RobA

So I'm the proud owner of an otherwise excellent W164 ML350 Diesel 2012 155kms great vehicle. Well maintained, properly serviced & looked after, second owner. A fortnight ago travelling through regional Victoria (Australia) at 95kph, towing (easily) my 5m alloy boat on a section of dangerous country road, going uphill with no space on the left, double lines and no options on the other side of the road either, the vehicle without warning ceased power. No limp home mode, no engine warning light, instantaneous nil power. All dash lights came on and engine stopped at 95kph. The boat started to pull back on the vehicle. My wife pointed and said "go there" - I've somehow crossed over the double lines and found the only "truck run-off" space we'd seen for ages. By the time I'd gone over the double lines and got there I had absolutely no power. No brakes, no engine, no steering. We ended up being at the side of the road (remote) for 6 hours without water at 37 degrees c, I ended up in hospital with sunstroke & dehydration, but we weren't dead. My boat has an underfloor petrol tank with approx 50 litres of fuel, if I hadn't been able to get the car & boat off the road the next vehicle coming behind us could have caused a fireball & the next truck going the other way would have collected the whole lot of us. So we've been lucky, very lucky, but I'm still having nightmares. I had insurance with Mercedes-Care & the car has been delivered to the nearest Mercedes dealer (three hours away). So far they've checked the fuel pump (all good) and fuel (all good). This week they run a compression test. I'd be really surprised if the compression test showed a fail - there was no metal on metal grinding, no pistons hanging out of blocks, no strange noises, no black smoke or other symptoms of a major engine collapse. So over to the experts - the members of this forum. What do you think? We've narrowly escaped being on the news and a vehicle I've looked after has totally let me down. What are your thoughts? Cheers, appreciate any input 'cos I'm lost on this one. Many thanks Rob A

serb

on my 2011 battery went out last autumn so might be simple as that

RobA

Thanks Serb for coming back to me. I hope it's as simple as that although the Mercedes Dealer (where the car's been delivered) would have surely checked that? If a battery just "died" - given that charging systems/alternator etc were all ok, would the engine just stop like that in a catastrophic fail? Just don't know, I'll keep you informed. Rob A

Marcuo

good luck

RobA

Thanks Marcuo. It's a bit untidy having your car try to kill you when you've looked after it so well.... Latest news is that the catastrophic fail may have been caused by a timing chain fail/timing chain guide/s collapse. If so, the odds on repairing the engine are not good. I've already priced a replacement V6 3 litre diesel out of a wreck (accident happened three weeks ago & wrote off the vehicle but left the V6 intact) with 105,000kms, for AUS$8,000 installed. Don't want to spend the money but what do you do? Here in Australia these 11 year old ML350s are still worth AUS$20k - AUS$25k in good order.

RobA

My ML350 is still with the dealer who sold it to me. Iron filings have been found in the oil filter - could be from the timing chain or the balance shaft which has apparently been known to fail on these V6 diesel engines? The car is out of warranty but the MB dealer intends to seek a goodwill offering from MB, as we've been Mercedes customers for over 30 years. Certainly the build quality of my previous W140 S320 (with all its problems!) seems to have been much better than this ML. I sold my S320 with 320,000kms TEN YEARS AGO and a registration check shows it's still on the road

DLB_Adelaide

Sorry to hear that mate. Scary stuff driving in the outback as well.

With the $8000 engine swap, was this in Melbourne? Or other workshops outside Melbourne?

RobA

The $ 8,000 engine swap (labour included, engine verified 105,000kms) is just out of Melbourne, Dandenong South. The engine is still in the car which has received heavy side panel damage passenger side but engine untouched. Well maintained vehicle, I've been to Dandenong South to inspect. If my ML ends up being a fail (& in need of a new engine) I will consider simply selling mine as is for around the $ 16,000 mark and referring the purchaser to the replacement motor. After what we've been through I've just had enough, the enthusiasm of youth for projects like this has moved on. Real shame, before the timing chain (if that's what it is) my ML350 was one of the best in the country, retail value had to be close to $ 30k. Whoever buys it at (say) $ 16k & spends $ 8k on a replacement engine gets a really great vehicle.

DLB_Adelaide

Just one of those unlucky coincidence. I have seen some OM642 engines just go forever and reaching 300,000km. I have found indeed that resell for the W164 M-class is high but demand is low. No one wants to buy a 15-ish year old car anymore.

RobA

I agree DLB. Years ago I bought a beautiful E34 525i manual BMW from a car yard with 200,000 on it. Friends told me I was nuts. Did another 200,000kms without any grief at all, sold it at 405,000kms. Found out it had been the BMW "safety" car based in Sydney, where they take the back seat out and fill it with tools to go out and help sick BMWs. Only found out that when I realised the car had a pump-up rear end (not standard on a 5, available on a 7) - BMW had done that themselves to help with the rear weight of tools. I put a caravan on the back and went to hook up the Hayman-Reese hitches and the car did it itself!! So yes, I've had some good luck, this ML story is a saga but at least my wife and I are alive to tell the tale. Thanks for your interest

RobA

Final details re: my ML350 catastrophe. So how many vehicles that were around A$135,000 new and only have 155,000k on them - and have been well cared for and (in this instance) been serviced 95% by Mercedes themselves - have a catastrophic fail that reduces the value of the vehicle to almost nil and almost kills the owner and his wife? Final analysis is timing chain failure. Vehicle was worth $25k-$30k a month ago, with a dead engine it's worth $2k at the wreckers. So I'll get a firm to pull the engine out and replace it with one that comes from a written-off ML350 (body damage but no engine damage) at a cost of $8k. including installation. Then - the ML350 will be sold. 30-odd years of Mercedes/BMW/Jaguar motoring ends with me having to go Japanese/Korean. Tell me if any Toyota owner has ever had to go through this. By my reckoning I've lost at least $ 25,000 (and almost our lives). And I see that my old W140 S Class that I traded at 325,000kms ten years ago is still on the road!! Shame, Mercedes, shame. Clearly build quality on the later products was just not up to scratch. I feel absolutely dudded but would like to stay a member of this forum just in case I can help anyone with their issues

DLB_Adelaide

Sad to see this happen mate. While your Merc journey ends, my merc journey starts. I have replaced heaps of fluids and hopefully the engine keeps healthy.

Were there any symptom sounds before the big fail? From the timing chain startup rattle?

RobA

No DLB. This was one of my huge issues with the event, because if you refer to my original post you'll see that we could have been killed and taken others with us. The vehicle had been running beautifully. I'd even agreed to MB draining and revamping the coolant system and the brakes, even though neither were due. There was no chain rattle, no hesitation with startup or running. Engine oil was exactly as specified by MB. Just before the 10,000k service interval I tended to get the message that "at your next fuel stop, check your oil level" (or text to that effect on the dash) which meant that I would add 500ml of the right oil, probably a fortnight before the next full service. There was no move to limp home mode, there was not "stop engine" light. Nothing. No warning at all. Shameful, really . Good luck with your Benz journey, hope you don't go through anything like this.

E55Greasemonkey

The om642 is a junk engine. You're not the first to find out.

RobA

I didn't know it was labelled as an om642... hopefully others will see this post and re-think their ML dreams. At the local level I'd never heard of ML350 engines simply failing like ours.