Balky 4matic trans when cold
 

I live in Chicagoland, and when my 99 E320 wagon is cold (below 40 degrees overnight) the tranny is VERY sluggish. It's painfully slow from dead start, and I have to shift "manually" for it to shift at all. Finally, it won't go into the overdrive/top gear at all until after about 10 minutes of driving. Very frustrating taking the engine to 45-4800 rpm hoping it will shift. The engine is at operating temp but the trans takes its sweet time to catch up.

Any ideas? Last year at approx 30K miles I took it to the dealer...they said nothing wrong. Now I'm taking it back at 45K miles...The problem seems worse and it's close to out of warranty...

Thanks for the help,

Todd Buckton

Many times the transmission is reacting to the amount of torque that the engine is putting out. IF the engine isn't developing enough torque then the trans will remain in the lower gears.
Many times on the M112 like yours the air mass sensor leans out the mixture & then the engine doesn't develop enough torque.

Thanks for the reply. She's going to the dealer tomorrow, I called them ahead of time and asked them to make sure to check the sensor.

Thanks, again,

Todd Buckton