chen888min

2006 CLS500 transmission would not switch from C to S, and when in P or R position, car bumps... gear would not shift... that means when I press gas pedal, the rpm will keep go up... and not shift to next gear...

UDWANIT2

r u pushing a 55 or a 500

jmba

Hi, I have the same issue, same year same model. I also have a CLK that a year ago had the same problem and requires to have to change the electronic shifter on top of the transmission . Im taking my car to my mechanic, will see.

waviles1

I have a 06 cls500 with 71,000 and sometimes when cold starts it will shift hard up and also hard when stopping. Once warmed up no apparent problem. My concern is there a serious problem waiting to unfold please advise. It is at the shop now and I feel that this is a common concern with previous owners......any experts out there

jmba

The speed sensor is going wrong, need to be replace, my cls 550 has the electronic shifter integrated to the transmission, MB is the only one with Acces to that. My mechanic reset my computer and is working fine but eventually the sensor need to be replace

citruspilot

So, apparently there are alot of us 2006 CLS500 owners who have this tranny problem. Has anybody been able to get MB USA to address this issue with some kind of financial help? Obviously their tranny design is flawed to some degree. I love the car. But if enough of us experience this problem at what point will MB stand up and take some responsibility for this fault?

My car has only 64,000 miles AND the MB dealer I bought it from back in Dec 2010 had already done the tranny service. So, they knew back then???

Jeff

Art-by-Art

My '07 CLS550 had the same transmission speed sensor problem. Basically, it wouldn't shift out of first gear. on three separate occasions. It was tricky because it would do it and then self cure. But I got in just as the warranty expired (four days over) and the the dealer (Fletcher Jones in Newport Beach, CA) was able to diagnose the problem got Mercedes to cover it under a "Good Will Warranty." Otherwise the dealer said it was going to be $1,100. Also note it was critical that I changed the transmission oil and filter at the recommended 39,000 miles. Had I not done that, there would definitely not have been any warranty coverage

citruspilot

Art, luckily for me the car I bought back in Dec had the tranny serviced as part of their presale repairs. This is plainly noted on the "run sheet" of the cars maintenance history printout from MB. They are a factory MB dealer. But as I drive the car more, now has 65,000 miles, had 61,000 when purchased, the tranny is starting to exhibit the problem signs of what most folks suggest they are having. So apparently having the tranny serviced, as in my case, may not help this issue, hard shifts, slipping, etc. Could need new parts as suggested here. Maybe because it was serviced by a MB authorized dealer there may be some kind of recourse for me?? Could be that they knew about this problem and tried to fix it before selling it.

Sent an email to MB USA. Patiently waiting some kind of response.....

Jeff

citruspilot

Well, yesterday I got a call from MB USA out of NJ. Missed the call but called back this AM and spoke to a guy who was very polite and somewhat helpful. I explained my concerns for my tranny and he listened. (My email had pretty much given him the gist of my inquiry.) He suggested that I take my car to our local MB dealership and said he would send them a note advising them of my pending visit and reason. He did say that my car was out of any warranty program as far as MB was concerned.

I inquired as to who would pay for this visit and he said that my local dealer would make that decision. I suspect that this expense will be all mine. Now if they find something wrong, ie, speed sensor, valve body, etc, I may have to be forceful to get any help from MB if I am so lucky. Most likely I will be liable for any and all expenses. I did voice my concern why a $70,000 car would have such a tranny issue only after 60,000 miles and he seemed sincerely agreeable. But, we will see.....

I did mention that on this site and another there were others who have a 2006 CLS500 and even a few 2007 CLS550 owners who have concerns and problems with their transmissions also. Maybe if we band together they may find that our problems are legitiment and do something. One can only hope.

I am sure they know about this already....

Jeff

ramtins

Hey All
I am expriencing the same problems with my 06 CLS500. When cold starts it will shift hard up and also hard when stopping. Once warmed up no apparent problem. Any ideas? I have about 44k on there and I don't think the tranny fluid has been changed (I bout it with around 32k miles couple of years ago). Please let me know if you guys have found a solution/fix for this problem.

Thank you,

jaedee

I have the same issue. My transmission fluid/filter has been replaced twice, at 39K and again at 70K. The problem didnt arise until after the second service.

pkalona

Just had similar issue wih my 07 CLS550. Mine did it once in 1st gear and once in a high gear. Both times it recovered after turning the ignition off and on. Service Tech told me the car had gone into "limp" mode. It's designed to let the car move enough to let you get off the road.

It was the internal speed sensor and was replaced under warranty.

AndyW210E55

For me it was the valve bodies, would have been 3K+ if not under warranty. This is the worst car I have ever owned.

Fuel pump stranded me in OC for a few days, wiring harness for steering wheel, SRS warning X2, transmission, air suspension collapse X2. bent rims. window regulator. Coil packs on 2 misfiring cylinders. So much for prevenative maintenance. This was all in one year between 50k and 60k. Still under warranty till 2013. Even had a legal battle with MBUSA as the car was CPO, I found out they didnt do some items, the car never had a 40 k inspection and they CPOd it anyway. In the end my lawyer wasnt as good as chapman automotives'. I absolutely can't stand this car. I cant image how bad it will be when people of less income will get their hands on these high maintenance garage queens. I'll be suprised if anyones trans/motor/suspension can last to 100k.

DASCO

MY 2006 CLS500 WITH 34,000KM HAS, OBVIOUSLY FROM ALL THE POSTS WORLD WIDE, A TRANSMISSION MANUFACTURING FAULT RENDERING THE VEHICLE IN-OPERABLE, MY VEHICLE FROM ABOUT 22,000KM HAD INTERMITTENT SITUATIONS WHERE THE TRANSMISSION LOST IT MEMORY & BECAME CONFUSED AS TO WHAT GEAR IT SHOULD BE IN & COULD BE MANUALLY CORRECTED BY USING THE PADDLE SHIFT. THIS WAS NOT THOUGHT FOR MANY MONTHS BY ME A MAJOR ISSUE BUT A COMPUTOR GLITCH WHICH WE ALL EXPERIENCE FROM TIME TO TIME WITH COMPUTORS. NOW HOWEVER THE VEHICLE WILL NOT CHANGE ABOVE 3RD GEAR & ENGAGES FORWARD & REVERSE WITH A REAL THUMP. ALL ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE WITH THE PADDLE ARE USELESS. AT THIS STAGE MB HAVE INDICATED THE VEHICLE IS OUT OF WARRANT SO TOUGH LUCK FOR ME.
UNDER OUR LAWS IF A PRODUCT IS NOT MANUFACTUED OF A MERCHANTIBLE QUALITY THE MANUFACTURER IS OBLIGATED TO RECTIFY THE PRODUCT AT THE MANUFACTURERS EXPENSE, SO IT WILL BE INTERESTING WHEN I ACTIVATE THE NEXT PHASE IN THIS SAGA.

RazorV

2006 CLS 500 here, 61k, same problem. When cold hard shifts down, and up out of first gear. VERY apparent is tranny is in Sport mode. Once warmed up - about 2-5 miles, no problem.

Has anyone heard anything from MB about fixing this.

blau69

I also have a 2006 CLS500 with 65k miles that is experiencing the exact same problems as mentioned above. I took it to my local MB mechanic and he said it's a combination of the valve body and internal speed sensor, which can only be repaired by the dealer. I'm hoping my third party extended warranty will cover this repair.

DASCO

MY 2006 CLS500 WITH 34K WITH AUTO CHANGE PROBLEMS & ROUGH GEAR ENGAGEMENT HAS YESTERDAY BEEN REPAIRED WITH COMPLIMENTS OF MB AUSTRALIA. MY DEALER APPLIED TO MB FOR OUT OF WARRANTY ASSISTANCE AFTER I MADE THEM AWARE THAT I WAS AWARE OF MANY WORLD WIDE INSTANCES OF THIS PROBLEM WHICH WAS OBVIOUSLY A MANUFACTURING ISSUE WITH THE ELECTRICS ON THE GEARBOX. BEFORE THE GOOD NEWS FROM MB THE REPAIR QUOTE WAS JUST OVER AUD$6k FOR A "FULL TRANSMISSION ELECTRICS KIT" THEN I WAS ADVISED THAT PART OF THE KIT COULD BE PURCHASED TO REPLACE THE FAULTY SPEED SENSORS REQUIRED FOR AUD$1.2K - THEN A DAY LATER THE VERY GOOD NEWS CAME THROUGH FROM MB THE THE REPAIRS WOULD DONE FOR NIL COST AS A GOODWILL GESTURE. MY ONLY COST WAS FOR GASKETS, OIL ETC AUD$275.
I WAS VERY PLEASED THAT MB RECOGNISED THIS AS A MANUFACTURING PROBLEM & NOW I MAY JUST ORDER THAT "SLS" I HAVE BEEN DROOLING OVER.
FINALLY OUR 3RD PARTY VEHICLE FLEET REPAIRER ADVISED THEY COULD HAVE SUPPLIED THE AUD$1.2K PART FOR ABOUT AUD$475 X GERMANY.

RazorV

Well, last Thursday we were out with a client showing property and the transmission started acting up on our '06 CLS500. It actually (what seemed like) slipped out of drive and was stuck on the road. Shut the car off and restarted, transmission started working fine again and shifting fine.

Next morning, wife drives 1 mile to her office and calls me. Car not shifting right, she says. Told her to take it back home and I'll come home and drop off our other car. I started to drive the Mercedes to our repair shop but made it 2 miles and decided to pull over and call tow truck cause it kept slipping out of drive.

Now, it's showing code:

DIAGNOSE, CODE 723B (NO HYDRAULIC PRESSURE WHEN
SHIFTER IS ENGAGED)

Mechanic (Mercedes Certified) reset and did small road test. He didn't make it but 2 blocks (2/10ths) of a mile and came back, smoke coming out of transmission. Thus new transmission needed.

Along with everyone else, how in the world can a $78,000+ car need a new transmission with only 70k miles??? Can anyone at all tell me this? I have had many high end cars and NOT ONE needed a transmission. Heck my BMW 2000 3 series was close to 200k miles on the original clutch.

I was quoted:

TORQUE CONVERTOR: $972.00
MERCEDES TRANSMISSION FLUID: $227.70
REMANUFACTURED TRANSMISSION: $3,650.00
7 HOURS LABOR: $686
GRAND TOTAL ALMOST $6,000

I don't know what to do. Do I resource my only remanufactured transmission which I found for around $2,000 and that includes the Torque Converter and 3 year/50k miles warranty (parts and labor) or

Do I let my mechanic just do the above and bite the bullet?

or

Do I sell car and pay off the note?

Even if I would have gotten the $3500 extended warranty, it would have run out by now due to mileage.

If anyone has ANY suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

I am going to call MERBENZ CORP Customer Service and see if they will help at all since it is well documented that this year/make car has major issues with the transmission. But I'm not very hopeful anything will transpire.

Thanks to anyone that lends advice.

Greg
Siesta Key, FL

nuffstylzz

Noticed the exact same problem with my 2006 CLS500 about a week ago. Approximately 10 minutes after start up, car would not shift past the neutral gear into reverse or park. Turned the car off, and it worked fine.

Noticed the problem again this week, also once again just a few minutes after start up. Not sure if this is a prelude to a bigger problem however my gut is telling that it is.

RazorV

Well just reporting back.

Mercedes is useless. Even though I have COMPLETE Mercedes Benz Service Records from all the previous owners, including myself, they will not offer any "out of warranty assistance" help what-so-ever due to the car being a 2006, 3.5 years out of warranty and I am the third Owner.

I could give a Sh*T less about the above. SOMEONE tell me here that an $80,000 car has a transmission that dumps at 71k miles???????

How can that happen? Never in my life have I had any transmission problems with any car I have had - even at over 200k miles.

Plain and simple: Mercedes KNOWS there is a problem with that damn transmission but yet they fail to acknowledge it.

It will be the last Mercedes I ever own - BMW - I have NEVER had a problem with transmissions including my 2003, 169k 323.

Isn't there an attorney on here that can start a class action suite again them? I mean I am in a boat with many people.

New Tranny by Peter Schmidt out in CA who is an authorized Mercedes Benz rebuild shop. Apparently from what I'm told Mercedes has setup 1-2 service shops in different countries around the world to completely rebuild their transmissions. Peter Schmidt is one of them out in California. 2 year Parts & Labor, Unlimited mileage warranty, $5,500 less a 10% discount from AAA - so finial prices installed should be around $5,000. That includes a new torque converter and Mercedes Benz fluid.

Just an update,
Greg

jocarmel

Hey Guys, I'm having problems with my 2007 getting stuck in 3rd gear and driving home in "limp mode", not being able to shift into R, and generally not happy at all. When I Googled the problem, I came across a class action lawsuit that includes the 2006 models, but not the 2007 (as yet). My car just turned 114,000 miles. Apparently this is not an in frequent problem. Wish you the best.

fitat44

Have 80,000 + miles and the transmission is shifting jurky... so i had a local transmission shop pull the codes up here are the findings.

Code 2504: Hydraulic fault in Transmission.

code 2205: component Y3 / 8n1 turbine speed sensor.

code 2204: the signal from component y3/8n1 tss (vgs) is not available.

They wont touch it... have another shop that knows this tranny well so hopefully fine out what the problems is.

Did anyone have codes like this before and what was the out come.

rvterry

I have an 2006 CLS that is also having the same problems that is being discuss on this blog. I had the dealer here look at my car and they found excessive metal in the transmission. So I'm looking at a new tranny for my car. Has anyone got MB to talk about this problem.

aguerra

my brother had the same issue and after visiting a few mercedes specialists
it turn out the car was running short of 1.5lts of transmission fluid £140 total cost
unlike mercedes benz initial quote of £2500

Faith Chauke

Hello my name is faith. My Mercedes benzene is not switching from c to s and when I change to r or do it jump it only move with one gear even if I change to manual. Plz help reply to faith.chauke26@gmail.com or 0787275925