First question is how many miles on the car and when was the last time the tranny fluid was changed. MB wants the tranny fluid flushed every 36k miles. Even though most other brands think every 100k is fine. Tranny flush is absolutely a procedure that can be done most anywhere at a fraction of MB dealer cost. That being said, others have reported that if they never did a tranny flush - then when they finally did one, it loosened up a bunch of "crud" in the transmission which in turn clogged up the very delicate modular and other lines. Hopefully this info will point you in the right direction. Stick with an independent mechanic with a clean and modern looking shop that is familiar with MB tranys and you should be okay.
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