BHPian Suraj25 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:E350d Update – Transmission Woes ContinueUnfortunately, the update isn’t a very positive one as the transmission issues continue to plague our E350d. I reported it as soon as we took delivery in Dec 2022, that the car shakes quite violently during cold starts while creeping into drive and reverse. I sent the car to Mercedes, and while they acknowledged the issue, they mentioned that the car is new and there must be some “vapor in the system” (which, honestly, made me laugh) that would go away after putting some more kilometres on the car. They updated the car’s software and sent it back. Since I used to reside in the US, I couldn’t follow up properly, so we left it at that. My family didn’t report any abnormal behavior, so I assumed the issue was resolved. A so-called senior representative reached out to my brother about the issue after seeing my post on TBHP, but since I had posted an update saying the issue must’ve been resolved (I shouldn’t have jumped the gun on making that post), they stopped contacting us. However, 20 months and 14k kilometres later, the issue very much persists, and I have serious doubts that the 9G-Tronic transmission in our car has a manufacturing defect. Here are a few other issues we’ve faced (both transmission-related and otherwise):Although the transmission is mostly smooth, I notice that it acts confused every now and then, and shifting through the lower gears is jerky at times.When switching the stalk from Neutral to Drive, D1 doesn’t engage for a few seconds. As a result, the car just revs in neutral before the gear finally engages, allowing the car to drive normally. This is especially annoying (and dangerous) in traffic and on slopes.The horn randomly malfunctioned one day, switching from a dual horn to a single horn (verified that it’s not a rat bite)The soft-close door mechanism randomly starts engaging to pull the door in, even when the door is fully secured.The car randomly locks and unlocks while in motion.We sent the car to Mercedes a few weeks ago to have the last three issues checked, and after another software update and horn replacement, these issues haven’t reoccurred. Software updates seem to be Mercedes’ magic solution for every problem. I hope they don’t try to fix body panel damage with software updates in the future. That being said, the transmission issues are still very much present, and every time the car is cold-started, we experience a lorry-like judder through the cabin. This is extremely frustrating, especially after spending 1 crore on a “top-end” E-Class. Based on my uneducated (but seemingly more educated than MB service) guess, I think the issue is with the TCM or the clutch packs.Why am I writing this post?I’m hoping to get some guidance on how to approach this situation from the forum members. Initially, I thought of requesting a free extended warranty, but that’s not going to cut it if I’m reminded of the issue every time I start the car. Ideally, I would like MB to take the car back and pay us a reasonable price (factoring in depreciation) so I can buy myself a BMW. Secondly, since MB (or the dealership) seems to care so much about their PR image, I’m hoping this post motivates one of the higher-ups to address this issue ASAP. I’ve mentioned the transmission issue to the dealership every time the car has gone in for service or to resolve other issues, but by now you can probably guess their magic words: SOFTWARE UPDATE. They may try to convince us that all of this is normal, but being a car enthusiast who has driven multiple cars from various brands with different automatic transmissions (DSG, ZF, 9G TRONIC to the most basic torque converters) throughout my life, I can say for sure that this is NOT NORMAL. Embarrassingly enough, I’ve had my passengers notice the vibrations too. I understand the tone of this post is a bit aggressive, but I’m out of patience at this point. I appreciate any help from you folks! Attached below is the communication between by brother and VP of Service at the dealership (We never received any email from him) Here’s what BHPian harish had to say about the matter:Hello Suraj, we recently picked up an E350d and I did notice the same shake or thump noise when slotting from D to R and vice versa. Were you able to get your issue rectified? Looks like this is a common issue in this particular engine/gbox combo?Here’s what BHPian Nanolover had to say about the matter:Have you asked the service centre guys to check the gearbox / transmission mount? This is a known weak point and I strongly believe a worn/defective mount to be the culprit. (Mounts wear out much faster due to our road conditions and in fact I read somewhere that Mercedes insists on replacing the mounts every 3 or 4 years irrespective of mileage just to protect the gearbox) This is what must be causing the shuddering and gear issues. Please check if there was a global recall for any if the mounts w.r.t this particular engine/ transmission combination.Here’s what BHPian Elvis5.0 had to say about the matter:My ML400 had a lot of vibrations when engaging in reverse or simply idling. This was solved by changing the engine and transmission mounts. Since my car is almost 10 years old and out of warranty I had to pay out of my pocket and for my own safety I asked them to drain and replace the gearbox fluid. Car runs amazing now no vibrations and smooth shifts!Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
