Mercedes W163 ML270 CDI Project Walkaround
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- čas přidán 26. 07. 2014
- She's a bit rough around the edges, but for $3000 why not :D
and she is genuinely fun to drive, not sporty, very soft and subtle, apart from the acceleration :D, that turbo diesel sound and rapid acceleration is just epic! if an engine and vehicle this old is this much fun, I want a new ML Diesel :D - Věda a technologie
Nice ive owned 2 w123's a w210 and now the w163 Ml320. I bought it for $1100 usd needed a water pump and an emissions test. when i got here home it also had a split catalytic converter had an engine light and all 3 lights etc esd and the other one. It has the v6 3,2 liter , The engine light was a clogged secondary airpump passageway, the bushes were worn out on the abs pump. Anyway when these things were fixed i took it on a 600 mile trip on the socal gabler 500. Off road its great, ive owned Toyota Hilux, Suzuki Samurais 2x Mitsu Pajero and a Montero as well as a Toyota Surf so not having to lock hubs is nice. I have to say its pleasure to offroad and i rarely put it in low range. Very easy to work on as well once you remove the inner fender well covers you can access everything. Anyway thanks for sharing your project.
Excellent! Another car project. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
I have followed you under a different account for about 3 years now. I remember how badly you wanted a Rav4... Then you finally got one, then 2...then a few months ago you were talking about a M class, then it became your wallpaper.. And now it's in your driveway! Haha. Look forward to watching you fix this up! It's amazing how cheap cars are at the moment. A quick headlight restoration lot will bring those yellow lights back to new as well!
beautiful merc ed, i just bought a VW CR turbo diesel and its beautiful to drive. gotta love that diesel engine sound!
The grime under the console, super yummy!
Seems like you are approaching it in the typical Ed methodical way so I don't see any big issues.
Good luck! Diesels ftw!
Are some of the fuel return fittings in brass or what? Seems like they would be a direct fit into my 6.6L instead of the plastic ones that are crap
Please tell me ASAP, are the engine parts like Brake Master Cylinder and the whole brake system of ML 270 RHD interchangeable with the same car but LHD?
Not sure why that Sony head-unit is lagging, I have seen exact same one and it was working fine. I'd replace it anyway, seems like its had a rough life.
Awesome find Ed! Good luck with her. They are money pits in the states, but if anyone knows what they are in for, you do! You'll likely do everything yourself anyways
do they have low range ? thinking of getting one to tow light alloy boat
what sony model is that? is it compatible with BOSE surround system?
cheers
Help where is the second aux battery on this model hiding thanks mike
It looks like access to the top injector is a little limited on the ML. I've got the 6 cylinder version in an E320 and had black death on my top injector. My local Merc specialist had the right tool to sort it out and managed to do it in under an hours labour including cleaning, fortunately I spotted mine before it had baked the oil into the head too much.
Do you have one of those mechanical brake systems? They are usually nest to the foot rest
if someone hasn't said it, the big black button between the lights is probably a space to place a garage door remote, the black plastic bit pushes against it :D
DPF or EGR? or any emissions shit?
Whats the smaller pedal on the far left of the accelerator/brake (this being an auto)? Those fuse holders in the engine compartment look aftermarket, have they had an amp/etc fitted?
its the e-brake / parking brake
If you find the 30amp fuse for the drivers seat is blown (each side has its own fuse), it may be that one of the wires in the seat itself has rubbed through and is shorting on the frame - replace it and it may be work until it touches just right and shorts again. Had this problem in a W203 with electric seats.
From a forum: The BAS/ESP lights pertain to your brake assist and electronic stability systems. One of the more common problems we find is a faulty stop light switch or a steering angle sensor.
Ah thanks, I have to hold the wheel off center due to an allignment issue, I wonder if the steering angle sensor is causing it to freak out?
Aussie50
Worth checking isnt it :-))
My mates peugeot had the esp light on, it was the break switch, it was a double brake and esp switch, watching you put your brake on lol, not bloody esp :-)
zx8401ztv yeh my 7 series had the same issue, it would trigger the check control module if the button was not released at the right time (must have had a transducer somwhere else to detect brake clamping)
Hi. FYI, the battery is probably of the wrong size - you need a 019 battery with 100AH or 95AH and 800CCA. I got a Bosch 019 Silverline S5 in mine (the genuine Mercedes one lasted 7 years, and odd warning lights started to show up due to battery problem). Similar to you, I also had to reseat injector 5. Changed my serpentine belt, alternator clutch pulley and idler. Changed thermostat, all fluids, brake pads, plus installed a DVD/DAB/SATNAV system with reverse camera, etc. :)). Very nice car and pleasure to drive. Mine is a late 2002 ML270 (with indicators on mirror) 6 speed manual gearbox, 73,000 miles, which I got for a bargain price of £3,000, last November 2013 and from a dealer. Had some minor rust under the wheel arch and near the tailgate light which I polished and sprayed (Well I sprayed the whole car myself!). I also changed the bosch auxiliary coolant pump (you would know if it is faulty by holding and feeling it - no motor buzzing and no coolant flowing from the top pipe in the expansion tank = faulty pump). Enjoy.
Awesome, I figured the battery was a bit small, its clamp has been butchered to try and clamp the smaller one, but it failed. I will be looking at a new battery soon, winter is slowly killing this one.
you got yours for a steal too!, the facelifted ones are still around $7000 here, with higher mileage!.
I've been test driving her all morning and love her!, very nice ride quality with the new oversize tyres on!.
Interesting to hear yours is a manual too, I would have loved to find a manual one, but they are very rare, or expensive.
Ed, I don't know what Merc dealers are like in Australia, but in the UK, they can be quite reasonable for genuine parts, you can usually haggle the guy on the service counter for 10-20% off
You bought a 2001 Mercedes, diesel, with pre-existing problems? You're a brave person! Better get that wallet ready for when something really goes bad though...
Also be careful with over-strong struts for the hood. Hoods tend to bend depressingly easy if the hinge/strut area gets even slightly stuck.
I personally would've said W463 G-Class, but they cost a small fortune since they morphed from rough and ready army truck to pimpmobile. That being said, I could never argue with a three pointed star! I don't think there's such a thing as an unreliable Mercedes diesel. They occasionally have problems with the heads, but the bottom ends are rock solid. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.
Nice car
Ed's got himself a Toorak Taxi.
haha i love that joke. and only us people from the mornington peninsula get it.
If its got the light that you wait to start on, that means it either has glowplugs, or an intake air heater, maybe even both since its mercedes. I sort of doubt that benz starts on its own compression
Is there a reason why the sony LCD in the car lags so much?
I dunno, apparently its a well known issue :(. wonder if there is a firmware patch?
***** obviously there might be a firmware patch i suggest googling the product number
Eds farm lol, you got more cars than we do now!
That's quite the nice SUV you have there, Ed. I picked up a '99 Volvo wagon from my neighbor for $425, it has 230k miles on it, but that's still a damn good price.
Volvo's are a very nice car too!, I would have bought a V70XC if it was bigger (the XC90 is perfect, but still holding a pretty high value)
+Aussie50 I have a V70, you can fit two bikes in the back, done that before, the problem with those is the shit sensor on the throttle body, it wears out after a while, I had to replace it
you also need more of that green fluid also. it's remarkable for an '01 car. fuses under the hood is great idea.
regards to your BAS/ESP issue.. Is your steering angle sensor working properly? I've seen them go out and cause all sorts of strange issues with the electronic nannys going hayware. Maybe check that out before you fire up the parts cannon and replace modules. Cheers
I am not sure if the angle sensor is working, but the steering needs an allignment (have to hold the wheel way off straight to go straight. I wonder if the sensor is having a fit because of that
Aussie50
It makes sense to me that a poor alignment would throw off that sensor, though i'm not 100% positive on that. But i am positive however that the steering angle sensor being upset will upset the electronic aides. A quick ohm test with your multimeter will help you determine the health of the sensor, though that test is not definitive. You'd need an alignment before buying new tires anyway. Hopefully an alignment will fix your problem!
Also if you replace the battery be sure to calibrate the sensor weather you replace it or not (turn the steering slowly lock to lock, drive slowly and repeat the procedure) i've had lots of older german cars and the sensors can cause all kinds of issues. when in doubt, suspect a sensor! Cheers
You definitely need to refurb those lights, haha
Many of them are supposed to give diesel leak problems around the pump I've noticed many of them are low milage in age it seem they are sold on often or changed for some reason maybe it's difficult to get mercedes mecanics
as a test could you not swap over the passenger control panel for the seat ?
If it works you know what it is then
I fixed it, fuse was borrowed for somthing else.
Ha, you bought the car from my end of town. Nice
that seat needs a clean :P, hope to see another interior tear down and clean like you did on the rav that was good
That's a satellite radio antenna. You'll probably need a subscription with the service to use it. My guess. Thanks for the video. Nice car.
What could you do with 22,000 psi ED? That would be an interesting experiment lol
That an awesome price you got for it ED. I found one on carsales which has more K's on it from Queensland, and the person want $7449 for it!
yeh they still fetch a fair bit in good order, I should have this one done for under $5k
Congrats on the car - very nice. Looking forward to be seeing more about your efforts. Shouldn't the car be a new enough model to have an OBD connector? A cheap interface from eBay and you might get more insight into what is causing the warning lights in the dash to come on.
I do have a standard OBD port, but apparently Mercedes have some quirky software of their own in there making it hard for cheaper scanners to see all the codes.
Damn. No other way than the hard way then ;-)
on a side note, the power seat on my mom's '96 Grand Caravan had a local fuse as well as a fusebox fuse for the power seat. it may be worth checking into underneath at the electronics box itself in the seat. I had that one blow on me once, seat was stuck in the far back position and I felt like an idiot driving to and from autozone without a backrest.
yep!, I found it under the drivers kick panel, or more importantly, did not find it, because it had been borrowed
Aussie50 Speaking of borrowed fuses, I had to do something similar years ago on my old 97 Golf. The front wipers suddenly quit on me just before I had to go visit someone so I had to take the fuse from the rear wiper so I could make the trip safely as it was pouring buckets of rain that evening.
hey ed if i was you i would look into getting the oem factory radio
The poor Fairmont :( I'd look after her.
Sadly I'm in tassie and have no room.
Itll have glow plugs but only use them when its very cold
22K PSI, that is immensely insane - That is when you start wondering, what happens if a tube-joint breaks, while you have your fingers near - nasty ...
Interesting rig Ed .. I do think it could get pricey though !! Hope it pans out for ya .. Those electrical issues are common on those though ..
Yeh its an interesting gamble, most issues are well documented thankfully, parts are pretty cheap here, but it can still add up, the set of tires will probably be the most expensive
just had a ECU scan done, 30 codes. mostly old ones, once cleared and retested, only 6 actually came up, mainly the ABS/Trac/BAS module, and the glow plug on No4 being open. thats it thankfully.
AWESOME .. thats good news man !!
ShawnMrFixit Lee
yeh, these 400Nm Diesel engines are almost indestructable, its just the gremlines that drag these cars down :(. that and the occasional auto trans failure.. (BMW X5 is no better with their blown torque converters)
oh , I know .. That is way better than most of them .. You will get it fixed , Love yur vids man .. Keep us posted on that rig !!
Are you going to run it on used chip fat? :)
nope, not in a common rail system.
Clean your Battery Terminals REALLY well,and Replace the Battery, many EFI systems do strange things when the battery is not as good as new or the terminals are dirty,
Given the choice between a Rav4, that ford you have/had and this Merc, I'd take this, but only if I had that choice, I'd rather have a Honda Accord Tourer with a 2.2L iDTEC engine... :D
Weren't you going to film a road trip?
That OM612 is one of the best engines mercedes evere made^^ Unfortunately this car proofed to us germans, that Americans can't put cars properly together. The ML Class is the worst put together Mercedes in history and it's build in the U.S.
Very few W163 were put together in Austria and if you got one of those, you where really lucky. It was like putting a Dacia against a new S-Class. And all Engines/AT's where (and are) build in Germany.
All CDI's are using Glow Plugs until this day, but they are very efficient and don't need that much power.
Someday you need to drive a OM648/OM629 - THAT is Power :D
It really is a shame they tried to make them in the US :(, I would love an Austrian made W163 but I do not even know how to identify one from a US built one.
The engine really is a masterpiece!, 340,000km and still so strong!, only minor piston slap and other diesel wear, but far from out of service.
There are lots of them in germany with over 800.000 km on the clock. AFAIK, the austrian made W163 where only sold in germany and only in the first few weeks of production, because the US Factory wasn't up and running at 100%. It's a shame, that even after 15 Years of production you can easy identify where the car was made. You can identify them with the VIN:
"WDC" = Daimler-Chrysler (while German made cars have "WDB" or "WDD" for Daimler-Benz or Daimler-Daimler)
"163" = The internal model code and so on. If there is an "A" in the VIN, it's made in Tuscaloosa. If it is an "X" it's made in Austria.
They also made a few C-Classes over there in tuscaloosa and i happend to test drive an imported one...it isn't as bad, as it used to be with the first few W163, but it still isn't great and no where near an C- or E-Class build here. (Yeah, i know, the W210 is a rust bucket per excellance, but at least after 15 Years it still feels rock solid with out any squeeks or rattles inside...personally i don't care about a little bit of rust ;) )
Everyone who asks me for advice on buying a Mercedes gets the same answers: Don't buy anything between 1995 and 2006 and you'll be fine :D
Hi, a question, i drive a 270 CDI and is a "WDC" but these did not make the american market as long as i know...so they were made in the USA and send to the rest of the world?
Fun fact: I came up with the concept for this
I still stand by the name shaza for the car :P
My computer is being a gremlin at the moment to
OOOOH! 5 cylinder!!!!!!!!! What will you name him/her/it?
Most german vehicles are fitted with glow plugs as standard in all markets around the world
Source : owned a ml320 CDI
Hood strut are 10.00 dollars in oreilly autoparts
How's the transmission?
feels great, no slip, faultless shifting (apart from the change in turbo whistle you would not know its shifting.)\
just need to factor in a service for it tho, I always service autos every 2 years, and I bet this one is way overdue.
Aussie50 i have just pulled one of these from the local wreckers (lol!) . If you look on the 'tube' there is a german vid showing a guy flushing the auto by actually running the engine with the trans pan off. These really need to be flushed to remove ALL contaminants . think of getting a Mercedes sump magnet for the trans too. it fits behind the filter. Any moisture contaminant in these trans is a killer as the glue used to bond the bands are water based.... Flush the power steer and use the Merc steering fluid not ATF because there aint no filter in there any more as in the older mercs.
Mercmad yeh I will be doing a full service on it Inc flush and, contact plate and connector block replacement. as far as sump magnets go, if it does not already have them. I just use HDD magnets. drop one or 2 in the lowest part and your golden.
She sure is a beauty and will be a learning experience looking at the diesel engine ohh and she is white! What are you going to name her? Does Julian like her?
Holy s*&t man what a tank :D huge difference between the RAV and the ford. how much does it cost you to drive this a month? I mean here on the other side of the world you pay serious money for cars like these buy ..and in road-tax! especially a diesel!
do all the injector copper seals and bolts. They should be done every 80k miles but not everyone bothers and they start leaking combustion gas
looks like you know about this issue already lol
little mercedes trick it to roll up the windows off the key you need to hold the lock button while pointing the key at the little window by the lock if it has it
What's next Ed? An S-Class? XD
eh, S-Class dosn't really do it for me. maybe a G-Wagen? ;)
Aussie50 or a Unimog ;)
edgetechcompsys
Yeah, I can see Ed driving an Unimog with all the bits and accessories attached to it, even the ditch trimmer!
glowplug light staying on, on most cars means EGR Faults
its on a timer, goes out after 60 secs
Aussie50 oh ok. 60 seconds.... thats some long glowplug timer. Just check with the injector lines also. Being Commonrail as you know runs super high pressure. Most manufacturers like toyota recommend replacing the lines once used. All the Heavy Vehicles i work on EG cummins, the lines are a one use item.
No offense, but what is it with Australia's fascination with diesel vehicles? Here in the States, we'll buy 'em in trucks, but other than that, most of us aren't that interested. Is it because of the fuel economy?
yeh, fuel economy and hauling capacity, mind you Diesel is pretty expensive now, back in the day it was dirt cheap, just like LPG. but they jacked the price up to match everything else :(
It's not just at Australia. In Europe diesel cars are very common. As a matter of fact I think US apart for few other countries are pretty much the only "gasoline" countries. Torque, fuel economy and durability pretty are the usual reasons to buy diesels.
jothain Over in New Zealand, one has to pay for the distance you use while driving a Diesel,
jothain Diesel does seem to be gaining popularity in the US, probably because the US automakers are slowly vanishing, but that's a personal thing of mine so I won't go further on that. Jeep is coming out with a few models that have optional diesels, all SUVs, and I think a few diesel sedans are coming the States as well.
4E047RHH Out of curiosity. Does New Zealand have, sorry don't know exact word "annual/yearly tax" for gasoline and diesel vehicles? Or is all taxes by distance traveled?
deffo is a merc, everything on that interior screams mercedes
oww that leak is horrible!
shut your waste gate, straight pipe it for shits and get it chipped you'll have a very fast car lol
Could be a bad motor
Snort @ self-on-camera. Between you and Dave (EEVBlog) I think there's too much of Dave on camera, and just enough of you. When you see some of the woodworking youtube channels, some of them are ALL 'person' and flashing video clips of the machinery/work, and I hate that (I think it's a very American thing, where promotion of *self* is vastly more important than it is in Australia).