Love this forum. Thanks for all the help you guys have given me.

Will just quote repairs from Mercedes work orders.

Ordered ML320 from Atlanta Mercedes dealer in May of 1997. A friend of mine that lives in Atlanta put down the deposit for me. Car arrived in September of 1997. Dealer woud not put vehicle in my name because I did not live in the Atlanta zone. I live in Alabama. I was forced to buy the vehicle from my friend and title it in Alabama as a used vehicle. Which means I had to pay sales tax twice.

6/28/98
Replace power steering rack
Replace remote control unit for door locks
Repair rear tailgate latch

5/13/99
Engine light on,replace faulty left rear vss
Replace gas gauge
check for belt noise

12/27/99
Replace clips inner door panel
Replace window switch
Replace blinker switch
Replace fuel level sensor
Replace 3 tires (out of round)
Adjust safe lock mechanism
R&R inner tailgate mechanism
Replace tailgate latch

06/08/00
Repair loose brake lamp cover
Repair heater hose leak
Replace elec harness for low range (light on)
Replace battery ground strap
Replace trip computer

11/11/01
Replace rt rear tire (out of round)
Replace driver seat cover (cracked)
Replace sunroof wind deflector
Replace low range control unit (light on)

6/28/01
Replace low range transfer motor (vehicle has never been in low range)
Replace A/C fan motor

6/29/01
sudden battery failure (one day back from shop)

04/21/02
replace tire ( out of round)

12/18/02
Belt tensioner failed
Replace tensioner and drive belt
Brake job

6/24/02
Harmonic balancer failed
Convinced Mercedes balancer was defective part. Paid $675.00 for labor to replace balancer and tensioner, belt ,oil pan ,timing chain cover. Reported failure to NTSB.

02/02/04
Better half says she will no longer trust vehicle
Buy better half Lexus Suv.

03/10/04
Drivers window inop
Checked this forum .Removed ,repared and re-installed.,
thanks for the post.


)3/18/04
power loss at 3-4000 rpm range on hard acceleration. Probably MAS

Thanks for all the insight.

alatono

Thats why they call it The Mercedes Experience...... Unlike any other

This is my third Mercedes. Had sl,sel and now this ouch -L.

Funny I drive 99 Durango,only had oil changes and tire replacement on it. More miles than the ML.Good thing I had it to pick up better half at MB dealer.

I am curious. Do you rotate tires? What brand of tires was giving you so much trouble?

alatono............. you might want to give the folks at the Factory a little feedback on your ML Experience http://www.mbusi.com/owner_feedback.html
They want to know I did and never got a respose many months ago. They can't handle the truth I guess.

oem general grabber st. rotated every 5-7000 miles. Tires were replaced under warranty. all except one. That was out of pocket.

noticed yesterday tire rack increased the price on grabber st from $ 71 to 100+ per tire. go figure.

On the other hand, don't you think that you're paying a small price for the honor of driving Mercedes' test vehicle?

gave the factory some input and vin number. will see if they ever respond.

I have long been of the opinion that rotating tires on FWD will cause problems and on RWD cars may cause problems. I have had General Grabber AP tires on a large 4x4 before and had no trouble, but I did not rotate. As to prices, with all the tire companies buying each other up, there is no competition left and prices are going up double digit percentages each year. I keep hearing the pre 2000 MLs are suspect. Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

Thanks for the replies. Just came back from having the codes read on the check engine light and they are po170 and po173.
Tech thought it might be vacuum leak. This thing must have come from outer space.

O.K. guys tell me how long will it last. On second thought I will give you an update on how long it will last. Read the codes on the Ml-320 and recieved the po170& po173. Two reasons ,one check engine light was on and two vehicle was very slow in acceleration between 3000-4000 RPM. Would almost stall out under hard acceleration.
Tried cleaning sensor (mas) with carb cleaner and had no response. Same performance and same engine light back on.
Decided to use CRC electronics cleaner .Cleaned both sides of sensor with just the spray.Had to place the small tube on CRC thru the wire mesh on back side of sensor .Cleaned all the contacts on the cannon plug and reinstalled.

The vehicle runs great. No check engine light and quick acceleration to 5500 RPM.

Just replace it (the MAS that is).

In my area the ML is the most common late model we work on. I know of no dissatisfied ML owners in our service group, which includes my wife's 1998 ML (we bought new and has 42k).

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician