Well, the ’98 ML320 is giving me trouble now @ 217k miles. Yesterday it suddenly and without warning started acting up. From a complete stop and in DRIVE, it takes more throttle than usual to begin forward movement. Initial movement is not smooth and has a little bit of “bucking” going on. Once it upshifts to 2nd and beyond, operation seems normal. From the location where the trouble started yesterday, I drove it home about 25 miles at 50 MPH. Fortunately, there were no traffic lights on this route.

When coming to a full stop, there is a noticeable clunk when the downshift, presumably to 1st, occurs just prior to the complete stop. I will drain the trans and torque converter tomorrow, drop the pan and check out how the fluid, pan and filter look. This is the MB fluid and MB filter I just changed a month ago. If the fluid looks relatively clean (no metal.....I hope), is there a possibility this could be an electronic problem (bad wire harness, switch, computer controller, etc.)?

I have the MB fluid check dipstick. Fluid appears to be at specified level. When I drained it and replaced the fluid last month, the volume drained was 7.25 liters. I replaced with 7.25 liters of new fluid. The fluid and filter change was purely preventive maintenance. The were no problems at that time.. The fluid and filter was also changed at 100k miles.

This is a one owner vehicle which we bought new in May 1998.
Any suggestions/ideas and/or notes on similar experiences appreciated.
Thank you.

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2014 E250 Bluetec 4-Matic
2014 GL350 Bluetec 4-Matic
1996 Chevy Tahoe 4 x 4
2009 ML350 (sold)
2005 SLK350 (sold)
1999 E300 Turbodiesel (sold)
1998 ML320 (sold)
1991 300D 2.5 Turbodiesel (sold)