Used ML 320

[Excalibur]

Yesterday, I was at a car lot and saw a 98 ML 320 for a $15,900 with about 65,000 miles on it. I am interested in purchasing it, but I am unsure whether it is going to be expensive to maintain or not. I have no problems doing some work on it ie. oil changes, filter changes, brake jobs etc, but some more advanced procedures will have to be done at the MB shop. I would be trading in a paid off 02 Mustang with 23,000 miles, and I would end up with a small payment each month. Note that the Mustang is not particularly reliable, but the parts are cheap and easy to come by. However, the Mustang is not good in the snow, and winter is approaching. Am I crazy to do this or is it worth it? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, small or large since this is a big investment and money is tight right now. Thanks so much.

[J.HIDALGO]

If you read consumer reports and some other magazines, reliability is not a strong point with the ML's in general. Later ML's, '02 on, are better. Any records on it?
I would suggest to post and read the ML forum on this site to make an informed decision.
Good luck!

[Peter Guenther]

The early ones had some definate quality (reliability) issues. I purchased a 99 and every known problem surfaced, fuel pumps, seat belts, locking system, alarm board, rattles. It was the worst car I have ever had, traded it on E wagon, the guys at MB think I dont love them any more. As with most MBs you can not get any service manuals, parts are expensive and many things are controlled by the body computer that only MB can access.

[mplafleur]

I have a '98 that I bought 2 years ago with 78,000 miles on it for $17000. We love it. Yes I have had to replace the fuel pump and filter once and the mid-drive shaft bearing. But that's all. Total parts was ~$300. I don't think that it's all that bad for 2 years.

The one thing I don't like is the door panels won't stay on and they keep coming loose. The floor mats won't stay in place and there is no heat setting that does not include 'no center vents' (I hate hot air blowing in my face).

Gas mileage has been good and it tows 5-6000 lbs great.

[stevebfl]

My wifes 98 ML which we bought new had a ME controller, an O2 sensor, and the fuel pump mod under warrantee. The rear door actuator also got repaired in warrantee. We replaced the crank harmonic balancer as a precaution and one cup holder. the cover on the third brake light has fallen (residual damge from the door actuator repair) but doesn't seem to bother my wife. (drives me nuts at night seeing the brake light shine so brightly in the rear view mirror).

We only have 46k on it 6 years later. It has been a fine car and it will be a fine car for another ten years if we chose it to be and service it as we have.

[Gilly]

Steve B.: Usually you just end up with the cover itself broken for the inner tailgate panel. You might need a good parts man to locate it, it is available seperately, it's referred to as the "CHIMSEL cove", chimsel is an abbreviation for something like "center hi mounted stop light", something like that. Worst case is that your price on the whole tailgate inner panel isn't that bad.
Michael, have you tried replacing door fasteners to fix the inner door panels from popping off?

Gilly

[augusta]

Excalibur,
I have a 98 for sale. It has 66,000 miles. Within the last 8,000 miles I have replaced, front and rear pads and rotors, Mass air flow sensor, fuel filter and battery. I am asking $14,900. If you are interested email me.

To answer your orginal question, I think if you maintain the 98 correctly it will be a dependable auto. I have not had any problems with mine. I do maintain it by the book....if fact better than the book, I change oil (Mobil 0-40) every 5,000 miles.

I think at ~$14,000 it is a very good value.

Augusta

[G-Benz]

Originally Posted by augusta

To answer your orginal question, I think if you maintain the 98 correctly it will be a dependable auto. I have not had any problems with mine. I do maintain it by the book....if fact better than the book, I change oil (Mobil 0-40) every 5,000 miles.

I think at ~$14,000 it is a very good value.

Augusta

And so do I!

98 was the first model year for the W163...and with every new model comes its share of bugs.

I have a 99 and it probably shares the same woes since it took at least a year for design flaws to get identified and corrected.

But the vast majority of problems were corrected under warranty, and the remainder probably thereafter. I believe 99.99% of the ML issues manifested themselves by 60K.

Consider that most owners unfamiliar with MB longevity assume that a vehicle is pretty much trade-in fodder when it reaches 60K...couple that with the fear of some mortgage-draining repair down the road with no reasonable warranty package as protection, and you have some nice MBs with hundreds of thousands of miles of good use left in them, going for a song!

Do have the vehicle examined thoroughly by a trusted technician, and understand that MB quality problems are most prevalent with models of this era...in other words, "it ain't no Honda"!

[mplafleur]

Gilly,

The parts manager at my favorite dealership gave me a handful when I replaced the driver door locking mechanism (oops, forgot about that one!). The door panels still keep popping off.

But, to be honest, I didn't have enough fastening clips to replace them all on all the doors.

[richard28]

We are the original owners of a 98 ml320, now with 102k miles. We have had the usual warranty repairs, plus precautionary balancer replacement along with usual wear items; the stop light switch ($10 part) is the next DIY repair. We recently replaced oem dunlop grandtrek tires (2nd set) w/ new model yokohama hts g051, and the harsh, bouncy ride and average handling are each dramatically improved. It's really a great, safe vehicle.

[sunedog]

Originally Posted by Gilly

Steve B.: Usually you just end up with the cover itself broken for the inner tailgate panel. You might need a good parts man to locate it, it is available seperately, it's referred to as the "CHIMSEL cove", chimsel is an abbreviation for something like "center hi mounted stop light", something like that. Worst case is that your price on the whole tailgate inner panel isn't that bad.
Michael, have you tried replacing door fasteners to fix the inner door panels from popping off?

Gilly

Mine kept popping off as well. I secured it with a sealant I think can easily be undone the next time the need arises. I used Goop brand sealant.

[sunedog]

Originally Posted by G-Benz

I have a 99 (snip)

But the vast majority of problems were corrected under warranty, and the remainder probably thereafter. I believe 99.99% of the ML issues manifested themselves by 60K.

I am the original owner of a 99 ML 320. It now has 125K miles. My beef is that after a problem is identified and fixed, the replacement component fails again. And sometimes a third time.

For example:

fuel level sensor -- replaced at 11K miles, again at 42K miles and still never worked properly.

machine gun locks -- actuator replaced at 23K miles, again at 75K miles, and then the rear cargo door actuator at 115K miles

transfer case switchover motor -- replaced at 23K miles, and doesn't currently work

defective window switches -- replaced at 45K miles, again at 75K miles

sunroof -- parts replaced at 11K miles, again at 75K miles and a gasket type part recently fell out of the opening

My other beef is that Mercedez seems to recognize a design flaw and the owner is forced to pay for the retrofit. Two examples:

crankshaft balancer -- will cost you up to about $400 to fix if your dealer won't cover this for you

fuel filter -- I had to pay $863 for filter and retrofit