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MB M Class Owners Maintenance and Repair

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  • gm1120gm1120 Member Posts: 22
    I recently got rear ended with my 2006 ML350, and I'm looking for a decent body shop, the 2 body shops that 2 separate MB dealerships have referred me to has issues I've heard about through friends. My concern is the matching of the paint. I've worked with other body shops and they can't seem to match the paint. Please email me with your references and experiences. Thanks!
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Check out the Paint and Body Maintenance & Repair discussion too.
  • brokerrbrokerr Member Posts: 5
    I have 2001 ML-430 and I have same problem. I spoke with service advisor many times and got no where. Problem is I can not create the problem when I'm in dealer to show them. They can not help me without seeing it or don't want to help.))
  • ripleyiiiripleyiii Member Posts: 10
    I have a ML500, 2002, and recently the Navigation System has been giving me a little problem. It may not come on when I start up the engine. There is a blank screen. After a while, it finally does come on. So if it doesn't work every time I start up the car, I've learned that if I wait long enough it will.

    I had the car in the dealer's for something else. (Problem #3,490...) I asked if they would check the thing out. They did and said, the "ECU" needs to be replaced for $1,200 plus labor. (I later got them to give me the "good guy" price: $1,250 with labor. Whoopee.) The Electronic Control Unit (ECU) was for the Navigation System only. (There are many ECU's throughout the car, I'm told. This I know, because I had to replace the one for the electrics, and it was pretty expensive.) Anyway, it was "slowing burning out," they said and would soon be completely shot. I know very little about electronics, but I don't believe that an electronic control unit slowly burns out. In my experience they either work or they don't work. And when this thing works, it works. It may not come on right away, but when it does, it does.

    So I asked if it were some hardware connector or something, and they said no. ECU. Replace. $1,200.

    Here are my quesitons: (1) Where is this ECU? If I replace the entire CD-based Navigation System, does it also replace the ECU? Can I just buy a new navigation box and exchange the unit and all will be well? Or does it live somewhere where only ECU trained mechanics (an oxymoron I believe) know where to find it. (2) Can I buy the newer DVD-based navigation system, replace the old model and thereby fix the problem? Or do I need to replaced this ECU thing no matter what navigation system I have installed. Or.... (3) is this all a scam?
  • kat26kat26 Member Posts: 3
    i am having the same problem with my ml500. Did u find out what is the cause ?
  • Karen_SKaren_S Member Posts: 5,092
    A reporter from a large daily newspaper is looking to speak to Mercedes-Benz owners in the Washington DC area about the expectations you have with the car when you purchase it and any problems you’ve had to deal with. Please provide your daytime contact info to ctalati@edmunds.com no later than Monday, October 16, 2006.
  • ncarrasquilloncarrasquillo Member Posts: 2
    my 2000 ML has 85K miles and BAS ESP light comes on after two minutes of driving. I am not noticing any changes in driving.
    I just recently change my brake switch and light still stays on. does any one know what it could be?
  • phxmaxphxmax Member Posts: 6
    From PHXMAX:

    See the earlier postings we had on the subject (#576, 578, 579, 580) for possible causes. Mine works fine after 2 months. Good Luck.

    PHXMAX
  • apryzapryz Member Posts: 2
    I have a 2000 ML320 and the hood is full of paint chips also, but even more odd is that the windshield has hundreds of marks like it was hit by rocks.
  • alanchicagoalanchicago Member Posts: 1
    I am curious as to the outcome of your situation.
    What did you do with the vehicle?
    Did you ever find out what the problem was?
    Thanks?
  • gteach26gteach26 Member Posts: 576
    I own a 2006 ML350 with the power liftgate. Quite often when I close the thing I get a warning as I drive off that the liftgate is still open.

    Sometimes it won't happen for weeks at a time, and sometimes it happens every few tries.

    I'd take it to the dealer but if they can't replicate the problem I would've wasted my time.

    Is this a widespread issue or am I just unlucky?

    Thanks!!
  • smart_alecsmart_alec Member Posts: 19
    Had the same problem........It's well known and all MB service departments are aware of it. Today the dealer replaced the motor in my ML 350 that pulls the hatch in the last inch of travel to the latch position. Hey, it's a luxury car........MB is not going to shine you on. Take it in.
  • luv2sailluv2sail Member Posts: 1
    I purchased my 2006 Ml 500 in July of 06' & I to have experienced the 'jerking' motion! i thought it was something I was doing until i read your message. I am appauled at what is happenning with this vehicle (that I love dearly). I purchased this vehicle in Newport Beach, Ca & I reside in northern California, I plan to take the vehicle back to the dealership next week for my 13,000 nile oil change, I LOVE this vehicle, are there any questions I should ask the dealership in regards to this on-going 'surge' of a problem?
  • c_j_gordonc_j_gordon Member Posts: 19
    What sounds like my power steering pump has been getting louder and louder over the past several months. It's much louder when it's cold; and, the volume of noise appears to corrlelate somewhat to the number of RPM's. It makes noise even when I'm not steering...and gets louder when I steer or increase RPMs. Any idea what's going on? Fluid level is fine in pump. Thanks for any advice/info.
  • pfentonpfenton Member Posts: 16
    I suspect it may be the chronic crankshaft pulley problem.
    The defective part is a recall item and I had the repair
    done on my wife's 98 ML320 last year free of charge. Have this checked out immediately, as the defective pulley can
    disengage and take out the oil pan, timing cover(expensive) and could cause major steering control issues.
  • wadigowadigo Member Posts: 1
    As I can read from the post, this particular model is full of surprises. I have an oil leak somewhere in the front of the SUV. When the transmission get warm it start to shift like if it was a manual transmission, off the gas and going to the next gear. It drives me crazy because it sounds like is going to dead.
  • mokrymokry Member Posts: 1
    I have a 2000 ML 320 experiencing the same problem, loud whining noise. So thinking that the power steering pump was going out, I replaced it with a new one. Same noise exists. The belt tension pulley was replaced as well. So how do I now determine if it is the crankshaft pulley? Also, isn't the pulley hard mounted to the crankshaft?, is there rubber dampening material involved that wears out?
    The vehicle was check about 6 months ago at the dealer for the bad part number, mine was not on the list.
  • duongtle1duongtle1 Member Posts: 1
    do you know where the computer box is located?
  • money112amoney112a Member Posts: 1
    changing my oil, where is bolt located to release oil, is it directly under engine facing it should it be on your left sideways,please help
  • palmharborpalmharbor Member Posts: 26
    Once again, my 7 speed let me down. This time, it hangs in 4th or 5th gear. Went to the shop yesterday, but no word on it as of the end of business today.
  • dboxmeyerdboxmeyer Member Posts: 5
    Anyone finding the satellite reception to be poor in their new M class? We've had the car for four days now and the satellite reception seems to be getting worse. Tried the free Sirius radio on the way to work and it couldn't get through a full song without having to search for a satellite - this was on a clear stretch of the Mass pike on the way into Boston, with a clear view of the sky. First time with satellite, but it seems like it should work much better than this.
  • pfentonpfenton Member Posts: 16
    While Sirius does have an extensive network of towers that
    rebroadcast satellite signals, in many metropolitan areas factors such as physical obstructions like bridges, tunnels and even huge buldings can disrupt your radio's reception. Even the FM frequency you choose in your car can effect reception. Check out the My Sirius Frequncy Finder tool and enter your zip code to get a list of the suggested FM frequecies in your area. Good luck!
  • mschafermschafer Member Posts: 317
    You'll have a real mess if you drop it from the bottom of the engine. Get a vacuum extractor (It is what MB recommends and uses). You'll never look back. The best I've found is here:

    http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/MIT-7201.html
  • mschafermschafer Member Posts: 317
    FM Frequencies are certainly not of any concern with the ML's built in Sirius radio.
  • allipin539allipin539 Member Posts: 2
    Hi Everyone,
    I have a 2001 ML 320 with just about 100,000 miles on it. I never had a problem starting it ultil I brought it in for body work and new brakes. I live On Long Island in NY and before I brought it in we didn't have too much cold weather. Since I have picked my car up the temperature has dropped dramaticlly and now when I start it up cold, I get that very loud whining sound. Hoever when I turn the car off and run an errand or something if the engine is still warm I dont get that whining sound. I brought it back to the repair shop to ask them about it. Since this was not a problem before the car went in but since the engine was warm from the drive over it didn't make that sound. Does anyone have any ideas? I thought I'd tap the knowladge of as many folks as possible before bringing it somewhere and being raked over the coals. I'm not sure if it could be the power steering pump because the power steering is never difficult even with start up. because of the brake work I'm wondering if anything has to do with the abs system only because the noise is similar to what i heard on my Range Rover when the ABS system started to go. I sure hope its not that but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas. Also this whining noise goes away after the car is in motion and warmed up.

    Any thoughts.
    Allie
    Allipin539@aol.com :confuse: :sick:
  • dboxmeyerdboxmeyer Member Posts: 5
    I agree - FM freuqencies shouldn't have anything to do with my reception should it? I assume pfenton thought I had an after market radio? Considering it's internal, I'm going to disregard the whole FM line of thought.

    The strange part is that the reception is markedly better in the afternoon / evening on the same stretch of road than it is in the morning... I'm wondering if there's some strange atmospheric thing gonig on here. In any case, the idea of extending my subscription past the six month trial seems remote if the radio is constantly being interupted during my morning commute.

    I'm curious - anyone have reception problems with their satelite radio in a new M class? If so, how does it compare to any other car that you have with sat radio?

    Thanks!
  • sgt_k1sgt_k1 Member Posts: 14
    It is just the cold wheather.
  • mshah2mshah2 Member Posts: 3
    I have ML350, 06MY also. I was getting engine hesitation, surging of the engine when I brake, longer idle times when shifting. After three valves replacement, they finally replaced the entire transmission last week, I had less then 12,000 miles on the vehicle.
  • mshah2mshah2 Member Posts: 3
    I had the same issue, they have recall on it. Have your dealer check it. They replaced the motor and latch on the car. Had to take it in twice for them to find the recall and the issue.
  • mshah2mshah2 Member Posts: 3
    I have ML350, 06MY. I was getting engine hesitation, surging of the engine when I brake, longer idle times when shifting. After three valves replacement, they finally replaced the entire transmission last week, I had less then 12,000 miles on the vehicle.
  • wangml320wangml320 Member Posts: 1
    I have a 2001 ML320 and have the ESP/BAS light come on and was repaired by MB replacing something call the lateral acceleration sensor and they fixed it at a discount because it was out of warranty but with only 15,000 miles for $300 but it would of been more than $500.
  • subdensubden Member Posts: 40
    Anybody know how to change the clock on a 2007 with COMMAND and Nav. The owners manual is no help (I assume that it is automatic on the COMMAND system because the COMMAND manual doesn't even mention how to set the clock). It didn't change time for the new Daylight Savings time.
  • mschafermschafer Member Posts: 317
    It's deeply disguised and hidden in the Command Manual on page 220-221 under selecting the Time Zone. Not at all intuitive. I had the same problem on mine. One would think they'd make the Daylight Saving option the default for US sold cars.
  • subdensubden Member Posts: 40
    Thanks much...I called the dealer who gave me the directions. You're absolutely right...it is deeply hidden in the manual.
  • tygerleotygerleo Member Posts: 16
    I got this car from my sister in LA. The current mileage is about 38K, we seems having some lucks with it, no major problem so far. But we did replace the brake pad twice, and rotor once. I understand the ML use a bit soft brake pad, which wears out fast, but two replacements within 4 years is really excessive. I wonder if this problem of the Mercedes design, or just the scheme of the dealer getting more money from client -- brake does not cover under warranty for Mercedes product (I think BMW covers everything during the warranty period).

    I also have problem the Ray Catena of New Jersey could not fix. Whenever the temperature is below 30 degree, the windshield washer does not work, possibly the washer fluid is frozen at the nozzle, or the washer pump does not work at this temperature. Anyway, so much for the German engineering, maybe they should ask Russian to design this next time.
  • ml350msaml350msa Member Posts: 1
    Has anyone out there had a problem with the gas pedal on their ml350? I have 36K miles and about 2K miles ago I started my car one morning and pressed the gas pedal only to feel like there was no pressure behind it...it acclerated, but much slower than usual even when I floored it. A week later it went back to normal, then it happened again, then fixed itself. I took it in for service and they replaced the pedal mechanism but since it was no longer doing it it was hard to describe the issue. It was fine since the replacement for about a month but just this week it happened again...sound familiar to anyone? Thanks.
  • palmharborpalmharbor Member Posts: 26
    The OEM Continental 255/55/18 tires on my 2006 ML500 need replacement at just under 20,000 miles. I have been very careful to rotate them and maintain correct air pressure, and the tread wear has been very even. I would like to know if replacement at relatively low mileage is common. I am considering the Michelin latitude Tour HP as the replacements.
  • allipin539allipin539 Member Posts: 2
    Wow thats unbelivable! My original tires lasted me to 75,000 miles. I forget what it's called exactly but my technition does wheel alignments where they not only rotate the tires but they can change the angle of the drums or balls (if this makes no sense I appologigize I'm bad at remembering technical terms) to be sure the tires are reciving the same amount of pressure and are in close alignment to the steering wheel and at the correct angle to the ground. I never heard about this during my service contract. I'm not sure if its part of the A or B service if it is you should be getting that done. But as I know with my ML when it was in service I think there are a great many elements of the services that were not actually performed or performed correctly. So it's possible that if you didn't ask for it you didn't get it. And of course tire wear depends on a lot of different variables are you driving on hot stone paved roads or something that would cause your tires to wear faster then paved asphalt?
  • palmharborpalmharbor Member Posts: 26
    Except for a couple of miles once on hard packed beach sand, all of my driving has been on major paved highways. I have all scheduled service done, rotate faithfully, and even had an alignment at 13,500 which was not required. I check air pressure at least monthly and balance the pressure at 32 psi.

    A friend in NY bought a R500, and his Continentals wouldn't pass the NYS inspection after 15,000 miles.
  • eatanianeatanian Member Posts: 2
    The tires on my ML350 are behaving exactly the same. I always did the required maintenance too. They told me at a tire store that these Continental tires have unsatisfactory parameters for a vehicle this tall. I believe they are not thick enough on the edges or something like that... I am not sure about the replacements yet.
  • cneffcneff Member Posts: 65
    I have a 2007 ML320 CDI and I can say these tires are for comfort, soft ride, quiet and forgiving, so I am not surprised they are short lived. The other day a decent size rock punctured the side walls (front and rear tires) - that seemed too easy. I had a 2001 ML320 and got 50K out of the Dunlops, though barely, but that is pretty good and I was not kind to those tires.

    It seems these Continentals are short lived overall. My CLK with Continentals might make 12k - I was hoping for 20K and I'm careful. My C320 4matic Wagon with Continentals did 35K but...just, that also seems short lived since I know other brands of tires go 50 to 60k.

    Kind of painful
  • cfdevelopercfdeveloper Member Posts: 1
    Hi,
    I have ML320 2000. when I push gas all the way, it doesn't accelerate and pushes back. my mechanic says it's not transmission, but he couldn't find the main problem yet. is it a common case for these cars , or does anyone have some idea about what it could be?
    it drives fine besides that.
    thanks in advance.
  • roquep33roquep33 Member Posts: 2
    It happened to my ML 320 2000, then I discovered water trapped inside body lower sides underneath the doors. Yes, those turn into water tanks that need to be drained when rubber plugs get stucked.If you look carefully from underneath the body sides at the points were the jack is positioned when lifting the car, there are two rubber niples per side that get stucked by old dirt, just push inside with your pinky finger and will unclogg automatically letting the water out.I was told by a Mercedes mechanic that those "tanks" collect the water result from the condensation inside roof and any water that went through the sun roof by accident.
  • roquep33roquep33 Member Posts: 2
    Water is coming to the floor from inside, front only, driver's and co-pilot. The dealer says entire roof upholstery must be taken out, I think is he's full of it, I had that problem with an old Jaguar,water was coming through windshield grill because the a/c evaporator latch was open due to faulty solenoid operation then water filled up housing till spilling occurred. Do the evaporator housings have drains ? if so where ? What could it be in my ML ? help, heeeeeeelp !
  • guzzler4guzzler4 Member Posts: 3
    I am advising a friend about the same problem that you encountered with the keys. He has a 1998 ML320 and is totally exasperated. There is nothing I know of in the way of a solution at this point, but I was wondering what you did, if anything, to resolve the key issue.

    Regards,
    Guzzler4
  • lovemyclklovemyclk Member Posts: 351
    Has anyone encountered peeling of the film on the exterior of the black D-pillar on the prior-gen ML (2002)? Understand they can be replaced in a similar fashion to a windshield - glued onto the underlying frame. Not willing to pay the cost quoted from the dealer at $250 each!

    Would seem there is a simple remedy and repair for this... looks like the clear film protectant layer is peeling like your skin after a sunburn.

    Thanks for any guidance on this.
  • phxmaxphxmax Member Posts: 6
    I recently had the same peeling problem on my 2002 ML, only it happened on the back both sides just outside the lift gate, near the top, about 6-8 inch peel each side. My car paint color is black. I still have not done anything about it. I will be interested in hearing yours and others when resolved. What color is your car?
    Thanks
    PHXMAX
  • ildmelildmel Member Posts: 1
    If someone has any info, please help!! I have a Mercedes Benz ML 320 and it keeps shutting off while I'm driving, and it scares me because I always have my children, including my baby in the car. I took it to the dealer for a tune up and that's really when my problems began. I took it back to them, they took it to MB and the catalytic converter was changed. On the way home from picking it up, it turned off on my husband. Any one have any ideas?
  • lovemyclklovemyclk Member Posts: 351
    Sounds like the same area as ours... black external surface of the D-pillar flanking the liftgate window. Body color is sand beige.
  • cneffcneff Member Posts: 65
    What year do you have? I have an 07 ML320 CDI and just a few days ago it shut off while driving and would not re start for 1 hr. It was a silly $20 part related to the camshaft. When it goes the cars computer just crashes.....all lights on the dash light up and the engine turns off.

    I would try another dealer...engine failures like that are usually recorded in the cars internal computer that the dealer can see, there should be clues.

    Good luck
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