PeterUbers

Please read my signature and see what process I went through

I had a much more helpful dealership but it took Mbusa to make things happen

defcon3

Hi Peter - I just read both threads! The second link in your signature is broken but your user history is not, so

First off - congratulations on achieving success with much dedication and persistence. I recently won a similar "battle" with AirFrance who refused and stalled to compensate my family for a suitcase full of my wife and my son's clothes + a Bugaboo stroller (all to the tune of CHF 3,5k)... Well, after 160 days, they did, but it was not easy. I had my fellow expats cheering in this thread.

Back on topic - your thread, Peter, is full of useful information: the fact my issue is so commonplace, the fact that involving MB (in my case Daimler Schweitz) was beneficial.

I am scheduled to return the car for the third time on Tuesday - hopefully by then, HQ will have reviewed the history to date and arrived at some recommendations.

Selecting the Merc as our first family car, I have scrutinized every possible angle to eventually nail the E-class estate as most suitable for us. I love everything about the car, despite the higher (compared to friends' cars) maintenance costs. The ride and overall experience is unmatched in this class... Before buying the Merc, I rented a 535d X-drive Touring for a week, just to be sure I didn't overlook anything in my inherent bias towards Merc. I still remember the seamless and brilliant gearbox. It did put me on the fence for a while, until all the minor nuances like bluetooth pairing (or lack thereof), crap nav, and similar sealed the deal.

Coming to think of it... if only there was an option to fit that ZF8 onto our W212 ... it would have produced the ultimate, unbeatable, numero uno imperial cruiser that others can only imitate but never match...

Your thread also got me thinking - what if MB/Daimler come to me proposing to buy it back?!? I'm not sure - I really like the car, so does the family. I will probably seek a similar specced replacement immediately


EDIT >> Just came across this little gem: 722.9 Bullet Proof Transmission by Weistec. Whoa, at USD 5,5k, this is a steal to anyone having tranny issues, eh!

defcon3

Just an update on my side...

This morning I spent good hour with the head of service and the receiving mechanic. We drove around town, and lo and behold, I could not get the car to give a single kick. Gotta hand it to the guys there - they were as patient as one possibly may be - despite all the explications on my side, all the effort to get the gearbox to kick, nothing. And I mean, 45 minutes of nothing. Hard acceleration, soft acceleration, uphill, downhill, a section of the highway with the ramp exit... Any self respecting conspiracy theorist would scream "MAGIC!" but the gearbox was decent and behaved alright. True, it was not responding fast enough and all, but they both said I should perhaps drive more in Sport mode.

The engine revs locking at 1,000 and issuing the weird thunder sound - I have been explained it is normal for the sensor in the exhaust to sometimes call for higher revs and temperature of the burning gasses, whereas the thunder sound releasing the gas would be the turbos revving down in idle...

We also checked and confirmed that full gearbox maintenance has been performed at 63k KM, using 9L of ATF, so this is also a tick in the box...

Eventually, the head of service told me he would advise I put the car in Sport each time I drive in the coming weeks - see if this improves the ride and tranny performance to my expectations. We have agreed that a month from now, or earlier if needed, we'll touch base and run a status check.

Unclear if Mercedes HQ had any impact or influence on the meeting today but both head of service and receiving mechanic were very understanding and specific in their explanations of each point: engine, gearbox, driving, service to date, etc. I was also upfront and open, sharing my concerns and seeking to address them within warranty. Given I have 12 more months of it, I will try the Sport mode driving for several weeks, see where this road takes us.

KEY08

Sounds good! Continue to put it through its paces. Hopefully, no more bad gremlins will come calling.