sdteb

lets start with the symptoms first

lets say you are driving at 30-50 mph and you take your foot off the accel and then step back on it....well there is a noticable driveline clunk....

second the car shifted horribly at times hunting for the gear.

First visit: dealer loaner c230 (junk)
Took the car in..oh yes sir there is an update on this in software....the clunk took them 23 days out of service....below is a list of what they tired swapping to fix the unknown issue.
driveshaft
torque converter
maf
transfer case
valve body
etc etc etc

no fix....

now the car on the 3-4 shift now feels like the tranny is going to drop out of the car...approx 5 times it did this.

took back to the dealer

this time : 9 days out of service, dealer loaner ml350
another converter
k-1 clutch band replaced...evidently it threw some codes...
front axle half shaft replaced due to recall....

picked the car up and drove straight to the airport to pick up parents who flew in for daughters 1st bday.

dad gets in the car and 3 minutes into the drive home the tranny takes and crap again...mind you his law degree is helping craft the lemon law letter at this point.

i take the car to the dealer, loaner r350...no shifting problems
....approx 55 miles from my home again and one week goes by and guess what....they replaced
another valve body and the tranny crapped out on the tech on the 3-4 shift is my guess.......the service mgr states ...you are the guinea pig as we have another r320 cdi customer complaining of the same issues and we dont know how to fix it....oh mr. ellis-brown do you have the extended warranty...i almost **** my self when he asked me this after i asked him what happens after 50k miles and this thing dies?

also on the 24th they were calling mercedes benz to see what to do next....i told him the tranny needs to be replaced...no they are approx 10-12k to replace...

**** poor service from this dealership.....also i mentioned they need to put nav or something in the car for my troubles...no no mr. ellis-brown...i think i can get you a free detail....another holy **** moment.

Now mind you i have a bit more tech car experience than he does as i have a small hobby in rebuilding Buick Grand Nationals and am a loyal diesel driver...so it is a bit hard to pull **** over my eyes than the avg merc owner...

oh well enough ranting...

Merry Christmas..

harkgar

I test drove a 2007 E320 Bluetec beginning of 2007 and noticed a similar problem, though only when travelling at low speeds like 20 mph. The transmission will shift into first quite violently. This is supposed to be a software problem which is easily fixed. On the highway the 7 G was beautiful.

What do you think of your Duramax-Allison package and the latest rendition?

chilledbenz

Sounds like a lot of dealership problems as well, that sounds like a crazy amount of time to be without a car. Have you called Mercedes Benz yet to let them no your displeased? Theres a number in your owners manual, it will most likely take a few calls back and forth to get things rolling, but I've had good success doing this.

sdteb

i love the dmax, 98k miles with only a water pump issue....has about 400 rwhp and about 800ft.lbs tq...i love it...

it is chipped, intake and pipe, no cat...runs like crazy...as for the allison, i want to build it up so i can turn the chip all the way up with out throwing codes....

sdteb

well they have decided to put a new transmission in it per the service manager email this am....

holy **** only 40 plus days to figure it out....

I am going to ask for the extended warranty to 100k miles to be provided by the dealer or MBUSA...if it fixes the issue

chilledbenz

Saw a post on the C forum that a user had a problem within a few thousand miles and MB offered to extend his warranty to 100k so that shouldn't be asking too much. Good Luck.

harkgar

Can you chop off the cat would the computer not throw codes? Can I do it to the latest Duramax? Trucks & SUV are one group that the imports still cannot keep up with. None has a diesel option.

I wish MB will give us the V-8 twin turbo diesel.

sdteb

no codes thrown from taking the cat off...no cutting required...new dmaxes have the dpf removed with no codes via www.pacificp.com programmer

sdteb

who is mine? TN area?