A170 CDI automatic gearbox problem "goes in F mode"

[manhuwa]

i have a W168 ,A170 CDI which goes into F mode , its an automatic with tiptronic gearbox. Does anybody know exactly where i can start, do i go to MB for a diagnostic scan or is there other specialist help i can get around manchester, or do i simply approach gearbox specialists to re do the gearbox, reading messages here im confused please help. What can one do exactly without getting ripped off to repair an auto box in F mode? anyone who managed to overcome this problem?

[lofty]

I have just posted a load more info on this problem on my site got to page 59 and link 'fully auto & ACS transmissions' and read the mail lower part of the page it could well help solve your problem.

If it does please be kind enough to post feed back, one way traffic serves no purpose at all .
We don't even know if the person posting the question has bothered to read the replies.
Lofty

[manhuwa]

My car was displaying the dreaded F on the dash, took it to an independent Mercedes repairer in Manchester called M Star ...
car diagnosized as having fault P1568000, electronic lever selector has detected implausible poistion

ordered part from Mercedes called gear selector module, which is the gearstick and its components which link to the gearbox, part cost £325 plus VAT , fitting labour and repropgramming car £74.50, ... M Star in Radcliffe Manchester are good.... try them for any Merc

[lofty]

If you had read the mail I have just posted on my site you would almost certainly have found that all it wanted was the infra red sensors cleaning , clean them up using electrical contact cleaner and who know you might have saved yourself a good few £.plus labour costs
But then I forgot Merc drivers have plenty of Money

[CharliePropriano]

Dear Lofty,

Thanks for your posts on Benzworld (have joined this instant, solely to be able to email you) and particularly on your own site.

A friend bought the above A170 a couple of weeks ago for £3,000. It was intended to double as a mobility vehicle for her severely disabled and elderly husband.

The day after purchase the car drove a 250 mile round trip to London without a hitch. The following day, on a local trip to the shops, it started to lose power and limped home in what I now understand to be safe mode. There was an F on the dash.

Until last Tuesday the F would disappear after turning off the engine and then starting it again and would go a couple of days at a time, just local trips, without a hitch. The incidents of F started recurring more frequently until last Tuesday when it stubbornly remained on.

She crawled in safe mode to the nearest Benz dealership where they did a "quick" diagnostic and gave her a quote of £1,006 for electro hydraulic unit/gear box sensor. I think they must have done a reset to get it out of F, unless it had cleared by itself.

Needless to say she's been depressed over the past week. On her behalf I contacted the seller who put me onto your site. I'm familiar with and have worked on motherboards on computers and Tom-Toms and so on but I'm not very motor mechanical. Even so I spent around three hours this afternoon with a printout of Darren and John Hurley's posts from your site, plus a can of electrical contact cleaner from Halfords.

Things were going well until I couldn't release the central plastic console sufficiently to detach the circuit board. The console was snagged somewhere in the middle (I'd taken out the cupholder bolt and the two either side of the central console). I wasn't able to take off the handbrake as John recommended because I don't have the tools to reach those bolts through the central console but it didn't seem to be the handbrake that was snagging but something else - it was sort of pliable, quite a lot of give, but wouldn't release completely to allow me to slip off the console.

If I understood correctly it isn't in fact necessary to remove the entire unit to the bench but the circuit board can be accessed in situ to carry out the necessary cleaning? I was able to see the sort-of-double-pronged sensor that was circled in red in the first of Darren's circuit board pics and sprayed and blow dried it three times. But I need to detach the circuit board some how, so as to turn it over and spray the three sensors on that side (ringed in red in the second circuit board pic)

Since yesterday (Friday 10 Nov 2009) the car is again stuck in F and is therefore U/S - It drove three miles, went into F, started after 2 mins, drove a hundred yards, back into F, same again for another few yards then in F since then, can't shift it. I was wondering if, even if I'd cleared the problem by spraying the double sensor, the F might still remain until cleared with a reset, but that's probably just wishful thinking?

I would be grateful if you could advise how I might get at the circuit board so that I can clean the three sensors on the underside of the circuit board, and if it will need a reset to "take", so to speak.

In the light of one of your comments on this site I wonder if the best might not be to try to pursuade her to sell the vehicle, with fault openly advertised, and cut her losses. I've read a number of distraught accounts on differnt world MB forums in the last few days and think MB should be alerted to the difficulties that are being encountered and can they please address the problem. I'm afraid their reputation has gone down in my estimation.

Thanks for the good work and helpful comments. Your site has been very valuable, for keeping my friend's spirits up as much as anything, although there could still be a bitter pill to swollow in the end.

Regards,

K