2000 C230 Kompressor @ 102000

I started up the car and shifted into reverse and heard a loud clunk. I continued to back out and shifted into drive. When I drove off, I noticed the car would not shift automatically into 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear. It will just stay in 1st. I pulled over and tried to shift the car into park so I can step outside. I could not shift it to Reverse or Park. Only neutral. And when I shift to Drive, it would be a rough shift. So I went around the block in first gear and went back to my driveway. Put the car in neutral and turned off the car. Then I was able to shift it to Park and take out the key. I started up the car again and the car worked fine. Shifting was smooth and I can go through all the gears just fine. I then left the car for the rest of the day. The next morning, same problems. I shifted into reverse and then drive and it would be a rough shift, then when I tried to shift into reverse or park, I couldn't. I would have to turn the car off in neutral, then I can shift into reverse or park. After several tries of turning the car off/on, it will finally shift fine. I also noticed when the car is not working right, the dashboard would not tell you what gear you are in. It would be blank. When the car is working fine, it would show the gears changing when you shift.

Anybody have any ideas on what the problem could be and how much for the repair. I was thinking of buying a new car now and depending on how much the repair would be will decide on my future purchase. I need a reliable car since I have a baby on the way

 

anyone?

 

sounds more like low on oil level with that kind of mileage i personaly would give a oil change due oil must burnt inside the box,wat u ll need is 1samp pan gasket for gear box,1gear box oil filter,6.6 liters of MB ATF OIL ONLY IT HAS TO BE FROM THE DEALER DUE TO ITS A VERY LONG LIFE OIL CANT USE ANT ATF EXAMPLE DEXTRON 2 IT HAS TO BE THE MB OIL...........

 

I'm a bit reluctant to do the tranny fluid change and spend the money that may not fix the problem as I may trade in the car instead as I need something reliable with a baby on the way. However, I may attempt a quick fix based on what you stated. I was thinking of buying a bottle of MB tranny fluid and putting some in to raise the fluid level just to see if the transmission starts to behave normally. If it works, then I know it was probably just low fluid afterall and then I'll go ahead and do a full tranny fluid change. I could afford a $15-$20 bottle of tranny fluid as a test. Spending over $200 with no guarantee on fixing the issue is another thing. What do you think? Sound good?

 

So i haven't done much since trying to reset the tranny computer. When I did the reset, the problem didn't go away. I let the car sit for awhile while running. Turned off the car and immediately back on, and it shifted fine. Thought maybe the fluid level was low and it needed to be heated up to raise temperature. So I figured to try and test that theory in the next couple of days. So each day, I tried the car and it worked just fine from the start. Did that 3 days in a row and each time, no problems. I then thought maybe it's because I don't drive the car enough before and the tranny fluid was not circulating through the system. The car was only being used 1 or 2 times a week and was sitting in the garage for about 5 days before I had the problem. So I figured I would not start the car for 3 days. Tried it last night and still working. So I'm stumped. Is it possible the reset of the transmission worked? Or is it possible that it was low fluid or fluid not circulating in the system from not driving it enough? So as of now, the car works but now my A/C is not blowing cold air. This car has been nothing but a headache since I got it from my brother 3 months ago. Thinking of selling/trading it while it's still working unless someone has some idea to what is going on.

 

Get the tranny fluid flushed....or DIY.

That'd be the 1st step.
MB claims the fluid last forever, but no, it doesn't.

 

did u read out the fault memory?

 

how would i go about read the memory.

 

I plan to get the tranny fluid flush if i decide to keep the car and the problem doesn't come back in the next week or so as I test the car. Or if I can get a pretty good guarantee that the problems I had was the result of bad tranny fluid. I just don't want to spend the money to do a fluid flush if I will trade the car in as I could use the money toward the down payment I'm trying to build. My worry is if I spend the money on the tranny fluid and the problem comes back or a new problem (such as my A/C issue) occurs, I just can't afford to keep putting money into the car for repairs. I rather just trade it in and get a new car that has a warranty and should hopefully be trouble free. With the baby on the way, I can't afford unexpected expenses and an unreliable car especially when winter hits as I'm expecting around winter time.

 

have you spilled any liquid into the shifter recently? you sound like you have a bad shifter assembly. it doenst know what gear its in an then defaults 2nd gear. can be intermitant.