First off Sir, do let me know when you'll be leaving so i make plans to buy your car! Lol, seriously. And let me have a clue of the cost...

Good thing you had great advice from MAVA.

1. You will feel so good with these new injectors! Servicing the old ones is also a sweet option and does wonders for the car and is really cheap for you too,they can come out like new again. Easy too. Cheap

2. If also you haven't done anything about the fuel pump and its the original, theres a way to bring those oem pumps to 100% 3bar performance! Easy too. Cheap, works great, i have a 96 pump, i bought it very heavily used and i serviced it to run my ML and I'm getting solid 3 bars, add that to your clean or new injectors and you'll have a new car and the transmission will rejoive too, smoother shifts, stronger ride.

3. The MAF sensor, great choice too.
4. That conductor plate is crucial, sometimes to most its all that's wrong with the system except in cases where it was driven dry for extended periods

5. Someone will help with this i believe but anyway let me say... I dont live in the USA but its easy to mail stuff to you in Saudi Arabia, i have a forwarder and do quite a lot of shipments frequently to Africa, all you need is my US address and i need your Saudi address, I'll do a consolidation request and, they'll cost everything and its on its way to you by dhl or fedex.


All the best.


Sent from my ZTE G720T using Tapatalk

 

2. If also you haven't done anything about the fuel pump and its the original, theres a way to bring those oem pumps to 100% 3bar performance! Easy too. Cheap, works great, i have a 96 pump, i bought it very heavily used and i serviced it to run my ML and I'm getting solid 3 bars, add that to your clean or new injectors and you'll have a new car and the transmission will rejoive too, smoother shifts, stronger ride.




All the best.


Sent from my ZTE G720T using Tapatalk

Care to share how you rebuild the fuel pump?

 

For the moment I would inspect that conductor plate for the cracked speed sensor, but it does sound like you are full limp, yet it is possible that it might work normal with a working conductor plate.

What I would do is just get a Sonnax regulation spring and a conductor plate, but some of those cheap conductor plates may not work well, or not at all, so watch out.

Martin

 

Solid guidelines!

Sent from my ZTE G720T using Tapatalk

 

Thanks, Martin.

And so the plot thickens, gentlemen.

This morning, after resting the car overnight, I drove and the first two stop and go gear shifts only gave me yesterday's 1st gear to 2nd gear then no 2nd gear to 3rd gear. Then on the third stop and go I got back to normal shifting of 1st-2nd and 2nd-3rd. Worthy of note, I have rarely ever gotten up into 4th gear in this car which just seems odd to me. That being said, I have never gotten the car beyond 120 Kms per hour with almost all highway driving being 100-110 Kms per hour.

While the shifting from 2nd-3rd is back again today, the shifting remains hard under normal to quick acceleration with gentle acceleration being a softer shift -- as was the case before the ASR light came on and as has been the case throughout the history of my ownership of the car which has been only 3 months now.

As noted in your advice, I will get a Sonnax regulation spring and a conductor plate. I think I will put in the Sonnax 68942-05K Overlap Control Valve Sleeve Kit while I have the valve body dropped to put in the regulation spring. Will change the tranny filter and connector plug at the same time, put in a fresh gasket, clean the fuel injectors and put on a new MAF. Hopefully, this will resolve the transmission gear shifting issues and get some better performance and gas mileage out of the engine.

Thanks again for the pointers, Martin. Much appreciated.

All the best,
David

 

After searching for a good quality 722.6 Conductor Plate, I am leaning towards this as the choice to go with as it is stated that it is an OEM Made in Germany part. Hard to be sure, but the picture does seem to show a better quality unit than the cheaper Made in China conductor plates.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Benz-Transmission-Conductor-Plate-OEM-722-6xx-W-5-Speed-A-T-/362188212204

If anybody knows of the best quality 722.6 conductor plate, maybe you can let us all know what brand to buy and a source for the part.

Thanks,
David

 

My suggestion is you stop driving the car as the moment you lock up to 2nd and reverse any shop will charge you $100-$200(this what topically cost here in the USA) to clear the code, so the transmission works properly with the new part. You still have a chance to just put the replacement part in, and drive away with no reset.

Understand, you skin this problem by putting a used conductor plate from a junk car. The plates are ALL THE SAME. Find a 2003-2004, and even a 2005 in some cases from a crashed MB car. Any flavor, ML,S,C, and etc..

Sadly you cannot get the regulation spring from mid 2000 cars as the valve body design changed, but you can get the solenoids, and the plastic solenoid plastic heat covers that the early 90's valve bodies do not have. Here in the USA one can get a whole valve body from a late model benz for $100-$150 with solenoids/valve body/conductor plate all day long, so I bet you could do the same there at some do it your self junk yard where you can pull the part your self, yet you cannot use the valve body, but all the rest you can use.

Like I said. Go in for an inspection if parts are hard to source for you then leave out the regulation spring if it is not broken if you are going to sell the car in 9 months.

Mercedes made the spring too, but not sure if it is available. It was part number 140-993-58-01

Martin

 

Thanks!

 

722.6 is Actually a 722.370

More twists and turns unfolding here in this situation. I am now convinced that the Saudi Arabia Department of Transportation has my car listed wrong for the model year. My registration says it is a 1996 car. However, it must be a 1995.

I got the car on a lift today and copied down the part code number on the side of the transmission. The code number on the transmission is as follows

140 270 22 00 722 370 0 3994008

The 722 370 part of this code suggests this is a 722.370 3 speed transmission. Can anyone confirm my suspicions?

And was this transmission used in any 1996 production year cars ... perhaps early runs at the beginning before switching the 1996 models over to the 722.6 transmissions ???

Two MB after service shops looked at the car today and the mechanics drove the car and they both are saying this is a 3-speed transmission. Moreover, they are telling me that the transmission is fine and has no problem. Not so sure about that idea as I still do not have 2nd to 3rd gear shifts every time at the orange 60 km per hour point on the speedometer or anywhere up as I drive faster -- sometimes the 2nd-3rd shift happens and other times it does not.

I am sure when the transmission does not shift from 2nd - 3rd gears that this is the case because as I drive faster the rpms are faster at 80 kms per hour than they normally are when the car has shifted gears. Clearly, the higher rpms and not feeling the shift is confirmation that the shift did not occur.

Mechanic #1 says the cause of the shifting issues and the yellow ASR light being lit up and on all the time is the entire gas pedal and throttle assembly needs to be replaced. He says the throttle assembly issue is the root cause of the transmission not shifting from 2nd-3rd gear. The cost he wants for a second hand used throttle assembly is an insane, in my opinion insane, $400 USD. Labour is another $135 USD to do the repair. Not sure if this $400 is a reasonable price for a used, likely from a scrapyard, throttle assembly. More importantly, I am not sure as to why the mechanic is associating the transmission issues to the gas throttle and saying the transmission is actually fine and repairing the throttle assembly will solve the transmission shifting issue. He says the wiring in the throttle assembly is the culprit. He also said that the yellow ASR light is indicating a throttle issue, not a transmission issue. His old OBD1 diagnostic equipment does not work, so I am guessing experience is where he is getting his diagnosis from.

Mechanic #2 also drove the car and has decided the transmission is fine -- transmission did shift from 2nd-3rd while he drove the car so I was unable to show him the no shifting issue. He said this is a cable adjustment on the transmission linkage. He looked at the cable and said it is at the end of its adjustment length so I need a new cable. This issue will now be, where to find that here in Saudi.

My feeling is, go with the cheaper cable fix first and see what the result is before going down the path of the expensive throttle swap out option. One way or another, the linkage cable is OK to change so trying that as the first option seems to be the starting point.

All of this being said, I am not at all convinced yet that the actual problem has been diagnosed correctly. If anyone has any thoughts or feedback you are willing to share, I feel I need some direction here as to what could realistically be going on here.

Thanks so much for your continued kind support in this thread, everyone. I am feeling rather stranded over here in Saudi without the resources of parts suppliers and knowledgable MB mechanics. Then again, I may be prejudging these guys too prematurely and perhaps they have actually got this right. I guess I am about to find out.

 

While in ASR mode. The transmission engages half way down the pedal, and yes you have 722.3 from the part number, but the passenger rim of the transmission will have the numbers, and the V8 95 cars have this tranny linkage in the top back of the engine.

ASR can be a few things from bad wiring(engine/throttle body/ lower harness) Fuse-yes a fuse. Does your third brake light up? is the fuse blown. That will give you an ASR. Brake switch will give a ASR. Once the problem is fixed. The ASR will clear it self in seconds. Ahh wheel sensor will give a ASR.

Do you get the ASR when you start the car, or when you are rolling in the car?

Check your fuses...

Martin

 

Here is my feedback, Martin. As always, thanks for so much helpful info. Much appreciated.

While in ASR mode. The transmission engages half way down the pedal

Yes. If I punch the pedal down the car does shift normally from 2nd-3rd gear ... most of the times. It seems the kick down switch is working most of the time.


yes you have 722.3 from the part number

Yes. I am sure that this is a 722.370 transmission. I looks completely different than a 722.6 transmission. I took photos to post on the thread but the forum asks me for a url link to upload pictures so seems I cannot display my own pics without creating a website.



the passenger rim of the transmission will have the numbers

Yes. I located the transmission identification number code on the passenger side of the transmission at the front of the right side just above the transmission oil pan stamped on what looks like an aluminum valve body assembly.

the V8 95 cars have this tranny linkage in the top back of the engine.

Yes. Mechanic #2 who looked at the car yesterday took of the engine air filter assembly and was looking at this linkage assembly and it was exactly where you are describing the location ... back of the engine visible at the top just in front of the firewall.


ASR can be a few things from bad wiring(engine/throttle body/ lower harness) .

Hoping it is not as serious as these kinds of problems. Sounds expensive and I do not want fix one issue only to find out I still have the problem and move onto to a second or third expensive fix to finally resolve the actual problem.

As the car is still drivable and I am guessing that because this is not a 722.6 5-speed electronically controlled transmission, then this car does not have the Limp Mode issue so I can safely drive it 125 kms ++ to the Mercedes dealer or another shop in the closest big city to me and get an OBD1 diagnostic test to try to establish exactly which problem is the problem. Does that make sense to do this or is doing the OBD1 testing not likely to pinpoint the problem?

Fuse-yes a fuse. Does your third brake light up? is the fuse blown. That will give you an ASR.

Interesting point. I have never noticed if this car has a third brake light. I will have a look today. There are about a dozen or so of the 90s series S500 and E320 W140 cars around town that all look the same as mine and I have never noticed any of them have a third brake light feature. This might be a USA requirement.

Brake switch will give a ASR.

Will check. Hoping this all is as simple as that kind of a fix. The question that comes to mind here is ... does this suggest that the ASR light coming on is somehow affecting the no shift problem of not shifting from 2nd gear to 3rd gear and that as soon as I fix whatever the cause of the ASR light coming on it may possibly resolve the shifting gears issue? Likely wishful thinking on my behalf as it seems the shifting issue would have to be more complicated than a blown fuse or bad brake switch causing the ASR light to come on and then somehow affecting the transmission shifting of the gears.


Once the problem is fixed. The ASR will clear itself in seconds.

That is good news. So this is not going to require a clearing of the fault code to remove the ASR light being on on the dashboard from what I understand by your statement here.


Ahh wheel sensor will give a ASR.

OK. May I ask what kind of wheel sensor you are referring too? I have no idea what wheel sensors are on this car ... low air pressure ???


Do you get the ASR when you start the car, or when you are rolling in the car?

This was a two stage process with the ASR light activation. Initially, the ASR light only came on after 1-2 minute of driving the car ... "rolling", as you say. Then a few days ago the iight started coming on as soon as the engine was started and stays on all the time while the car is running.


Check your fuses...

100% doing that today and praying to the MB Gods that this is as simple as changing fuses. Wouldn't that be nice.

Updates to follow.

Thanks so much, Martin. Just such a pleasure and relief to have your support here. Wish I was stateside to return the favour with a cold pint.

All the best,
David

 

1995 S500 VIN/Chassis WDB1400511A199121

Fast update on 722.370 Transmission Shift Issue and ASR Warning Light

I inspected the Throttle Body and the manufacturing date code is 05M01 suggesting an updated January 2005 Throttle Body unit. Wiring looks good. When the ignition key is turned to position 2, the Throttle Bottle whining sound is there. My cruise control works fine, so Don, an MB Electrician and Throttle Body rebuilder at RFC Electronics, says he feels the Throttle Body is likely fine and my ASR light issue is likely another problem -- Don is suggesting to check Engine wiring harness (I checked and wires look like sheathing is in good condition ... no crumbling of the interior wiring plastic sheathing), lower wiring harness, brake switch (my brake lights light up fine and I did a quick swap out with another switch and ASR light is still on), Modulator valve on transmission (changed the transmission modulator valve and gear linkage cable and transmission now is shifting nicely so this has been resolved), Secondary air pump front of engine (passenger side engine below alternator smallest pulley … check if pump is working), or check vacuum pressure near cylinder 8.

I have read that driving the car with the ASR light on may damage the ASR Computer Module. My son drives my wife to work and himself to school on a daily basis and I am wondering if we should stop driving the car. Anybody have any thoughts on this issue? The car has not gone into Limp Mode again since the second incident about two weeks ago. On both occasions ( 1 month apart from each incident) I was able to get out of Limp Mode by turning off the car and restarting.

I have finally found a Mercedes garage 125 kms from my location that has an OBD1 adapter cable to do a diagnostic on my car. This is being done today so hopefully I will finally get the reason the ASR light is on and then resolve the issue.

Updates to be posted after the OBD1 test. Thanks everyone.

All the best,
David in Saudi (JubailW140)