My 1998 ML320 "lost" the crankshaft balancer at 73,xxx miles. Since I'm not the original owner, M-B did not cover the problem. I'm told they will not even admit there is a problem, although the replacement part has a different number, indicating a design change. Cost me $1345 out of pocket. Makes me wonder why I bought this car after this and the battery replacement, door lock actuator replacement and most recently complete replacement of all four catalytic converters that had cracked. Fortunately the cats were under the Federal 80,000 mile warranty and so M-B paid. They did not however, pay for the $500 cost of replacing one exhaust manifold that had cracked! In 9 months I've averaged $200 per month in repairs! Mercedes quality? Hah! JRT