Other powertrain problem on the 2007 Mercedes Benz E350
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Mercedes Benz E350 report other powertrain problem at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 14 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 68,908 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
7% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41,392 miles | 57,925 miles | 83,663 miles | 98,500 miles | 110,300 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $400–$4,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2012, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2016 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 26; the 2007 has 14. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl*the contact owns a 2007 mercedes benz e350. While driving 20 MPH with the gear indicator in drive, the vehicle was moving as if it was in low gear. The contact shut off engine in order to reset the gears. The dealer repaired the electric hydraulic control unit and 10 minor parts in the transmission. When the failure recurred, the dealer was unable to diagnose or duplicate the failure. The failure has occurred 2 times. The manufacturer was contacted and didn't provide a solution to the failure. The failure mileage was 29,700 and the current mileage was 30,100.
The check engine light came on and the engine started making a "clicking" noise. I took the car to the mercedes dealership and they said that the balance shaft gear was completely deteriorated. They described the gear as "chewed up"! I had no choice but to pay $4,000.00 to get the engine removed from my car and have the balance shaft replaced. *tr
When accelerating from a stop light, the car would not shift gears automatically. The car seems to be stuck in 1st gear or neutral as I could not get past 20mph without maxing out my RPM's. I had to drive 3 miles going 20mph to get somewhere so I could get towed. After towed to the dealership, they could not replicate the situation. This has happened twice within a week's time. This is a mercedes 2007 e350. I have seen other posts about this exact same thing with no solution. The dealership said to pull over and restart the car. What!!! What kind of fix is that? I do that to my home pc...I shouldn't have to do that for my car! I bought this car less than 30 days ago...and the dealership doesn't seem to want any part of it. I haven't even made the first payment or received my permanent tags yet. *tr
Also reported on the 2007 Mercedes Benz E350
Fuel leak or fuel odor
Other fuel system problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Fuel pump failure
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 14 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other powertrain problem happen on the 2007 Mercedes Benz E350?
Across 14 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2007 Mercedes Benz E350?
14 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 3.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed