W163 reliability
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Joined: Nov 2007
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1988 420 SEL, 1995 C280
W163 reliability
I've been a member for awhile but never posted so bear with me. I've been thinking about getting a ML320 recently and found 2 in my area that I liked a 98 and a 99. The 98 has 128K and the 99 has 105k. I currently drive a 1995 C280, had it for about 5 years. It has around 114K on it. No problems other than I have a A/C leak, have to put a can in every year or so. Routine maint, and its been a great car. I also have owned a 74 240D and a 88 420SEL. 240D had 242,000 on it when I got it, engine went at 280,000, loss of compression. Never had to touch it other than oil. The 88 420SEL was a different story, relays, window motors, switches and the HVAC controller. The 88 420SEL lost a tranny at 252,000 and I let it go. Overall I was very happy with it though. I guess thats enough background. What I'm wondering is are the W163's really that unreliable? I hear some say they are terrible and hard to keep running. Although I read online posts of people that already have over 200K, and really not very many problems. Is it just luck of the draw? Thanks
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 314
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From: In the shadow of D.C. (No.Va.)
'05 E320CDI, 1987 300E, Vanagon Syncro, Turbo Arrow III
Be careful of pre-refresh models
We have a 1999 ML430 (163.172). Pretty much everything for which there was eventually a recall seems to have occurred. Around those model years you have to watch out for a "harmonic balancer" (read counterweighted pulley) that will fail and shred the poly-V belt as well as bad catalytic converters.
It would be well worth your while to drop the $18 for a day on the startekinfo.com website and read ALL the recall bulletins and service bulletins. I'm not sure I'd buy another 98 or 99 without getting the seller to have his service advisor pull the VMI and letting me read it first.
That having been said, the thing is a trooper and does a good job with a modest horse trailer. I would just look for a slightly later model year. My understanding is that a lot of things got fixed in the early 2000's.
It would be well worth your while to drop the $18 for a day on the startekinfo.com website and read ALL the recall bulletins and service bulletins. I'm not sure I'd buy another 98 or 99 without getting the seller to have his service advisor pull the VMI and letting me read it first.
That having been said, the thing is a trooper and does a good job with a modest horse trailer. I would just look for a slightly later model year. My understanding is that a lot of things got fixed in the early 2000's.
