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I am posting this on behalf of my parents. They own a 2018 GLE 43 and owned it for about 1 year now.
During a normal drive on the freeway , the transmission suddenly shudders and gets stuck on the 8th gear and wont shift up. My father was driving, and as he noticed this, he tried to get a higher gear by using the steering paddles. This did try to shift, but the whole transmissions started going crazy. So he pulls over and suddenly they notice a burning smell. Next thing the front of the car is up in flames and you can see the outcome from the pictures.
The scary part was that there was no indication of any fault on the dash. I recall on older models the car would go in limp mode if any transmission irregularities are detected. But nothing, no check engine light, nothing.
Mercedes is not responding to their queries and insurance company has ruled out fuel as the cause.
After some research, I cannot find any issues pointing to this problem. The only one I came across is the recall on the starter motor fuse heating up if too many unsuccessful cranks have been attempted, but sure this is not related.
The car has had no modification (including electrical or audio). It is all stock. The only thing is that the car has been garaged for a few months as my folks were travelling abroad.
Any info or bulletins would be appreciated as my folks have lost faith in Mercedes and do not want this happening to anyone else.
2010 Mercedes GL450; 2000 Mercedes ML55 AMG; 2016 VW GLI SEL Stick!!!
Sorry to hear about that. I hope your parents are okay.
It's pretty rare to happen. It's all conjecture to speculate, but it could stem from disuse to a leaking seal to just disuse and a oil leak building up.
From your pictures it foesnt look like anything transmission related; the burn pattern is definitely in the engine bay and could very well be anything oil/coolant or engine related.
I hope the insurance company finds in your favor; and the new gle is pretty cool if your folks decide to step into a new Mercedes-Benz again.
The best thing to do is find the email or contact info of mercedes corporate or vp in Europe/Germany.
Takes a lot for oil to burn, not sure how the INS Co. ruled at fuel as the cause, for that much flame, fuel was involved. Question is was it the root cause or once compromised by something else.
Critters nesting and eating under the hood is a high probability given "storage". They like chewing on plastics and wiring and insulation...
Thanks for the reply kombifan. Yes they are safe and well thanks. I'm glad they reacted quickly, pulled over and just got out. I asked if he had an extinguisher but apparently Mercedes does not even offer them as an option anymore.
Quick update, Mercedes was quick to take the car to Stuttgart. Sounds like they are surprised too.
I was thinking that too, but then the fuel lines, fuel tank and rear of the car was OK. funny part is that the front seats were ok,and the fire stopped at the dash. I as thinking rats and rodents chewing wires, but the car would have started with a hell load of faults on the dash when starting the car (at least that's what one would think).
I am sure this version is turbo charged, and I am suspecting a failed turbo system or A/C issue. kombifan is right regarding the fire starting at the front of the car. Oil in the Inter cooler or condenser, a hot day, and some bad luck could set a blaze off.
06-27-2019, 01:09 AM
