KJ

On Saturday, my GLE 53 wouldn't go into gear. This had happened before a while back. Previously, I let the vehicle sit and then came back to restart it and the problem went away and never came back again. I always figured it was a glitchy sensor.

Fast forward to this past Saturday, the problem came back, but this time it did not go away. I tried a few more rest/restart cycles and the same result, so I got the car towed to the dealer Monday morning.

I spoke to the dealership on Tuesday afternoon and was advised that they would be replacing the entire transmission as they found a small amount of metal shavings in the transmission. Pretty surprised the transmission failed after less than 3K miles, but at least Mercedes is taking care of it with no fuss. ETA for a new transmission is 7-10 days. Hopefully there isn't any major delay for parts!

mikapen

I had a similar problem with our 2010 ML Bluetec, at about 3,000 miles. It was debris in the 3rd gear accumulator. The accumulator was replaced and no further problems for seven years/87,000 miles with a lot of towing miles.
I was always worried that more debris might be flowing around inside, and that replacing the entire tranny would have been a better solution. It turns out that it wasn't an issue.
You should be fine after you get a whole new transmission.
Ask about flushing the lines and the transmission cooler.

BACnMercedes

Yes. Request the flush that Mikapen suggested. Although I would assume they would do that since they found “shavings.”

KJ

Thanks for the tips guys, the dealership said they'll definitely be doing all of that.

Now I have to wait for parts.

hyperion667

What are they giving you to drive in the meantime?? Something you're happy with hopefully

Ron.s

Hi KJ....not a good way to start a thread for the new year. A new transmission is the best solution rather than a rebuild. That takes some potential issues out of the fix. I can’t begin to imagine the complexity and huge number of parts in a 9 speed.

Lucky 777

They could have tried a flush and wait and see approach. Kudos for them owning up to the bigger fix instead of stroking you along... That's a dealer I'd do business with again!

Charcharius

That sucks, but glad they seem to be handling this properly. I hope this is resolved for you soon.

TexAg91

bummer

KJ

Thanks Everyone!

They got me in a new C-class loaner, I'm not going to be too picky. Ontario is going through a province wide shutdown so I'm not going anywhere anyway. It's a bummer, but I guess it happened at the "ideal" time.

This dealer is great, I've been going there for many years. In Toronto, all the dealerships are corporate owned so they are all pretty good.

Henry Stark

Do you have 3,000 km or 3,000 miles ?

chassis

Likely 3k km. The photos in the original post show distance in km, speed in km/hr and temperature in Celsius. The original poster's profile indicates Canada.

KJ

I actually converted to miles for this post. I have approx. 4,000 kms, which is 2,500 miles.

I've had the vehicle for 14-months.

Henry Stark

Thanks “KJ”! I think we got outs around the same time. Did it ever buck in sport mode or when switching from electric to gas at low speed.

Hope your repair hies smooth.

KJ

Absolutely it did.

Sport+, coming to stop it would do a one-time buck quite often.

The dealer did a software update for the tranny, the problem didn't go away.

Tranny has been ordered from Germany, ETA is 5-7 business days. I'll probably have the vehicle back by the end of the month.

hyperion667

Make certain they don't fawk you over on the loaner: like, by making you pay for it! AND make sure to return it with NO windshield washer fluid left LMAO!