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Hi Guys,
New to the forum, and I hope you don't mind if I jump straight on in with a problem question.
I have a 2010 MY 451 CDi. Had it a couple of years, and up until last October it was fine, but since then I've been having issues with the gears. Here's some basic info:
Car works perfectly well on all types of road on my normal commute (urban/country/A roads). Gears do what they should, in either auto or manual (I have flappy paddles
), up and down, all is good. However, I now have a fairly regular 300 mile weekly commute, which it's not liking.
First issue was an isolated incidence of the clutch not operating correctly - there was no 'take up', 1st gear just came in as though I'd dumped the clutch. Left it for an hour or so, and all seemed to work fine after that. Nothing much happened for a few weeks or so, then I started having issues on a long run.
Then, on a long 300 mile journey to Gateshead, halfway through pulling off for a break and the car held in 5th as I was slowing down then slipped into neutral - couldn't get any gears, neutral sign was flashing even though I'd tried selecting gears. Turned car off completely, pulled key out of ignition, left it for a few minutes, restarted and away we went, all good. It did this twice more on this journey, and a couple of times on the way back home. For the most part I was sitting around 65 - 70mph, so not thrashing it.
Basically, since then, it's been doing this on and off on any motorway journey that I do of more than an hour. Always resets after turning off completely and is driveable, but will do the same fault 2 or 3 times at least on each journey. However, the last part of that journey home is about 40 minutes on A roads, and it may do it once more, but after that settles back to being normal, until the next time I'm on a long run. It obviously only happens when I slow down enough on the motorway to need to drop down a gear, but doesn't do it all the time, it's a bit random.
There have been a few variations on this theme, a couple of times it's changed down, to 4th, then 3rd, then stuck in 3rd and not released, eventually coming to a juddering halt and stalling. Same thing, switch off and let it reset and all is good again.
I changed the gearbox oil in November, hoping that would cure it, and it seemed fine for a couple of trips, but soon reverted back to type. I'm now an expert at coasting into services and finding a parking spot without having to stop!
I don't thrash it on the motorway, sticking to around 65 - 70 at most, but I don't dawdle in and around country roads either, so it's not being molycoddled.
I've read a few things about lubricating/cleanbing the clutch actuator, but this doesn't seem to be a mechanical problem mostly, more of a software issue perhaps.
Any ideas or advice over what action I can do myself (reasonably hands-on/mechanically minded, I do my own oil/filter changes etc.) would be most welcome before I bite ht bullet and seek professional help.
Car has 75,000 miles on it now, but I;ve put 50k of those on in the last 2 years. I have to date used only MB oil and filters when I've done the servicing.
Thanks in advance.
Clive
New to the forum, and I hope you don't mind if I jump straight on in with a problem question.
I have a 2010 MY 451 CDi. Had it a couple of years, and up until last October it was fine, but since then I've been having issues with the gears. Here's some basic info:
Car works perfectly well on all types of road on my normal commute (urban/country/A roads). Gears do what they should, in either auto or manual (I have flappy paddles
), up and down, all is good. However, I now have a fairly regular 300 mile weekly commute, which it's not liking.First issue was an isolated incidence of the clutch not operating correctly - there was no 'take up', 1st gear just came in as though I'd dumped the clutch. Left it for an hour or so, and all seemed to work fine after that. Nothing much happened for a few weeks or so, then I started having issues on a long run.
Then, on a long 300 mile journey to Gateshead, halfway through pulling off for a break and the car held in 5th as I was slowing down then slipped into neutral - couldn't get any gears, neutral sign was flashing even though I'd tried selecting gears. Turned car off completely, pulled key out of ignition, left it for a few minutes, restarted and away we went, all good. It did this twice more on this journey, and a couple of times on the way back home. For the most part I was sitting around 65 - 70mph, so not thrashing it.
Basically, since then, it's been doing this on and off on any motorway journey that I do of more than an hour. Always resets after turning off completely and is driveable, but will do the same fault 2 or 3 times at least on each journey. However, the last part of that journey home is about 40 minutes on A roads, and it may do it once more, but after that settles back to being normal, until the next time I'm on a long run. It obviously only happens when I slow down enough on the motorway to need to drop down a gear, but doesn't do it all the time, it's a bit random.
There have been a few variations on this theme, a couple of times it's changed down, to 4th, then 3rd, then stuck in 3rd and not released, eventually coming to a juddering halt and stalling. Same thing, switch off and let it reset and all is good again.
I changed the gearbox oil in November, hoping that would cure it, and it seemed fine for a couple of trips, but soon reverted back to type. I'm now an expert at coasting into services and finding a parking spot without having to stop!
I don't thrash it on the motorway, sticking to around 65 - 70 at most, but I don't dawdle in and around country roads either, so it's not being molycoddled.
I've read a few things about lubricating/cleanbing the clutch actuator, but this doesn't seem to be a mechanical problem mostly, more of a software issue perhaps.
Any ideas or advice over what action I can do myself (reasonably hands-on/mechanically minded, I do my own oil/filter changes etc.) would be most welcome before I bite ht bullet and seek professional help.
Car has 75,000 miles on it now, but I;ve put 50k of those on in the last 2 years. I have to date used only MB oil and filters when I've done the servicing.
Thanks in advance.
Clive
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