Is a 2001 ML320 2 or 4 wheel drive?

i have a 2001 ML320 and went to Tahoe. It seemed to slip a tiny on the snow and wondering if this is a 4 wheel drive car?>? Only the ML320, not anything else.

All the ML 320s made with four wheel drive in 2001 had a low range. Look on your dash board to the right of the steering wheel and about 2 inches to the left of your radio power on button for a rocker switch that states “LOW RANGE.: If you got that button then you got a four wheel drive vehicle. You can not have a “LOW RANGE” without a automobile being a four wheel drive.

In general the ML 320 is an all wheel drive automobile with open differentials. That saves about 50 to 100 pounds of weight. The way they keep the wheels from slipping since the diffs are open is by using the brakes to keep a tire with less traction from spinning. With this system even if only one tire has traction you should be able to move forward.

If you are slipping and you do have a four wheel drive, there could be a number of reasons.

Are you using a decent tire? No matter how good a four wheel drive system is, if you’re using summer tires or tires that are worn down, you are going to have some slippage. I use off road tires year around. (Cooper Discovery AT 265R16-70 currently. The higher series gives me more rubber between the rim and the rocks.) They give me the traction in the winter and unlike snow tires, they don’t wear down during the summer as they’re made of a longer lasting rubber than are snow tires. I find I’ve to replace them about every 30,000 miles.

Do you’ve the same size tires all the way around? If not, that’s what your problem is for sure. The antilock brake system which keeps tires from spinning when traction is bad is dependent upon the tires being the same size. Even if you’ve the same size but different brands, that could cause the problem.

Are your brakes working OK? Since the brakes are what keep wheels from spinning it is possible that if you have bad brakes they’ll effect how the anti-spin system works on the wheels. If you see the brake light flickering on and off you need to get them checked ASAP.

Lastly, even with four wheel drive you have to follow the three basic rules of winter driving.

1. Do not start fast. Even with four wheel drive if you bang down on the gas the sudden torque to the wheels will make them spin. Start off slow and gentle.

2. Do not turn fast. Even if you’re driving a sports automobile you’ll hit a certain point where the tires break loose. In the snow, it comes a lot faster. Go around even a gentle turn too fast and you skid. Make a sudden jerk on the steering wheel and you can loose traction too. Make all direction changes slow.

3. Do not stop fast. With traction control, sometimes it is impossible to halt fast. The brakes pulsate and while you maintain traction it takes forever to cease. This is a real disadvantage in snow. If your wheels would lock you would build up a snow mound in front of your tires, they would push you down deeper into the snow and you stop fast. But then you’re stuck. Either way, the way to stay out of trouble is to not try to cease fast. Keep your speed down.

If all the above problems are OK and you still find you were slipping then you were doing something too fast. Reread the three rules of winter driving again.