jwscfa

Today my college age daughter's 2008 ML 320 (purchased 03/2008) completely shut down on her while driving. The car completely shut down, all power systems went dead along with all instrumentation. She was barely able to stop the car as there were no power brakes and no power steering. She was driving home from the summer camp where she works and was in the mountains when this occurred and was barely able to get the car safely off the road without hitting a tree.

Aside from this dangerous situation this is the 2nd ML she has had. The first (2007) had to be replaced by the dealer as it had recurring transmission problems in the "vaunted" 7 speed transmission including valve body replacement that did not cure the problems that the car had which included stalling at stoplights and lack of acceleration.

The car is being towed to a dealer but with the many problems we experienced with the 2007 the dealer computer showed no faults until there was a complete transmission failure. I am afraid that whatever problem this is will also show "no fault codes" but my daughter is scared to drive the car period which I cannot blame her given her experience. There seem to be major mechanical and electrical issues in the 2007/2008 ML 320 that people need to be aware of as it could result in serious injury.

red00lght

That exact scenario happened to me in my 2000 Cadillac DTS. Scared the heck out of me as the car had total systems failure in the middle of a turn and I almost wrecked. It was very intermittent and they couldn't figure it out. I ended up selling the car.

Funny thing was I just mentioned this to someone the other day and they said it happened to them too and it was linked to a ECU problem.

LAREDOTEXAS

I have been told from a friend who works at the dealer.. that this trucks have battery problems.. it might be related. He works for the road side assistance afterhours.. and 90% of the calls on this Ml's are death batteries..

Flubadub

I certainly agree that this was a dangerous occurrance, but can't agree that it paints ML320's as having major problems. This can happen with any of today's computer laden cars.

cschmelz

Yeah, the story told smacks of stories you hear when some business is being sued for a million dollars. Cars fail, parts die, tires delaminate. It is the way things go. Mentally you should be prepared for emergencies. This is how I fly my airplane (assume the engine will die at any point and have a plan)

jwscfa

I would agree that this would not necessarily be indicative of a design and/or defect if it had not happened on two consecutive cars with very similar issues.

Flubadub

From your own description the issues with the two cars don't seem to be similar at all.

Vernl

sounds like a case of crank posistion sensor. it leaves no fault codes. Sorry to hear about your daughter. i have one about the same age

cschmelz

Similar? Engine dies vs jerky transmission?

Care to tell us the common link cause I don't see it

Ausmbtech

The crank angle sensor is the likely culpret. There is a recall coming very soon for this item, they are still stocking up on parts before announcement.

As for common transmission faults, there is nothing other than shift comfort issues (which have been mostly worked out) with the new transmissions. I've only heard of one complete failure on a 7 speed and that was totally owner induced.

DUTCH

The recall was sent out already a few months ago in the US. It was discussed here at the time.

With respect to the transmission, there is another software fix in the works. They hope to have it available by mid-summer.

jwscfa

The car does have Teleaid and it did work even in a remote area. The car has been towed to the nearest dealer who states that there are no fault codes and that it runs just fine. Her 2007 would cut off at random times and restart showing no fault codes at the dealership. This is the same trouble pattern that her 2007 car took before complete failure of the transmission occurred and the transmission valve body was replaced which did not cure the problem of the car cutting off. My home dealership is getting the car back home at it's expense and we are negotiating to replace the car with anything other than an ML 320. My daughter is not strong enough to steer the car or stop it when all power is lost and this incident took place at highway speed. She did have a friend with her who can verify her experience.

I understand this might be an isolated incident to some and is puzzling to me as I own a GL 320 and have had no problems but she is scared to drive any MB at this point and I cannot blame her.

Flubadub

It is VERY strange that this would occur with 2 consecutive vehicles and no codes would show. I am not "blaming" the driver, but that is one thing that is common to the two. Does she have a bundle of keys or other things attached to the ring the ignition key is on?? If so, it could be as simple as an ignition switch problem due to the stress. Unless the switch totally fails, the system just sees the switch turn off and so no codes.

jwscfa

This is one of the things I checked first. I have more keys on my GL320 keys than she does. I also questioned her driving position as she sits close to the wheel but the shutoff occurred with other drivers as well. I tried to dislodge the key from my GL320 and at least on my car you would have to almost break the key off from the switch to dislodge the key from the ignition. She has had two days of driver training at the BMW Performance Driving school and that training has probably made her more aware of anything she might do that would have caused the problem.

Flubadub

Welcome to the twilight zone!

sosh

Interesting problem. I had this happen with my 06 ML500 and I diagnosed and corrected the problem witout a dealer being involved. I was driving right after my wife had used the ML and the seat position was quite forward. What had happened was that my right knee had brushed up against the key (which has a heavy fob attached and slightly turned it shutting down the engine. I was wearing very heavy clothing as it was winter and did not even feel the key hit my knee. When it occurred I pulled over and looked at the key and my knee position and saw what had happened. Needless to say it has never reoccurred as I now put the seat back in my driving position right away after she uses the ML on the rare occeaaions that she does. Perhaps you should have a look at your daughter's seating position relative to the key position.

tbenz

like what was already said sounds like a crankposition sensor,or a fuel computer,
usually if it is a sensor you wait about long enough for the tow truck to get there and it will start back up.
My daughter is in college in another state and she has a 08ML350 and I still wouldn't want her in anything else.when she has had any problems the people at the dealer have taken very good care of her, she once locked her keys in the house and the house keys in the ML I had her call Tele Aid and they unlocked her car remotely in just a few minutes.Once her p/s fluid was low and road side came out to her house and topped it off for no charge.
So have faith and the dealer will take good care of her, call the dealer and let them know your concern about your daughter's safety and ask them to take good care of her

MB Dave

all electronics wouldent fail though, sounds like she has bad luck with mercedes and just wanted to vent thats ok but dont let that make you buy a diffrent car

MB Dave

stop saying its the crank position sensor, it that was dead it wouldent crank and the engine would go into limp mode and guess where the strokes they are sort of pre written. a way to check the crank position sensor is to plug in a scan tool and look at live data and crank if you see revs the crank position is reading it and it is working

DUTCH

Have you had the Crankshaft Position Sensor Recall work done?

DUTCH

Get them to replace the CPS, if it hasn't already been done with one of the new updated parts. That just might fix your problem.

I have 40,000 miles on my 2007 ML320CDI; and other than a couple of AirMatic compressor replacements, no engine failures of any kind.