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  #16  
Old 10-19-2003, 08:20 AM
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thanks for replies

GILLY
it is not the dealer but a independant merc shop.
they showed me the pan and i could not see any particals but they said you could see it under sunlight......the particals are really small.
the sense i get that they are not eager on a repair as the mech. says that even if parts are replaced the metal is in the oil lines and the cooler will cover the conducter plate again????

BLACKMERCEDES

i am not the first owner so no luck there.
i think i will pull the car away if they dont want to replace parts and find a tranny shop that can.

i am good with mechanics but never been involed with trannies before......

is this part replacement within the scope of a d.i.y.????

any shops in ft lauderdale florida area that can be recommended for this job.

thanks
spike


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  #17  
Old 10-19-2003, 10:56 AM
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How many miles on this car?

Was the transmission fluid & filter ever renewed?

Ask an M-B dealer to run a VMI (vehicle master inquiry) on your vehicle... look for any transmission work performed under warranty or as good will.


A certain amount of metallic debris in the fluid pan is normal... the question is what type is present... M-B 722.6 service manuals present photos of acceptable and unacceptable deposits. Have the shop show you the fluid pan... stick your finger in the deposits and see what it feels like. Are the deposits gray or brass in color? Do the deposits feel chunky or smooth? Are the deposits ultrafine... or beach sand size or larger?

And what about all the fault codes? Do you trust these guys... is the vehicle truly displaying 23 ETC.6 fault codes? You really need to know what codes are displayed if you are going to make an educated service choice.

I wouldn't necessarily trust the independent shop to be experts on this type of transmission... and if it turns out you need another tranny, I'd purchase a rebuilt unit from M-B before having the exisiting unit rebuilt locally. The factory rebuilt will have a better warranty (2 years/24K miles) and include all the factory upgrades. But you may need to install a newer control unit with the factory rebuilt.

Request the independent shop query the transmission control unit in your vehicle and provide you with the M-B part number. Then call M-B parts, supply the part number of your existing control unit and ask if it would need to be upgraded if you installed a factory rebuilt transmission.

On top of all this, you still may have a bad gear recognition switch that is keeping the vehicle in limp-home mode.

Shop won't provide you with the fault codes? Going to spring for a rebuilt tranny anyway, if all else fails? Want to throw caution to the wind and have a go at this yourself? Want to spend $300 (or less) on parts, plus towing, with no guarantee it will work? Then pull the vehicle from the shop as is... don't have them refill the tranny... the fluid is approx. $10/qt.

At home, remove the fluid pan and drop the valve body.. held in place with less than a dozen torx head bolts. On the top of the valve body is the conductor plate. Remove the plate and transfer the existing solenoids to the new plate (about $125). Install the completed conductor plate to the valve body; reinstall the valve body. Install a new fluid filter and a fluid pan magnet. Renew the wire harness adapter plug. Renew the transmission fluid, using the M-B fluid specific for the 722.6 tranny. A transmission control unit upgrade is not required for a conductor plate renewal. Treat the entire service procedure as though it were open heart surgery - use sterile technique... no dirt anywhere. If you can't adhere to that requirement, then don't do this. Before you start, spend $20 and a day at www.startekinfo.com. Familiarize yourself with the 722.6 transmission.

Still only runs in limp-home?

Then replace the gear recognition switch... its less than $100 and they haven't had a stellar reliability record. Replacement is a bit tedious but not technically difficult.


This is really all you could do at home. Its a gamble. Your call.

Last edited by jgl1; 10-19-2003 at 04:10 PM.
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  #18  
Old 10-19-2003, 05:29 PM
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WOW !!!!!! JGL1 THANK YOU.....VERY HELPFULL INFO.

if i attemp this at home( i have changed trans fluid on another 97 e320 before).... what about clearing the codes when i have replaced the parts. from what i can understand from other posts is that even if problem fixed still nead to clear the codes....hmmmm maybe i can get the shop to clear it before i tow it.

please advise.
thanks
spike


P.S: CAR HAS DONE 84000 miles and fluid has never been changed. nor sure of metal color etc... will check monday.
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  #19  
Old 10-19-2003, 05:47 PM
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Don't forget to have the tranny fluid at 80C when setting the level. The temperature makes a bug difference in the level, and if not correct, will cause problems. The 722.6 is very sensitive to fluid levels.
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  #20  
Old 10-19-2003, 09:32 PM
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Code clearing? ... disconnect the battery. But, understand, clearing the codes doesn't eliminate the source of the problem... e.g., if the gear recognition switch is bad, a code will be generated as soon as you move the gear selector lever from park.

BTW, re the gear recognition switch... you can always replace the gear selector lever assembly, in toto, in lieu of disassembling the assembly to renew just the switch. Lever assembly replacement is quite simple... but the assy. does cost >$200.

Correct transmission fluid level is important for ALL M-B transmissions. A special AT fluid dipstick (approx. $40?) is required for the 722.6 trans and can be obtained at an M-B dealer. If you receive the vehicle back with no fluid in the trans, you'll be unable to measure the fluid drained (and thus know the approx. amount to replace)... in that case you'll definitely need the dipstick to get you in the correct level ballpark.

As for the final fluid level inspection/adjustment at 80 deg C, you can always take the vehicle to an M-B dealer. You'll likely be charged a minimum of 1 hr labor for fluid temp measurement and level correction; perhaps they'll agree to do it for no charge if you buy all the parts from them.

Run the VMI first, though, before you make any decisions. Lets see if this tranny had any warranty work.
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  #21  
Old 10-30-2003, 05:52 PM
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UPDATE!!!!!

hi guys.

had the codes cleared and batt disconnected before towing car back so that no codes could be stored while moving car.

drained oil, removed valve body.....had to figure out how to get the connector of when i finally saw that bolt inside

replaced conductor plate with 140-270-07-61 $180.00
and connector 140-270-02-50 $10.00.

put all back and replaced fluid .

car will not shift out of first gear
no check engine light after short trip.

QUESTIONS:

do i go ahead and tackle the range recognition switch?
how do i know that the valves inside valve body were good?
do i try and tow car and get to see what codes there are now?

i am now wondering if i should not have put in a complete valve body?
could the car be stuck in kickdown mode?

THANKS FOR ANY ADVISE
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  #22  
Old 10-30-2003, 06:04 PM
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You had the car taken to a shop. Did they just read the codes, or did you get a diagnosis that indicated the valve body and conductor plate? You say codes "59 and up.." but that's not very specific. Do you mean code P0759, Shift Solenoid B Intermittent?

You may end up throwing parts at the thing until you're blue in the face unless you can get a proper diagnosis. Someone like Steve might be able to help with a list of the actual codes (16 or 23 of them is little help) but without beig able to dive into it, that's going to be tough.
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  #23  
Old 10-30-2003, 06:04 PM
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QUESTIONS:

do i go ahead and tackle the range recognition switch?
how do i know that the valves inside valve body were good?
do i try and tow car and get to see what codes there are now?

i am now wondering if i should not have put in a complete valve body?
could the car be stuck in kickdown mode?


1. Only if you want to continue to throw parts at the problem
2. You don't
3. You mean tow the car to a service facility and have the code read? Yes, sound good to me. What were the codes before? You never posted what they were, just how many there were.
4. Possibly the valve body is needed, I've had this same thing happen before, but it's quite a "leap" to assume it needs the whole valve body, plus then you need to assess if it will also need a new ETC control module (remember, new conductor plate, use same control module, new valve body and you may need the the control unit)
5. throttle position info is sent to the ETC from the engine control unit, there is no "kick down position" like on an older tranny, although the transmission DOES respond like an older transmission at full throttle input.

Gilly
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  #24  
Old 10-30-2003, 06:24 PM
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here are the codes i got.

58/59/62/64/65 trans control faulty
code 136 data link fault
code 154/155 trans control unit
156/157/158/160/161 control module fault
p0702
p1747

hope this helps a bit.

thanks for replies Gilly and black mercedes
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  #25  
Old 10-30-2003, 07:21 PM
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I checked out what little info I have here about the codes.

There are actual (current) codes and stored codes. MOST of your codes relate to each other on an actual/stored basis, although I don't know what most of them mean.

code 058 relates to 154, code 59 relates to 155, code 62 relates to 158, code 64 relates to 160, and code 65 relates to 161. The lower numbers represent current codes, and the higher number (higher by a factor of 96) is a stored code. So in otherwords if say code #1 means "the dipstick is bent, current fault", then code #97 (higher by 96) would mean "the dipstick is bent, stored fault".
Hope this helps. So actually you only really have about 1/2 the things wrong you would normally assume, except that stored code 136.

NOW, I did find a piece of info in my book concerning that code 065. My info says that means "Defective ETC (hardware), actual/existing, and it says to replace the ETC control unit.
This is in a list I received in 722.6 training concerning "Automatic transmission 722.6, Complaints, causes and remedies"

There is also this one I thought I'd list:
"No upshift of first gear (S) or 2nd gear (W) below 5000 rpm"
the remedy it gives:
1 Gear recognition switch S16/10 Replace gear recognition switch

So if you want to chance it, you can give this a try. With that ETC code (and God knows what the other codes are) it may be a bit of a gamble no matter what you try.

No chance the car is water-damaged?

Gilly
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  #26  
Old 10-30-2003, 07:35 PM
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thanks gilly

1 owner car before me and it had some issues with central locking unit.you might remember previous post. the car was acting up then but had close to $3000. spent on it at that time with a dealer. when i collected the car i enquired about the tranny problem and was told it was due to bad battery and they did not find anything related to the tranny. the car was driven 800 miles to here without a problem before the tranny acted up........no evidence (smell...etc.) of water damage.

i think i will try the recognition switch as a last resort.

please could you give me any advise as to where this switch is and how to change it if at all possible......within the limits of this forum
thanks
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  #27  
Old 10-30-2003, 08:02 PM
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Sure, it'd be hard to tell you exactly how to replace it though.

If you drive the car at night, as you move the shifter through the gears, the shifter lights illuminate to show what gear you're in, right?
The range recognition switch is the part that actually has those LED's that light up the gear you're in. So in other words, it's inside the shifter assembly, just below the black piece that has the "PRND21" on it (or 321, or whatever it has).
You need to remove the center console, which is fairly easy, and then just 4 screws actually hold the shifter to the floor, plus some wire connectors and the cable for the shift interlock, and you can also disconnect the shift rod from inside the car as well, make sure you set the parking brake though.
But what about the hard code for the control unit?

Gilly

Last edited by Gilly; 10-30-2003 at 08:55 PM.
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  #28  
Old 10-30-2003, 08:50 PM
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gilly thanks for good explanation.

yip i was trying to ignore and not face the hard code issue

i want to confirm these codes with the shop again.....i took it off my invoice from them.
if it is the computor i believe that only the dealer can program a new one...is this correct?
so i might have to get the car in to them to program it as last resort.
is it as simple as unplugging the old one , get a new one over the counter and get the service dept. to program the car?

thanks again for your help.
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  #29  
Old 10-30-2003, 08:53 PM
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I think that about sums it up, yes. Not sure/can't remember how much programming would be required. The control module however is very vehicle specific, must order by VIN number.

Gilly
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  #30  
Old 10-31-2003, 07:30 AM
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THANKS GILLY

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