06BenzR350

Evening all, here to introduce myself to the Benz community!

Well, actually, it's my parents that drive the car. They're having problems and I figured I'd join the forum, learn more about their car and share the information...

Not a very good picture but it's too dark to take anything else, and I figured I'd show off my car while I'm here!


German engineering, the finest engineering of all.

Onto the problem of the Benz:
My mom happens to be the primary driver. The car is a 2006 R-350 with an automatic transmission with the "paddle shifters" (which she never uses really, I've tried them a few times to see what it's like, I drive a 5-speed, it was actually fun) and the problem is that whenever she throws the gear from Neutral to either Drive or Park the ENTIRE car jerks. Quite a bit. It also makes this nasty sound along with the jerking that sounds almost like metal clashing or grinding together, I don't know how to explain it really.

And more recently, her Check Engine light came on.

We're gonna get it to the dealer soon for a diagnosis on the problem, hopefully the transmission isn't shot because that may as well be my conclusion to it so far.

What do you all think? Was this a faulty design on this generation?
I know for the e46 BMW, the automatic trannys were notorious for failing, the entire reverse function would blow.


Thanks.

R. Reyes

The "jerking" is not a good sign, a lot of the '06 models have had to have the valve bodies replaced. There is a TSB sticky posted in the main R-class forum threads I think.

As far as the metal mashing sound, going from neutral to a gear is not something I'm familiar with, putting into park from neutral or D is something I've heard from many R-classes. Hope this helps.

06BenzR350

Thanks for your input.

Had it run over to 2 different places....one said it COULD be an electrical related problem (i.e a sensor of some sort), which I really....don't think is possible.

The other said it could be the entire transmission. Since it isn't a cheap repair, and the car has 38,xxx miles, we have until before 40,000 miles to renew our full warranty which then takes 30 days to kick in, and they will cover the car's problems (they being MB) from bumper-to-bumper. Which sounds like a great deal, for $2100 iirc.

Might have to go that route if the diagnostic is more than we can handle personally.

davidbho

If you're parked on a slope, and don't egage the parking brake, it makes a loud thunk when it goes into gear. And in some cases a jerk.

It's like that for all cars with an automatic transmission. Engage the parking brake and don't allow the car to role that 3 inches to the stop, and you'll find it goes away.

I could be way off, but just what i've seen from parking in San Francisco

Utahkompressor

Agree with davidbho!

Always use parking brake when you park on a slope. The parking pawl is about the size of your thumb and it is not intended to hold 2-ton car.