I own a 2006 ml Mercedes-Benz with 47K miles. The engine light came on in the car, I had it checked by an independent Mercedes technician who informed me that the balance shaft must be replaced in the car. He gave me a "star bulletin" which is an internal memo produced by Mercedes showing the have known about this defect since August 2007 and have done nothing about notifying owners of the cars with engines effected. It is I have been told a common place issue and in fact a class action lawsuit has been filed in New Jersey against Mercedes over this issue. The problem has to be repaired or the engine can be damaged beyond repair, the cost I have been quoted for the repair is $6000. It was made very clear to me by the technician that a car with 47K miles should not have such an issue and that it is a design flaw that Mercedes thus far has not stepped up to remedy with car owners.

- San Mateo, CA, USA

2006 Mercedes ML350, balancer shaft worn at ~75000 mileage. Balancer shaft gear and/or camshaft chain got totally worn, that will lead to engine lockup at any time if not fixed. I hear similar complains from other Mercedes owners with M272 and M273 engines manufactured in 2006. There also is internal Mercedes technical service bulletin S-B-03.30/08I from October 24, 2008 for this issue. Also there is a class action complaint case 2:33-av-00001 document 9629 filed 10/05/10 in NJ us district court. Based on my past experience as engineered, I conclude premature balancer shaft wear caused by mb supply chain issues (I.e. bad parts). Issue on my car have been diagnosed in 06/2011 and I have been offered a repair for 5 different issues (pretending balancer shaft fixed for free) with labor charges shuffled around to mask balancer shaft issue. Total repair bill is around $10000 which is full price amount for all 5 issues fixed.

- Sterling, VA, USA

On May 18, 2011, I took my 2006 ML350 to an authorized mb dealer due to the check engine light indicator being illuminated. The vehicle was diagnosed with the balance shaft failure. The cost to repair is approx 5K.

- Knightdale, NC, USA

2006 ML350 Mercedes Benz - balance shaft needs to be replaced in a car with under 50,00 miles on it. They want 8,000 to do the job and I am finding more and more people who are having the same issue with this car. I was directed to you by a facebook site that is for people who have the same issue with their Mercedes. I think this is a flaw in the car and they should be recalled.

- Walnut Creek, CA, USA

After driven the new 2006 ML350 for 3500 miles, the low engine oil indicator come up. Took the car to service, and found the car is leaking engine oil in multiple places. It took 1 week to fix the leak between transmission and engine. Then they need to order parts to fix second leak in oil pan. After the part arrived, I took the car to be fixed. After 3 days without any call, I called to find out the status. Now, they said one of the engine cylinder is leaking engine oil and need several more days to fix. It is unknown to me if this engine will have other issues or not after fixing all those oil leaks. The second problem is the automatic transmission sometime suddenly down-shift at low speed. The service manager said this is fixed by reprogram the transmission computer/flash. However, I have not have chance/time to test it out to see if the problem is really fixed.

- Fremont, CA, USA

SUV engine stalled 7/3/2005 going 65 mph without warning; SUV restarted after stall. SUV engine stalled again 7/22/2005 going 45 mph without warning; SUV did not restart after stall. Towed to dealer. The dealer found nothing wrong with vehicle and said cause was water that spilled during the incident however water spilled because of incident not before. SUV had stalled 3 weeks prior and no water was involved. I am scared to drive this vehicle for fear it will stall and I will get hit from behind causing bodily injury or death. Please help if you can. Thank you.

- Laguna Niguel, CA, USA