sluggish trannie response? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

tkd_M119 · #1 06-09-2002, 02:35 AM

I've recently aquired a 92 400e and it seems to me that the transmission is slow to respond/downshift. Tonight I drove my wife's 92 Q45 and the transmission is MUCH more responsive. She has 104K and I only have 53K. Is this normal? It feels as if the 400e will only go from 4th to 3rd and the Q will not hesistate in dropping to 2nd.

My kickdown switch does feel a bit "sticky" in its action. It also doesn't seem to be able to make contact with the accellerator. But even in roll on situations it just doesn't seem to shift quick enough or low enough.

Any thoughts?

#2 06-10-2002, 02:30 PM

same here, when i floor it sometimes in my 300e , it doesn't seem to drop gears... but when i really really want to go fast i Floor it pretty hard and i can feel a little button and a click vibration in my foot and then it down shifts .. idunno seems alittle slow .. any way of fixing it so is more reponsive downshiftin?

Badinfo · #3 06-11-2002, 02:19 PM

you can try adjusting the bowden cable to change around the shift points. This cable, on my 300E at least, was under the giant airbox. You can see it without removing the box from above. It is a whitish cable with a little rotating plastic nut. You can twist the plastic nut to change the shift points. I have yet to figure out which way does what though.... I always forget which way I turn it to get what results....

#4 06-11-2002, 03:04 PM

well right now it changes around 3,000 rpm floored it redlines and if its like halfway it will go as long as i keep a steady foot.

tkd_M119 · #5 06-24-2002, 01:29 AM

Just spoke to a friend of mine who had a 560 SEC for a long time. He's quite a gear head. He told me that MBZ transmissions have at best "mediocre" performance at best.

carman850 · #6 06-24-2002, 04:37 PM

My 92 400E feels exactly the same, sometimes it's really annoying, seems it has only two extremes: sluggish and violent.

Sometimes when I really need the power, I step on the gas petal for 2/3, it doesn't down shift or just from 4 to 3, I have to aggressively floor the petal, it hesitates for a moment, then all the power comes suddenly, if I do this at 60 kmph, it will downshift from 4 to 1, the feel is too violent and uncontrollable, not only scares myself but also the other drivers, I normally take a deep breath before I do this

I think it's just the nature of itself, after all it's an old design.

Badinfo · #7 06-24-2002, 09:04 PM

carman, I know what your talking about. With my 300e, its either I don't keep up with traffic (quite humilating actually) or I run the risk of running into the back of them while still accelerating, there is no inbetween, really gets annoying after a while...

tkd_M119 · #8 06-25-2002, 01:46 AM

Glad I'm not alone here. But I'd think for a car that costs as much as it did back in 92 that they would have upgraded the transmission. I glad I didn't pay full price. Besides like I've stated before my wife's 92 Q45 has MUCH better response and that car was over $10K LESS back in 92!

Has anyone had any better luck using Redline or Mobil 1 ATF?

How about a new transmission computer?

carman850 · #9 06-25-2002, 09:34 AM

I have Mobil-1 ATF in the tranny already, it makes no difference.

Maybe a new computer firmware can help some, but I doubt it helps much without modifying the gear ratio, the gear ratio was optimized for Germany autobahn, not for North American.

Here is the 92 400E's gear ratio:
Rear differential is 1:2.24.
1st is 3.87:1, 2nd is 2.25:1, 3rd is 1.44:1, 4th is direct(1:1), reverse is 5.59:1

1st gear can reach 80kmph(50 mph), second gear redlines at 140 kmph(87.5 mph), if you have enough power, top gear can reach 315kmph(197 mph), compare with normal cars in North American, it's very strange indeed, I think this is the major reason we couldn't synchronize with the traffic.