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In the last installment of this adventure, my '08 had experienced a failure where it suffered some kind of gearbox failure. It first stopped running a few hundred feet from my house, then started and drove back to the house fine, then died again and started popping the 40A gearbox motor fuse. I replaced the gear selection motors (the combined M17/3 & M17/4 unit), which fixed the popping of the fuse problem, but the gearbox wouldn't train in. It would report "implausible signals" from one of the motors (don't recall which one) and only go into 1st gear. Eventually, it wouldn't even start, let alone drive.
After that, I bought a used gearbox, one from a '09 with only 39k miles on it. I also bought a clutch kit since the one in the car has 108k miles on it. And I spent Thanksgiving changing out the gearbox and clutch (and cleaning 12 years of dirt out of the engine compartment (I live on a gravel road, so lots of dirt).
Now I am back to where I was before. The MBII diagnostic reader reports that the gearbox needs to train in, it failed to train in, and there is an implausible signal to one of the gear selection motors. It drives fine in 1st gear, but won't select reverse.
As I see it, the problem is either a) the controller needs some kind of reinitialization that only a Mercedes STAR can do (this happened after the car was repaired by a non-Mercedes shop after it was rear-ended - the gearbox didn't quite work right until I took it to a Mercedes dealer to run it through their diagnostic computer) or b) the wiring harness between that the gear selection motor with an "implausible" signal and the gearbox controller is bad.
Which seems more likely? Is the gearbox wiring harness a separate one that can be replaced on its own? Is there a non-STAR diagnostic computer that can reinitialize the gearbox like the STAR can or do I have to take it to Mercedes (I live on an island and the Mercedes dealer is off-island. I had a car towed from off-island to my house and the total tow bill was $700. Can I buy my own STAR for $700?).
alan
After that, I bought a used gearbox, one from a '09 with only 39k miles on it. I also bought a clutch kit since the one in the car has 108k miles on it. And I spent Thanksgiving changing out the gearbox and clutch (and cleaning 12 years of dirt out of the engine compartment (I live on a gravel road, so lots of dirt).
Now I am back to where I was before. The MBII diagnostic reader reports that the gearbox needs to train in, it failed to train in, and there is an implausible signal to one of the gear selection motors. It drives fine in 1st gear, but won't select reverse.
As I see it, the problem is either a) the controller needs some kind of reinitialization that only a Mercedes STAR can do (this happened after the car was repaired by a non-Mercedes shop after it was rear-ended - the gearbox didn't quite work right until I took it to a Mercedes dealer to run it through their diagnostic computer) or b) the wiring harness between that the gear selection motor with an "implausible" signal and the gearbox controller is bad.
Which seems more likely? Is the gearbox wiring harness a separate one that can be replaced on its own? Is there a non-STAR diagnostic computer that can reinitialize the gearbox like the STAR can or do I have to take it to Mercedes (I live on an island and the Mercedes dealer is off-island. I had a car towed from off-island to my house and the total tow bill was $700. Can I buy my own STAR for $700?).
alan