Howdy Ya'll
I used to listen to Janice Joplin /Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz. Be careful of what you wish for. Recently a good family friend lost her mother to old age.As she looked over her mom's Benz, she decided there was way too much stuff to thrown money at, so she gave it to me. I had done a fair amout of work around her home so my reward was a pricey-money pit. All jokes aside, The vehicle is a 2000 ML 320 Polar White with Orion interior and 177+ on the clock. I also have a 95 Ford F150 4x4 with 224+ so my guess is if I take care of this SUV maybe it will last long enough to carry me to my resting place?
I was on line looking for some parts and ran across.a Merceded parts place, MB parts center. I have a 10 item cart and have sent a question to confirm a color. No response yet 3 days later. My question is where do ya'll shop, on line? I know there are some things on ebay but a more limited selection. If anyone has a quality parts shop I'd be more than happy to lookem over.
Thanks Much

 

FCP Euro, Pelican Parts, https://mbparts.mbusa.com

Try to use genuine Mercedes Benz or OEM parts for repairs when you can.

Unfortunately, your ML320 is a much lower volume vehicle than your F-150, so some parts are getting harder to find. Salvage yards specializing in Mercedes Benz are the only source for some discontinued parts. Many can be found online.

Follow the owners manual recommendations for fluids because they are usually different than those for domestic cars and trucks.

You have what may be the last body-on-frame vehicle that Mercedes produced. It is a truly rugged off road capable vehicle.

Go to https://www.mbusa.com/en/admin/account and register as the owner.

 

Thanks for the input, that's about where I was landing, as to parts. In a way I might have got lucky, just a bit. The work I did for our friend over time was just something I was able to do. Her mom had bought the 320 new. She was a school teacher and then only the second female school Principal in the state we live in. The old car salesman couldn't have gotten any closer when he said { Owned by a little old lady from Pasadena and only driven to church on Sunday's} I've only had the SUV a very short time at the house before we had to leave for about a month now. I just got a closer look and have been reading up a bit on the Benz. I watch a bunch of videos too. I'm not a mechanic by trade but did and still do turn wrenches so I pick up pretty quick and also know where and how much I can push my limits.
Being new to this, actually USA made Euro car I will follow spec. on all the fluids. Right now I dumped in almost 9qts of STP oil and and new filter, it will only be in a short while only at idle speed before I flush it and then all fluids will get spec. I have learned that much.about these vehicals.
I did go with Valovline 20w-50 VR1 in the oil slot on the Harley but thats because I rebuilt the cam chest and went with the upgrade my self. This Benz is a different kind of Beast. I realized that first time I slid under it to see what I had wound up with.
My guess, a few small mostly cosmetic items, a trans. filter "kit" with dip stick. fluids and the biggie will be the tires. They still have fairly good tread but mgf dates vary and are way past due for new rubber at least 10 years old on avg. Also found the A/C condenser coil leaking oil and 134a a small leak but never the less. At least fall is closing in and I'll have time to do that before it gets hot again. Yes I do A/C work as well. that was a big part of my 30 years wrenchin..
Oh yeah, one last little itty bitty thingy. I got the ride just a few days before we left NC for Ca. but will be back 0n the 28th. Mean while, with all the things one must attend to at the loss of a parent we find that, she can't find the title. That won't be a huge hassle but has slowed things up a bit and the flip side has made me slow down and take my time in getting this rig road ready. I will go register it as you said.
Thanks for the help
Dennis

 

The ML is a different kind of beast even for Mercedes. Design-wise it’s in the transition from the old completely mechanical Benzes, to the new heavily electronic ones. And it’s loaded with things seldom seen anywhere else - torsion bar suspension, dual range transfer case, 3 valves & 2 spark plugs per cylinder, and hypereutectic cylinder liners. As far as the engine goes, it’s a forever engine if maintained. There are many examples of 300k+ miles on this forum and documented instances of 1 million miles without a rebuild. The transmission likes 60k mile fluid changes. Pay attention to the transfer case, front drive axles, and all the CV joint boots.

If you want details of the standard and optional features of your ML, go to https://www.lastvin.com and put in your VIN. If you want to get the lists of approved oils and lubricants the BeVo https://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/index.php?language_id=1 is the official reference. Even the power steering uses special hydraulic fluid.

If you have the 275/55 R 17 tires be sure to rotate every 5-6000 miles because the front suspension geometry is hard on the wider tires.

And it’s good you do auto A/C because that was not a strong point of the W163 MLs.

 

Wow, all this info might just save me ****. I didn't have time last night to get deep in to those links you sent. We are staying with some nice folks in San Jose and My Sweetheart is doing her performances in Brekeley so that makes for a long day with all the driving. I did get in to the bevo site and it was in all German, it took me a bit to find the language button, by then I thought it best to find a better time to study these sites when I wasn't so tired and had the time.
I was looking about on line and saw the torsion bar bearing bushing inspection video. At some point just before we left NC I got out the trusty ole micrometer out and found passanger side was 36mm and driver side was 31mm. I'll need to check the fender height on each side to see far off everything is. I'm fairly close with a family business not too far away. One shop sell tires and the other shop next door does alignment. I can change out those bushings and set to a little higher around 38 or so near the top of the recommended.
I also seem to have a leak that is originating in the sunroof espically the passanger side. I've tried a couple things but didn't have time to really dig in to it. My bag of tricks has not been exhausted just yet. One alternative I saw was to remove the front fender to get at the drain pipe that makes 2 90 degree turns going through the inner fender not axcessable with the fender on. OH what fun this will be.
She did live in a nice house but in the middle of the what looks like the Black Forest ! My guess is that drain line is full of decaying leaves, small sticks and has set up like concrete. I used compressed air and a garden hose but all that was just not enough to completely clear the line. I've got some heavy banjo strings and now a heavier cable from a lawn mower repair that was the cable off the front transmission engauge lever. I have not resorted to drain-o just yet,,ha The leak seem to be more recent, the carpet and backing was saturated but not floating. I put the wet vac to it for an hr. pulled the strip and raised the carpet then set the floor fan proped in a chair right at the door. Unfortunately that is when I found the A/C was was not functioning at optimum levels. After drying all that up I didn't see or smell any mildew on anything so that tells me the leak had just started.
Good lord,, I must look like an old dog going round and round chasin his tail.
I guess I'd better get off here and get ready to head out. As they say," The show must go on"

 

Harleys? North Carolina? You’re not my little brother, are you? (Just kidding)
Sorry about the Deutsch version of the BeVo.
A plugged A/C drain hose can wet the front passenger carpet, so check that, too. If the car has been kept in “the Black Forest,” leaves and debris can accumulate in front of the passenger compartment air filter to the point of clogging it. It’s above the front passenger footwell. Replace that to give proper airflow to the HVAC unit. Ours was a 2005 ML350. They were all basically the same from 1998-2005. But we traded ours in at 186k+ miles in 2014.

 

Maybe brothers from different mothers. My Sweetie gots one more show/workshop around noonish tomorrow. Then plays banjo with the folks we are staying with for the square dance portion of this marathon event. I gettin the itch to get back to the house and start fumbling around with this rig.
The A/C was low on charge and low side line cool but not sweating, at least on the line outside after leaving the evap coil. I did change out the cabin filter, there was some debris but no rat nests with layers of acorn nibbles like I have seen. before. I will go over those two items again just to reassure myself.
Do you know if they make a replacement gasket that actually seats around the sunroof glass edge all the way around? With the carpet dried, the sunroof closed we had got a moderate rain, short lived but I found the carpet damp again, not like before, so I'm wondering if after 23 years the seal around the roof glass ain't sealing as well as it did some years back?
We get home late night on the 27th so the detective work will surely begin soon there after

 

The sunroof weather seal is listed as discontinued. You could call a local dealer to verify that. Sometimes the same sunroof is used in multiple cars and the part is available under a different number.

The alternative is to look online at weather seal rubbers with the same cross section and make one. Clean it up with 91% IPA and attach it with 3M weather strip adhesive. I did that on a mid 70s domestic.

A glass shop could probably do it, too. But DIY would be much cheaper.

 

Good idea, but I was gonna use some homeshine to clean, usually a bottle of 1st run will remove all but the paint and sometimes does that too.

 

Good evening. We got back late 27th then the jet lag and whirlwind trip set in. I have a month's worth of work to catch up on. I did get to squeek in a little Benz time. Before we left town I cleaned the roof and glass, dried them, then used tape to enclose the entire sun roof. Upon return the tape was still intact and I still found the passanger floor board wet, mostly at the rt. side from where the fire wall meets the floor board, back to the front of the seat area. Top was damp and when I pushed down just a bit the water suqished up 1/2 way up my fingers.
If there are any other possible openings to check, feel free to send them my way. I had recently bought a 20mil. 20x20 tarp to firm up the existing cover we use to cover the wood for the heating stove. I have another location that has some medium trees that I can lash that tarp to at an angle so the water will run off and not fill up or thrash the SUV. That will also keep 80% of the sun off.
I did order a weather seal 10' I will eventually get to that but what worries me is, with the glass sealed to the roof and not much rain in NC I'm gonna need to get my Hat and Pipe and turn into Sherlock Holmes,,,, Let the investigations begin.

 

The only thing I can think of are the cowl drains on the outer corners of the windshield. Maybe they’re plugged and overflowing into the HVAC ducts. ???
We’ve never had a leak in any of our Benzes over the last 2 decades. But we put so many miles on our cars, they never get very old.

 

Hummmm. you may have hit the nail on the head, unlike me who usually hits the protuding thumb. I thought back a bit and 1-1&1/2 years back our friend was driving the SUV for a while after her mom passed 10/31/ 21. She needed to be able to get to church and it had been real rainy with more on the way. The windshield wipers had quit and she was the head music director. It was a quickie job for me to get parts and get done. She lives about 35 miles away and it was a Saturday.
I got the motor, tore it all down and got it working, seemingly with out any foul-ups. So that may be the best place to for me to look. Her mom never had an issue with this, but she also kept it under a nice car port, but after she passed and the Benz got moved down to " The Black Forest" Ha. must have been the start of the clogging of something.
It sounds like I say this in jest but seriously 2 million dollar house with tons of trees all over the back and sides of her property. Leaves get in to places I woundn't have dreamed to look for and that time of year is upon us again right now in NC.
I'll start there first thing.
Today I got in one of my {Ey-God I'm gonna get something done today if it kills me} moods. Had noticed the upper rt. corner of the condenser coil had that ole famillar dust stuck to oil look and the A/C not worked much if at all when I got the rig. So I pulled the cross member where the hood latch is and got a clear shot of the whole area instead of trying to figure things out with 1 eyeball staring in upside down. Went ahead and pulled the coil, pipes, drier, all that came out. Cleaned up all the gunk and ordered a new drier. I'm gonna pressure test that coil and there is a chance that the pipes in that area had been leaking and hopefully not the coil. When the drier gets in Tues.I'm gonna put new O-rings on then all back together, add PAG oil, vacume pump down for 3 hrs then recharge that system. All that while decowling the windshield wiper cowl and looking for the next set of drains that may be plugged.
Lordie this rig is worse than a youngin crying fer a bottle every 10 minutes. Well,,, at least its small stuff for now and not the motor or trans YET.
Thanks for the heads up.
Dang this time of year with no rain to speak of and my Harley collecting dust. Think I am due some {Knees in the Breeze} time real soon. I'll let ya know who goes it in a few days.

 

After that, I’m out of ideas.
Little things can get frustrating, though. As ours approached 200k, it needed a power steering pump, a fuel pump, and a transfer case output bearing. It had also been in a couple of non-totaling accidents. It was my wife’s, she needed daily reliable transportation, and she wasn’t happy to rent a ride while the ML was in the shop. But the engine and transmission were still fine. Just keep up with recommended PM.
Let us know what the results are.

 

Hey,
I took cowl off, hosed, cleaned etc. carpet is verrrrry slightly damp and I have a tarp lashed over it up about 4 feet above the rig. It was kinda messy under the cowl and around the drains so maybe it was more that than the sunroof drains. I going to keep airing it out for moisture and when it's bone dry I'll gardenhose that cowel, moderately and if that works I'll move up to the roof the same way and see how it goes. I did get the fan clutch and replaced it, that was a joy, didn't go quite like the video showed. but never the less its done and don't sound like a Cessna about to take off now. In redoing some of the A/C system I found the Hi side pressure switch/Trinary safety switch as I've heard it called, was not working. I jumped it and found it was bad. I have a new one due in tomorrow. I thought I would just go ahead and replace the Binary/ lowside switch while I was in that deep. I am used to having the one on an accumilator near the firewall. So that ain't how Benz does things. I have looked over the vehicle and tried searches and just can't seem to find its location on the SUV. I have found the switch for sale but even if I get it, I don't know where it goes. You gots any ideas?
Thanks for all the input and help. This sho ain't no Ford F150

 

F150 it ain’t, fer sure. But hey, the oil filter is easier to change, and you’ve gotta go to F250 to get a dual range transfer case.

The AC on ours just wasn’t very reliable, but it wasn’t something that took it out of service. I don’t do AC work, so I let the local MB shop do the work when we could lay it down for a few days.

 

You are correct about those 2 issues fer sure.
I hear ya about the working on the A/C, I'm sure there will be a wall I hit one day and then It will be a big decision DAY. I checked the trade in value, around 600.00 and sell value around 800-1k. This rig is in very good overall condition and to me worth MUCH more that 1k. So for these smaller things I can do I have to cause I'm not real sure I could afford much work at the dealership. The 1 low side/pressure sensor/switch is working when I jump the Hi pressure switch. The ele. fan comes on, the compressor comes on but it seems the computer cuts it out after a couple minutes at most. Jumping is just a way to check and see what is working or to adjust freon level and add if it's too low.
The Benz is not as high up as my truck, even just stock no extra lift. I have to jack the SUV up to remove rear tires and adjust the parking brake throught the plugged hole in the rotors. Also going to replace the torshion bar bearing pads and level the front, it is higher on the drivers side, so one more small thing of notice. I guess when I get it up on ramps, 4 jack stands with hyraulic jacks on each side of the front , just in case. That will give me enough room to get a better look for that switch. I would just like to change it because refrigerant 134a does add up.and I don't want to replace 1 then have to go back in 6mos or a year or when ever and find the other.switch goes bad.
I'll quit bendin ya ear and hit the rack. I'll let ya know when I find that little bugger.
Dennis

 

I stand corrected on needing F250 to get dual range. My grandson’s new F150 FX4 has 2H, 4H, and 4L on the selector switch. And they’ve moved the oil filter to top of the engine on the EcoBoost V6. Go figure.

At 177k, things can start to go wrong. But most of it is doable unless parts availability becomes a problem. The drive train is good for 250k+.

 

Hey My Brother from another mother. I've been MIA for a while. After our return from California my Partner was not feeling well, so short story, 1 Major heart surgery later she will be OK but stilll not perkey just yet. Yesterday and today I had time and weather to tear in to the sunroof drain issue. Pulled the A pillars and fenders , removed that sad excuse for a drainage system MB used and coupled some clear poly pipe to the drain line using a 2" piece of slightly larger pipe to couple, then used Locktite 401 instant bond super,,super glue and ran it down to the very botton of the fenders through the inner fender and hole where the original came through and terminated so there is no chance to plug up at that point again. MB had used a rubber ell through the inner fender to behind the fender to drain free flow style almost 3 feet down to the bottom. The drain line terminated into the ell and the out flow of that fitting had a vaginal quality to its design which caught every rotting twig and leaf and eventually turned into an organic compost "plug" also both had come loose from the point they were "secured to" allowing water to drain straight down into the fuse box on drivers side and ele. box under passangers kick board side too.
You mentioned that you had never had this issue and my guess is you might have either a nice garage or out side parking that is not laden with decidious trees like the "Black Forest" my ML lived in.
I do have an issue you might can help with and give me some direction on. The A pillars much like the rest of the intreior roof has a very thin fabric material factory glued to but with all the water intrusion it had started to discolor some and come loose.
I'm going to re cover them before reinstall but not sure where to start looking for the material. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Thanks much.

 

!!! Glad to hear your partner is on the mend! That’s priority one in anybody’s book.

You found what a lot of owners of MBs find as they age outside. There mustn’t be any trees in the part of Germany where the engineers live — everywhere I’ve been there, all the car are parked outside. My ‘21 and ‘23 have had to live outside until I get my shop/garage back and they both have debris in the HVAC blower. Our Fords live outside in the same place and never have that problem.

That fabric on the inside of the A pillars is some kind of stretchy semi-synthetic stuff. I’ve never seen anything like it on rolls in the fabric section of the big box stores. Maybe you could ask a local re-upholstery shop. MB has loved that stuff until they recently discovered molded plastic.

 

I hear ya on that hard to find business. If one of mine wasn't stained, not sure if it was a reglue attempt or rain water filtered through rotting forest debris. As I look these over the fabric is origanlly made over a thin foam and there seems a harder surface just under the outer fabric. I went to JoAnns { large fabric and crafts chain store. I found maybe 3 bolts of similar colored material, however My OCD would run me crazy if the color was off just a wee bit. I have also considered a darker color that might be easier to get close enough that {matches}? the upper top portion of the dash that runs between the windshield back to where that changes to the Orion over the instrument panel area. I'd have to reresearch that color a darl slate or maybe anthracite? I inclosed a pic of not my SUV but something to look at. The dash pic below has the upper dash as the darker color and the A pillars in the light color like mine. I wonder what A pillar covers in this darker color would look like.It would be different?


I think I will just go ahead and gently pull that top fabric and soak it then see what happens with the discoloration. Can I reuse it will be the 64 thousand dollar question, from what I see where the fabric has pulled away I may can very lightly sand the glue residue that is lightly dusty at this point. Then I could pull out the 3M headliner glue and cover to sit until tacky then re attaach the orig. if it cleans up, find close enough to ?match? whats on the head liner or the darker slate color of the upper dash.
I haven't had any luck yet trying to discern what that color is or where it might be found. I did call an auto upholstery shop near by and they were skiddish about trying to pull the A piller covers in fear of damageing them, I said "heck, I've already pulled them. The guy said great I can "likely get the fabric close enough" and the recover would be around 125.00 so there is the 64 thousand dollar question answered. 5$ worth of material, 1$ worth of spray glue and dang it, I didn't start my own business 30 years ago, Thats not a bad wage to stick a wee bit of fabric. I reckkon I will continue clean and shop for viable coverings.
I'll send a pic of the A pillar covers and see what you think about a darker color there? . Wish me luck.