(Holy thread resurrection, Batman!)

Must be something related to cold weather. I'm back in my hometown two years after having my transmission rebuilt and I'm having another issue. My 99 ML 320 has 245,000 miles on it. It had 185,000 miles on it when I had the transmission re-built two years ago.

The truck is sometimes refusing to shift into high gear. The weather is in the 20's here, but it does it when the truck is fully warmed up. It was running fine with the selector in the 4 overdrive position. Yesterday I entered an interstate and it wouldn't upshift. I was only doing about 40 MPH and the tach was reading about 4000 RPM's. I lifted my foot, bumped it into neutral, and then back to 4 overdrive. Pressed the gas and the engine freewheeled like it was still in neutral. I coasted to a complete stop, put in in park, then backed up a bit, stopped, then started forward. The truck ran normally from that point on.

Started it this morning and let it idle for 10 minutes to warm up. In the first minute of driving, it refused to upshift again. I did the stop/park/resume routine and it ran fine all the way to the transmission shop I used two years ago.

(Note: I am aware the computer limits the upshifts in cold weather to let the engine warm up faster. I don't have the exact MPH/RPM numbers in my head, but it was a lot more RPM's per MPH than normal.)

The transmission guy scanned it and came up with 10 codes. I remember codes related to upshift solenoid, a transfer case, oil temp and then a problem communicating with the computer. He stopped and told me I needed to take it to a dealer becasue he suspects the computer is bad.

Q: Is there a separate transmission computer, or does the main computer control the transmission?

The truck ran flawlessly the 15 miles back to where I'm staying.

The nearest dealer is 50 miles away. I asked the transmission guy if he thought I could make it 550 miles back to my home. He said these problems wouldn't burn the tranny up, so as long as it upshifted OK, it probably wouldn't hurt to try to get it home.

My wife will be following me in our other car. I figure if mine craps out along the way, I'll have it flat bedded to the nearest dealer. I see no difference between working with the dealer 50 miles from where I am now or a dealer somewhere close to my route home. I will be working with them remotely and I have no experience with any of them.

Any words of wisdom for me?

__________________


Behind every great man is a great woman. Behind every great woman is a great behind.