I picked this note up from a Mercedes-Benz interest group website, and examined my ML320, and found this to be a true danger (ticking time bomb). Here: Don't know if this has been a subject of discussion before, so forgive me if it has, I'm new here. I'm a dealership technician in southern ca, and I see a lot of the routine failures on all of the models. Most of the time, when something safety related is a repeat or common failure on a car, there is a recall or a campaign on the issue. Not this time. For the last few years, I have been seeing 163's with chafed fuel and brake lines. Now there's two very important systems on any vehicle, fuel and brakes. The typical failure is directly below the master cylinder at the foremost brake line. The only fuel line rests innocently against the line, chafing and rubbing for many miles. Now, you would think, ok, it's a rubber hose on a metal line, no big deal, right? no! the fuel line is lined with braided stainless steel, which effectively cuts into the brake line. I have personally replaced several brake/fuel line combos on these vehicles, and seen many others do the same. Any time I see it, I replace the lines, and bring it to the attention of higher-level personnel in mb, but two years from the first one I had seen, there has not been to date (to the best of my knowledge) any recognition of this failure by mb corporate. More common on ml 55, 500, 430 up to 2003. They seem to have shortened the fuel line on the newest vehicles. If I come across one soon, I'll try to take a picture to give you folks an idea of what I'm talking about. A friend worked on one out of state that had complete brake failure, and the woman driving ended up going through a stoplight. I'll check in once in a while, if anyone has any questions I'll do my best to answer them. Just a heads-up, do yourself a favor and go look at your engine fuel line.

- Bloomington, MN, USA