If it hadn't happened to me I probably wouldn't believe it either. Clearly something locked up - but what? I'm very worried about driving this vehicle, since I'm 100% sure something is broken in the transmission.

 

hey, if your GLK is running fine now then it should be okay to drive. a couple months ago when i had to park outside at a friend's house, it was below freezing and snowing etc.

When i got to the car the next morning the car was stuck, wouldn't move until i gave it a hard push on the gas and there was a loud clunk like things were frozen under the car. All was well after and it never happened again. I never had another car do this but it didn't bother me that much since this car's full of little weird bugs. lol

 

Mmm yes prob some mechanical metal freezing

 

Was there anything peculiar about the weather when you came back, like very cold or extremely hot. Could be that the trans is low on fluid and needed to get things circulating before the trans would engage.

Don't worry about driving it. Although the thought of getting stuck might be a possibility Roadside Assistance will be there for you, I know it not a comforting thought. I have never experienced your situation 25 K miles, 2 years old and only window and rear hatch problems.

 

That is actually a very good point as the transmission and engine oil would of all gone to the bottom and would require recirculating throughout the whole system before the gears and parts are covered again. Especially important to prevent premature wear on the engine and transmission due to lack of lube.

 

Sounds a little like my problem which I first mentioned here in July 2009 when my GLK was only two months old. When lifting off the gas, say to make a sharp turn into a driveway when the gas was applied nothing would happen, it was as though the engine had died. It hadn't, it was only that the transmission had not downshifted. When it did after a few seconds it did so with an almighty "clunk".
Now my car is more than 18 months old and it still does that although I have learned how to handle it by giving the gas pedal a gentle prod two or three times rapidly and that will accomplish the downshift. Same thing happens sometimes when starting off - for a few seconds nothing happens and i make sure I apply the gas gently, otherwise the "clunk" and a very jerky start.
I suspect the dealer does not believe me and when I had the transmission checked out I was told it was operating normally.
It isn't really a problem now I have learned how to handle it but it occasionally bothers me when I am waiting to turn left when there is a stream of traffic approaching. When I step on the gas and nothing happens for a few seconds it makes me nervous.

 

Doesn't sound normal actually sounds very dangerous. Can you make it happen at will? If so you should not settle. Bring it back to MB and tell them to fix it. Take another GLK out for a spin at the dealer and see if it does the same thing. I'll bet it doesn't.

 

My 2010 GLK does the same thing as Greygoose's - however no 'clunk.'

But when in C and if I'm stopped and suddenly hit the gas it does 'pause' for about 2 seconds and then kicks in. Figure it's simply that it's starting in 2nd. However put the GLK in S and it doesn't pause at all.

 

I was reading the Consumer Reports on 2011 cars and they gave this model the worst reliability rating.

But they do recommend the ML350 though, so it's probably worth getting that one instead

 

Hey greygoose, the same situation has happened to me a couple times and like you I've just adjusted to the super slow reacting transmission we have. Scared me the first time when i was trying to make a right to merge and NOTHING happened for a good 2 seconds.

This is the first car i've ever had where i have to floor it from time to time to get the transmission in the right gear say when i need to pass a yellow light cause i can't stop in time etc. I guess 7 gears too much for the CPU to figure stuff out fast enough. haha

 

This dnshift happens w/ our 2006 R500 and I've heard others talk about this as well - it drives me crazy. Unfortunately, I've taken this car in many times to MB and they say either it's normal, or they don't know what I'm talking about...geez. For smooth roads going down hill, it seems to be more noticeable.
PL

 

C/E mode starts the car in 2nd gear
S mode starts the car in 1st gear
most transmissions halt to 1st gear so thats prob why theres a pause
i dont think it sequentially goes down electronically (so simply straight to 1st gear) thus probably the reason it doesnt know how to go down to just 2nd gear on halt.
and consumer report = useless, they give some of the worst recommendations especially for tires. Not trusting them anymore. truedelta.com reflects better reliability from a wider user base and people who actually "live" with the car.

anyhow the transmission has been around since 2002? its time for the 9G-Tronics lol
but really the solution to all this is to keep S mode as default
on the other hand
when we hit M mode, it goes from 1-6
I can only assume S mode will do the same
and E/C mode should go from 2-7 (i think 6th n 7th are overdrives)

 

I had 2 AWD Jaguar X Types that used to do this. If I washed them, or, drove in wet weather, and then put them in the garage for a while, they didn't want to move, and, I got a loud bang when they did. Turns out - the rear brake pads and rotors would stick together with rust. After I changed the rear brake pads to an aftermarket brand, I had no more problems.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

indeed our brake pads are iron based as with most other european cars aswell (thus brake dust madness)

good observation!

 

Good to see that I don't seem to have a unique problem. I am going to follow Kyoshiro's advice and keep the transmission in "S". The dealer did run diagnostics on the transmission and told me it was operating to spec so they are not likely to change their mind. I will report how the switch to permanent "S" mode works out. Thanks to all who joined the discussion

 

I notice that in C mode the transmission sometimes is indecisive. Especially when the car is not completely warmed up. I found in these conditions just switching to S mode or manually changing the gear range helps to alleviate this until the car is warm.

 

Keep in mind that later models don't stay in S, and default to C every time you shut the car off

It goes 1-6 in M mode becuase M is not manual mode, it's gear limiting mode. There is no point of limiting gear to 7th, that would be the same as driving in D.

S mode will go all they way to 7th gear.

Don't think 6th and 7th are overdrives, gears are very short in GLK compared to 4-5 speed autos. If I remember correctly at 80mph GLK is at about 3.5k rpm.

 

I have noticed that the tranny doesn't allow for kickdown when the car is still cold (no warm up after starting) and the transmission stays in 2nd gear longer and clunks into 3rd. Somewhat like a cold shudder. Drive by wire possibly the reason of some of these engine tranny protection features that are not existent on drive by line

 

I also have the creaking noises and tried to apply the 3M Dry Silicone on all the seals around the doors. It seems to have help some but the Creaking is still there. This morning was very audible and annoying to hear creaking from a 3 month old 2011 GLK 350 Built in Nov 2010. MB should do something about this design flaw on the GLK350. I am afraid to bring to the dealer to have them take apart the doors, etc. Other posts here do not show positive results on any fix on the creaking. The noise seems to be the doors rubbing again the Seals as the car goes over uneven pavement or backing into out of my driveway. Anyone else out there with the same issue ? What have been your experience on this issue ? Thanks.

 

I have no creaking at all, could it be the sunroof? Does the car creak when you tilt the pana-roof?

 

it is less noticeable with the windows open. I can try and tilt the panorana roof and see. I had a 6 year old C Class and it never creaked like this. THere are numerous complaints about the creaking noise from the doors over slow speeds and uneven roads.

 

I wish I could ride in one of the noise one for comparison.

Mine is 2 years driven on crappy roads and is pretty quiet. The only thing I can say is if you squeeze the inside handle it squeeks a bit and feels cheaply made. Other than that it's pretty quiet. Maybe some of you are expecting S-class? If anything, road and wind noise are more noticable that anything else.

 

Which is encouraging on a car built in GERMANY!!!

 

Hey now freezing is an act of nature :p

 

I posted on this nearly a year ago. Our GLK has developed all kinds of noises coming from the dash, the doors, the windows, the sunroof, the rear hatch, etc etc. The Audi is still fairly quiet and my son beats on it... maybe that's the trick?

Try using the wet 3M *pure* silicone spray! But we have it still. The GLK is prone to body flex. It's not as rigid as they advertise. There's nothing you can do to stop it from coming back.