SL-Class (R231) 2013 on: Discussion on the SL550

SL/R231: Transmission flush

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Old Nov 13, 2018 | 02:00 PM
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Sold 06 CLS500. SL550 09. SL550 2013. Own C6 Corvette heavily customized garage queen 2005.
Transmission flush

So had a 60K service done from my trusted non Mercedes service center(went on a trip the next day) and all was going well until doing a stretch of over 150 miles on the highway averaging around 70mph for the whole journey until I came of the highway, therefore slowing down and noticed the whole car started to judder and thought I was going to conk out. The check engine light came on. Pulled into a side street and turned the engine off for 5 minutes. She then started fine if nothing had happened, no check engine sign and off I went. On the return journey the same thing happened when I came off the highway and slowed down, juddering sound, not as bad as before but I noticed it, but this time no check engine sign. Took her in again and they put a diagnostic test machine on the car and up came some indications that it was transmission related, which thank goodness I am covered under my extended warranty. However, they have to go through a system which involves getting a Mercedes Technician to call them back and go over the numbers that came up on the machine.

To cut a long story short, my guy at my service center states that Mercedes are aware of this issue and want them to firstly do a transmission fluid flush which involves removing the pan and putting a new filter in and this usually resolves around 90% of the problems. Rang my warranty guy up to see if I am covered and I am not as this comes under maintenance issues and its likely to costs between $600-$700.00! Is this figure on the high side(as seen prices around the $250-$400 mark depending on the car I suppose) not to mention having googled whats involved, there are people in favor of having this done and others totally against it as could really harm the engine if not done properly. Have booked her in for Thursday so appreciate an early reply for peace of mind from those that are far more mechanically educated than myself.

I also asked my guy, well are you saying that the only way now(apart from spending a wack more) after this has been done, to find out if this does indeed fix the issue, is to see if I actually nearly or possibly totally conk out again. He says this is unlikely to happen. Well it did nearly happen twice. So I suppose I am asking if this is truly a proper reply from Mercedes as opposed to them saying, yes you do need a new transmission. Or am I just getting too cynical in my old age?
Thx. Bran.
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Old Nov 14, 2018 | 10:07 AM
  #2  
branmin's Avatar
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Sold 06 CLS500. SL550 09. SL550 2013. Own C6 Corvette heavily customized garage queen 2005.
[QUOTE=branmin;7602445]So had a 60K service done from my trusted non Mercedes service center(went on a trip the next day) and all was going well until doing a stretch of over 150 miles on the highway averaging around 70mph for the whole journey until I came of the highway, therefore slowing down and noticed the whole car started to judder and thought I was going to conk out. The check engine light came on. Pulled into a side street and turned the engine off for 5 minutes. She then started fine if nothing had happened, no check engine sign and off I went. On the return journey the same thing happened when I came off the highway and slowed down, juddering sound, not as bad as before but I noticed it, but this time no check engine sign. Took her in again and they put a diagnostic test machine on the car and up came some indications that it was transmission related, which thank goodness I am covered under my extended warranty. However, they have to go through a system which involves getting a Mercedes Technician to call them back and go over the numbers that came up on the machine.

To cut a long story short, my guy at my service center states that Mercedes are aware of this issue and want them to firstly do a transmission fluid flush which involves removing the pan and putting a new filter in and this usually resolves around 90% of the problems. Rang my warranty guy up to see if I am covered and I am not as this comes under maintenance issues and its likely to costs between $600-$700.00! Is this figure on the high side(as seen prices around the $250-$400 mark depending on the car I suppose) not to mention having googled whats involved, there are people in favor of having this done and others totally against it as could really harm the engine if not done properly. Have booked her in for Thursday so appreciate an early reply for peace of mind from those that are far more mechanically educated than myself.

I also asked my guy, well are you saying that the only way now(apart from spending a wack more) after this has been done, to find out if this does indeed fix the issue, is to see if I actually nearly or possibly totally conk out again. He says this is unlikely to happen. Well it did nearly happen twice. So I suppose I am asking if this is truly a proper reply from Mercedes as opposed to them saying, yes you do need a new transmission. Or am I just getting too cynical in my old age?
Thx. Bran.[/QUOTE

Anyone?
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Old Nov 16, 2018 | 10:27 PM
  #3  
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We would like to help, but the post doesn't give much in the way of details. What do you mean by conk out? Does the engine lose power while driving or idle poorly at stop lights? If the check engine light came on there would be diagnostic fault codes registered in the engine control unit & possibly other driveline modules. What were the codes. Servicing the transmission isn't going to hurt the motor. Nor the transmission if performed properly. Servicing the transmission will not resolve transmission electrical or sensor faults.
Give us more details maybe we can better understand what the issue is.
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