BlackCLS55

I too am in the market for an ML 500 However very concerned with respect to these 722.9 issues. After driving several vehicles (06-CLS500, ML350, ML500) I'm just not comfortable with the clunkiness of the shift points along with the 20 mph downshift thunk which Ive personally experienced. What is the minimum build date one should shoot for to ensure a build with the updated components which hopefully resolve any shifting issues.

TIA

GregW / Oregon

That's tough to say, since my 6/05 production ML has no shift issues. However, they did delay delivery a day while they reflashed the transmission software. I think noticeable issues are occurring on a smal percentage of vehicles.

jangy

Mine's broke AGAIN!!

This time, it still runs, but it's just EXTREMELY rough shifting.

I have already gotten a lawyer, since I was told that MBUSA says go away by my service manager.

Lemon Law? Nah, I am planning on setting a NEW precident. Why just settle for what the last one got, when MBUSA wants to act this way? If they worked with me, then yes I'd settle for a simple Lemon Law. Now? HELL NO!!

MB Fanatic

Good for you Jangy, its sad that they wont just replace the damn transmission with a new one to see if its the problem. I hope you sue their sorry asses and win and are fairly compensated for your troubles. I think MBUSA is giving DCX a bad name and dragging the whole ****ing company down.

I too am pist at MBUSA after hearing stories like yours now. I feel for you man.

sydunipete

I have an ML500 and the dealer fixed the jerky tranmission. Supposedly by adding a Litre of fluid. I'ts still fixed 2000km down the track. It took him 2 days, so I suspect he changed something without admitting it. I asked for the service record and it hasn't been provided yet.

Now the ESP has had a false alarm, hence immediately losing power.

That's 2 safety related issues. ie. causeing a sudden loss of power in traffic situations.

Plus I get recurring white marks on the inner door trims and a whirring noise from the a/c.

My brand new ML500 (W164) has been back to the dealer more times than my 10 year old Audi and 8 year old Toyota Prado combined. (Both bought new and both bought at begging of new model.)

I'm in Australia and we don't have the advantage of lemon laws

To those thinking about this car, be afraid .... be very afraid.

jangy

Set the precidence in Australia. Someone has to be first. I'm planning on pushing the Lemon Law concept, based purely on showing that MBUSA/Hoehn MB have been negligent in handling my case. That has NOTHING to do with Lemon Law and EVERYTHING to do with punitive. It is a Lemon, and I will show that. But, MB's representative and MBUSAs ability to dodge me has got me fuming!!

MB Fanatic

I say get a lawyer jangy and sue their asses all the way to class action status. MBUSA really has some great asses working for them. Im starting to experience a bit of notchiness in my E350 and I have well over 10K miles so my tranny I would hope is done learning at this point. Off to the dealer tomorrow morning. ERR

jangy

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I took the car in AGAIN, and I was "greeted" by the new Service Manager, Susan Taylor. She took the hardline with me and basically stated the symptoms and turned right around and said it was "normal". On the paperwork, it says the typical "could not reproduce....adapter in spec". After EVERYTHING they have done to the car, now it is normal?? Hell even I am normal, but I've got ALL kinds of problems. LOL!!

At any rate, can I get a consensus on what customers think is "normal"? This tranny is very harsh in my mind, but I am used to an E55, Jeep, and Honda Accord?? IS this not the tranny that the flag ship is to have?? You saying that the new S is going to be this cluncky??

The SoCal MBUSA rep, Frank Dingman already hates me for going over his head on my E500 and I think he is trying to make this personal. All the more reason for me to sue. In the end, they will pay the cost, so my only alternative will be to publicise the entire episode.

Oh yeah, I refused to pick up the car. i paid the "fee" and returned the loaner and refused the car. They said its going to cost me $25/day for storage fee and I said fine. Hell I was willing to pay the year out on the spot!! I am sooo pissed that I want to teach Frank a lesson. I am a customer. I paid for toooooo many DC products to have some "guy" decide he wants to bully me.

Chime in with your experiences. Any help in wording what the concern is so that the dealer is able to duplicate would be great. Any technical advise on tests that could be run or specs that could be checked would also be appreciated. Lastly, if anyone knows an independent expert in SoCal that I could pay for a "second" opinion would be great. I am after proving that MBUSA/Hoehn is being an A$$, which is unprofessional. If I was being nit picky, then OK its game on. But, my tranny was replaced with 400 miles on the car! How could I possibly be faking that??!

jangy

My brother is my lawyer. He charges me an arm and a leg, but I guess I trust his advise!! LOL. He is not a lemon lawyer, so he will be hiring one on my behalf. At my expense, of course!! I am starting a new thread for this issue, since this one has gotten long.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...25#post1427125

amdeutsch

I merged them because they are the same issue. Lets be nice to future searchers and keep it all in one place.

jangy

Understood. my apologies.

jdr1000

I do not know how good your spanish might be but this could serve as a guide.

This guy writting at a spanish MB forum had problems with his E class and after all the bad service he received decided to take it upstaris to the head of MB Germany, and all the surounding suits. Basically got everyone to move their b..ts

He eventually got a new car, but he really strugled with his and was messed up from the start.

This is the link to his post and inside there is a link to download the pdf letter.

http://www.mbfaq.com/foro/viewtopic.php?t=26421

jangy

I would love to get the contact info for some MBUSA bosses. I would call and call until they looked into it. i have a few numbers of people, but i got them through a friendly "source" and i am not willing to "expose" him just for a new car. Never fear guys, i will get MBUSA to hear my story. The car still has only 5000 miles on it and I am not driving it, so the 18 month/12 miles "limit" is nowhere near.

Anyone with any tips on how to better elaborate what the symptoms are? I would also like to hear from people who truly believe this is normal.

alan s

I am in the middle of a repair for hard downshifts (2nd to 1st gear). This has been a problem from the start, but I did not experience it during the test drive since I didn't know what to look for. I am now able to reproduce the problem at will for the shop foreman by slowing from approximately 30 mph to 1-2 mph and waiting for the hard downshift (after 5-6 seconds). This is similar to pulling slowly into a garage or parking space, which is where the problem now occurs several times a day. I'll let you know if it is resolved and try to find out what was done.

Nevada Jack

Read this thread...I explain in the initial post the problem and how it was solved with a single visit to my dealer.

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w220/130766-7g-thunk.html

jangy

Let me know what happens. i will see if your method is good at reproducing the problem.

Nevada Jack: they have replaced the valve body 5 times now.

As i said before, MB Hoehn / MBUSA is now saying that it is "normal". When does a "hard" shift become ABNORMAL??

Can anyone help me with either a definition of normal or a technical metric that can be used to PROVE that the car is not NORMAL??


The car has been there about a week now. Let's see @ $25/day "storage" the car should be worth jack sh*t in a few months.

jangy

Does anyone have a list of TSBs, especially anything related to the tranny?

772.9POS

I feel your pain. I leased an 06 ML350. Brought in back a week later due to very hard downshifts. They said it needed a valve body and ordered the part. I continued to drive the ML and every 2-1 downshift was an adventure. I was confident that the entire trans was going to drop out of the car before the part came in. I get a call and they say the part is in. When I dropped the ML off my sa (an excellent customer service guy) says it will be done by the end of the day. I didn't see my ML for the entire month of December! When I picked it up I read the report and they tried two different valve bodies and two different entire transmissions!!!I thank them for their hard work and my sa tells me he has already started the ball rolling to reimburse me for my december lease payment. I was driving home and was quite relieved to feel smooth downshifts. Then on one upshift I noticed the RPM's jump and the car leaps forward when it finds a gear. I thought maybe I hit the paddles by accident. A few stop lights later it does the same thing. If I wasn't going to pick up my wife I would have parked the car and told them to come get it. I brought it in the next day and simply ask for a tech to drive the car and tell me if HE would call the shifts acceptable. He and I go for a five minute drive. Six hard shifts later he apologizes and returns to the dealer. My dealer has stated that I can trade the car in "with a credit" and get another ML. I am thinking I would rather walk away and go back to a BMW. In case you didn't keep score, my ML has had:

3 valve bodies
2 transmissions
numerous adaptations
27 "business days" out of service

jangy

That is my exact story!!
What area are you in? I am planning on getting a second opinion on what Hoehn is calling "normal".
Keep in mind that the stealer is not in a position to get you a lemon refund. Get a lawyer if you are in SoCal, as the area rep (Frank Dingman) has not been very objective with me. I have to assume that his attitude is a reflection of MBUSA's desires to "cover up" the concerns. If MBZ thinks that such rough engineering will be tolerated in the "S", which shares the new tranny design, they are on crack. They can let the ML drift off into crap land if they want, but I want my legendary Mercedes Benz drive even from an SUV.

ML_captain

Why don't you hire a lawyer special in lemon cars? I was told it costs about $2-3k and will save you all the hassles to conact those useless, so call, customer service.

jangy

I have my own lawyer who is doing what he needs to do (i.e. hiring a lemon lawyer). There is a good deal of due diligence that must be done to ensure the outcome that I want. The Lemon Lawyer is just out to get himself paid, and that is only part of my deal. i am planning on much more than just a lemon law. My concerns here stem more from MBUSA's actions towards me. There are consumer related laws that govern the professional behavior that must be shown, and it has not. The maze of games that they put me through is nothing but an exercise in documentation for me. I have bought 6 mercedes (all $60K and up) and 3 jeeps from DC in the past 5 years. I refuse to drop the brands. I love Mercs and I love Jeeps. I will, however, not allow the current management to try to play their games with me. In the end, i will get what is fair and I will continue to drive Mercs and Jeeps.

772.9POS

Jangy, sorry to hear about your struggle. My story has come to a happy conclusion, thanks entirely to Mercedes Benz of Chicago/Fletcher Jones. I returned my problem child and picked up the same model-color. The whole process took about an hour. There is no doubt in my mind that the original ml had some major drive train and electronic issues that could not be repaired. There is no explanation as to why so many new components could not remove the hard shifts. I actually never said "I want a new car". Once the tech drove it and reallized the problem had actually gotten worse mb chicago put the wheels in motion. After the 4th week of driving loaners they called me and said I had the option of getting out of the car. I told them it sounded like the only sensible conclusion. The only thing I had to do was pick out a replacement. Good luck. Have your dealer call fletcher jones to get a quick lesson in customer service. I didn't even buy/lease my ml with them in the first place!!!Their attitude and service has earned a new customer for a long time to come. Good luck.

jangy

Good for you. I wonder if Fletcher Jones in OC is good? Did you get another ML? Also, let me know if the "new" ones are fixed. The service manager at my dealer called it normal on the phone, so i got a little worried that it has not been worked out, yet. I do assume so, but it just stays at the back of my mind. You are lucky that you didn't have to waste a bunch of your time and frustration on making MBUSA do what's legal. That's OK, cause cream always floats and SHIATT always sinks!

p.s. wish me luck.

sheepdog

Last week I had a service appt. that included the MB tech rep regarding the sharp downshifts at low speeds. They replaced the valve control body and used new software that prevents a downshift to 1st gear until the car is at a complete stop. I have only put a few miles on since the repair but the problem seems to be solved (at least in the short term). This new software needs a valve control body produced after a certain date in order to work properly. I do not know what that date is. The old valve control body was 2202701406 and the new one is 220270130628. There is a DTB (Daimler technical bulletin?) out on this. Hope this helps if you have this problem.

jangy

sheepdog: What part are you in? I'd love to give your stealer a shot. Also, do you have any details on the DTB? I will check my part numbers on my valve bodies.