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

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