Gilly,

This forum is a fine resource for ML owners. I'm sure that I speak for everyone when I say that your expertise and willingness to share with the forum are very much apprectiated.

I'm a newbie on this forum, so maybe a little backround is in order:

I leased a MY '00 ML320 M1 Bose (when new) from RBM Atlanta. We have enjoyed the vehicle and have certainly racked up a lot of miles (92k so far). This is not to say that our experience has been perfect. I have been pretty good about bringing the car in on time for maintence according to ESPP (" the wrench") indicators. To my knowledge, my car has been running Mobil 1 from break-in. Service issues so far:

- Oxygen sensors (are there 2 or 4 of these?). Dealer replaced 2 under warranty.

-Coolant overflow tank replaced

-CD changer (warranty)

-Fuel door broken (warranty)

-Front brake pads, wear sensors @40k

-Seat occupancy sensor in the passenger side seat failed @60k. RBM wanted $800 to fix; had to make a lot of phone calls to other dealers and to MBUSI before RBM relented and performed the repair to safety system component under warranty.

-Tires replaced @ about 60k

Warranty ran out @60k, since then Austrian Motors in Midtown Atlanta has been handling my service

-Harmonic balancer (Austrian caught this just before failure)

-Fuel pump @85k ($1000 parts and labor)

-Driver door window switch

-Drivers side catalyst ($1000 P&L)

-Broken sunroof deflector

I would say overall, the ML has been OK (but not great), especially compared to '98-'99 horror stories (transfer cases, etc $$$). We only had to have it towed once when the fuel pump failed. After negotiations with MB, we purchased the vehicle off-lease and intend to maintain it until it is no longer cost effective. From what I have read on the forum, the ML's may tend to get better with age. Hope that is the case with ours. It runs great at the moment and I hope it stays that way.

Gilly,

For my 100k service, I had the following in mind:

-No brake wear indications yet at 92K (mosty highway miles). This seems hard to believe but the brakes are working great.

replace front pads; check front rotors, rear pads and rotors; replace brake fluid

flush and fill coolant

new spark plugs

transmission service

ESPP service items for interval; balance and rotate

check intermittent coolant sensor indicator
(ever seen this?; have not seen any mention in the forum threads)

Thanks again

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Magweed
00 ML320 93k Grocery Getter
97 GMC K1500 Z71 150k

Hello Magweed and welcome.

Sounds like you're running about "par" with your ML experience, some people have had it worse (and somehow still love it!?) and others don't have half this stuff go wrong. I think you're right though, as this stuff fails, MB is aware of these reoccurring problems and update parts even after the vehicle is out of producton, which is kind of rare to see happen.

On a few of your questions, I assume by ESPP you mean FSS (flexible service system), this is the "wrench" symbol in the odometer field.

The intermittent low cooolant light, assuming the coolant at the time isn't low, may be the switch which is in the coolant tank (it's behind the tank by the firewall and hard to see). I can't remember if it is PART of the tank or available seperately, but I know I have seen this before. If it is only happening cold (first thing in the morning), be sure to check the level some morning before starting, you may just be a little low, very often caused by a loose hose clamp.

You'll LOVE the feel of the engine after the plugs are changed, much better power, assuming the plugs are still original.

I hope when they replaced the fuel pump/sender unit, that they did the update to include the long fuel filter.

The brakes will last quite awhile if used mostly on the highway. I believe one of the problems with MB brake wear isn't that they wear so fast, but techs that aren't used to looking at these huge pads and misinterpret how much longer the pads can last. Just my 2 cents. If the front pads really lasted 40K, you did alright, very good actually.

You didn't mention the brake fluid flush, be sure to get that done also, easy to do when the wheels are off.

That's about all I can think of, no coffee yet! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Gilly

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