It’s a baptism by fire for the team at Shifting Metal as they tackle a neglected 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG bought from BCA. Despite showing only 62,000 miles, this 2.0-litre saloon arrived with a host of headaches, including a noisy engine rattle and a gearbox stuck in first gear.
The project hit an expensive snag before even reaching the workshop: a double tyre blowout on the recovery trailer added a quick £495 to the bill.
Once in the bay, Joe and Ben quickly moved past the initial fear of a failed timing chain. They traced the engine rattle to a worn turbocharger wastegate flapper bushing and a completely fractured turbo mounting bracket—a clever TIG weld and a rebuild kit had the M133 engine sounding healthy again.
The transmission, however, proved more stubborn. After a failed auxiliary battery swap, the team turned to a TOPDON scan tool, only to find the car wouldn’t enter “Park,” blocking necessary calibrations.
Stripping the mechatronic valve body revealed the real culprits: a faulty auxiliary oil pump and a binding parking pawl mechanism.
The team is now sourcing a refurbished valve body and fresh solenoid to get this AMG’s dual-clutch system back on the road.
