Djsimeon

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site a good friend refered me here. Yesterday my wife was driving her 2000 ML-320 and she stated the transmission started slipping in in the drive position. At one point it was so bad that she could not get home luckly she was up hill and was able to coast down hill into our driveway. I got into the car started it up and drove it up and down the block and everything seemed fine. Then all of a sudden I noticed the "Check engine" light came on and sure enough while in "drive" the car acted like it was in "neutral". I was unable to downshift into any lower gear the only other gear, I was able to shift into was "Reverse" however, the trans acted like it was in "neutral". Obviosly, I'm scared to death to think that the trans needs to be rebuilt. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? If the trans needs rebuilding why is the "check engine" coming on? The engine has nothing to do with the trans. If the trans needs rebuilding then why after a while with the car sitting I can get into it and it drives fine then after a few minutes the trans starts slipping? Any thoughts?

sosh

Firs off the CEL will illuminate with a trans problem. Do not understand why you are "scared to death." Worst case is that you will have to pay for a repair. Its not a life or death problem. Lots worse can happen to you. From your description it could be lots of things to cause it. Worst case is you need a total rebuild or new trans. Could also be minor such as an electronic component. Your car is about 8 years old and you do not mention the miles on it or its history. best have it correctly diagnosed. Stay away from the independent trans shops particularly the chains.

Djsimeon

I'm scared to death because I know that if I need a rebuild it cost thousands... My car has 91 K miles. The car has been we'll maintained and most of the miles has been freeway. I have never towed with it and have never had any Trans problems in the past. Is there any way of trouble shooting the Trans without bringing it to the dealership?

sosh

Spending a couple of thousand bucks never killed anyone or even injured them. Its not like you have received a bad diagnosis from your doctor. Unless you have the correct electronic equipment, the knowledge, or X Ray eyes you will never know what the problem is without a diagnosis. Stop worrying, get it taken care of. After all you are the one thats walking not riding.

Mike's ML

DJ - I would be Scared to Death (sosh it's just a phrase) to think that I would be facing a $2K + bill, even though I can well afford it. There are so many associated systems controlling the transmission that the only good way to trouble shoot the overall system is to bite the bullet and have your dealer look at it (no don't go out and buy a bullet and bite on it - dam it -- it's only another phrase).
Mike

ruey220

i think he's just trying to tease dj a bit about his problems...as smart as sosh is to know the problems that could be happening i'm pretty sure he knows the figure of speech that he's not truly scared to death.

a more appropriate way for dj to have said it is probably this thing is making me lose sleep at night. because if i was into a car to the point of posting on the web to find answers that would mean i care so much to find a quick and dirty solution that it won't get off my mind. most people i know who care less but just want to get their car up and running would have gone directly to the dealer and done the work. unfortunately i'm just like dj but my situation is slightly different in that i have a bug with trying to mod my ML at this point.

Mike's ML

Actually I was only Ball-Busting myself LOL. sosh is well known around here
Mike

davethebenzman

ok there is more things that could cous the trans to slip.
1) the trans filter could have come off
2) the "pump" for the trans flued could have started to have prob.
3) the fluid in the trans could be low.
now if you are no longer whanting to get info to save the 320, well I dont blam you. I would go and have a filter and the flush on the trans and see if this prob is fixed. by the way you will need to get the "tool" for the dipstick. yep you will need to get a tool to see if the t f is low do to the trans is a seald sys. and then if the trans is TU look for a good used trans for $700-$800 and the price to put it in.

Djsimeon

First of all thanks for all your replys. To clarify, Saying that I'm scared to death is just a figure of speech. A car does not scare me, what concerns me more than anything is the history of how much Mercedes BEnz charges for service....Today, I rolled into the dealership to ask them how much to diagnose my trans they stated that the charge would be 120.00 bucks. Thats very reasonable considering that my next question to the service writer was how much for a rebuild? He went on to quote me in the neighborhood of $5000.00...... This I have issue with and loose sleep about. $5000.00 for a rebuilt trans is ABSOLUTLY ridiculas. The original purpose of this thread was to see if someone out there in MB world might have some clues as to what the problem could be. Since I have not heard any grinding of gears, any noise or rattling coming from the trans I was hoping that someone might be able to reasure me that it's probably not to serious because they have had a similar experience and this is what the problem was. In any case if I do need a rebuild/replacement could anyone refer to a company that I could get a trans from, or what type of trans facilities I could look into for an actual rebuild or just suck it up and let the dealer fix it. I live in Southern California