking at the tach, but what I am guessing happened is what has been stated here before - it overshot the shift, hit the rev limiter, shut it down, then shifted. Sheeesh...

Wesss

I'm not sure if this is the answer but it seems like some of you may be standing on the loud pedal just a little too hard. What I mean is that there is an manual downshift button when you fully depress the gas pedal. You can try this with your car off. Press the pedal all the way down lightly, then keep pressing and you will feel the button. If you stand on the gas (depressing the button), you will force the transmission to constantly downshift which may be the explanation for hitting the rev limiter. I'm not sure if this is the case for some of you but just food for thought......

fastneutron

Thanks for everyone's constructive input. The service advisor did mention something about remapping the transmission software. So, I'll be taking my car in next week. Hopefully it'll not affect the reprogrammed ECU, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the shifting problem.

mis-u-jerr

Hmmm, I always thought that the kickdown switch kicked it to the lowest gear possible, then it just upshifted normally from there...

speedybenz

Although the motor shifts fast and smooth between 2/3 and 3/4, etc., it will only kick down into 1st gear about 10% of the time. It is fustrating to roll along, get to about 15mph and floor it and then just have the motor pull out in 2nd gear.

It used to shift down hard into 1st gear and rip. I miss that.

Jeff

amgwannabe

I recently purchased an e55 1999. I have the same tranny shifting issues. In addition, on my cross country drive home, I had the trans lose gear altogether when attempting a pass at about 60mph. The pedal was floored, the engine raced and then sounded like it was going to downshift but then lost gear totally.
When I coasted over to the shoulder it still was in nuetral even though the shifter was in D. I put the car in P and then back in D and the car ran fine.

I also have a delay in shifting manually from 1-2 and 2-3 when revving the motor to about 5800. Sometimes there is a couple of second delay and then wack. The tranny then shifts.

fastneutron, did your "remapping" work? My car is under warranty until 100k and I would like to get this corrected. I have also read another e55 owner got his clutch pack and trans "computer" replaced to correct this problem.

narci

I have the same problem, cept I have a 1997 C36. Does anyone know if the C36 had mapping issues and can be remapped?

99SlvrC43

This is the same problem I note about a month ago, delay in shifting, hard (not normal downshifting) and going into Neutral when still in D. The dealer sis ABSOLUTLY nothing when I took it in, Their comment. Problem was not duplicated. Next time I'll be sure to not to leave the dealer until they remapp, reload, or whatever they wish to call it is done.

Eurosport

ask them also about changing flex disc, from what i heard it should bring tranny back to like brand new feel

psamson

Hello everybody,

Got my C43 about 3 weeks ago and the only complain I have so far is exactly what you are all talking about. 1-2 seconds flat spot between gears when the throtle is floored...

Please, the first one who got this problem fixed by the dealer give us some feedback so we can go to our respectives dealers and tell them what to do!! my car is still under the full waranty...

PS

hi-tech-product

SUBJECT: DEALER TECHNICAL BULLETIN 58/99



*** REPLACE MB-NET NO. 696 DATED 12-20-99 WITH THE FOLLOWING ***



58/99-2 GROUP 27 - MODELS 202, 208, 210, 129, 140, 170 WITH AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION 722.6: There have been some new electronic transmission control (ETC) modules produced for the correction of codes 053, 134, 146, 149 as well as improvements to the 1-2 full throttle upshift and the 3-2 downshift. The part numbers for these new ETC modules are as follows:

M119/120 engine - 026 545 72 32

M113 engine - 026 545 73 32

M112 engine - 026 545 84 32

M111 engine - 026 545 82 32

M104 engine - 026 545 85 32

For the 220, the improved software has a part number of 022 545 51 32 which is already installed in all but the very early production 220's, so please check prior to replacement.

NOTE: Does not apply to tiptronic shifted vehicles.

The ETC modules can be ordered using the 26 extension on the part number and the VIN to ensure proper version coding from Germany. Part numbers do not apply to AMG vehicles.

Please remember that software will not correct a hardware problem, so please check the vehicle carefully before changing to assure that the control module replacement is required.



Service Engineering

NYdg

12-29-99

psamson

Thanks hi-tech-products
But I read it and it says that "
Part numbers do not apply to AMG vehicles."

Does it still apply to the C43?

Thanks in advance
PS

Three Point 6

Speaking for my C36, it is normal for it to shift a little late when cold. Sometimes my car never seems to get out of that 'warm up' mode?? I can take a 30 min drive & it will shift late every time!

Well, I have found that by pulling over & shutting the car off it will return to normal shifting! I guess its kinda like shutting your Palm or cellular phone off when it locks up? That leads me to believe it is software or a faulty sensor & not an intermintant hardware issue. JMHO

Kiley
'96 C36
56K miles

c55m8o

Yep, I've been complaining about this for =years=! Never once solidly happened while I had a Mercedes tech in my car to demonstrate while the car was under warranty!

Once, I even smelled a bad burnt rubber+plastic smell along with it ...clutch? (no wheel spin so it wasn't my tires)

I'm so fed up with this *** transmission. I'd love to be able to convert my '98 C43 to a manual transmission.

My Fix? Row the shifter! It =never= knows what I want it to do anyway (I don't care what the "press" has to say about "how great" the tranni is ... I don't agree and I've grown to hate it). If you downshift one or two gears manually (experience of knowing current speed tells you how many gears) just before/while you romp on the peddle, you're likely to never see this problem again.

I'm real pissed at MG service all over (three different locations now) for
a) denying this problem exists (while your car is in warranty at least)
b) even having a service bulletin on it that excludes AMG
-- when so much overwhelming evidence exists exemplified by this thread ... after all we are most likely just a tiny sampling of all the C43 and other AMG owners that probably experience this problem.

best to all

steve s

hmm...funny... i always get a burning smell after a hard run...i always thought it was the rubber on the rear tires... cause u don't smell it up front...only around the exhaust and rear wheel area... and this with a c36... or am i just being paranoid....?

c55m8o

I won't deny that is a common occurrence too after hard driving, as I've experienced the same. However in this particular instance that I'm referring to, the circumstances were very very different. Importantly I wasn't going over about 50mph the whole ride home from work, taking back roads; with most of the ride under 40mph.

In this particular instance, what happened was this:
- The road ended at a stop sign, on a short, medium-steepness hill [down].
- I looked to the left an saw a car about 200ft. away.
- I got down to about 5 or 10 mph before I made the right.
- The car was in second.
- I made the turn about 1/4 throttle.
- After the turn when the car was straightened out I had pressed the gas peddle to about 3/4 so as not to p/o the guy behind me too badly.
- The car remained in second, pulling slower than it normally would in second (I'm very acquainted with wheel-spin, as my car's right rear wheel chatters when it does ... no question about that happening here)
- However the RPM continued to increase slowly, over about a 3 to 4 second period. (if the wheel was spinning, it would have spun up within the second)
- only after the tack hit about 4500 or 5000 rpm, did the car hit 1st, not with a "bang" but with an abruptness you would have expected to have produced a bang, really putting me back into my seat.
- By then it spent only a fraction of a second in 1st, before upshifting to second. (wasting all that time it could have been in 1st taking advantage of the gearing, to accelerate quickly instead of slowly while all this was going on)

And it was under this condition that the car's cabin, while moving, filled up with a smell that most definitely was not the tires; more like a rubber+plastic combination. I could only surmise how the cabin filled up from "nowhere" and the unusualness of the smell, that is was the clutch.

Does this sound familiar to anyone else?

c55m8o

I had this happen to me too independent of the other problem I noted above. Over a two week period, my car just started jumping into neutral when cold on sharp right turns. Tough to get it back into gear while rolling.

While in the MB dealership describing this, I was asked if I ever spilled any liquid on the center console. I'd said yes, that about a year prior I had an unfortunate incident with a large cup of Dunk'n Donuts cofee (about a year prior!) They said there's an ECU under the shifter lever and that liquid back then is most likely responsible for this pop into neutral. They said they'd change the ECU. I don't know if that's what was done or they just cleaned the contacts. All I know is I never saw the problem of popping into neutral again.

The slipping clutch instead of downshift ... that's a different story and it's getting worse and worse. I pretty much always row the shifter now if I know I'll need a downshift.

WeatherMan

Same problem here of rolling in 3rd gear then applying 3/4-full throttle- the engine revs up to 5k plus before the tranny engages violently with the downshift. The dealership replaced the MAS and reset absolutely everything possible- this caused the problem to occur much less frequently and the engine does not rev as high before the tranny engages. I mentioned on my last visit that the issue still occurred but with less frequency/violence, and the shop foreman said the electronic tranny will behave this way under the specific circumstances I described but only under those circumstances, so he would show me how to "avoid" the issue - unfortunately, I missed him when I picked up the car and I could have expressed how ridiculous it is that the dealership is going to explain how to avoid a flaw in their transmission.

Guess Microsoft could employ this "solution" by advising not to turn the PC on to avoid worms or crashes...

E55AMG99

Common problem with 1999 and early 2000 AMG cars. It happens like this. Downshift into first either with pedal or shifter and floor it. If the latter, place shifter into higher gear before trans attempts automatic shift. Engine races to redline and trans fails to upshift. Engine hits rev limiter with a BANG, power drops, tires chirp (compression braking) and trans shifts into second. Full engine power is restored causing tires to lose traction (another chirp). ESP cuts in momentarily. UGLY.

I was the first person to report this problem in '99 to MB and have been a test case for them ever since. The trans mechanic and I can reproduce the problem at will. My car has had the following work done in this order to correct the problem;
1. Shifter
2. Trans ECU with new software
3. Engine ECU with new software
4. Trans Valve Body to late '00 spec
5. PowerChip ECU remap with 250 RPM higher shift point

All of repairs helped reduce the problem except #1. MB did not approve of #5 but since they could not fix the problem 100%, the dealer looked the other way. I can still reproduce about 1 in 10 times when it was EVERY time before. Of course it ALWAYS happens when I'm in a street race


BTW - pressing and holding your foot to the floor (causing full downshift) is NOT a contributor to this problem as was suggested in this thread.

steve s

guess this isn't all that related...but i have been able to catch the auto tranny on my volvo offguard once or twice... normal steady state max boost is 14 psi... so from a toll plaza...i go wot and let go of the gas around 60 mph... and then got right back on it as it upshifts... the tranny would seem not to engage...engine races back up the rpm like mad, boost goes all the way to 18 psi... all the car did was coast... and then as i got off the gas, it "re-engaged"... feels like the tranny decided, damit...i upshifted already, not gonna downshift again and not take the punishment and skip it instead... anyway...

99C434ME

FWIW, I have 99 C43 that exhibits a similar issue with maybe 10% of takeoffs. It is not as ugly as chirps and ESP engagement, but clearly the rev-limiter engages (almost a stutter?) at the top of first gear followed by a brief pause before 2nd comes on. The on-off-on g-force is the telltale that the behavior isn't as Mr. Daimler would have planned it. I've been trying to see if I can learn how to row my way around it. I'm encouraged to read that this might be genetic and not some sign that a critical part is aging.

BTW, other than this one not-so-minor issue, this car totally rocks. The point and shoot driveability of the C43 is awesome. Plus, last week, some blue hair in an oncoming Camry turned left right in front of me (100 feet?) on a 50 mph road. Without every bit of tech in the car I would've hit her. But I got to eat dinner instead of dealing with that nightmare.

mis-u-jerr

Excellent work E55!! Thanks for the info! Next time I go in, I will have a list of things to ask for, thanks to y'all