2001 SLK 320 trans issue.

14602 Views 647 Replies 19 Participants Last post by SlickgoingSLK, 8 mo ago

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · Feb 5, 2022

Hello all. I am new here and hope I'm in the right area.
I have a SLK320 I just bought. It sat for about a year but I just got it running today.
I took it on test drive and noticed it stayed in what seemed to be first gear. Even if I push shifter to plus side still only first gear..
Hoping to get some info on this.No check engine light on but it has ABS lights on and srs light on
Thank you

Reactions: 3

1 - 20 of 648 Posts

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · #2 · Feb 6, 2022

I checked auto trans fluid with a dip stick I have for my C230 and with car running in park at 50°c I see nothing on the stick. This car sat for little over a year. I'm amazed it drove in first gear. Now my question is.I googled type of fluid I can use for my SLK320 and one choice was.
Castrol - Transmax ATF Full Synthetic Multi-Vehicle Automatic Transmission Fluid.. Is this ok to use? Or Valvoline max full synthetic ?

Reactions: 2

BSY

· #3 · Feb 6, 2022

Your shifter might be going batty. Is the D or gear number disappearing from the dashboard?

Reactions: 1

M4rCu5

· #4 · Feb 6, 2022

Are you quite sure that you have a long enough dipstick? It is bottoming out in the sump yes?

Reactions: 3

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 6, 2022

BSY said:
Your shifter might be going batty. Is the D or gear number disappearing from the dashboard?

I don't have a display on dashboard only on base of shifter. They are lit up.
Should this model have display on instrument panel?

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 6, 2022

BSY said:
Your shifter might be going batty. Is the D or gear number disappearing from the dashboard?

I don't have a display on dashboard only on base of shifter. They are lit up.
Should this model have display on instrument panel?

M4rCu5 said:
Are you quite sure that you have a long enough dipstick? It is bottoming out in the sump yes?

Thanks for reply..It seems to bottom out and when I pull it up and out there is a very tiny amount on end
I'm going to try putting some trans fluid in today.
A couple quarts. And see what happens.

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · #7 · Feb 6, 2022

I did buy a filter kit.so I think I'll do a pan change with new filter and see what happens

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · #8 · Feb 6, 2022

Ok I tried to drive car today as I added trans fluid. Car backed up fine and drove 10' and then all of a sudden no response from gas pedal..I could pump pedal and nothing.. Car would go into drive or reverse but pedal did nothing.So I turned car off and started it up again. Then pedal worked as everything was fine.
Anyone know what's going on here? .
Would appreciate any help thanks

Reactions: 1

efair

· #9 · Feb 7, 2022

the pedal sensors are known to fail.

Reactions: 3

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · #10 · Feb 7, 2022

efair said:
the pedal sensors are known to fail.

Ok but once they fail shouldn't they stay that way? Why when I restart car it goes back to working fine?
Would it be sensor or ?

borris1954

· #11 · Feb 7, 2022

The no shift could be due to low fluid but it could be in limp home mode due to the other issues turning on the SRS and ABS lights. I had exactly this happen on my 1997 230. It turned out to be a faulty K40 relay module. I would recommend getting the car on SDS and see exactly what faults you have before throwing parts at it.

Sent from my SM-T290 using Tapatalk

Reactions: 5

Australian

· #12 · Feb 7, 2022

SlickgoingSLK said:
Ok but once they fail shouldn't they stay that way? Why when I restart car it goes back to working fine?
Would it be sensor or ?

The pedal is an electronic sensor. As with anything electronic they can develop a mind of their own. A fair few threads about this on here.

Reactions: 5

Dave2302

· #13 · Feb 7, 2022

IF ABS light is on the TCU will likely not shift the Transmission as it needs to see Wheel speed info from ABS Sensors

also agree with @borris1954 The ABS / ESP relay inside the K40 also powers Auto Boxes TCU

Get it diagnosed on SDS before wasting tons of money on Parts Darts

Reactions: 5

BSY

· #14 · Feb 7, 2022

SlickgoingSLK said:
Ok but once they fail shouldn't they stay that way? Why when I restart car it goes back to working fine?
Would it be sensor or ?

The problem might be intermittent. The problem might be intermittent enough such that the local device computer (like in a shifter) or the ecu itself can still figure out the real world signal, say, coming from a electrically noisy pedal, and the car still runs like normal. Until it gets so bad that the computer says “i give up” and raises an error code and puts the car in a state where it thinks is appropriate (Limp, no operation at all or just a warning). Expect to find useful info when you get to download the error code. Restarting the car sometimes will allow the local computer to try the whole cycle again. But whatever the problem is, it’s likely to get worse and worse.
i hope you can still manage to drive the car to get it analyzed. If you’re a diy you can consider buying an iCarsoft for about 150 usd. not sure if your model has a standard obd port though.

Reactions: 4

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · #15 · Feb 7, 2022

Thanks for all the great advice and yes I have an OBD2 tester when I check car it had 5 codes. PO500 PO141 PO446 PO600 PO450. Nothing about the pedal sensor. The one that stays on is the PO500 guess I'll start by replacing speed sensor and see what happens.
I will check the K40 relay. Where is that located btw?
My scanner can do live data also.
I guess that's why car was only 500.00 A lemon lol

Reactions: 2

Dave2302

· #16 · Feb 7, 2022

At 500.00 it's not a lemon, it is a cheap car for fixing up that will need repairs. Very worthwhile exercise if you can do the repairs yourself with help from myself and the other experts on this Forum

OBD readers are no good on these cars. If you keep getting P0500 yes that is a Vehicle Speed Sensor, but on Mercedes and a lot of cars, it senses Vehicle Speed from the four Road Wheel Speed Sensors, i.e. ABS Sensors, so you need to know which one. Bearing in mind that particular Code it is unlikely you have a K40 issue.
Still need proper diagnosis before opening wallet though

Your code is just a generic Code generated by an OBD reader that it seems is only accessing the Engine ECU, which is only receiving a CAN Communicated Error from the ABS / ESP Module

I don't advise guys using SDS for fun lol

In the instance of ABS / ESP you get lucky, because any half decent garage should have a Snap On, Launch, Bosch, Autel etc brand machine and that will access ABS / ESP to tell you which Sensor or it's Circuit is duff

HTH

See less See more

Reactions: 5

Avel Du

· #17 · Feb 7, 2022

Whether a failure becomes permanent, or intermittent very much depends on why it is failing.
Breakage would be permanent, weakness prior to a break would be intermittent, before eventual failure.

Best example of intermittent would be the old filament bulbs at home. Sometimes they flicker before eventual failure.
Other times they just blow.

Oxidised contacts on connections and fuses loose connection, dodgy earth, can be intermittent.

Reactions: 4

SlickgoingSLK

Discussion Starter · #18 · Feb 7, 2022

Dave2302 said:
At 500.00 it's not a lemon, it is a cheap car for fixing up that will need repairs. Very worthwhile exercise if you can do the repairs yourself with help from myself and the other experts on this Forum

OBD readers are no good on these cars. If you keep getting P0500 yes that is a Vehicle Speed Sensor, but on Mercedes and a lot of cars, it senses Vehicle Speed from the four Road Wheel Speed Sensors, i.e. ABS Sensors, so you need to know which one. Bearing in mind that particular Code it is unlikely you have a K40 issue.
Still need proper diagnosis before opening wallet though

Your code is just a generic Code generated by an OBD reader that it seems is only accessing the Engine ECU, which is only receiving a CAN Communicated Error from the ABS / ESP Module

I don't advise guys using SDS for fun lol

In the instance of ABS / ESP you get lucky, because any half decent garage should have a Snap On, Launch, Bosch, Autel etc brand machine and that will access ABS / ESP to tell you which Sensor or it's Circuit is duff

HTH

Thank you for reply.
Yes a lemon lol but I did get good deal.
And I'm glad you guys are here to help. I appreciate it very much.
I am a mechanic but mostly Domestic not much for import. I guess at least I have mechanical knowledge.
I'm hoping to narrow it down to what speed sensor and I'm guessing the bad response or little response on pedal sensor could be due to these other problems.
I know throwing money at the problem could get costly..
Since it's a project. I'm going to take advice from all on here and do what I can.
I do have one question. Bear in mind I'm not very savy on Mercedes.
What is SDS? Some kind of tester?

Reactions: 4

efair

· #19 · Feb 7, 2022

It's the dealership-level diagnostic tool, runs on a Windows laptop and there is a "mux" you need to use it. For your project, it will be well worth the cost to buy a clone - even though it will probably slightly exceed the purchase price of your car. Talk to i860 when you're ready to pull the trigger. For some repairs you can get away with a lesser product, but if I were you - SDS.

Reactions: 5

Avel Du

· #20 · Feb 7, 2022

In a nutshell, SDS is MBs own version of a scanner.
Generic scanner will do some work, but SDS will talk to all the ECUs.

www.slkworld.com

SDS is important :)

Mods, might want to add this to a sticky, if you think suitable :) OK, so why am I always on about SDS and even if you don't want to buy your own why am I always saying to INSIST an Indie with SDS (or Dealership) give you a Print Out ? Read on ............. Background, a local guy has an A...

www.slkworld.com

www.slkworld.com

Not sure if I already posted this, but it is a good resource for a beginner working on the 170s.

www.slkworld.com

It's back! SLK R170 Encyclopaedia - currently as...

See post 15. Thanks to @Andjeti we have a zip file. At some point I will add it to our off site host. https://mega.nz/file/KZtVhBQa#apUb-E2bfgC7fOnoxIdcVlro3bJlGROsmrPm6qcgOyU

www.slkworld.com

www.slkworld.com

Reactions: 4

1 - 20 of 648 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.