Jay.

Hi All,

I've had a look on the forum and seen some good topics regarding this warning, but I'm hoping to post a fresh topic to share my experiences and hopefully gain some insight to my problem.

Warning: Long post.

Short version: Car goes into Tiptronic Emergenc Run Warning when accelerating hard. Had the car 'fixed' by a Specialist but seems to have returned.

Background

The car has 70k miles, and has given me zero problems in my 12 months ownership.

Initial Symptoms

I put my foot down in 2nd and the car suddenly felt weird - it felt like the clutch slipped and the revs were all over the place.. I took my foot off the gas pedal and let the car slow down. I noticed that the "Tiptronic Emergency Run" warning was showing on my center console and the lights indicating "D" and "4"th gear were flashing.

I turned the car off, waited 30 seconds and turned it back on. No warnings, car drove normally and I started heading back home. I put my foot down once again and the symptoms occurred again - pulling away in 2nd and everything goes weird, before it heads into limp mode and I have to restart the car.

I carefully get the car home and notice there's quite a few oil drops on the road (it had started to rain, and this made the spots really easy to see). I parked the car up and got it picked up by a Porsche specialist that was nearby.

'The Fix'

The specialist found that an oil pipe had corroded which was causing a leak. He suggested that the Warning was likely because there was low ATF levels - which seems to be a common cause according to searches on here.

Anyway, 10 labour hours later and the pipe has been replaced, ATF filled up and leak fixed.

The Issue.. again.

I got the car fully serviced and took it away... 100 miles later and I'm pulling away from the lights where the symptoms kick in again. Restart, and it's fine - although driving it carefully I've noticed a few things: the car seems to struggle a bit when pulling away up hills, and a bit hesitant when changing gears. I've parked the car up as it's been raining heavily here and don't have somewhere to check anything out.

Finally!

Now, I appreciate this is a long old block of text, and importantly that it's missing fault codes.... but does anyone have any suggestions on what I could check in the meantime? I've got a fault reader coming, which should arrive on Tuesday. I'll also call the Specialist tomorrow to find out what fault codes I had before he cleared them. I'll also check that he's done the ATF replacement doing the proper technique as if he hasn't then that would cause the symptoms too.

Reading on this forum suggests it could be a TCU fault, which makes sense as it seems to fix itself when restarting the car. The valve body also seems to be a common theme, but I don't know what I can do to test that? Any other things I should be checking?

I have a Ramp at home, so I can do most of the spanner work, as long as it's not too complicated.

NTY

996 Tip has a mercedes gearbox. It doesn't require any special filling method. I have seen my mechanic change the ATF on my car. Just a simple drain and fill with mercedes ATF.

Oil level check is via an overfill plug on the ATF sump with engine running and run through "D", "N" and "R"

geetee

the tranny fluid has to be filled at a certain temp. You hook up durametric to monitor tranny temp when you fill

johnireland

It sounds like you need to have someone who knows what they are doing go inside the trans and look at the clutches and all the other stuff. These are not bullet proof, they are just automatic transmissions that eventually fail. Mine did at 48k miles (16 years of age). The trans had been serviced with new fluid, filter and seals and gaskets six months before. And then...it failed. Replaced it with a used trans from a dismantler...the part cost $1900...the next $3000 was labor dropping the motor and trans...and then putting it all back together. I chose to have the engine dropped as well so that it could be inspected 360 degrees.

Jay.

As geetee said, the car needs to warm up and the transmission kept at around 40 degrees during the top up process. The technician who did mine has said that process was followed.

@Johnireland, hoping to hold out replacing the whole transmission in case it's just something like the TCU or the torque converters that can be replaced for a fraction of the cost. What were your symptoms? Did you have any warning codes?


I've finally got my code reader and the following have shown up:

Warning from main error codes menu
Transmission warning codes


​​​Can I confirm that the transmission in my car (05) is the MBenz 722.6? Here's a good forum answering lots of questions if so:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w210-e-class/1463460-mercedes-benz-722-6-transmission-faq.html#/topics/1463460?_k=025ifa

Jay.

Also I would appreciate if a mod could move this to the normal NA 996 section as the tiptronic is not turbo specific and will get more exposure.

geetee

Check your tires....especially the inside of your rear tires. Left/right pretty even in wear with similar tread left?(uneven left/right can trigger tip emerg mode)
If thread wear pretty even, check drive belt make sure pieces aren't missing or belt slipping.
Assuming fluid level is correct and since it was recently changed, my 3rd guess is that solenoid/speed sensors on the conductor plate on the valve body is bad and needs to be changed.

Jay.

Tires are in good condition, changed around 6000 miles ago and wearing even.

The solenoids do appear to be a common thing, as does the conductor plate.. I might just change the whole TCU as I'm not sure how to diagnose them separately.

Thanks for your help

Tytus

I had the same codes and replacing the Conductor plate solved the problem. Had this done at an independent shop as the dealer was not able to solve the problem and wanted to start changing parts at $3,000 to $9,000 increments. The job was about $900 with diagnosis, parts and lots of expensive MB oil.

Good Luck,

Tytus

Jay.

Having spoken to Porsche directly, they wouldn't even check for the failure and just recommended I replaced it with a brand new one... Would certainly prefer to explore other options first!

I'm hoping the Conductor Plate is the problem, it appears a lot of the MBenz that use the Gearbox fail here...

Do you remember how many hours labour/how much the conductor plate was?

Tytus

The plate was about $250 or so and a couple of hours of labor to replace plus a couple of hours to diagnosis plus replace the fluid.

Good luck,

Tytus

Tytus

Deleted

Jay.

So, a bit of a delayed update due to work, but here it goes.

I gave the car a good drive when I got back, and annoyingly (?) it seems to be running great. There were no warnings and no slippage at all.

I jacked it up anyway to have a look and that's where I found it was leaking ATF, pretty badly.


(The gearbox is directly above my head as I take this photo, with the underside of the car covered in ATF)

At first I thought the leak was coming from the Oil Pan Gasket, but on closer inspection it seems that it might be coming from above that. The pipe that was replaced by the Garage is up there, and I wonder if they replaced the pipe but didn't fix the leak (at the expense of ~£1,300).


(You can see the drop forming on the ATF Fill Nipple, and some other bits.)

I'm in a dilemma now: I've topped up the ATF (2 litres) and it appears to be driving great... however I am left with a pretty big leak which is covering the bottom of my car every time I take it for a good drive.

I can't seem to get vision to where I think the leak is originating from, and I'm half tempted to just replace the Oil Pan Gasket just in case that is the main source, but I do think that's probably a waste of time as directly above the transmission appears to be the source.

It seems my first port of call is to fix the leak, and then consider whether it is indeed electronics as originally thought, or if it was just the low ATF that caused the Emergency Run to pop on.

Carlo_Carrera

Low fluid level will cause all the issues you are reporting. Fix the leak and bring the fluid level up to factory spec before you do anything else.

Jay.

That's the plan, but struggling to locate the source.

Are there any known hot spots for ATF leaks? I've read about the transfer case but I'm praying it won't be that. Another forum suggested an actuator arm seal, if anyone knows anything then I'll appreciate knowledge!

I took it to another Porsche specialist but after an hour or so he wasn't able to locate the source either which is a little disheartening. I'll have another crack at it tomorrow and remove some stuff to get a better look.