that's right, its been in the shop for a month. I took it in because the tranny was slipping. They found out the fluid lines running thru the radiator allowed coolant into the tranny fluid. And the TPM was malfunctioning. They get the tranny replaced, test drive it while trying to find out why the TPM isn't working, and notice metal shavings in the tranny pan. So, another tranny is ordered and they claim they will have it ready today. Makes me wonder under what environment the first tranny was installed or if it had problems from the factory? Anyway, my patience is running thin. I don't mind so much waiting to get the car fixed, I just wish there was better communication as to what's going on. Anyway, just wanted to rant a bit....

Just curious, how many miles were on your car before needing the new tranny?

my friend took his Audi in to get a grinding gear fixed before BMW bought his lease out he was being a nice guy not to stick the dealer with the problem

To swap the 6 speed manual they had his car for 11 weeks


BMW had my OLD 545i for 72 days before they did a buy back.


dealers are the worst on all levels I think its in their code of conduct to waste customers time.

what dealership is it at?

Look for ads looking for MB techs, they are all scouting for qualified computer readers. Look at the age of some of these guys going out. Some have no passion for a car they could not afford.
Very few guys even consider doing things on the side anymore.
These guys are all looiking for Benefits and vacations.

Any year soon you will see it's going to be cheaper sending your car back to Stugghardt via Lufthansa and getting it done right then waiting for Uncle Louie to fire up computer diagnostics.

I feel your pain, bro! My CLS has been in the shop for three weeks because of a botched repair job on the A/C that some dealership in Cali did. My dealership had to get MB involved to get the Cali store to pay for the new repair!

same thing with me..

3 weeks to get a new trans and torque conv.

and a new sc clutch.

worth the wait.

I guess I was lucky that it took only a week to fly a new strut in from Germany and replace mine that was leaking.

If you want work done on the side let me know. I've been at the dealer for over seven years now. As far as havin no passion for working on the cars, your a little off. The real problem is that MBUSA doesn't want to pay us for fixing the cars. The condition that Badfinger ran into is pretty common on 02-03 c and e-classes. Rather that benz telling us to replace the trans, torque converter and radiator, they make us replace the radiator first and flush the fluid out. Test drive the car if the problem is still present then they tell us to replace the torque converter only, and drive the car again. And if it still has a slipping or shifting issue then we have to call in for an authorization to replace a trans. All that BS takes a couple weeks sometimes. In the end the tech doing the work is pissed off because benz wants to pay him 10 hours for all that work, the dealer is pissed because the customer is in a loaner (for which benz does not pay for, loaners are the dealers cost) and the customer is pissed because he is without his car for weeks at a time.

Badfinger make sure that they put in a new radiator so the new trans doesn't get contaminated again.

Thanks, Dsmed, for the insight. I talked to the service manager yesterday and one of the problems is that the mechanic working on it was in a motorcycle accident and can't work, so it had to be picked up by another 'team'. I understand things like that happen but try to keep me informed! The car is at MB of Chicago on Division. It's an '04 with 35,000 miles on it. It should be ready today, keeping my fingers crossed since I actually have to drive somewhere tomorrow