Hey all, new member here. I recently picked up a 19 gls450 with 60k miles almost a month ago and it has been a great SUV but I am experience that transmission jerking issue I've seen other people talk about. Mine does it mainly around 2nd gear when it down shifts(all modes) or upshifts(in sportmode). It also feels like something disengages in comfort mode on 2nd gear when i let off the gas and when i press the gas again it jerks and feels like something re-engaged(especially felt in traffic). I have brought it to the dealer once and they changed worn motor mounts, worn transmission mount and have update software checked everything covered under CPO. So far I've read through a lot of threads from this forum and other forums and was wondering if anyone had a permanent fix for it? Maybe something i can recommend to the dealer when I bring it back tomorrow? I really like my gls and it is my first Mercedes ever and I would like to keep it for a while since I was going to upgrade to a amg version in the future, but this issue is annoying.

Any advice would be helpful as I would like to get to the bottom of it so I can enjoy it more.

Thank You

 

Have the transmission fluid changed if it hasn’t been done yet. MB boxes are generally bad, and they are worse if the fluid change interval is not adhered to.

 

I asked my dealer if they can do a transmission service and they showed me the other Mercedes dealership I bought it from serviced it recently. on the notes from the dealer they put the following the work they have done for my concern:

PERFORMED AND CHECKED TRANSMISSION OIL LEVEL WITH SDS VIA ULTRASONIC. OIL LEVEL WITHIN MINIMUM SPEC. CONTINUED GUIDED STEPS, PERFORMED STANDSTILL ADAPTATION PROCEDURE. CHECKED FOR TRANSMISSION CONTROL UNIT SOFTWARE UPDATES, PERFORMED SCN CODING.

In all honesty, I wouldn't mind if they did the service again but I I don't know if it would be covered under CPO since it was previously done.

 

The oil wasn't changed. They "checked" it which is nearly meaningless. They reset adaptations which probably means the previous owner complained about poor shifting, and they ruled out low fluid level.

Have the oil changed.

 

Sounds like he's saying it was changed by the dealer from which he purchased it.

 

Quick update. The transmission oil was changed and serviced back in March which I have confirmed by another advisor as well since my current advisor is out. Car has been at the dealers since last week and after the shop foreman did his own test drive and experienced the bad shifts, I’ve been told they have done multiple things, software updates, reset adaptions and nothing. Now they have escalated it to their factory team but it will take a few days for the them to get some help.

Hoping this gets fixed soon but for now its the waiting game for me.

 

Final update on this, and not one I'm to happy with but it is what it is.

I got my car back from the first dealer in my original post after they had it for 3-4 weeks and it was just sitting in the lot waiting for factory to respond. They didn't want to keep my car longer since they are not sure if they even will get an answer from factory. I'm happy I got it back though because every time an advisor would call me it was always some different story and no one told me the same thing. I was going to post a lot more of my horrible experience but I wont bother you all with that.

After some time went by and i wanted a 2nd opinion so I called another dealer in another state and they seemed very willing to help and I ended up dropping my car off to them. They had the car for about a week for some reprogramming and I gave them permission to drive my car as much as they can. They did find the upper motor mounts were loose, but it wasn't the culprit. When I got my car back after about 2 hrs. of driving it started to kick around 2nd gear in traffic. I was told it drove for them normal and shifted like normal. I'm not sure if this is "normal" for Mercedes but I've never had a car shift like this before. I thought about selling my car but I really like my gls450 and I've thought maybe its just me so I might have to deal with it. Around these times I also drove my aunts glc 300 and a glb250 and they both have a slight kick on shifts but I feel mine is much more pronounced. I'm going to just live with it and start enjoying the car again since it's still under warranty but not sure I might keep it much after CPO expires.

TLDR: GLS450 still has a harsh transmission shift around 2nd gear after being at 2 dealers and saying it drives "normal" so I'm just going to deal with the transmission shifts and get back to trying to enjoy it

 

Transfer case chain maybe?

 

Has anyone suggested resetting the adaptations? The trans can "learn" how you drive and make adjustments to shift quality accordingly.

(Oops... Old thread brought back to life...)

 

I have the exact same issue on a new to me 2019 GLS450. Went back to dealer and they keep saying it’s normal. Just wanted to follow up and see if it ever got worse or what happened. Appreciate your response. Thansk

 

A fluid change is common in the first step in addressing transmission issues, give it a shot!

Trenton O. Gibson
tgibson@highline-autos.com
Highline Autos
Direct: 602.909.9216
Office: 480.348.0777