Have had more than my share of problems with this car, from audio, diff replacement, front suspension and brakes. Often during the first 3 kms of travel or in heavy traffic a whine occurs that rises and falls with the engine revs. Dealer/MB can't identify it, often hard to reproduce at the dealers. Has anyone else suffered this and do they know the cause and solution? Suspect a faulty gear box.

 

Is this the problem you have?

Quote from 2001 Mercedes Benz CLK 430 Coupe Owner's Manual (p.190)

"With the transmission in gear range (D),(4). (3). upshifting from 1st to 2nd to 3rd gear is delayed depending on vehicle speed and engine temperature . This allows the catalytic converter to heat up more quickly to operating temperatures."

"During the brief warm-up perio this delayed upshift and increased engine noise might be perceived as a malfunction. However, neither the engine nor transmission are negatrively affected by this mode of operation."

"The delayed upshifts is effective with vehicle speeds below 31mph (50km/h) at partial throttle and engine temepratures below 90 degrees (F) or 35 degrees (C)"


hope this helps[8D]

 

My 99 does the same for a short period of time on warmup, these are electric transmissions and do sound, shift and act differently then a regular auto, the other poster is quite correct about the warmup. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Also, these transmission are designed to go into "limp home" mode at the first signe of trouble, so another reason not to worry, these tranny's almost have AI.

 

suggest to the dealer to do actuation on the "lock up clutch" on torque converter and see the actual value. if the noise comes out during actuation, then......

 

If the automatic transmission has not been serviced of late, consider doing a full service. This helped with my ML320 when the whining noise got a bit worse. Agree with other posts about staying in a lower gear on warm-up. Do Aussies have catalytic converters?

Cheers

 

Yes, have catalytic converters. Also, car is current model of E240. produced in first 6months of production.

 

Then it could be the catalytic converter.
My car's catalytic converter made the abnormal sound that gets louder as engine rev goes up.
But for my car, the sound comes on only when the engine is warmed-up and because I shut off of the car when I was talking to my service advisor, the car sounded normal when I brought it to te service department.
(Drove over to Starbucks and the sound just came back. )

 

Wiz,

What the heck is "limp home" mode for an auto trans? Please explain to us what happens in this mode.

These trannies do not almost have AI. There's nothing magical or mystical about an electronic trans. They're electronic so that they can accept shifting instructions from a control module based on speed, engine load, and throttle position, or something similar.