I own a 1998 ml-320 and need to have the drive shaft bearing replaced. would i have to replace the steering rack as well

I have a 1999 ML 320 with 130000km. I just have my center bearing replaced. What were the symtoms in your truck. My truck's probelm was a constant whirring above 20km/hr. You don't need to have the steering rack replaced for that alone but in my case when I have my truck inspected I also found out that my inner tie rods were worn and those were replaced along with the center bearing under the canadian mercedes signature class extended warranty. Other things that was recently replaced was a plugged catalytic convertor that lead to engine misfire and a leaky transmission oil cooling hose, all replaced under extended warranty.

Interesting. I just had a plugged catalytic converter replaced for the same reason, engine misfire. The vehicle is a 1998 ML320 with 71,000 miles which was out of the MB warranty period. However, the catalytic converter replacement was covered under the US federally-mandated 7 year/80,000 mile emissions equipment warranty. I only had to pay for three hours diagnostic time. Did the dealer say why the converter was plugged? Just a manufacturing defect or perhaps the result of excessive oil consumption? Does you ML consume oil?

oh dear lord....I have this same affliction (whirring noise) I only have 2 more months on lease (no warranty).

My engine misfired about 3 months ago and they found a single code indicating one cylinder misfired and charged me 1 hour of diagnostic and changed all the sparks plug which I have to pay for. The same thing happen and they say multiple random misfire code was recorded and they changed the cat. They did not refund the diagnostic fee for the first visit which I am not happy. I actaully had a friend of mine who is a Ford master tech to ask around amongst his tech friends and apparently it is a known problem of the ML that will lead to engine misfire. There was a post somewhere of an ML where the dealer replaced the ecu and a whole bunch of other stuff and it wasn't until the cat was replace before the engine problem was fixed. Regarding the famous oil consumption problem. My ML eats a litre of oil every 3000km(2000miles) which according to mercedes is not excessive!! I think most of the earlier Ml eats oil according to my reading of all the forum and mailing list