i recently bought a 97 e420 (month or so ago) with 150k miles on it, and i initially noticed no problems. few days ago on a cold morning (27F) the car started normally i took a short trip and on my way back the transmission got stuck on third gear and would not upshift no mattet how much i revved it. I tried to manually shift the car or put it on N and back on D. it did go to neutral but when back on D it stayed on third gear. i stopped the car, turned off the ignition and turned it back on and it shifted fine. well if that wasn't weird enough, the next morning (just as cold) i drove the car and i noticed that the shift **** was hard to shift between D and 4, before it needed only a simple nudge. then after about 30 minuted of driving it would become significantly easier to move. the transmission was shifting fine at all gears though. i remenberd that that had happened the day before too. also on that same day when trying to back up the **** got stuck and it would not engage in reverse (it would move to the reverse position or park but would not engage). the car was still engaged in drive. then i forced the **** back to drive and i heard a pop originating from the top of the trans (no internally i think). from then on i could shift the trans in all positions and it engaged normally. So here is my delema! WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING TO MY CAR! i drove the car this morning and it drove fine, temperatures where in the high 40's. I'am speculating the the AT fluid is in desperate need to be changed. i don't have the updated service records for the car, so i don't know if the trans has been serviced before. any ideas! your help is greatly appreciated .
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it sounds to me that its not temp related if you shift your car into neutral and the shifter feels loose it could be the shifter bushings on the linkage are missing so when youre in drive you actually shifter it in to third gear try it and see what happens

 

I agree I don't think its got anything to do with how cold it is,(Even though the gearbox does prolong the first gear change to warm the cat up). If the linkage is out of alignment you can tell by trying to start the car in a gear other than neutral or park. If it does start then the linkage needs adjusting.
I had a '97 C180, the gearbox on that was the 722.603, I had a hell of a problem with that thing (Original post back in Feb, in the newbie section). Anyway, try that first cos if you can do it yourself it don't cost you any money!!

Finchy

 

My '98 c230 722.6 trans malfunctions whenever the outside temp is below approx 50 degrees F. It does not shift out of 1st. If I statt out in Winter setting (2nd gear) it won't shift out of that. After a few minutes of driving, by manually shifting the lever into the 2nd gear position and then into third, it will upshift to 3rd. Manually shifting to fourth/fifth does not work. When I stop and then drive away again, it is still in whatever gear it was is last. If I shut off the engine and restart, it operates fine some of the time and merely repeats the same problem other times. The transmission has a NEW valve body and NEW front pump. No effect. Help