Tony Musgrave

If you are unlucky enough to drive a Diesel car and you have a problem with the fuel supply, the Engine Management System shuts the engine down without warning to protect the engine.

Too bad if you are overtaking on the wrong side of the road.

Too bad that when the engine shuts down you loose the power steering.

Too bad that you loose the power Braking system.

At least the engine is protected against a potential warranty claim.

Too bad that the driver is at risk.

pa28pilot

Would you care to give us some specifics, if it's not too uncomfortable?

Tony Musgrave

The vehicle was a 2004 ML 270 cdi.

Under acceleration the engine management light came up closely followed by every warning light, the Total shutdown.

The dealer could not find a fault even though a fault code showed on the diagnostics

The same fault occured about a week later

The Dealer said it was a faulty injector and relaced the injector.

3 days later, the same fault occured.

The dealer said it was an air leak on the pipework and said they had fixed it.

The next day the same fault occured.

The dealer said it was a faulty fuel filter and they was some sort of knowledge of this particular problem.

I don't know for sure if that did cure the problem as I changed the ML for a Porsche Cayenne.

IllCDI

wow that is good to know.. how do you like the cayenne?

Tony Musgrave

Compared to the 163 model ML it wins hands down.

Compared to the latest 164 model ML there is not a lot to choose between the Porsche and the Mercedes. The Navigation is far superior in the Porsche,and the residual value of the Porsche will be greater as MB are already discounting the new ML quite heavily.Porsche allways sell at list prices.

So far the Cayenne has been faultless, and I am really pleased to have made the change.I also changed my SL 55 for a 911 Turbo S Cabriolet which is a lot quicker and handles well but the ride can be a bit bumpy !

IllCDI

Before I got my most recent SUV which is a Lexus Gx470 (I think its called the Land Cruiser Prado in Europe) I was deciding between the Cayenne and the Lexus....The Cayennes interior was nice and that 4.5 liter twin turbo motor is sweet, but I do some offroading and thought that the rigid rear axle might be more rugged for the type of off road driving I do.....I am kinda regretting now not getting the Cayenne, as my GX has developed a Rear Axle clunk which feels like someone is rear ending you, and the dealer says this is normal for a vehicle of this type... Have you taken the Cayenne off road at all? The ML wasnt even a choice when I was SUV shopping, I have heard of all the horror stories they have had with that POS, especially with the electronics and the build quality.

BiTurboV12 AMG

So far with 3ML's in the family we havnt had much trouble. the trouble with the MLs was from 98-00 and by 02 all of the major problems where fixed. i know where i live you could get a better deal on a Porsche SUV than the new ML. I say why pay more for the porsche when you can get the VW for 20grand less, and resale on all porsches when you go to trade them in drop like a rock that applies to mercedes and bmw and just about every car company.