Am I crunching my second gear or am I being paranoid?

Th1991

Th1991

Th1991

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Joined
24 Aug 2019
Posts
2
Hi all,

New to this forum. I have a Mercedes A Class 2015 model. I’ve had the car for 8 months and from day 1 I’ve had a problem switching from 1st to 2nd gear. I feel like I am crunching the gear as I can hear a slight noise at times and I can feel how it isn’t a smooth transition. It is also stiff feeling. I have my foot fully down on the clutch and I change slowly and how I always have with my previous cars. So I just don’t understand it. This doesn’t always happen. Sometimes It glides from 1st to 2nd smoothly, other times it’s a common occurrence throughout the whole drive.

Took my car to Mercedes, they say it’s fine and no issues. My friend has driven it also with no issue. Am I being paranoid, are the gears just like that or am I actually somehow crunching it because of something I am doing?

Feeling really paranoid as I don’t know if I am damaging it. Any advice is most appreciated! Thank you.
 
Who owned the car before you? It wasn't a driving school or something was it?

Crunching between gears can often be a symptom of synchromesh wear. Might be an idea to get the gearbox oil drained and refilled with new and OEM fluid to give that a shot. Shouldn't cost much at all.
 
It was 1 female driver. And the car is less than 40,000 miles on the clock. I also bought the car from a Mercedes Approved dealership. They drained the oil for me when ai took it in but I don’t think they replaced the oil.
 
Th1991 said:
It was 1 female driver. And the car is less than 40,000 miles on the clock. I also bought the car from a Mercedes Approved dealership. They drained the oil for me when ai took it in but I don’t think they replaced the oil.
Click to expand...
They wouldn’t put the same oil they took out back in unless they’re an absolutely bunch of cowboys. Which doesn’t sound like a. Mercedes dealer to me, as bad as some of the stories are.
 
What engine is it, and when are you changing from 1st to 2nd? Try revving it out a bit more before changing up. Some don't like you short shifting 1st to 2nd on a cold engine/box. My 2016 Mazda 6 was fussy like that.
 
some cars just need time for gearbox oil to warm up, some have odd syncros where some gears dont like going in etc.

my s2000 for e.g. is very stiff for the first few minutes while oil in the gearbox is cold..

my z4 coupe I had before used to hate going into 2nd when driving properly, had to be slow and precise otherwise it'd crunch.

I doubt that you have any actual problems, just a character of the car.
 
As above, just a trait. My ancient 850 hates 1st to 2nd when cold, almost impossible to make smooth without slipping the clutch, absolutely fine when warm though. As Rainmaker says, you can also try just holding onto 1st for a bit longer, to keep the revs up that bit higher when changing into second. I find it does help with a cold box. Alternatively I just go 1st to 3rd instead until the box warms up, though not all cars will be happy with this.
 
Does sound like a what you'd get with a worn 2nd gear sychro. Any trouble getting into 2nd from higher gears? Try pausing for a moment (like half a second) between 1st and 2nd but otherwise moving the stick swiftly, does that help?

If it is a worn synchro it would be a gearbox re-build to sort it, not exactly cheap, I'd live with it.
 
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