It has the old school P,R,N,D,4,3,2,1. How could any MB tech not know that the coded gear selector switch can be replaced instead of replacing the whole shifter?

If the switch you're mentioning is part 74 in the picture, I'm going to be pissed. I just had that replaced recently by an incompetent mechanic and asked the new tech if that could be the problem (that the guy damaged the part or installed it incorrectly).

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1999 ML 430

Looks you're gonna be , at ME! Sorry, but I didn't bother to check the picture in your first post, my bad.

Before your situation gets completely out of control you've got to get your ML into the hands of someone who knows WTF they're doing!

I see stuff like this almost every day. In most cases it's no big deal, but matters are made worse when a well meaning shop mis-diagnoses a problem, then botches the repair work. Not only will you have the original problem to deal with but a man-made problem as well.

Replacing the gear selector switch isn't hard to do, but it's not hard to screw up either. I'm not saying that this is what happened, but before you go any further I'd recommend re-checking the switch installation. If your ML were in my shop this is the first thing I would do.

I did tell him about this mishap with a gas station mechanic trying to replace the gear selector switch. He told me he would check the switch and reported back that it wasn't the problem. He told me that the previous guy most likely broke the shifter when working on it as I had not left the moonroof open or spilled and liquid on the shifter. Is it easy to break the shifter when working on it if you're not familiar with MB?

I'll tell you...I know a decent bit about cars, more than the average guy. It's soooo hard to to find a MB tech here in the Washington DC metro area that can logically test/diagnose and report back. Been looking for YEARS and I was hopefull this new guy was the ticket.

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1999 ML 430

ILUVMILS, forgot to ask you... if it were the switch, would it throw a code?

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1999 ML 430

What ever happened with this JAD?

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Still a work in progress....

I went back to the owner and told him I wanted him to put in a new shifter. We had a "discussion" in the customer area of the shop. The end result was him telling me that if he put in a new shifter that I would have to pay the difference in price from the used shifter to the new shifter (I was ok with that) and that the new part wouldn't have a warranty. He also told me that wasn't the problem with the truck. In addition, he basically thought I was mistaken and the truck was just holding the gears longer (as it was designed to do) because the cat was not warmed up yet in the winter cold. I told him I've owned the car for 12 years and the truck has NEVER held 2nd gear to 4000 RPMs when it was cold. I told him I'd be back when it happened again as there was obviously a problem.

Well surprise, it happened again on Friday afternoon. I was driving 60 mph on a long straight road with stop lights. Came to a red light, stopped, took off again and the truck went to 45 mph and 4000 rpm, 3rd gear I think. 40 degrees F and the engine was at full operating temperature. Pulled out my phone and took a video. Came to the next traffic light and stopped, took off and the truck was fine and has been fine since Friday afternoon. Went back to the shop Friday right before close and presented the video. You should have seen the look on his face. Told me to drop it off again. If he couldn't find the problem last time what's he going to do this time? If there wasn't a code last time, is there going to be a magic code that has appeared this time?

When I went to the shop today he wasn't there. One of his techs who knows the story was there and commented that it might be the control unit. I asked if it were, wouldn't it throw some sort of code? His response, "Well, the control unit may not know itself that it is malfunctioning." When I asked what the fix would be... "Replace the control unit" I said how are you diagnosing that? He replied "Best guess." I told him that's BS for a $1,200 "best guess" repair.

I'm dropping the truck off tonight but I'm confident he won't be able to find the problem.

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1999 ML 430

Well, he finally agreed with the diagnosis posted by a couple of you guys here. He replaced the new "used" shifter with a brand new shifter. I made sure to tell him I told him to do that 2 weeks ago and could have saved us both a lot of aggravation

I have not driven the truck that much (yet), but it appears to be driving fine so far and it looks like the problem has finally been solved. Thanks to everyone for your input.

Justin

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1999 ML 430