The Family Wagon - ML350CDI

[Bobby Dazzler]

Nice super clean ML. I have a similar one on the drive apart from mine is a little older.

The ML is a really great car

 

[Alex225]

So a couple of minor updates on the ML, not very exciting though. One of the things that's always got me with five seater cars is how few of them have mats that cover the tunnel in the middle of the car. Seems OEM mats rarely cover it yet with kids climbing in the back, it's going to get shoes on it. So I bought this very 'stylish' item, for under a tenner on eBay. Not the prettiest but does the job!

Gave the outside a wash with the assistance of my littlest ape.

I then had one of those *rude word* of a job to do which involved replacing the gasket on the right hand tail light. Annoyingly the bulbs have been going out, the brake light and the fog/tail light being two of them. I noticed moisture in the well underneath and some dampness. up around the inside so I have taken it all apart, removing the old gasket was the hard bit but some tar remover and a heat gun saw to that. I've replaced the garket and re-fitted the light, it's still showing as those two bulbs being out so I'm hoping it just needs to dry out. I've checked every single fuse in case too.

Then drove 30 seconds round the corner to get fuel. Still rather taken with how the car looks, despite having been a real 'non-SUV' type for years .

 

[MrGreedy]

You do know how to pick them don't you! Fantastic condition car and very well done.

Were you looking for long, and how many did you see?

I gave up looking for a decent w211 with lowish miles, facelift plus with the later COMAND and heated seats. Spent about 6 months looking with a top budget of £7k but no luck. Yours was for sale at the time, but the miles were too high for me, but I was still tempted.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

So a couple of minor updates on the ML, not very exciting though. One of the things that's always got me with five seater cars is how few of them have mats that cover the tunnel in the middle of the car. Seems OEM mats rarely cover it yet with kids climbing in the back, it's going to get shoes on it. So I bought this very 'stylish' item, for under a tenner on eBay. Not the prettiest but does the job!

Gave the outside a wash with the assistance of my littlest ape.

I then had one of those *rude word* of a job to do which involved replacing the gasket on the right hand tail light. Annoyingly the bulbs have been going out, the brake light and the fog/tail light being two of them. I noticed moisture in the well underneath and some dampness. up around the inside so I have taken it all apart, removing the old gasket was the hard bit but some tar remover and a heat gun saw to that. I've replaced the garket and re-fitted the light, it's still showing as those two bulbs being out so I'm hoping it just needs to dry out. I've checked every single fuse in case too.

Then drove 30 seconds round the corner to get fuel. Still rather taken with how the car looks, despite having been a real 'non-SUV' type for years .

The W164 is a handsome car, and silver really suits it. It accentuates the creases beautifully. Looks great

 

[Alex225]

You do know how to pick them don't you! Fantastic condition car and very well done.

Were you looking for long, and how many did you see?

I gave up looking for a decent w211 with lowish miles, facelift plus with the later COMAND and heated seats. Spent about 6 months looking with a top budget of £7k but no luck. Yours was for sale at the time, but the miles were too high for me, but I was still tempted.

It was the condition that really won us over. Exterior was mark free and the interior looks pretty much like new. There were slightly older models with lower miles but this was the one.

We looked at about 4 others. Two at a different dealership but the one we liked the look of wasn't as good in the metal. It just so happened we found a trader who specialised in MLs so he had about 12 of them in a lock up.

My trusty old W211 was such a great car, I had no need to sell other than fancying an S as otherwise the E was faultless really.

The W164 is a handsome car, and silver really suits it. It accentuates the creases beautifully. Looks great

It does look good in silver although apart from the scruffy blue one we saw, all the others were black or silver! Seems most Mercs of this era are silver but I don't mind as it suits them haha

 

[Alex225]

Little update on the ML. Ordered some new car mats from Carmats4U. Despite the dodgy sounding name, I have ordered 4-5 sets of mats from them and all have been a good fit and great quality. The utilitarian look of these mats suits the ML quite nicely too.

Bit of a clean inside the car too.

 

[Alex225]

Good result with the ML today. The tail light bulbs were playing up from when we first bought it. The trader had kept it in a lock up in the dry, we keep it outside so the water made it's way in. I replaced the gasket and it all dried out but the tail lights were still playing up. It is now fixed, I actually don't know how so may be something simple but all working nicely.

Plus whilst picking the car up, gave me a chance to take a couple of snowy photos of it.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Good result with the ML today. The tail light bulbs were playing up from when we first bought it. The trader had kept it in a lock up in the dry, we keep it outside so the water made it's way in. I replaced the gasket and it all dried out but the tail lights were still playing up. It is now fixed, I actually don't know how so may be something simple but all working nicely.

Plus whilst picking the car up, gave me a chance to take a couple of snowy photos of it.

Handsome car

 

[Alex225]

Yeah I think it's very smart. The colour and wheels suit it although I'm itching to have the wheels refurbished and the car re-mapped. I drove it back to back with my S Class and I know the S is quicker as standard, with that mapped the ML feels just a bit too relaxed. Bit more throttle response and torque wouldn't hurt. I do like the 'go anywhere' type feel of this kind of car though, it has a certain purposefulness to the drive.

Also, I'm quite amazed at how well it handles. Obviously it's heavy and it's tall but I was expecting it to feel exactly like that but ultimately it changes directly surprisingly well. It's no hot hatch but certainly not as wayward as I would have expected. Goes to show what I know about not even that modern era of 4x4s.

 

[Alex225]

BIt of a clean for the ML today, wasn't terribly dirty but nice to keep on top of it.

The other little tweak was installing the dashcam we had in the CLS350 that came before this. It's something I'd been meaning to do for a while but an incident inspired me to install it ASAP. Picked up my youngest daughter from nursery, on a large roundabout a woman in a VW UP! decided not to see the 2+ tonnes of silver SUV and just changed lanes nearly taking out the front wing.

Was actually a very easy install with the fuse kit.

Used a fuse to the left of the glove box, only bit of visible cable is up the side of the dash.

 

[Flyinspanner]

If you get a blunt hard piece of plastic, about 3mm x 25mm x100-200mm you could gently ‘knock’ (ease) that cable into that joint.

 

[W1ghty]

BIt of a clean for the ML today, wasn't terribly dirty but nice to keep on top of it.

The other little tweak was installing the dashcam we had in the CLS350 that came before this. It's something I'd been meaning to do for a while but an incident inspired me to install it ASAP. Picked up my youngest daughter from nursery, on a large roundabout a woman in a VW UP! decided not to see the 2+ tonnes of silver SUV and just changed lanes nearly taking out the front wing.

Was actually a very easy install with the fuse kit.

Used a fuse to the left of the glove box, only bit of visible cable is up the side of the dash.

Nice buddy , as always . That cable you can run up the black door seal to the left , then cross the top of the A pillar where the gap is for the trim , and then along the top of the screen under the roof trim .
A chap with your cleaning issues can’t leave that cable looking that visible

 

[W1ghty]

, this will motivate you

 

[Alex225]

Haha I may do at some point. Don't forget it's not my car so doesn't bother me as much hahaha

 

[W1ghty]

Haha I may do at some point. Don't forget it's not my car so doesn't bother me as much hahaha

I’m going to have nightmares

 

[Alex225]

Why is that mate?

To be fair, I have a similar bit of cabling showing in my S Class but it does make it very easy to remove should I need or when I need to so I'm not too worried. Oddly it doesn't trigger my OCD, I think because I know it can be removed easy enough haha

 

[W1ghty]

Why is that mate?

To be fair, I have a similar bit of cabling showing in my S Class but it does make it very easy to remove should I need or when I need to so I'm not too worried. Oddly it doesn't trigger my OCD, I think because I know it can be removed easy enough haha

I’m only joking , it’s just one of those things , sometimes the routing works out , others you have to compromise . On my E class I’ve had to drill through the rear parcel shelf where I wired the dash cam into the boot fuse box , there is a couple of inches of cable visible where it goes from the C pillar through the hole into the shelf . Fortunately I can’t see it from the drivers seat .