redvettx2

Those of you ML 350 owner or potential buyers need to know MB has a major problem. 10 to 15% of the new v6 motors are oil burners. Mine burns over a quart every 500 miles!!!! I never had a used car burn this much yet a new car. MB keeps pumping this cars out and still does not know why. How would you like a new car with a replacement motor. I sure don't!!!!! they might just put another oil burning motor in. In the mean time you get to drive POS rental car. Ya i am very PO'd right now. I burned 4.5 quarts of oil in 2100 miles. Becareful MB are not the cars they use to be. Thank you chrysler!!!!!

Paul Le Corre

Thank you for the input.

How did you realize that it was burning oil like this?

Nevada Jack

Where did you get the statistic of "10-15%" from? What has your dealer done to deal with the problem? Have you contacted MBUSA (if in the States)? Having a 05 SLK 350, why are you posting this on the ML board? Are you posting this same information on all car forums that include the V6 350 as a engine option?

The problem has nothing to do with Chrysler.

ML God

Dont listen to this guy....10-15%???? Yea right try more like 1% He is you typical sue happy assfat. It is a new design engine....they need to still work out the bugs. see his original post
https://mbworld.org/forums/m-class-w163/109192-any-ml350-oil-burners-out-there.html

Curious George

Don't blame Chrysler for this alleged problem. My pre-Daimler Dodge pickup was a much better machine than my Daimler-Dodge in terms of quality.

redvettx2

10% to 15% of skl 350 owner on survey on this site! MB does not know what the problem is and continues to ship-business as ussual. I talk to a guy just back from MB training and they know they have a problem but no idea of what it is. They want to replace the motors. You know when you check engine oil light comes on 3 times in 2100 miles. Just keep and eye on your cars. We all have the same motor. i just want MB to make it right but I do not want a repalcement engine in a brand new car. Can you say plummeting resale values. i just want a replacement. I love the car.

ML God

Sorry it dosent work that way!!! 10-15% of people on this site??? ohh yea thats reliable....

vraa

redvettx2, you're pretty much violated half the laws of statistics by just using people on this site. What kinda proportion do you think that sample represents compared to the population?

A very skewed one.

ml350

redvettx2,

can you please show use info on where you got that statistic,

can you back up your info that you posted,

there is not way a brand new engine can burn that much oil,

even my current car i have now does not burn that much oil,

ML God

He cant.....he was just blowing smoke up our ***....

ml350

we have the 05 ml350 and it has 4k miles on the car and haven't seen any oil burned,

Shine_1023

I run 2600 miles, everything is just PERFECT !

redvettx2

I am glad for those of you with no issues. I wish i could say the same. I get home from traveling last night and check the oil level and it is over the top of the stick and actually on the cable. They over filled it which a knew they did from 3000 miles away. I had checked it on Sunday and it was down about 3/4 of quart from past experiences. The light came on on the way to the dealer. I knew adding 3.5 quarts was not right. It is burning about a quart every 1000 miles not every 400 or it would look like a 2 stroke. I started a case with MB today. They said they car should have been drained and the oil premeasured and then added to the car and verified. Then returned in 600 miles and then drained and remeasured. Sounds like the right procedure to me. Instead my dealer poured in 3.5 quarts overfilling the car. If you don't know how much oil is in the car to start how do you know what it consumed.
MB is either going to said a tech to my house to verify the engine level or have me take it to another dealer who is closer to my home to verify and possibly drain and refill. Not what I wanted to do. Going to be 85 today and the water is calling my name but i will do what has to be done. Also a person just back from training with MB said this was a major topic and MB does not know why some of the motors are burning oil and other are fine. It is not a batch issues from what they know. All I am saying is keep and eye out if you have this motor. If your's is good I am happy for you. I wish mine was. We love the car but I have no confidence with my dealer doing an engine swap when they can not even fill the oil or do a consumption check properly. There has been oil consumption polls on several sights and I am quoting the results I have seen. I do not know the offical number and it sounds like MB sure is not going to tell the public how big the problem really is. They are obviously concerned and searching for the problem. They have already bought cars back and swapped engines which were sent back to Germany for evaluation.
If this is a big problem resale values could be hurt big time. If a car gets label as a problem child we all know what happens. As far as the rude and ignorant replys posted here you sure sound like an MB dealer or tech who has a personnel interest in selling these and keeping things quite. This is suppose to be for the exchange of information and to help other members. That all I am trying to do. Not bash MB but to find the solution and fix my wifes car.
Period!!!

Nevada Jack

If you had posted this type of entry the first time, you would not have received negative comments in the first place. This is a good explanation of the problem you are having and we all hope you get to the bottom of it. But quoting questionable statistics and ranting will not generally receive high marks on any of these forums.

Please keep us informed since many models are employing this engine, including the ML and R Class.

sosh

I presently own 2 MB's and in the past 7 years have owned 5. I also have a W164 on order. I have NEVER EVER had to add even 1 qt to any of these vehicles. The engine this guy is talking about is a new engine. From what I understand there are about .4 percent of these engines that have been produced that do in fact burn more oil than the specs call for. I believe that perhaps this guy has one that does but from the tone of his post I believe he is an alarmist and perhaps has a heavy foot. My dealer tells me that they have not seen even one that has any oil consumption and they are a high volume dealer.

redvettx2

Sosh, My wifes drives the car 95% of the time so heavy foot is not the issue.
I have been with her in the car all except to 2 times so spirited drive time in this car is limited to say the least. Besides is this not suppose to be a sports car! People get so defense regarding the brand of car they own. Its just a chunk of iron, relax. I have owned dozens of new cars and this is the first one that has had so many problems so early in its life. Tranny and engine!!
When talking MB the first thing they asked is does it have white smoke at start up. Yes and lots of it!! Smokes more then my deisel trunk and I and not kidding. I knew that was going to be an issue early on. Its not steam from the exhaust because the exhaust isnt hot enough to produce steam on a cold start up. I select number of cars from any brand can have problems. But this is bigger then anyone wants to say. One the phone MB said it is also a worse problem on the SLK 55 V8. Thats the first I heard of that. I just want all the hassel with this car to end. I have owned many vettes, jags, muscle cars, offshore go fasts, snowmobiles, bikes, etc. I know engines and have rebuilt many. The high tech. exotic stuff I leave to the professional.You can not own enough computer equipment to do these right. Software needed alone makes it cost prohibitive. Bottom lines is there are very few of these motors out their right now. And none with any log term of heavy mile usage.
If its an issue now it is not going to get better. With more out there and as the miles built you do the math. More models and miles equal more issues. Everyone should keep an eye on there oil and cross there fingers. I hope everyone the best. I don't wish my troubles on anyone. With all the cars i have owned I guess I was due for a problem child. I sure would not have thought this car. No the dealer wants to send a tech out with a computer to verify the oil level. They said topping off the oil with the computer was good enough for the test. I was also just informed that MB will state the a 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles is acceptable. Acceptable for who and what kinda of vehicle. It was acceptable for my 1975 Blazer I used for launching the boat in Saltwater. Paid $1800 for it and I still own it. Now has a 300+ HP small block that I build and doesn't burn a drop now. Only really goes to the launch ramp and extreme four wheeling. The motor when puschased burn oil which was acceptable for $1800 and tired small block. Its not acceptable for 60K new MB. You can't go on a trip with it because of all the oil taking up the luggage space. And you are right, I am going to be very vocal until MB steps up and does something. The squeeky wheel gets the grease. I don't feel good about a replacement car or engine at this point if they do not know the issue. I heard it could be a USA problem only because of different pistons used here to handle higher temperature. You think it would be the same for AUS.
Just looking for a straight answer from someone at MB. I hate getting the run around.

ruykava

hmm, didn't you yourself say on the benzworld forum that this is NOT an issue on the 55AMG?

i'm in no doubt that you do have problems with high oil consumption on your car, but please, could you stick to the facts, man? in benzworld you said 10-15% is what YOU THINK your dealership is having problems with. now you turn around and say it's from the users polled in this forum. that's not gonna earn you high marks for reliability.

anyway, do hope you keep us updated on the issue -- and if possible keep it all to one thread? i do applaud you trying to warn everyone affected by the engine, but it gets really difficult to corroborate the responses. a link to one thread, perhaps in the tech forum, would be enough, methinks.

i've heard the Mazda RX8 currently has the highest rate of oil burning among normal cars, and so far have not heard anything from MB about their engine. Mazda is saying high oil-burn is part of their design due to the engine's rotary config. i think MB, if the problem really is there, wouldn't have such an easy excuse :p

Sparky

In Texas, there is a lemon law. Not sure what state you're in, but I assume there's some sort of legal protection. If so and the problem was found very early (approximately 1st week), you can just trade the car for another with no issue.

redvettx2

Rotary engines always burn oil and always have. We do have a Lemon law here but I hope I do not have to go that long drawn out route. I would think MB will do the right thing here. I have faith. I did not think or had not heard of any AMG 55's with issue when I originally posted. That is until I talked to MB on the phone for whats that worth. They said they had issues with that motor with wihite smoke at start up and oil consumption so who knows. Everyone you talk to has something different to say. The came out yesterday morning at 6:45AM. He did vacuum excess oil out of the motor. No way to tell how much until he empties it at the shop. Of course on the paper work he provided it was not mentioned anywhere about the oil removal or that the oil level was also over the stick when he checked it. It is now to the top of the stick where I filled it too when I had to add 1 quart. I sure do not know how they think they can do an oil consumption test when they have no idea of how much oil is in the car. Its now filled to a line that may or may not be full based on various readings from the past. I have not run the car yet since then. He only waited 5 minutes to check the oil and since is showing again above the top. The manual says wait x amount of minutes after running the engine before checking the oil. The laws of physics obviously do not apply to dealer service personnel. Here is what I think will happen. After 1000 miles they check the oil and have no idea exactly how much oil was consumed. I will then have to go through the same thing again the way the factory expained it should be done. They(MB) even called the dealer to go over the correct procedure. The guy they said was very nice and did what he could at my house. I should have taken the car in to have it drained and refilled. I am sure and early oil change couldn't hurt here. My dealer never offered to do this. Only the road side assitance guy want me to bring it to another dealer closer by me to check it out and verify. I really wanted to get my offshore boat in the water instead of wasting half a day which I did anyway. Boat batteries were both shot. Had to run in anyway and get 2 new marine batteries and fill the boat up at costco. Only $180 US to fill up with Premium. I got off easy. Secondly I did not want to get a second dealer involved yet. If I was the original dealer I would not have liked to have someone else yet alone a compeating dealer to be second guessing there work. I will give them the opportunity to get this taken care of.

PS. When I fired the car for him he did see the white smoke at start up. I was not a big cloud like it gets after setting a week, but smoke none the less.
That was not noted either on the paper work. But atleast have something unlike my wifes last trip were she received nothing. For now its 1000 miles or the light comes on which will probably what happens based on past experiences. Taking a pool. Im down for 10 bucks and 766 miles.

ml350

Hi,

isn't the ml a sohc engine,

if the ml has a sohc engine then there not problem,

just only the rotary engine will have problems,

the rotary engine is a different engine from the sohc,

didn't the earlier ml have sohc or inline start six

sosh

I have purchased and owned over 70 new cars in my lifetime. Also many boats and lots and lots of aircraft. The cars included many high performance and exotics and include 2 Ferrari's, AC Cobra, numerous Vettes, on and on. I was not saying you do not have a problem what I was saying is that I was giving the most common cause for this. Now, from what you say with white smoke on start up it could very well be valve seals as these allow oil to get ito the cylinders when shut down from the top of the engine. Compression will show normal and the cylinders will not show any scoring but you still burn oil. One common cause for valve seal problems is overheating which deteriates the seals. I had this with my first new Benz, a 450SL in 1974. As far as MB allowing 1 Qt per 1000 miles This would not be acceptable to me.

JIMIHEMMY

Yes, there is an oil burning issue with the 'new' 350 engine and it is not just in the ML. NO, MB does not have a cause yet. My dealer has a customer with your exact same problem down to the mileage.....

10-15%? I don't think it is that high.......

mbbodytech

One thing that I just found out is that it seems that some of the 272 engines are coming from Germany about a quart low......the dealers don't usually check oil level during a PDI, so maybe the problem seems to be worse than it really is.

Every enging that is replaced is being shipped right back to Germany for the engineers to look at closely, and I'm sure they will get to the bottom of this soon.

Sparky

Does anyone know if this problem is specific to the ML350 or does it also apply to the ML500?

sosh

From what I understand it is only with the new engine as used in the ML350. Even then it is not a widespread problem and my take is perhaps this guy does in fact have the problem but he is obviously an alarmest and is attempting to incite the MB ML350 population here.