Obviously heard a couple of people mention them over the past couple of months, well got me chance last night. Merc actros… absolutely loved it! Felt like i was a duck to water…
tiggz, you must mean the telligent gearbox. the eps gearbox was a bit different.
ok, so whats the difference between the two?
differences.
telligent box. t shaped lever push forward for up and back for down changes etc. you know, you have just driven one. i think
the older eps box. only drive one a few times and was over ten year ago but if i recall rightly the gear lever was much smaller. same principle though ,forward for up and back for down. you could also move the stick sideways.
i think if you moved the stick to the left it would select a gear appropriate for the speed you were doing.
ie) if you were approaching a roundabout/ junction in top gear and starting braking then by moving the lever to the left it would select 5 th or 6 th etc depending on your speed. something like that anyhow.
i think mercedes call the old gearbox and new one an eps box. electronic power shift. but most people refer to the newer version as a telligent box.
Your right Dave, not driven an older one, but the new one is known as the EPS. Nice box. I like the Mercs with them too. Especially useful when your crawling in traffic 
. Er, once you’ve got 'em out of nutral of course 
.
My new tuck (Y reg Actros) has the ‘telligent’ shift, one T lever, push forward for up the box, back for down. Also discovered if you push right button in and push forward/back it changes up/down one full gear a time, use the toggle switch on front for 1/2gears.
Took a bit of getting used to at 1st, but now I love it, got me doubts about going back to normal stick now
John
I like them both the old EPS seemed to benifit from not being rushed, nice and smooth.
And theres more! My Actros 2543 Mega space has an auto box, same T shift lever, but push forward once and leave it alone, no clutch pedal either. You can switchto manual if you need to, and a hidden clucth lever is depoyed from under the dash.
Drove an auto Actros with the semi option yesterday really liked it didn’t want to pull back into the yard. Like Liberace says nice in traffic, couldn’t get it to reverse smoothly though. Probably my inexperience.
Tramper:
And theres more! My Actros 2543 Mega space has an auto box, same T shift lever, but push forward once and leave it alone, no clutch pedal either. You can switchto manual if you need to, and a hidden clucth lever is depoyed from under the dash.
My '54 plate Actros has the above, minus the Foldaway clutch pedal. Simply select pulling away gear (usually 2nd,3rd or 4th) release handbrake and away you go. It really is a full auto box.
I’m thinking of donating my left leg to science as my car is an auto too.
Dan.
I wonder if any other Actros drivers know how to change the speed of the intermitent wipers. No-one else in our yard did, and I only found out by mistake!
Put wipers on intermitent, then switch off, and back on intermitent after the required gap. This will now be set as the time between sweeps.
I know, I’m the only one who didn’t know 
Sorry but give me a stick shift…I like to feel i’m in control of driving a big truck down the road…had a bad experience in an actros when I approched a roundabout…a car was also coming upto the roundabout on my right but was about 500 yards away…I floored the gas pedal and by the time the computer had figured out what it was doing the car was almost on top of me…TOO CLOSE!!!
Bully
I’m probably wrong… again, but think the box with the fold away clutch pedal is called Talligent, while the one that you nudge forward and back is EPS. With regard to having problems going backwards with the talligent box, all these automatic boxes seem to have the same problem…it’s either full speed ahead , into loading bay, or bunny hop worse that a woman learner, which makes you hang your head in shame. 
The old EPS box you had to push the joystick forward to go up a single gear, but if you 
held in the button on the front it would go up 2 gears, then lever on the front would give you a split, knocking it to the side would put it in neutral. If you knocked it into neutral whilst slowing down then as you pressed the clutch and pushed the lever forward it would select the best gear to move away in (it was always about a gear and a half out though■■?) Another quirk with the box was that it used to loose where it was and you had to reset it. This had to be done by turning the engine off, then pushing in the clutch holding the lever over to the left whilst turning on the ignition, it would then go through each gear and reset it self, a bit of a pollava, but worth doing each time you started a shift!!!
Gardun the bit about the intermittent wipers is handy to know, learnt something new, thanks.
Any tips on the heated mirrors? There is no manual switch, they seem to come on as and when they feel like it, any way to overide them?
Thanks in advance
John
cornish trucker:
Gardun the bit about the intermittent wipers is handy to know, learnt something new, thanks.
Thanks in advance
John
AFAIK they come on as and when they feel like it 
Must be temp or lights or something that controls them - there is no switch 
dwjinuk:
I’m probably wrong… again, but think the box with the fold away clutch pedal is called Talligent, while the one that you nudge forward and back is EPS. With regard to having problems going backwards with the talligent box, all these automatic boxes seem to have the same problem…it’s either full speed ahead , into loading bay, or bunny hop worse that a woman learner, which makes you hang your head in shame.
both are eps boxes according to mercedes. but both are telligent boxes also.
at our place all our axors have the manual eps box.
we also have actrosses with the manual box.
we do have a fiar few actrosses with the auto version and the fold away clutch.
this has the t shaped lever as usual but with a switch behind the lever with M or A. (manual or auto)
in automatic it drives as a conventional automatic.
if you switch to manual the the gearbox reverts to a manual box but still without the clutch. to change gear in manual mode you just push the lever and the clutch will work on its own.
the fold out clutch is released by a lever down in the footwell near the clutch pedal. when it is released the computer picks up on this so you can only drive it as a totally conventional manual box, if the switch is still in automatic mode the display on the dash will tell you to fold the clutch away.
bit of a waste of time really, some people used the clutch when shunting under trailers etc so as to have better control . but i would never fold out the clutch to drive normally as this will screw the gearbox up.
originally our firm bought all our automatic actroses , however they had that many problems with them going wrong that they were sold back to mercedes and then leased back.
The firm I worked for before I went agency had two - one 03 and one 53 reg. The 53 had the joystick on the armrest and the window controls by the window and was great. The 03 had the joystick on the floor and other switches including the windows were stuck almost under the seat behind the joystick which could be a nightmare when pulling up at toll bridges when you were trying to sort out your gears and get the window open to pay the man. Really liked the gearbox though.
gardun:
cornish trucker:
Gardun the bit about the intermittent wipers is handy to know, learnt something new, thanks.
Thanks in advance
John
AFAIK they come on as and when they feel like it
The new Actros DOES now have a switch for the heated mirrors,THANK GOD!! And you will find that the blindspot mirrors are also heated
Sussed out the wipers eons ago…its the CD player I’m having trouble with…like which CD do I play first??
Dan.
Dan:
The new Actros DOES now have a switch for the heated mirrors,THANK GOD!! And you will find that the blindspot mirrors are also heated
Sussed out the wipers eons ago…its the CD player I’m having trouble with…like which CD do I play first??Dan.
When I get my new Actros I will have a switch, but the old one doesn’t! I’ll just have to be patient 