[forrera]

I had a good one advertised for sale on this website,
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/sale-wanted-trade-giveaway/1642052-fs-w168-automatic-gearbox.html
sold 2 days ago, but not to worry, I get them all the time

 

[Black eagle]

I have had a rebuild followed a year later by an inspection under warranty leading to a ruined box with a completely burned out clutch and a rebuild, in all costing me over 3,000€ in parts and labour (plus whatever it cost the garage concerned to rebuild it the third time, plus car hire, both apparently with modified drums and they hasn't cured the 1st to 2nd change problem with it 'flaring' between gears under load, drive softly and it's OK, so forget any thoughts of ECU problem, it's a hydro-mechanical fault, lack of pressure to the first gear clutch. Someone has swapped solenoids about and cured the problem on a couple of boxes. I now have a ‘bitsa’ box made up of the best bits from a few boxes and a new thrust bearing but still have mine flaring but only when I boot it out of a side road for instance, under normal conditions it's OK.
Oil level also seems to be crucial and a lot of garages check the level when the car is turned off in P, should be done in N with the engine running to get the right reading.

 

[forrera]

OK, I presume I'm the "someone" you're talking about.
the problem, as you say, is electro-hydraulic related, because in both cases I overhauled the valve chests competely, and even cleaned the solenoides from the dirty oil inside them by powering them up and using compressed air.
I have to say, this improved the situation a lot and I had no complaints afterwards, but I did not try to flooring it though.

 

[forrera]

the cause of burnt out clutches is the hydraulic valve chest, 2 valves stay open. I just diagnosed one.

 

[flash18]

Forrera, Has there ever been any consideration to rewelding and refurbishing the damaged K1 clutch ?, Some of the cracks shown in your photos look quite fine and repairable

 

[forrera]

yes, I welded a few of them when they were on back order, and very please with the result. I might fit it in my own car but not recommend it to others for proffesional reasons.
but you must consider other points aswell, to weld a drum you have to dismantle it and remove the diaphragm and fit new seals, I had to make a special tool to press it, don't use gas welding as heat will turn the metal too soft, it has to be a clean seam of welding on the crack also on the opposite side of the crack to counter ballance it and to distribute stresses evenly.
it takes a long time but if I'm really stuck I'll do more than that.

 

[flash18]

Thanks Forrera, thats interesting. Almost need a wheel balancing machine to ensure its balanced following welding

 

[wizardvito]

I have just removed a broken drum from my a160 I bought the car with a faulty valve chest I removed it and sent it away to ECU Testing as recommended on loftys site they did a great job and returned it within a couple of days when I refitted it the F fault was gone but I found that it was slipping in first I stripped it out today and took it to a auto transmission specialist they could offer me a loaded drum for £250 plus vat or a remanufactured drum for £170 but they told me that it was only a re welded drum they also told me that they had infact welded a drum themselves they said the best way to do it is to clamp it down to close the gap and tac it on the outside then weld the inside to the circlip that way it prevents it flaring out has anyone else tried this method or is there a better solution available now?

 

[flash18]

Thanks Wizardvito, that info is worth gold to me. between your post and forreras I am starting to form a clear view of what is needed.
My Father has been a top flight welder most of his life so the welding side of things will be no problem for us.

Im raring to give this a crack(excuse the pun) I have two A classes to do however I have to finish working on a 500sec and a 1970 250CE to be able to get the A class on the hoist.

 

[forrera]

I replaced this one earlier today.
My advice is, have your gearbox looked at as soon as it starts slipping, because that broken part will eventually split and your gearbox will be filled with metal filing, including the valve chest, and I had to scrap a gearbox because of that.

 

[flash18]

Thats worrying,

It looks like it is made out of tin foil!!!

 

[Kev124]

I replaced this one earlier today.
My advice is, have your gearbox looked at as soon as it starts slipping, because that broken part will eventually split and your gearbox will be filled with metal filing, including the valve chest, and I had to scrap a gearbox because of that.

OMG...What a mess.

 

[Ocaga]

Hi there,
Can any one get me a second hand Electronic valve body for an A-Class W168 A140.
[email protected]

 

[DeVisu]

And what do you think of this reinforced model ?
Comes from USA

 

[rainking]

can you help?

hi i recently brought a 170cdi full auto after replacing ecu got it running to find that it slips when changing from 1st to 2nd if driven hard causing f in dash now it seems you guys have had this a lot the car owes me 500 quid so far so id like to get this sorted if you can point me in right direction scanner code say high/low pressure in 2nd/5th/r gear solinoid :S its had new oil and filter (gearbox) pls help as we are both disabled and for awhile this will be sole car so need it sorted

 

[forrera]

this is very interesting, do you have a picture of the other side?

 

[forrera]

dear rainking,
slipping second gear, as we sometimes call it "flair" is due to lack of oil pressure in 2nd gear clutch drum.
this is more common in early gearboxes 1998 to 2000.
usually, but not necessarily, occures after repairing the transmission.
the repair involves removing and servicing the valve chest from the bottom of the gearbox.
no need to remove the whole gearbox.

 

[rainking]

coool how much roughly to repair if its sent to you?

 

[DeVisu]

photo of the inside :

 

[Kev124]

I like the look of this modification, where can you get these from?