gsrjc

Anyone experience needing to put oil into their high mileage 80k 2006 ML350? Recently, I have noticed that the ML350 needs a quart of oil every 2-3k miles. The car is driven in stop and go traffic daily and averages 80 miles a day.

Vernl

Could be some varnish on the piston rings from so much low speed stop and start driving. My last MLwhich was a gas engine and I passed along to my sister when I bought my new one...now has 160000 miles on it and still doesn't use enough oil between changes to warrant adding any.This type of driving will also be hard on your tranny fluid so you may want to consider shortening the service interval on that as well.

gsrjc

Okay. Thanks for the info.

eaadams

My father's 06 R500 burns through enough oil to need an extra quart between oil changes.

Service Dept in Marin says this is normal.

We have worried about an ever present engine whine when cold that they say is an oil pump when cold.

Baloo588

Our 2006 ML350 has 75k miles on it and it does not burn oil that fast. We do oil change every 7,500 miles or so. Car does 90 miles of driving a day during the weekdays.

sosh

In any of the 7 MB's that I have had since 1998 I have never had to add a drop of oil between changes at the suggested interval. The last Benz that I had that used oil was my 1974 450SL and that was repaired by the dealer at 75000 miles and it was an easy fix, valve seals.

eaadams

uh oh

Do we have a problem with our R500 then? Dealer says no.

gsrjc

I found out that a couple of the valve seals were leaking and also the oil cap was leaking slightly but i didn't think that would make that much oil loss.

sosh

How could you find valve seals leaking?? Perhaps you mean vave cover gasket leaking??

gsrjc

Sorry, I didn't find it. Mercedes service found the problem when I brought the car in.

sosh

Leaking valve seals can cause the amount of oil burning that you are experiencing. Are they taking care of this??

gsrjc

Yes, they took care of everything. They've also started an oil tracking so I have to bring the car in whenever the check oil light shows up so they can determine how much oil it is burning compared to the number of miles that are driven on the car.

eaadams

Head-gaskets are being replaced now under warranty. Thanks for helping me point them in the right direction!

gsrjc

Just saw this today that a small string portion of the timing belt was ripped away from the motor.... i'll be taking the car back to service. i'm unsure if something that they did caused this. basically about an 1/8 inch width of the timing belt came apart... i wonder if i am able to put this on service considering i just had the car in for stuff.

sosh

What car were you looking at?? The ML and I believe all MB's have no timing belt!! They use a chain. Even if it did have a belt it would not be visable without taking stuff apart. You must be looking at the Serp Belt which is on the front of the engine and drives things like the A/C, PS, water pump and Alt. Big difference. This belt is also a consumable and very easy to replace.

gsrjc

You are correct, I thought it was the timing belt. It was the V belt.... MB service is taking care of it internally. Apparently, something they did when they worked on the PS pump caused the problem.

sosh

Actually you are incorrect again. There is no "V" belt in the ML. The belt you see on the front of the engine is a serpentine belt. Its actually flat with no "V" shape. On older vehicles there were "V" belts that were referred to as fan belts but they did much more than power the fan. And, there usually were several of them.

gsrjc

That's what MB service wrote on the paperwork so just going by what they wrote. I figure they know what they are talking about. Either way though, MB changed the belt because the shredding was caused by incorrect placement of the belt after they had to change the power steering pump.

am_beagle

What kind of mechs !