OttoBon100

Today when returning home my '06 ML350 wouldn’t get out of 1st gear. I had stopped for a bridge opening and put the car in Park. After putting it in Drive it wouldn't shift out of 1st so I limped the car to a parking lot, turned it off and waited for about 30 minutes. Then it started and drove fine. It did the same thing a couple weeks ago. I also noticed that when this happened and I stopped and turned it off and immediately started it again that when you move selector from park to drive or park to reverse with your foot on the brake it makes a fairly loud clunk from the drive train. It even lurches forward slightly. My ML Production date: March '06 and currently has 58k miles on it. After the wait it acted as if nothing was wrong and no loud clunking shifting. No warning lights or messages - so far. I haven't taken it in to see if it is throwing any codes yet. Anyone else experience this and/or have a solution or diagnosis?

u001elg

This sounds an awful lot like a transmission conductor plate beginning to go bad.
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My wife's 2006 ML350 started off like that and it became progressively worse over time in frequency and duration. No check engine light or codes until near the end.
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The conductor plate fits in between the valve body and the transmission.
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After replacement, the transmission has performed flawlessly for the following 80,000 miles.
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Hope this helps.

OttoBon100

Helped a great deal! Thank you! Took it to the dealer where I purchased the car and have it serviced. It was the conductor plate/control module assembly for transmission 722.9. Just picked it up and it is all better now. Total cost was $1,208.62. Kind of bummed that the ML has less than 60k miles on it and this happened but stuff happens.