Trey

My sister has a 99 ML430 with 56,000 miles and is being told by Mercedes of San Antonio she needs a new transmission at a cost of $6500. Is this a common failure among these vehicles? The dealer says they have seen only one failure before.

Since the car is out of warranty, is there any chance of getting Mercedes to split the bill?

Thanks for any info.

tw

00ML430 Bulldog

I woul take the truck to another dealer and get a second opinion. Not all dealers are created equal.

C280Sportster

Wow, funny (well, it's NOT really funny, it's SAD) how these things fail right out of warranty and with such low milage. Mercedes needs to build better transmissions.

I would get a second opinion...my 1998 C280 was shifting hard, then went into limp mode. It needed a new control unit. It was "starmarked" so I don't know how much it would have cost. I had about 60k on the car, but like I said, these transmissions don't seem to last long.

It's a cash crop for Mercedes and the dealers. I do like my C280...I don't want to sell it once the warranty is up. But, reading horror stories like your message, makes me think twice. If I keep my car past it's warranty, I'll will put away I nice "nest egg" of cash for emergency repairs. I'm already looking for an independent shop to do future work, which I hope never happens (knock on wood).

Hey, do a few google searches and see if anyone was successful. When did the warranty expire? It won't hurt to call MB and ***** at them a little.

LOCHS 2

What were the driveability issues that brought your sister to the dealership?

Sincity

Good question! Yeah....what lead up to this?

azinn

Second opinion with a male companion at a couple of reputable independent shops.

Trey

Drivability issues were that the car would not shift into gear. After a couple of minutes of playing with it, it finally jerked into gear and she was able to drive normally. Then later that afternoon, it happened again and the car would jerk while she was driving and felt like it was going to stall when stoped at a light. She had it towed to the dealer from there.

Mercedes called her back today and offered NOTHING. No rental, no discount, nothing. They said no used or rebuilt trannys are available. I have my indy mechanic checking also. Hopefully these trannys aren't built like the POS fuel pumps, which was replaced 4 times under wannanty and is whining to this day.

I'll post followups to let you know what happens... There may be a really nice, well cared for 99 ML430 for sale soon in San Antonio with a new transmission.

Thanks for the advice.

tw

Trey

Here we are 3 years later and I just realized I never replied as to the outcome of this. MBUSA agreed to cover the majority of the rebuild. They paid all labor and my sister paid parts. Total out of pocket was about $1500. The car now has 88,000 miles and still shifts like new.

tw

PaulX608

Well, that's a really good update, thanks for letting us know

Sincity

Thanks for the update. Can't believe I am still subscribed to this thread since I traded in my ML over two years ago.

GDawgC220

Awesome outcome! A suggestion, change the fluids when it has around 60k miles on it. My parent's '99 ML430 shifting was more noticible, such as a slight jerk or just rougher in general. After changing the fluids (about $200), it shifted much better, like new, nice and smooth. Its cheap insurance to keep it going. MB says the fluid is "lifetime"...when that transmission fails at 56k, the fluid's lifetime in there is 56k miles

bzliteyear

that's great news...how did you get MB to agree to that? or was it because the mileage and yrs was only slightly past the warranty time period?

in 1999, i had a 1990 Q45 w/ 150k miles that was going strong and the service advisors persuaded me to spend $1500 getting all the belts done and tuned up because the engine could go 200k+ miles easily...then the transmission froze and the infiniti dealer wanted $6500 to replace...i ended up donating the car. the svc advisor was correct on the engine, but he surely didn't disclose that i could waste the $1500 if the transmission went out(and it was quite common).

Trey

I believe it was a combination of her determination (she left it sitting in their service facility for over 2 weeks while she fought with MBUSA) and the fact it was barely out of warranty. Just shows it pays to be persistent.

trey

55fanatic

bentley of boston do the work?

GDawgC220

Yup, Heritage Motor Werks (behind Bently Boston).