transmission and power steering trouble
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 17
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From: Ft. Lauderdale
Mercedes ML430
transmission and power steering trouble
I have a 00 ML430. worked perfectly up until 1 month, when one afternoon the power steering pump started to bleed its liquid to my driveway. Called the dealer, they towed it away and we got an E320 with 500miles.
2 days later they called all fixed. Paper says they not only replaced the faulty lines, they replaced the pump itself too.
Everything looked good and fine, but next day I felt a transmission skipping a little at start. I called them and they confirmed that, they also felt something when test drive was done.
Long story short, ML back to dealer, new transmission ordered from MB. They installed it, test drove it, fine , goes back to my wife. SHe brings it home, says fine. I drive it, skips more then before. Call to dealer, 3 days ahead appointment. Next day the truck stops in a middle of the 6 lines road, no forward no reverse motion. I had to push the truck out to the shoulder, call MB and wait for them. By the time they got there, approx 30 minutes, it was working again. So we went to dealership, an another loaner E320 and 4 days later they called, we found a problem : Transmission filter was missing from a new transmission, and caused too fast oil flow and a trans went into limp mode. Anyway it is good now.
My driveway is a mess with 2 quarts of power steering oil spilled all over, I lost my confidence in a truck.
shame, i loved this truck so much and belived in, now I always look for strange sounds and movements.
Sure enough the steering feels loose and feels like something is loose at the linkage. My friend called me from europe, same feel, same sympthoms, after 2 weeks of investigation, steering rack needed replacement. So I will call the dealer again and have them check mine for seering rack failure.
shame on mercedes, such a good truck and treshy quality. Maybe they ought to close the US manufacturing and take it back to germany. The german MB's used to be bullet proof. Had a 1990 MB 200E with manual trans, was virtually bulletproof.
too much electronics, too much stuff to make it clean and efficient (on paper at least as I experience 13.8mpg on the ML430) makes these machines too weak.
Laszlo
2 days later they called all fixed. Paper says they not only replaced the faulty lines, they replaced the pump itself too.
Everything looked good and fine, but next day I felt a transmission skipping a little at start. I called them and they confirmed that, they also felt something when test drive was done.
Long story short, ML back to dealer, new transmission ordered from MB. They installed it, test drove it, fine , goes back to my wife. SHe brings it home, says fine. I drive it, skips more then before. Call to dealer, 3 days ahead appointment. Next day the truck stops in a middle of the 6 lines road, no forward no reverse motion. I had to push the truck out to the shoulder, call MB and wait for them. By the time they got there, approx 30 minutes, it was working again. So we went to dealership, an another loaner E320 and 4 days later they called, we found a problem : Transmission filter was missing from a new transmission, and caused too fast oil flow and a trans went into limp mode. Anyway it is good now.
My driveway is a mess with 2 quarts of power steering oil spilled all over, I lost my confidence in a truck.
shame, i loved this truck so much and belived in, now I always look for strange sounds and movements.
Sure enough the steering feels loose and feels like something is loose at the linkage. My friend called me from europe, same feel, same sympthoms, after 2 weeks of investigation, steering rack needed replacement. So I will call the dealer again and have them check mine for seering rack failure.
shame on mercedes, such a good truck and treshy quality. Maybe they ought to close the US manufacturing and take it back to germany. The german MB's used to be bullet proof. Had a 1990 MB 200E with manual trans, was virtually bulletproof.
too much electronics, too much stuff to make it clean and efficient (on paper at least as I experience 13.8mpg on the ML430) makes these machines too weak.
Laszlo
