Nine problems related to engine belts and pulleys have been reported for the 1998 Mercedes Benz ML320. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Harmonic balance pulley was failed and was recalled 1998 mercedes Ml320 -VIN#4jgab54e6wa030152. Mercedes refused to pay total labor for process. Vehicle has no equipment other than mercedes made and installed equipment. Vehicle has mercedes fog light bar on front (standard mercedes made and installed items). If the part had not been defective, this charge would not have occurred. Regardless of the fact that is was installed by mercedes before I got the car--I do not feel that I should be burgeoned with mercedes costs due to poor quality of defective parts.
Laundry list of failures. Jack has almost killed me while changing tire. Vehicle fell, almost hitting me but catching side of vehicle before landing on me! hood latch has failed on a few occasions, causing hood to open while vehicle was in motion. Air mass meter failed. Has required 5 (five!) alignments in two years. When brought to dealer's attention, was told nothing was wrong. A month later requires another alignment. Alignment problems causes wear on tires, which has caused hydroplaning and loss of control of vehicle. Vehicle swerves uncontrollably when hits anything other than flat road. Transfer case motor fixed by dealer without consulting. After repair, transfer case motor failed. Dealer states owner responsible for costs. Has had repair of harmonic balancer on front of engine due to excessive heat buildup leading to oil leak and failure of belt tensioner. Window switches have failed twice and fixed at expense of owner. Six different keys have failed @ the cost of $220/key. Rear window defroster causes loss of stereo reception. Rear window wiper motor has failed. Front end makes noise.
Steering failure due to defective harmonic balancer. Refer to NHTSA action number: pe03058.
Regarding NHTSA action number pe03058. The crankshaft pulley harmonic balancer was found to be defective on my mercedes ml, 320 today. The vehicle had 57,435 miles. The dealer told me it was starting to fail and recommended it be replaced or it could lead to a loss of power steering and major engine damage.
98 mercedes Ml320 with 75,000 miles harmonic balancer went up and destroyed half of the engine which cost over $5,000 in repairs. Mbusa said they had no previous complaints and that I was responsible for all repairs since it was out of warranty. I have since found out that this is a known problem for these vehicles/engines that mb is trying to cover up.
The consumer pulled into the driveway where both lights had come on at the same time and had become unable to steer the vehicle. The battery light came on, because the belt came off the alternator, power steering, and the ac, which made the vehicle difficult to steer.
Belt tensioner failed at 73886 mile,$308. 00. Harmonic balancer failed @80,772 miles. Lost power steering and all accessories. Replaced belt ,oil pan ,tensioner(again),harmonic balancer,oil ,oil seal. Mercedes paid for parts. I paid for labor $675. 00. Did tensioner fail first time because of balancer. Was balancer a known defect?.
The serpentine belt had broken while driving at 45mph and caused the engine to overheat. Manufacturer was notified. The consumer stated that after the investigation per garrett engineering, the vehicle was determined to have a crank shaft pulley failure which caused the other systems to fail. The belts, altenator, and the cooling systems failed as a result of the pulley failure. This part was supposed to be covered under the 80k warranty, but has not been honored.
The crank shaft damper (harmonic balancer) came apart causing damage to the middle oil pan and the front timing cover.