auxny1

My car (Mercedes ML350) has been at Knopf Mercedes, Allentown, PA for almost a month. My car was towed there after the car would not shift gears. It turns out the car needs a valve body for the transmission. Unfortunately for me the part is unavailable anywhere on planet earth. They have no idea when the part will become available. At this dealership four other cars are awaiting the part. Upon looking online the problem is widespread. There are MB customers all over the county awaiting the same part. The problem has also been reported in several other countries. I've contacted the Attorney General in Pennsylvania and Mercedes Corporate. I've enclosed a link with a mechanic that's dealt with the problem. Please help.
MB has not given me a loaner and today I am no better than the day the car was towed away.
http://jayauto.wordpress.com/2011/06...-transmission/

dgiturbo

Either it's the valve body or the tranny front oil pump. Either way, it's an issue. Rumor has it that the electronics for the tranny ECU is made in Japan, and the disaster there cut production to nil, zero nada. Another rumor has it that MB is aware of the issues with the ML tranny, and until they have the issue completely fixed, they are not shipping anything. FYI the 2012's have a redesign (7G-plus) so they won't fit.

Bottom line it sucks. I actually just went through this with mine. Tranny just suddenly felt like a drive shaft jumped out. No power to the wheels, and the truck could be pushed or rolled in park. No warning or change to the drive feel. And I did change fluids as required.
Truck was down for over a month, and there was several others waiting also at the dealership. Universal back order. was all I was told.

Dealer finally got one out of Germany and installed it free under extended warranty. Prior ETA's were some time in January or Feb. 2012. (Breakdown happened in early Nov.)

When you do get one, make sure they give you a torque converter as well. Also, resetting the adaptations is a time consuming process that takes some time and a few return trips to get right. Just happy I got a tranny and I am back on road. And so far, this new one shifts really really smooth.

Moto One

If you are under factory warranty, you do have the right to charge MB a daily loss of use rate. Depending on what you would have to pay for a like type vehicle rental, and based also on the price paid for your vehicle... And this adds up fast. We pushed this point when we had a similar problem with a new car that the manufacture did not have a fix for, and in the end we received a check for our loss of use. We were with out the car for over 90 days.

Mark

eeferber

I don't like the sound of this!

Are all W164s at risk? Is this mileage related?

Moto One

This is our first MB and it's the first vehicle that we have owned with an auto trans that needs servicing on a regular seclude. Stories like above kinda has me a bit worried too.

Mark

CLK Group

I had the same issue on my 2008. The trans problem is apparently found in model year 2006 - 2007. Mine is a July 2007 build.

https://mbworld.org/forums/m-class-w...ion-issue.html

sosh

I am sure that MB is not doing this intentionally. There must be a issue somewhere in the supply chain. What I do not understand is why no loaner. This is a dealer issue and not a factory issue. I am located not real far from your dealer and have heard some not great things about them. Fortunately my dealer bends over backwards to accomodate their customers in situations like yours. I personally have not experienced anything like you are going thru either with MB and with my dealer. Have been buying cars from these people since the late 90's.

dgiturbo

Yeah I remember that link. Mine ran perfect after that post till 98K miles, then it gave up the ghost and went kaput.
I have heard that the 2006 - 2011 models are all suspects, (7-GTronic) but I have no guidance on the mileage before a breakdown. The issue lies in the "Front Pump" or "valve body", (or both?) but all tech and parts guys are being tight lipped so info is hard to get. Best advice, have your transmission fluid flushed and filter changed as per MB with the new fluids at the proper times, and have an extended warranty. Seems like the issues happen close to 100K miles?
Thought about taking up the loss of use thing with MB, but in my case, it got repaired in about 40 days for free under warranty, and they gave me a loaner 2011 GLK. So yes, I was "bought off"

auxny1

The car stated above, is not under warranty. The real issue here is, the car is not an exotic car. Parts should be readily available for this vehicle. Upon doing extensive online research, this problem is not a new one. It's documented by consumers as far back as 06/2010. The customer waited 6 months for a replacement part. There are customers around the globe awaiting the part. Is this what luxury feels like. It's a shame quality no longer means Quality.
Contact your Consumer Affairs, and Attorney General and file a complaint.
You could expect this from Kia, Hyundai or Yugo but Mercedes?

auxny1

My care was not under warranty, has 104,000 miles and I always had a Mercedes dealer service it. Transmission fluid had been changed twice since I purchased the car new. I followed all maintenance schedules. What that means is the parts to Mercedes Benz vehicles are defective. And no extended warranty would have told me when the defective parts would have showed signs. Remember Mercedes is supposed to hold themselves to a higher standard, like Hyundai lol

auxny1

The part is defective. They are blaming it on the crisis in Japan. In all reality the part should be recalled and the amount of repairs is exceeding the supply. If recalled it would be a nightmare to MBUSA. They would go down like Toyota but they would fall further because that's not what a luxury car should be.

auxny1

They are blaming the shortage of valve bodies on the earthquake in Japan.

aggst1

Ask them (dealer) to give you a reason for the delay in writing. Something tells me they are giving you BS answers. Fine, the earthquake damaged a plant so the part is no longer manufactured there. Hard to believe they are sourcing a part made in only one place? Even so, after 6-7 months they would have transfer production elsewhere. Something is suspect here, although I could be wrong.

aggst1

They won't recall anything. Recalls are issued for safety items like faulty brakes, airbags etc. I understand your frustration but, have YOU talked with MBUSA or another dealers part dept or only your dealer?

aggst1

Sorry you did say that you contacted MBUSA

auxny1

If you do a search of Mercedes valve body problems, you will find dozens of customers with the same issue. The dealer is being honest, they can't get the part and are waiting for answers. MBUSA and every marketing executive in MB was emailed a link to this page. The dealer could't offer me a loaner due to the lack of loaner vehicles in the dealership. I have always serviced the vehicle at the dealer. The part is faulty and has a history of customer complaints due to the part. Consumer Affairs has been notified. All this for a luxury car? Hmmm

auxny1

I must be stupid and naive. Since I was 5 I have always conveyed the words majestic, luxury, craftsmanship, quality, and of course bad *** with Mercedes. But when you think about how a company that exudes luxury would allow something like this to happen, then what is luxury.

aggst1

Had my valve body replaced too back in 2009. There was no shortage of parts then. You are correct to be upset but don't think that MB is indestructible. Thre is no such a thing. Yes there are tens of reports on this and other forums regarding this issue but there are thousands of owners out there that never had this problem. My neighbor has a 2006 ML 350 with 90K miles and no problems.

Be patient, a solution is just around the corner, unless venting makes you feel better in which case go right ahead.

dgiturbo

Hope your neighbor has an extended warranty. Give it another 10K miles.

auxny1

de·fec·tive   [dih-fek-tiv]
adjective
1.having a defect or flaw; faulty; imperfect: a defective machine.

My car has 104,000 miles on the odometer, this problem has been documented on cars with varying mileage. Some consumers have had the part replaced with mileage under 30,000. Their are hundreds of well documented cases online. Search and ye shall find.
The reason for this post is not to vent, but to make Mercedes customers aware. I'm a loyal MB customer and this is my ordeal. As of today car still at dealer, not one phone call from MBUSA since I filed complaint over a week ago. The service department has yet to call since I stopped in on Monday to check the status. Mind you they have my car, so I am very nice, respectful and courteous.
What happens to the poor sap that brings his Benz to a non dealer repair shop?
Answer: You never get the part. If you don't take it to the dealership you don't get the valve body.
Lucky for me I have always taken my car to the dealership for service, otherwise it might be sitting in some garage waiting for a part. That's sarcasm in case you didn't get it
I hope no one has to go threw this.
Peace, love any happiness.

auxny1

http://www.justanswer.com/mercedes/1...alve-body.html
https://mbworld.org/forums/m-class-w...-problems.html
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/engin...king-gear.html
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w164...sue-uh-oh.html

These are just a few of examples.

aggst1

Nice to see you are not venting! In any case, I hope you get your part in soon. What will the parts and labor charge be for this problem?

dgiturbo

$6500 in my case. Re manufactured transmission from Germany and a new torque converter installed.
Really glad I had spent the $3100 for the extended warranty. My cost, $100.
Sorry auxny1, not rubbing it in. have been burned in other deals once or twice before so I can actually feel your pain. And the sad thing about it is the lack of the parts from such a renown company. Spending the money is one thing, being out of a 4 year old $60000 truck because of lack of parts is a much deeper issue.
FYI, if this was out of pocket, I personally would have attorneys by now.

But on a happier note, once your new transmission is installed and adaptations set, the shift quality is MB superb.

Moto One

Trans failure is a Safety problem: Just have it fail during a blizzard, or fail on a crowded interstate/in city freeway and get hit wail sitting on the side of the road waiting for the service truck.

We had a problem with front diff and drive line failure on our Range Rover, our first failure happen just out of warranty.(55k) The truck was down for two weeks and only 600 miles from home. We paid the full expense for the repair no JOY from LRNA. The second failure happen 15k/six months after the first fix, LRNA (Ford at the time) fixed under warranty, but that didn't cover the three nights in hotels, air travel to and from point of repairs only 1200 miles from home. The third time it failed (20k and just over a year from the last fix) we were only 20 miles from home driving in a blizzard home. We were hit by a semi truck wail waiting off on the shoulder... Two months for replacement of the vehicle, and I'm still feeling the pains from injures. And we were not the only injures reported, there where over 100 airbag deployments because of lose of control, and or vehicles being hit wail broke down on the side of the road because of Drive Line failure.

We and many others started reported this problem to NHSTA (before our accident) and after three years a Safety Recall was issued, and LRNA was forced to make repairs (a complete new front drive line, and all expenses that owners incurred because of failures. BMW that designed the system discovered the problem on their X5s before they were released and came up with a fix and told the new owner of RR (Ford). But Ford decided not to do or admit to RR owners that was there was a problem and a fix.

By the way the fix cured the problem and our replacement RR (same model year) went on to over 200k.

Member on this form should start report this to NHSTA, and that also goes for Euro owner report to there consumer agencies. As was done by Range Rover owners.

Mark.

dgiturbo

Never thought of it that way. Mine did fail on a main road, but I was lucky enough to coast into a shopping mall parking spot. I drive a lot on a busy highway and that could have been bad if it happened then.

Here is the NHTSA link.