HELP!!!! CLK 320 Tramsission

[TheRealBill]

I was jsut told that the transmission on my 1999 CLK 320 is gone. This happened without any warning as I was driving I suddenly started hearing noises so I took my car to the closest dealership.

Thay looked at it and told me that there is something broken inside the transmission and the best case scenario is that I would need to get the transmission replaced. The worst case is that I would need to get the Torque converter replaced along with the transmission

I am oout of waranty on this car due to access no. of kilometers (mileage) that I 've put on my car.

Any ideas on what can I do? or would it be possible to somehow get them to do under the warranty


Regards

[blackmercedes]

Originally Posted by TheRealBill

...would it be possible to somehow get them to do under the warranty...

You can ask, but since MB is being stretched to the financial limits with cars in warranty, I doubt it. Welcome to the "new" world of MB. The 722.6 tranny in 97-99 cars is not the best, and if yours was never replaced under warranty, odds are your "original" transmission is just done for. The replacement will be better (we hear, anyway) and should (we hope, anyway) last a long time.

BTW, can you enlighten us on the mileage on your car and your location? That might help. As you are speaking metric, I could guess that you're Canadian, and in that case, I would gaurd against being optimistic. MB Canada is not too willing to entertain "goodwill" claims currently. I have had a few friends looking for some, and their requests were returned very quickly with "no."

[BAd124]

A 99 CLK's tranny can go this blackmercedes? Thats pretty bad that an MB tranny would need to be replaced after only 5 yrs. Do you think that this may be more of a case of poor or inadequate care rather than normal wear? This is the first I have heard of this and as I am going to be looking for one in the next year or two you have me worried .

[BAd124]

Just found a similar thread...might want to check it out..CLK320 Transmission Software

[blackmercedes]

Originally Posted by BAd124

A 99 CLK's tranny can go this blackmercedes? Thats pretty bad that an MB tranny would need to be replaced after only 5 yrs.

Heck, if it's the original tranny, I'm kinda surprised it lasted this long. There is a high failure rate among five speed autos for 97-99, with 97-98's the worst. There is a need to update the ETC and some valve bodies, and some just plain fail mechanically.

They just seem to have sorted out the five speed 722.6 and then change to the seven speed unit. Great. Another three to five years of junk.

[Ali Al-Chalabi]

Some early builds do prematurely fail, unfortunately.

However, I have been lucky with mine so far. It is a 97 C280 produced late 1996 and has not had any uprgrades done to it and is still going strong at 130k miles.

[TheRealBill]

So from your replies I gathered that there were problems with the 99 CLK 320 Tranny. Would you guys then recommend fitting (if it is possible at all) a newer model tranny if there were less issues with those to my 99 CLK.

What year w208 CLK has the most reliable transmission?

Thanks

[blackmercedes]

Good question. It would seem that MY2000 and later 722.6's are better, but who knows? Those of us that have had "updated" transmissions installed in our 97-99 cars (the 2000 "touch shift version is a little different yet) seem to be having much better luck, but only time will tell.

I have come to know a CLK Cabriolet owner through my mechanic, and comparing notes, I think his car's ownership costs well exceed my now-sold 911 Turbo. He's had the tranny fail, the harmonic balancer tear the engine bay apart, and spent thousands on the top mechanism, on top of the typical AC/ACC problems, AMM, and on and on. (on and on? like my sentence...)

The most reliable tranny MB has made in some time is the 722.4 four speed. Bullet-proof.