E-Class (W211) 2003-2009

New guy with a 2007.Advice and help needed.

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Old Apr 18, 2016 | 06:32 PM
  #1  
Anemone's Avatar
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BMW X5 4.8is
New guy with a 2007.Advice and help needed.

Hey guys, I'm new to Mercedes. I have a long history with BMW and it seems like the right time to switch; completely.

I still own a 06 x5 4.8is, which has been our family car for the past 2 years but we are in the process of selling it and getting a GL550.

In the meantime, I purchased a 2007 E-350 from my dad. The car has 70k miles, and is in really good condition in and out. Silver on grey, sport package.

Mechanically, it's been maintained pretty good but it still has some issues...

Lately, the transmission has been acting up, not switching gears when cold, but after warming up it shifts just fine; but unless you let it warm up, you can't leave the parking lot.

So we took it to a reputable shop in the area and had the fluid and filter changed with OEM parts and fluid but that did not improve the shifting much.

I bought the car from him nonetheless since he didn't want to deal with it anymore, so now I'm trying to figure this thing out.

At 70k miles it seems kinda early for a tranny to go out. Are the 7 speed known to fail prematurely?

If the symptoms I talked about don't point to a bad tranny, what could it be then?
Fluid level is good.
Valve body maybe? Electrical plug o rings?

These are just a couple things I read online about to change before I look into a transmission replacement.

So what do you guys think? I appreciate the help.
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Old Apr 19, 2016 | 01:01 AM
  #2  
LemonSqueezy's Avatar
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From: Bay Area
14 550 sedan
Some 06's and 07's will have that issue. I've had the same shifting issue for probably 3 years now but it's very mild. It hasn't worsened at all over time so I was never bothered to get it fixed. The problem most likely lies with either the valve body or conductor plate, I believe it had something to do with their supplier at the time (Siemens?) who provided somewhat faulty parts. If you have a good relationship with your dealership service center, your service adviser may or may not be able to get corporate MB to fork out some of the cost, but it's hard to get corporate to pay for anything nowadays anyways, so good luck.

This is also only something the dealership can do as I believe they're the only ones who can recode your tranny to your car and vin. If you do get it fixed though, please report back, I'd love to know how much it would cost. I was quoted some $1500 or so for the valve body some time ago, not sure about the conductor plate.
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Old Apr 19, 2016 | 01:06 AM
  #3  
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From: Bay Area
14 550 sedan
Best advice would be to just take it to the dealership, fork out the diagnostic fee, and have them tell you what's wrong with it. They'll be able to look at data from the transmission and numerical values that, if too high or low, indicates a transmission problem. The process will be long though, they'll reset the transmission adaptations, which will help for a few days in my experience, then if it comes back they might suggest replacing the tranny fluid. But keep going back if the problem persists so you won't have to keep paying a diagnostic fee every time.
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Old Apr 19, 2016 | 12:22 PM
  #4  
Pinoi Ryder's Avatar
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From: Carson, Ca
2003 E500 Sport
have you tried resetting the transmission? i saw somewhere here how to reset them..
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Old Apr 19, 2016 | 02:09 PM
  #5  
Anemone's Avatar
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BMW X5 4.8is
thank you guys . I haven't tried resetting it but I doubt it's gonna make a difference.
I have an appointment at the dealer in a few hours..ill keep this post updated.
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Old Apr 19, 2016 | 08:30 PM
  #6  
LemonSqueezy's Avatar
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From: Bay Area
14 550 sedan
If the problem truly lies with the conductor plate or valve body, resetting the transmission is only going to be a temporary solution. The dealer's first step will almost always be the hard reset before they can dig deeper into the problem. People can also attempt a soft reset at home if they like. .
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...set-works.html
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Old Apr 20, 2016 | 02:05 AM
  #7  
AMGAffalterbach's Avatar
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From: Highlands Ranch, Colorado
2014 BMW M235i
I'd second what Lemon is saying here, probably the conductor plate it's really common on the 722.9. Followed by valve body. The 7G-Tronics are not known for outright failures like some of the earlier 5G-Tronics that would have a gasket that would come apart and grenade the transmission. I don't even know if transmission replacement on a 2007 E550 is worth the cost anymore, even on a lower mile example, it would be ridiculously expensive to do through a dealership if corporate didn't cover any of the repair cost as Lemon alluded to.

Last edited by AMGAffalterbach; Apr 20, 2016 at 02:10 AM.
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Old Apr 20, 2016 | 02:13 AM
  #8  
Werkzeug's Avatar
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463, 210, 211
Originally Posted by AMGAffalterbach
I'd second what Lemon is saying here, probably the conductor plate it's really common on the 722.9. Followed by valve body. The 7G-Tronics are not known for outright failures like some of the earlier 5G-Tronics that would have a gasket that would come apart and grenade the transmission.
Oh god, 5G's. Rebuild the whole thing and tear half of it apart just to fix a stupid shift issue. The best trans to date IMHO is the 722.6. Very simple to fix.

Btw OP, I am on board with all who are leaning toward the valve body. It is very common, in fact, to the degree that sometimes the codes that get set literally say "unit is defective" haha. Its possible it could be something else, but not likely. Its not all terrible though, you should be letting a 55 warm up properly before hauling *** anyhow.
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Old Apr 20, 2016 | 03:00 PM
  #9  
btv94's Avatar
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From: Orange County, Ca
2007 E350 RWD SP1 (M211.056/E272.964)
Originally Posted by Anemone
Hey guys, I'm new to Mercedes. I have a long history with BMW and it seems like the right time to switch; completely.

I still own a 06 x5 4.8is, which has been our family car for the past 2 years but we are in the process of selling it and getting a GL550.

In the meantime, I purchased a 2007 E-350 from my dad. The car has 70k miles, and is in really good condition in and out. Silver on grey, sport package.

Mechanically, it's been maintained pretty good but it still has some issues...

Lately, the transmission has been acting up, not switching gears when cold, but after warming up it shifts just fine; but unless you let it warm up, you can't leave the parking lot.

So we took it to a reputable shop in the area and had the fluid and filter changed with OEM parts and fluid but that did not improve the shifting much.

I bought the car from him nonetheless since he didn't want to deal with it anymore, so now I'm trying to figure this thing out.

At 70k miles it seems kinda early for a tranny to go out. Are the 7 speed known to fail prematurely?

If the symptoms I talked about don't point to a bad tranny, what could it be then?
Fluid level is good.
Valve body maybe? Electrical plug o rings?

These are just a couple things I read online about to change before I look into a transmission replacement.

So what do you guys think? I appreciate the help.
It sounds like transmission conductor plate is acting up. Same thing happened to my car 2 months ago. No check engine light on the dash, but limp mode sometime. So took to the dealer to scan and found code P0718.

MB dealer is only place can repair 7 speed tranny. My bill came out @ $1600 at FJ Newport beach.

Here is the invoice.

27-001 REPLACED ETC CONDUCTOR PLATE 14061 CRP $820.60
1 000-270-26-00-60 REMAN RS CTRR. UNIT ELECTROHYD. $436.80
1 221-277-01-95 OIL FILTER $43.48
1 220-271-03-80 GASKET $25.20
1 251-271-00-97 PIPE $3.30
6 004-990-35-12 SCREW $19.80
1 007603-012102 RING,GENERAL,METAL $3.03
7 Q-1-09-0166 MOBIL ATF 134 RED $182.00

PARTS: 713.61 LABOR: 820.60 OTHER: 0.00 TOTAL LINE A: 1534.21

78506 CONDUCTOR PLATE CP* 4.4* CORRECTIONS: PERFORM QUICK TEST.
FOUND CODE: 0718, SPEED SENSOR. PROCESS CODE. FOUND INTERNAL FAULT IN
ETC CONDUCTOR PLATE. DRAIN TRANSMISSION. REMOVE PAN, REMOVE VALVE BODY.
REMOVE AND REPLACE ETC CONDUCTOR PLATE. REINSTALL AND TORQUE ALL BOLTS.
CONNECT STAR AND PERFORM INITIAL STARTUP, PERFORM SOFTWARE UPDATE TO
NEW CONTROL MODULE. REFILL TRANSMISSION. ROAD EST VEHICLE. VEHICLE
TRANSMISSION FUNCTIONING NORMAL AT THIS TIME. MILES OUT 78512.
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Old Apr 20, 2016 | 05:24 PM
  #10  
cmriv's Avatar
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From: dmv
2009 E550 2000 Honda civic mash n' go
.6 conductor plate.
.9 entire valve body.
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