E350 gearbox stuck in limp mode after a long highway drive. Is the conductor plate the usual suspect?
My 2014 E350 has been flawless for the two years I've owned it but last weekend driving back from a trip to Abu Dhabi the transmission suddenly clunked and then the dash lit up with that dreaded message about visiting the workshop without changing gears. Limped it home at about 60 km/h on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road which was not a fun experience with trucks flying past me. Turned it off and let it sit overnight and the next morning it shifted perfectly fine again like nothing ever happened. I've been doing some reading and it seems like the 722.9 7G Tronic units are notorious for conductor plate issues when they get hot, especially here with our summer temperatures. The fluid was supposedly changed by the previous owner but who knows if it was done with the correct blue ATF and the proper level setting procedure. I'm trying to find a shop that does Mercedes Automatic Gearbox Repair Sharjah and actually understands these 722.9 transmissions well enough to pull the valve body and check the conductor plate speed sensors before I end up stranded somewhere in August traffic. Anyone else with a W212 had the intermittent limp mode that reset after cooling down and got it sorted with just a conductor plate replacement and fresh fluid? Really hoping I don't need a full rebuild because the car only has 140k on it and otherwise drives beautifully.