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Transmission Quiery

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Hi y'all. Have any of you with the 451 had a strange effect with the automatic transmission? Mine often , but not always, when in Drive, wont change gears upwards. Just roars and the RPM soars. But..... I can change the gear upwards with the paddle. Even tho it is in Drive. Cant find anything to assist with this phenomena in the Manual (of course) . I dont think this should happen. When in D for Drive, it should be completely automatic, shouldnt it? And the paddles shouldnt work? Very baffling.

Hope one of you has the answer.

Thanks,

Doris

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The closest I can come is the shifting problem I had with my 450 when in manual mode.

When pushing the shifter to engage 2nd gear occasionally the transmission would stay in 1st.

Changing the gearbox oil myself cured this problem, after repeated visits to the dealer & after the warranty expired, I guess it's not on Mercedes' checklist; might be worthwhile asking that they do this.

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My 2008 smart did the same thing. When floored in 'automatic' ,the engine will rev up really high between shifts. It always shifted up to the next gear,but there is a delay,and thats why (when) the engine is screeming.It does sound great when it's revved up,so i thought,anyway.If your car does not shift up at all,then see your dealer.

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I can change the gear upwards with the paddle. Even tho it is in Drive. Cant find anything to assist with this phenomena in the Manual (of course) .

The smart 2.0 upgrade is supposed to work like that. From the operator's manual, pp. 86-87:

Activating manual gearshifting

> Move the gear selector lever to drive position D (> page 83).

> Pull one of the shift paddles (> page 86) towards you.

Deactivating manual gearshifting

> With drive position D selected: Pull and hold right shift paddle (3) (> page 86) towards you for longer than two seconds.

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The smart 2.0 upgrade is supposed to work like that. From the operator's manual, pp. 86-87:

Thanks Quirky, but I dont want to activate manual shifting - I want it to automatically change gears upwards when it is in D - drive . I dont understand why the paddles which are for manual use, should work when the transmission is in Drive position.And as I said, it is spotty, sometimes it works fine as it should, but very often it wont change automatically. Perhaps I am not explaining it right. I am going to phone M.B. and see if I can get to talk to a mechanic - its not likely they'll let me do that, but worth a try. It is just so far to go all the way up to Kelowna on specThanks to both of you who replied . doris

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Probably what is happening is you are putting the car into manual mode and then it revs its knackers off until redline, then shifts up. I think you need a sales person to be a passenger with you to see if this is what you're doing.The 450 was like this too, if you touch a paddle in Automatic, it puts the car into manual mode.

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On the 451 (2009, 2010 or 2008 with the 2009 transmission upgrade) when you are in Automatic mode and move a paddle shifer (even accidentally) it will change to manual mode, shift according to which paddle you moved., and display 1,2,3,4, or 5 on the dash display. Pulling and holding the + paddle for about 2 seconds will shift up a gear and switch back to Automatic mode.It is supposed to work this way and was a welcomed change to the 451 made in 2009.

Thanks Quirky, but I dont want to activate manual shifting - I want it to automatically change gears upwards when it is in D - drive . I dont understand why the paddles which are for manual use, should work when the transmission is in Drive position.And as I said, it is spotty, sometimes it works fine as it should, but very often it wont change automatically. Perhaps I am not explaining it right. I am going to phone M.B. and see if I can get to talk to a mechanic - its not likely they'll let me do that, but worth a try. It is just so far to go all the way up to Kelowna on specThanks to both of you who replied . doris

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Probably what is happening is you are putting the car into manual mode and then it revs its knackers off until redline, then shifts up. I think you need a sales person to be a passenger with you to see if this is what you're doing.The 450 was like this too, if you touch a paddle in Automatic, it puts the car into manual mode.

And there you go, every day there is something to learn, today I learned my little smart has knackers. Who woulda thunk it. :)

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Paddle problem, putting the car into manual mode?

I am assuming your are familiar with the auto/manual modes by now, watch the display and be sure it stays in the mode you selected. But you did say

When in D for Drive, it should be completely automatic, shouldnt it?

the answer to which is no, D merely means go forward, not backward. You must select auto mode to have the computer choose shift points, otherwise you are in manual mode and must shift yourself. It will shift up at redline, or down at some very low, almost idle RPM, but certainly not anything close to good shift points. Dash display is N for neutral, R reverse, 1, for manual (then higher gears as you shift) and A for auto. I think the North American adaptations also have P for park? I drove a turbo passion 451 rental in France, not positive of the NA changes, if I'm off-base please forgive and correct me. Tranny is the same, shift-lever and programming is changed.

You must be in A for automatic shifting.

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Canadian 451models indicate "D" when they are in automatic mode (Drive) and the gear number when they are in manual mode. D is standard for "automatic" for most North American cars.

N, P and R are the other leters you will see.

if I'm off-base please forgive and correct me. Tranny is the same, shift-lever and programming is changed.

You must be in A for automatic shifting.

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On the 451 (2009, 2010 or 2008 with the 2009 transmission upgrade) when you are in Automatic mode and move a paddle shifer (even accidentally) it will change to manual mode, shift according to which paddle you moved., and display 1,2,3,4, or 5 on the dash display. Pulling and holding the + paddle for about 2 seconds will shift up a gear and switch back to Automatic mode.It is supposed to work this way and was a welcomed change to the 451 made in 2009.

Thanks everyone. I will try that and it does sound like whats happening. I just didnt understand that it was supposed to happen like that. Will try today. Yesterday I drove to Summerland and home and left it in automatic (Drive) and it never missed a change at all. As I said =-spotty. Thanks very much, doris

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