Tranny quit shifting while towing
07-09-2012, 03:25 PM
#1
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2007 GL450, 2003 BMW 325i
Tranny quit shifting while towing
Pulling my 18 foot boat (~5,000 llbs loaded) plus kids and camping gear in the trunk my truck quit shifting going up a steep grade. No lights on dash. For those familiar; Pacheco Pass. I had traveled up and down a few smaller hills for the previous 50 miles with no problems.
It was stuck in 5th or 6th cause it just lugged to 20mph and super low RPMs. Before pulling over I shifted with the touch paddles on the steering wheel with no change.
Pulled over. Put car in Park, then Neutral and then in Drive. Car went forward in 1st no problem but then would not shift up. manual shifting had no affect on tranny.
Pulled over again. Shut car down for about a minute. Started and finished the pull uphill shifting as expected.
My GL450 has 66k with factory hitch. I have pulled with it now two other times up and down hills without this symptom before.
Anybody else had this problem? Is it computer related? Fixes?
It was stuck in 5th or 6th cause it just lugged to 20mph and super low RPMs. Before pulling over I shifted with the touch paddles on the steering wheel with no change.
Pulled over. Put car in Park, then Neutral and then in Drive. Car went forward in 1st no problem but then would not shift up. manual shifting had no affect on tranny.
Pulled over again. Shut car down for about a minute. Started and finished the pull uphill shifting as expected.
My GL450 has 66k with factory hitch. I have pulled with it now two other times up and down hills without this symptom before.
Anybody else had this problem? Is it computer related? Fixes?
07-10-2012, 01:46 AM
#3
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Sounds like a transmission valve body. Do a search on that and you'll find people with the same symptoms. I had the same issue on my R (no towing) and it stuck in 6th gear while on the freeway, no reaction from the paddles.
07-10-2012, 09:17 AM
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2015 Ram 2500, former 2013 GL350, 2007 GL450
This is a common 'gremlin'. I had it happen one time about 6 months ago, on my 07. I wasn't towing anything. A power off and restart fixed it for me and I haven't seen it again.
07-10-2012, 02:52 PM
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2007 GL450, 2003 BMW 325i
Thanks GenericSN; I did find a helpful thread. Would have searched first, but didn't know what I was looking for.
07-10-2012, 02:57 PM
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2007 GL450, 2003 BMW 325i
Let's hope that it's just that... but I won't hold my breath... Telling the wifey that her "new" car has a tranny gremlin won't be a welcomed bit of news... she convinced me to buy a new car for her after having some issues with our former 2001 ML430. I loved that car, but it sounded like the transfer case was about done and the ESP control module was also caput after 183,000 miles. She was done dealing with it and did not want to drop another dime of repair into it.
07-10-2012, 08:08 PM
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Best of luck on the transmission issue. When mine happened I just drove it straight to the dealer as it was clear to me something is wrong and needed to be fixed.
Our 99 ML430 on the other hand is still running strong at 123k mi!
Our 99 ML430 on the other hand is still running strong at 123k mi!
