advans

hey guys, i'm not a regular here on 163, but am a regular on the 203 forums.,

but recently, my ML500 (2003, with a hair under 42k miles) shuts off. again.

this is not the first time this happened. they have replaced, engine mounts, bushings, key&ignition, tranny mounts, and a bunch of other crap.

what happened the first few times, was...

1. driving normally, no heavy throttle. boom. car shuts off. no power, no brakes no nothing. (bought it in, "fixed" replaced some crap and out)

2. driving normally, all of a sudden, car shuts off, but WITH power, all eletronics work, but RPM is @ zero, everything shown at cluster is at zero. and the car feels like it just shut off. (bought it in, replaced alota crap, even the cluster)

3. driving heavy throttle, on the highway, and all of a sudden bam. funny rpm, like its spazzing. then it shut off. (bought it in, *****ed at the SA, and called mbusa, they said they'll fix it bla bla bla, came out, wow no problems for abt....4 months. until recently)

RECENT, about 2 weeks total.

Driving in city traffic, so think about 40-50mph max. so all of a sudden, the RPM quickly drops, down to 1k rpm. floor it, it'll jump up to 1.2k rpm at MAX, and grandma walks faster than the car. seriously, car doesnt move. at all.

so...OK, shut if off for 5 mins. checked everything, oil is fine, not over heating, NOTHING stuck in the intake, bla bla bla, turned it back on. runs fine.

this happened a few times within a 2 week period. so I have made an appointment with MB-MANHATTAN for earliest, FEB 19th, 2007.

BUT BUT BUT....heres the deal. what happened today. same situation, RPM drop, i let go of the throttle, car seems slug-ish, so i heavied the throttle a bit, and it hits...1500rpm MAX. car DOESNT move, infact, its slowing down. shifting down on the touch shift, moves abt 100rpm more down to "optimal gear" and car slowed down, until it seriously dead stopped. I shut the car off, for 5 mins, do the routine checkup, not over heating, oils right, etc. turned it back on, engine rpm jumps. normal startup, abt...what? 3-4k rpm? then when the idle went down to 500. check engine light came on. and whats funny. even if u floor the car at idle, it jumps up to 1500rpm max.

any help? thanks in advanced

MJ50

sorry.. i have no clue... maybe electronics problem?
did u read the error code?

advans

no actually, the car is at the dealers right now. and when June comes thats when the warranty ends. gonna do some financial calculations tonight, and maybe this summer I can/will be able to upgrade into a CLS550 thats what is planned

MJ50

dang... what an upgrade!

advans

those idiots at mb-manhattan, called my dad up today, and said, the car has no problems. no problem what so ever.

so my dad goes. "how do u explain the check engine light then"

they said, "oh...we'll get back to you on it, but your car is ready, btw, you need brand new brakes and rotors/new tires."

my dad goes. "I just replaced the brakes/rotors less than 500 miles ago. and the tires were up last week."

they go..."oh they are still checking up on your car, you might need to replace a few things not covered under warranty"

my dad goes. "just fix my freakin car under warranty"

mercedes benz manhattan guys. criminals.

MJ50

damn stealers...

advans

exactly, I called my new SA (apparently my old SA left), @ 840 this morning, said to call me back, in 5 mins. and its 1045. goddam that f-er

Mr.Gearhead

I had same problem with 2002 ML320, 47K showing. Under warranty they fixed the throttle position sensor... It was sluggish when floored and upon braking... blimp and stall. I think it was called TPS... I would start again... but then die and the rpm would drop really bad... hope this helps.

advans

yes thanks alot, the SA said the car SHOULD be ready and some things were replaced. so lets see what this ****er says. if the car is great, and no prob. then the replacement would be pushed back till after next xmas

55fanatic

question advans? Usually, almost always, MB manhattan is VERY good with there customers... is your parents imigrants? Do they have accents? Like very thick accents?

Bring him a gift... like a $50 gift certificate to some steakhouse... and then be like, you know, you do so much for me, I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work...

then next time, I bet you get everything squared away

advans

actually, I was cool with my SA, but we had an issue with that biznitch Gale Fernandez. and after that, everything went down the drain for us. well, not the sales part. Mr. James Park, we are very good friends with him, he helped me out with the situation of being able to bring the car in for checkup while I had no appointment. we bought a few cars from this guy. I also have no problem with my coupe SA Andre, but hes not there also.

SO...I got the W163 back today. and this is what was done.

Vehicle Performed to M-B Specifications. Road Test performed, adjusted and tightened PINS on MAF Connection.

Check Engine Light, Star Diagnose Codes P199 P0211 PO121 reset adaptation, tighted PINS on MAF Connection. Drove Overnight, found no problem. No Hesitation.

Completed 27 point car inspection. Need to replace front& rear brakes/rotors and brake flush. Customer Declined. (like I said above, we recently replaced it) No other problems found.

FUNNY THING yeap, "27 point" car inspection? my 3rd brake light was out, I asked them to replace it, they didnt. the fog light was out, asked them to replace it, they didnt. all my tire pressure was messed up. front driver was 29, pass was 33/34, rear was 36/38psi. wth!

auto art

I herd that you can ask to have a onboard computer installed into the car. It plugs into the ecu port and moniters everything while you drive then when the car dies,or whatever.it stores the info at that moment so the dealer can fix it.

advans

really!? lol dam...but we agreed to sell it right after the warranty ends this summer

coykiam

wow ouch...just reading the subject of your thread reminds me of how my dad is ever since we got our ML. I tooI just lost my trust in this car...Just last month (i think dec), the truck went in for a couple of BS stuff and $2300 later I still feel it wasnt worth it. Now my dad has noticed a leak under the car, I think its the power steering pump. I checked it out myself and couldnt see any leak from any hoses, the hoses/clamp recall was done a couple years ago. Ive read some post here that to get the power steering pump replaced ranges from $800-$1000 from the stealership...grr. It really pisses me off after just spending $2300 on the car 2 months ago.

advans

yeah, I agree, my sales manager/dad's friend, told me that theres seriously no difference selling it NOW, or when the warranty ends in June. but BUYING a CLS550 is a problem. right now, he cant offer any discounts, and not alot of CLS550s have arrived/arriving. so he said to wait till about end of April/May, and reserve one. and he'll see if theres any "summer" sales thats avalible. but again, CLS or CLK, it depends on the money we have then! lol maybe we so broke we have to get another C, which would suck.

55fanatic

the power steering pump leak is an ongoing problem... even if you got the recall it still has a chance to leak... its a bad design, not by MB but the power steering fluid resevoir manufacturer, I knew the name once upon a time but it slips me at the moment. Another manufacturer has used it and suffered similar experience

Anyways, Advans... I would call and talk to you dads sales friend... the one person who can convince an SA to do there work better, is a sales manager. If sales thinks for any reason that there service dept might cause them to lose a future sale because of pour service then you better believe they will turn around for you... also do you have a mileage date on when you actually changed your pads? I would tell them to replace them on there dime if they are wearing out and you had them replace them only 500 miles ago... you should not have to worry about that, and if you tell them it sounds to me like you are just trying to sell me service... be up front with them, dont ***** them out, just tell em they are wrong, many owners just go in kinda clue less, when you go in and talk to them about stuff then they listen
and realize they cant pull a fast one on you. My SA tried something like that, I reamed him a new one, because I knew what I was talking about... and in the end, he knew he would not be able to get away with it. So far he has been pretty good to me...

AndrewAZ

It wasnt bosch that made it was it?


But in the two ML's I had both 320s the power steering went out. In the 2000 ML it went out twice. Once before the recall and once after. In the 2002 it broke then I want to say 8 months later it developed a small leak.. (but that occurred after some off roading when I blew out a tire on a rock so maybe the tree I ran over for fun ended up getting back at me with a $175 repair bill.. But at the time I can assure you it was funny)

My brother 02 ML also had his power steering go out but that was before he got the recall work done... I think he sold his ML this week.. So that means no more ML's in the family.

advans

my old SA "frank worell" is a really nice SA, my dad's friend talked to him, I never had a problem with frank, he'll try to have everything fixed, under warranty. but this new SA, i am not familiar with.

btw, I drove the ML out this afternoon. seems to be fine. but we'll have to see. its always "fine" but a month/two months later something happens again!

I wonder if anyone can figure out what the "error" codes really mean!?

55fanatic

Sure can, anyone have a benz error code book?

P199 P0211 PO121

55fanatic

Some googling found these generic codes...

P0121 Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/Switch A Circuit Range/Performance Problem
P0199 Engine Oil Temperature Sensor Intermittent

P0211 Injector Circuit Malfunction
That last one Im not too certain about because it deals with cylinder 11 and our MLs are only 8 at best...(unless you have the brabus 12 in your ML and you neglected to mention that)


If the CEL trips again, go to an autozone, they will read you the codes for free, and tell you what they mean, this all should be covered under warranty especially since your still under 50k

advans

hmm. the P0121, throttle pedal position. interesting... but they only "tightened" the pins on the MAF!

P0211, thats hott. maybe it has a problem with cylinder 11. the problem is. i never have had one! shoot. only if I had a ML600.


*EDIT* oh shoot. it was P0221, not 211

55fanatic

P0221 Throttle/Petal Position Sensor/Switch B Circuit Range/Performance Problem

I think you need to have a chat with your SA?

Ask him why the throttle position sensor codes arent being dealt with?

for those of you who have had this done, expensive service?

and you cant tighten the pins on the MAF, you can disconnect and reconnect... in essence re-seat the plug

advans

thats what I thought? I thought the pins on the MAF were held in with tension? so theres really "no tightening" its just remove, and reconnect.

i'm gonna give the SA a call monday morning. and ask him a few questions here and there.

55fanatic

just ask him what was done about the error codes

advans

yeap, thanks, im gonna do that. lets see what this guy says.