Need guidance. My mother is 71. She bought a used 2006 E350 in 2008 with 34k miles. Regular service and maintenance. Now has 88k on it.

Experienced hard shifting. Took to dealer who now says new transmission needed because of shavings in pan. Called second dealer who says need to look at the shavings because it could be something electrical and that such mechanical failures are rare.

Any help appreciated as I understand this transmission is MB's version of the Lucas problems which took the British auto industry down in the early 80's.

Seriously, hard to imagine mechanical failure in a care with less than 12k a year driven by an older woman to pick up her grand kids from school.

Is there any class action or recall? Regular 7 speed. Not 4 matic.

 

They've never gotten that damn 7 speed working just right ...to this day.

 

Hello,

Do you have any information if the Transmission fluid has been changed @40k ?

No class actions or recall to my knowledge.

The 7G-Tronic isn't this disastrously unreliable but it's not great either. The Valve Body has a bad habbit of acting up and requires replacement, it's a 1k+ job.

Can you get what sort of error codes are stored?
IS the check engine light on?

 

Do not believe the fluid was changed even though she regularly had serviced (as in no one told her it needed to be done or asked her to if she would like such service performed-not sure how a 71 yr old would know to have that done).

A bunch of codes, all related to communication errors between TCM and the transmission. Dealer service rep told me that shavings clogged the valve body and replacement of the electronics would only be temporary as the mechanical failure would take over.

 

Even if it wasn't changed the damage is done now.

Is the transmission stuck in 1st gear or is it shifting but roughly?

I can't comment on what your dealer said about this. But he might be correct if shavings have been found.

 

Shifting between fears but harsh down shifting. Very clunky. All in the last 100 miles. No one mentioned low fluid.

 

Ask to see if there is oil in TCM. Could be the leaky connector resulting in electrical plate going bad. I don't know about 7-speed, but 5-speed had this issue and is not expensive to fix.

 

Well you have gone this far and there may no turning back----either trade the car or contact the local MB rep and ask for assistance regarding the differing opinions and his suggestion regarding a better(you know what I mean) MB transmission dealer-----I would ask does my transmission have the latest software?? Does my transmission have the current correct shift adaptations. Did they scan my transmission.

Additionally, I assume that when they found the metal pieces---they flushed and added a new filter----correct???

 

All I know from this diagnosis was gleaned in one phone call with the service rep 25 miles away on Saturday. The call ended when it became obvious nothing would occur between then and Monday am. Hope that the fluid and shavings were all saved as this appears to evidence the difference between the TCM causing the codes and a mechanical failure requiring a new transmission. Hard to imagine a well engineered and manufactured product would suffer unexplained mechanical failure. (If one didn't change the oil for twice the interval would the engine really fail at 20k miles?). No further explanation needed though if it was just an expensive shoddy product.

Either way, the two dealers quote a greatly varying prices on the transmission replacement. Go figure.

 

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Scratch what I said about the electrical plate being inexpensive. On 7-speed transmissions they are VIN coded and have to be ordered through a MB dealer. 5-speed do not have this issue.