I'm in Canada, looking at a 2008 ML320 CDI. The truck was originally a US sold car, as such the speedometer is in miles, not kilometers. The car has high mileage, 198,000 on the clock. I'm buying it for a second car to drive in the winter mostly. Has a few obvious problems, liftgate won't lift (but it unlocks/unlocks and attempts to lift), the A/C isn't as cold as it should be and there is a serious leak at the transfer case. Stuff I can fix myself, I have access to a hoist etc.

The vehicle is being sold as-is at a local dealer. The dealer advises that the mileage was corrected by a Mercedes dealer to record the mileage in kilometers, not miles. 198,000 miles is over 310,000 kilometers so it makes a huge difference,

Is this possible? I'm not familiar with scrolling through the menu options but it seems odd that a car that a car only marked with MPH would be able to record the mileage in Kilometers.

The truck is nice, but I'm not interested if the mileage is over 300k.

Anyone know for sure if the dealer can make this correction?

Thanks. Dave

 

Just answered my own question, downloaded a pdf of the owners manual and it does appear you can select miles or kilos for the odometer. Odd that the speedo doesn't have kph noted on the dial though.

I'll take any advice on pre-purchase issues I should look for. The car is clean, a snowbird owned it and it appears to have not weathered any Cdn winters. Only other diesel I owned was a Jetta way back in the 80's I'm aware of the black death (didn't see any sign of it) plus oil cooler leaks. The transfer case is really messy, looks like its been leaking for a long time, no noises heard so hopefully the oil level was kept up despite the leak....There may be a leak from the rack too, I need to get a closer look. Trans and rear diff appear to not have any leaking at all. New rotors and pads all around.

 

I would ask the dealer selling it to tell you which dealer "corrected" the mileage. In my mind, correcting mileage is not the same as converting kilometers from miles. Once you have the dealer's name, call them and ask if they have done this, and perhaps ask what exactly they have done and why.

The transfer case leak could be bad news. Find out where the car was sold initially and which MB dealer(s) serviced it. MB USA should be able to answer that with the VIN. They will know which dealers performed warranty work. If a snowbird owned it, chances are they took the car to the same dealers after warranty expired, too. I would call those dealers and ask about service records, which they will likely not be willing to release to you for privacy reasons to protect the previous owner, but if you ask for specific service information like transfer case, they might be willing to tell you how many times that was done at their location and date/mileage of the vehicle at the time of that service.

Also, you might have better luck with the Service Manager in getting service information, and not the advisors. I would recommend a PPI from an MB dealer or reputable MB indy shop.