Hello everyone,

Just picked up a 99 ml430 for my fiancé on valentines day (seemed like a good idea at the time...) haha
I'm starting to wonder if it's a real AMG? I can't find much info on it.
How can I tell if it's real or just badged?
It's only got single tail pipe exhaust it's the 4.3l looks all aluiminum from heads to block and 16 sparkplugs stock 17" wheels AWD
Any input ? Thanks

-side story-
Gave my fiancé the truck as a gift the next day it stalled on her in a intersection, turned out the fuel filter was super old (old style) I had to change the filter and update the fuel lines.
Turned out it killed the fuel pump too had to replace that.
Now she's kinda scared to drive it since it did that to her (first day, nice gift eh?)
And now reading all the issues listed on this site I'm seriously consitering selling it already... Especially the power steering hose thing I read about :-( to bad it's a nice truck.
The front engine cover is leaking oil and the belt looks a bit chewed from the balancer (this weekends project) and still waiting on my special funny wrench to replace the spark plugs

 

definately an AMG, congrats. TC

 

Think the above poster made a typo. It's definitely not an AMG. Only AMG ML for this style is the ML55 with a 5.4L V8 engine.

 

Easiest way without looking under the hood - AMG's have dual exhaust pipes, 18" rims, and the hood has some ripples in it instead of being flat. It also sits lower to the ground.
So, it is definitely not an AMG. Almost all used cars need a good tune up, not many people are going to pay for a bunch of repairs when they're about to sell it. The ML's hit a certain age where they need a lot of parts replaced, and then they are trouble free for another 50k miles. I would take of the AMG tag though because anybody that knows about ML's is going to be laughing at your for trying to pose as an AMG when it looks bone stock.

 

You say its an ML430 yet you are unsure about if its an AMG?
You must not be familiar with AMG's numbering system.