Wifes 03 ML with less than 90,000 apparently has a bad lifter? she drives short trips mostly, cold weather now, uses synthetic only, changed at the dealership when its suppose to be done. She called said it was making a bad noice, running a little ruff, dealer determines this, say try an oil change with some ATF in it. See if this clears it up, "never have heard of this happening with this engine" of course. Either this will clean it up, if not will have to be torn down & install new lifters. We didn't get a cost on this, but is this normal for this engine? What do you guys think? Seems a little premature to me. Wifes not to happy of course, hate to have to trade it off for this?, never come out on a trade. Anyway appreciate any thoughts & opinions.

It could have a little sludge. My 2002 ML320 had some lifter noise and I switched to Mobil 1 10W30 after I flushed it and it went away. I tried to go back to 0W40 and the noise came back. So, I'm using 10W30 now.

Most likely the OIL is the issue, how many miles do you go between changes?

Like the OLD Pennzoil commercial, pay me now OR pay me LOTS $$$$ later.

The oil needs changed every year or 10K max mileage.

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X2 MBDOC.

On our 2000 ML320, we change the oil every 6k or so with Mobil 1 European car formula. When it was under warranty, it had some lifter noise, and the dealer said they all did that. Later, after the warranty expired, the dealer wanted $1200 to replace the lifters.

From that point on, I started changing the oil myself instead of letting wifey take it the dealer. Guess what, two weeks after switching to Mobil 1 the noise went away and has never come back. This is on a car that has had(or we paid for synthetic) synthetic in it since the first oil service.

Looking back at the dealer invoices for oil services, they claim to have used the same 0W-40 Mobil 1. I really wonder if they even changed the oil.

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"I was a dirty bird, Carol's not grungey - she's *****in" John Milner....American Graffiti

Thanks for your replys! We bought the rig with about 45,000 miles. Since that time (now 86,000) we have had it serviced within the recommmended intervals, with Mobil 1 0-40 I believe. At the local dealership ( whom I trust to "put in" what were being charged for. This is our 3rd MB that has been serviced there over the last 15 yrs. 1st one with lifter issues though. Who knows what the previous owner used though, & how often it was changed. It came off a lease, with no records!. Oh well, thats the way it goes! The wife drives it most of the time, I don't believe in 10,000 mile intervals even with synthetic. Now its running with a quart of ATF in it to try & quite it down. It has helped already, quieter than last Friday, however I don't believe that this will ever quite it down completely. However I could be proved wrong!
Whats the opinion about using DINO oil such as a Valvoline Racing Oil or a Castrol oil, use to use it all the time in the old days. I know that MB has a class action suite about this in the early ML's

I use Dino oil in my m104 diesel 15w40 in spring,summer,and fall.I use 5 w40 sync oil in winter.I never like energy conserving oils.Too much like cutting oils.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

Following the "recommended" service oil change schedule is NOT frequent enough.

MB finally figured that out in 2008 & NOW suggests a maxi mun of every 10K miles for an oil change.

EVEN 10K is too many miles unless that is all freeway miles.

Start changing the oil every 7500 miles & you will have a much longer lasting engine,
use a light weight synthetic oil.

__________________
MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
ASE Master Technician
Mercedes Benz Star Technician (2 times)
44 years foreign automotive repair
27 Years M.B. Shop foreman (dealer)
MB technical information Specialist (15 years)
190E 2.3 16V ITS SCCA race car (sold)
1986 190E 2.3 16V 2.5 (sold)
Retired Moderator

Well its been a week since the dealer changed the oil with a quart of ATF added to try & quite it down. Hasn't worked yet, (don't think it will ever work) I have to drive it a couple of hundred miles on the interstate tomorrow. I'm a little concerned about driving it with ATF in it at freeway speeds? I am thinking about changing the oil again & going from MOBIL 1 0-40 to a Mobil 1 0-30 with a quart of Rislone? What do you guys think? I'm thinking that I have a major repair coming soon, is this a possible DIYS job or is there shimming involved with the lifters or rockers?. One last thing, according to the Wifey its running a little ruff, which makes since if the lifters collapsed a bit this would keep one of the valves from fully opening? right? the dealer says run it for 5000 miles or more with this treatment, but I think that doing so will have a long term negative effect on the engine? Thanks for your opinions