Eletronic Transmission Control

[Petrol Pete]

The fact that you car was built for the Australian market in the early 2000's could be the issue . Australia had different emission regulations than the UK back then , a friend of mine bought a brand new motorcycle as a 'grey import' around that time . It was destined for the Australian market and had all sorts of different gubbins on it compared to an equivalent UK bike. It might have even been destined for a particular state down under, not sure if they all share the same emission laws state to state.

Mostly centred around the fuel/carb/exhaust side of things. from reading your posts you have certainly looked high and low for the answer, have you tried a MB dealership in Australia ?

 

[Martyn_n]

When you look on EPC there are quite a few items that are either unique or excluded from Australian supplied cars, the accelerator cable isn't one of them.

 

[W163ML500]

The fact that you car was built for the Australian market in the early 2000's could be the issue . Australia had different emission regulations than the UK back then , a friend of mine bought a brand new motorcycle as a 'grey import' around that time . It was destined for the Australian market and had all sorts of different gubbins on it compared to an equivalent UK bike. It might have even been destined for a particular state down under, not sure if they all share the same emission laws state to state.

Mostly centred around the fuel/carb/exhaust side of things. from reading your posts you have certainly looked high and low for the answer, have you tried a MB dealership in Australia ?

Thanks petrol pete.
I put myself in the dealerships hands, hoping for a simple little outcome of fixing my throttle after the cable was simply swapped out and the throttle pedal assembly.

I never saw this happening, what i am encountering now, it beggers belief in this day and age.

 

[W163ML500]

I am going to simply tie a knot in the inner cable,
Lift the ball and socket off the throttle pedal sensor arm, tie a knot in it and push it back on.
Someone here did suggest a piece of plastic as a sleeve to extend the outer cable, but the outer cable has no way of doing this at either end of attachment..

 

[W163ML500]

It all seems very strange, only one part number for the 163 accelerator cable, A1633010623 and you can get a brand new genuine one (with logo) from ebay in a couple of days. As it is the inner cable that is "too long" are they sure that the sender unit is correctly fitted in the black plastic bracket and isn't too close to the cable outer? Also was the pedal assembly fitted correctly and is fully snug with the bulkhead? Have they checked all of the bulkhead grommets and cable adjustment components have been reinstalled?
I find it really really hard to believe that your car has had a bowden cable made with a unique inner cable length compared to the thousands of others where an off the shelf oem part would fit.

Hi again, like everyone here, I am also trying to understand what is happening with this cable.

Martyn, you may have spotted something the MB dealership has not picked up on until now.
The cable number you gave me is the correct one for my ML500, RHD model, as this was the number inprinted on my old cable I had removed.
The cables, as in two, I bought from mercedes in Swansea were FAKE, and built in a spanish factory, and NOT marked or stamped.

Since I have pointed this out to Mercedes dealership in Swansea, they have suddenly got an area manager involved, and maybe they are now covering there tracks, as in I know they have been supplying FAKE parts to customers, as I have the actual proof of these parts.

Everything i bought from them came from a Spanish maker, with only the MB logo on the poly-bags on the outside, and all parts had nothing what-so-ever inside to say Mercedes or anything.

I suspect they have placed an order with the proper suppliers now, and my cable is among this order, which is not getting shipped till next month, on the 8th off July.

I have also looked at your cables you found on eBay, and they are the proper ones you found, thank you, as in they have the name, number etc stamped on the cables, which both my ones this end I bought from the MB dealership were NOT marked or stamped, and even the cable itself felt inferier and flimsy. Both cables were like this.

I will phone them when open tomorrow and tell them 8th july is NOT happening as in they are out of order and seriously NOT getting off with this towards a customer.

 

[W163ML500]

Martyn_n,
I have bought the cable from eBay, so now I will have this out tomorrow with the dealership here in Wales, and i suspect i may have to go higher up the chain of command in this branch, as I intend to right the wrongs I have suffered at the hands of this franchise/dealership.

My only problem is I am one person, disabled with a severe brain injury and I feel they will try to use this to get rid of me from complaining at what they have done and caused to happen in this entire case of selling me fake and inferior parts.

I can prove the parts are not genuine Mercedes parts, and of course this could open up a serious can of worms if this has been going on for some time in this dealerships in South Wales.

All three seperate MB dealerships in South Wales are managed by one group, hmmm.....

 

[W163ML500]

Just confirming and backing up what other MB suppliers are telling and showing me.
I have a print-out of the American side of my vehicle on their database and parts catalouge
Mercedes-Benz after sales and parts.
Here also the same cable and part numbers from the WIS/EPC, but the garage owner who gave me this info by email also told me the cables there end in the US are tagged and marked, as all are for the ML.
If i have been sold anything for this ML untagged, unmarked, or no logo anywhere, I have been duped with fake EU parts they told me, and many UK dealers have been known for this scam, as easy to import fake parts and sell them to unsuspecting customers.
They tell me Mercedes do not make or allow any parts under licence with-out it being officially stamped and logo'ed, normally both, to stop fakes being fitted by dealers.

 

[W163ML500]

here are the fake cables, X2 no less.
Both these are made in Spain, no name, logo, brand, or anything.
Then you see the original cable removed from vehicle, stamped, and logo.
Even the price told me something is not right when I bought them from my MB dealership, as in £20 +vat, yet cheapest I could find online was over £50, going up to about £90.

 

[W163ML500]

All 100% fixed and on the road from yesterday morning.
Thanks all for reading on what I was going through this end with my vehicle.

I got a phone-call on Friday morning from MB dealership to say vehicle is all fixed, tested and working. They started Thursday afternoon, and finished first thing Friday morning.

Sometimes in life people admit to their mistakes and take responsibility.
This happened with me over why my throttle went scew-with, unreliable, dangerous and down right annoying when I was telling my dealer who sold me the parts, they were the wrong parts for my ML500 they had sourced, two times in succession also.

Long story shortened, they replaced the pedal assembly, throttle cable, put back in my fully rebuilt and serviced for life now, ETC module, which I had back to them on Monday last week, as this took a week away for repair and rebuild/service.

They handed me my keys at the reception and when I said how much, the lady said, no charge, our fault. and we also did a bit of work on your engine as ther technician spotted a slight problem with one of the coils when they used the star system on a full diagnostic.
They swapped out one of my coils, and of course brand new from them, i had no way of knowing the fault, even with the AUTEL system i bought.

I bought 8 coils
16 plugs
16 leads
all from them, which they also knew, so a sort of good will gesture from them to me.

I have been out since I got it back, because this ML500 has been with me for 8 months now, and all I ever got to do to it was drive it home the day I bought it last August.
From then till now, I have spent £1,000's replacing every worn part to bring her back to factory fresh showroom condition, slowly, bit, by bit. I still have a few bits on the suspension yet to go, but just annoying, not noisy or banging. but Just to help her tighten up again on cornering as some bits are still 18 years old from new.

If you have followed me through a couple of threads, you will see the work I have done, and to almost have it finished was enough for me to go out and now seriously try her on and off road.
I at last can enjoy the partial lock-down lifting, and enjoy the scenery that is breath-taking all over and around here, high up in the Welsh mountains. (Okay this is the UK, so hills only, but I can pretend they are like mini mountains).