C350e owners club

[wivenhoe]

Oh I will be looking for a new dealer soon trust me ... but I will not let it go without a fight first. Let's see how they handle my "first official workshop visit"
On another hand, the thing that annoys me the most with Mercedes... you cannot seem to be able to call the dealership and talk to the workshop... you have to go through some booking line.. waste your time to talk to someone who has no idea about servicing, and then you have to get the car in to be diagnosed, you cannot ask someone prior to taking your car to them.

Your dealer seems 'unique' as I have dealt with MB main dealers at Ipswich and Colchester and spoken to the service managers and they have always been very helpful and knowledgeable, rather than a booking line.

 

[CaptainChaos]

My local dealership is part of a group who have a centralised booking service. However if you root around on their website there are direct dials and emails for everyone, so you can contact them direct. Might be worth seeing if Lookers have a similar thing?

 

[greekCL]

My local dealership is part of a group who have a centralised booking service. However if you root around on their website there are direct dials and emails for everyone, so you can contact them direct. Might be worth seeing if Lookers have a similar thing?

I shall have a look. But for the time being I will go to my first booking and I will give them the benefit of the doubt lol

Your dealer seems 'unique' as I have dealt with MB main dealers at Ipswich and Colchester and spoken to the service managers and they have always been very helpful and knowledgeable, rather than a booking line.

I know ... But this is how lookers operate. So while it annoys me I shall raise my concerns at the workshop when I visit on Tuesday and see what they have to say.

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[TheCorm]

My local dealership is part of a group who have a centralised booking service. However if you root around on their website there are direct dials and emails for everyone, so you can contact them direct. Might be worth seeing if Lookers have a similar thing?

I have the email of a service manager guy there, I can almost hear him grown when he gets yet another email from me......greekCL's Pod Point charge history has given me renewed ammo/evidence that my car's batteries have something wrong and can't take on a complete charge....i've emailed MB CS and the local dealer once again.....greekCL....i'd be interested to know if you do have a rough idea of how many charges your car has taken since new?

 

[greekCL]

I have the email of a service manager guy there, I can almost hear him grown when he gets yet another email from me......greekCL's Pod Point charge history has given me renewed ammo/evidence that my car's batteries have something wrong and can't take on a complete charge....i've emailed MB CS and the local dealer once again.....greekCL....i'd be interested to know if you do have a rough idea of how many charges your car has taken since new?

I would have no idea how many cycles it has done from new.
One other idea? ... have you tried to recharge the car via the engine charge function?

I have done mine yesterday on the way back from London, it took about 40miles rapid motorway driving until it reached to 100% from 14%
This seems to be the most agressive function for charging the car, kind like a rapid charge equivalent I guess. Would you see any difference on this?

For your reference my car shows anything from 14miles to 16miles when fully charged, but this is a just a guesstimate
It has now done 24300miles and it is registered Dec 2015

 

[TheCorm]

I would have no idea how many cycles it has done from new.
One other idea? ... have you tried to recharge the car via the engine charge function?

I have done mine yesterday on the way back from London, it took about 40miles rapid motorway driving until it reached to 100% from 14%
This seems to be the most agressive function for charging the car, kind like a rapid charge equivalent I guess. Would you see any difference on this?

For your reference my car shows anything from 14miles to 16miles when fully charged, but this is a just a guesstimate
It has now done 24300miles and it is registered Dec 2015

My estimate is mostly based on me charging on average probably 10 or so times a week. I've not used the charge function much as it seems to use a lot of fuel and most have suggested it's not worth it, I guess I could as an experiment, but it wouldn't tell me how much kwh equivalent it had created, I would assume 100% would still be the same and probably still show 8 miles.

If I reset manually like when I fillup the electric range often shows 12-13 miles but after a couple of cycles it changes to 10 or lower, could argue I am driving it hard I guess but I don't think I am and the biggest factory is always the fact that it's taking in less power to charge so it's never going to last as long, on the 7kw chargers at work (3.6kw usable on the c350e of course) it's taking now less than 1 hour to charge, in the past it was always about 90 minutes.

 

[greekCL]

My estimate is mostly based on me charging on average probably 10 or so times a week. I've not used the charge function much as it seems to use a lot of fuel and most have suggested it's not worth it, I guess I could as an experiment, but it wouldn't tell me how much kwh equivalent it had created, I would assume 100% would still be the same and probably still show 8 miles.

If I reset manually like when I fillup the electric range often shows 12-13 miles but after a couple of cycles it changes to 10 or lower, could argue I am driving it hard I guess but I don't think I am and the biggest factory is always the fact that it's taking in less power to charge so it's never going to last as long, on the 7kw chargers at work (3.6kw usable on the c350e of course) it's taking now less than 1 hour to charge, in the past it was always about 90 minutes.

I don't understand it as the car should not show 100% if the full capacity is not reached. Maybe it is a software issue?

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[TheCorm]

I don't understand it as the car should not show 100% if the full capacity is not reached. Maybe it is a software issue?

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They applied software updates all over the shop. One of them made that electrical/pump type whirring that you hear when creeping in electric or when you plug in to charge get louder and more frequent, then it stopped and the smell started....I think they've broken something.....but they tell me there is nothing wrong.....

For me, it's always made that noise and it sounds like something that regulates the battery temps, now it suddenly doesn't, that can't be right....but trying to find someone who not only understands what I mean but is actively doing something to sort it has so far been impossible, i've been in this fight for about 6 months now.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

I think the issue is 'what does 100% mean'. We know that we don't get to use the entire 6.3kWh capacity of the pack, there are upper and lower buffer zones. Based on the data @TheCorm has, they battery pack on his car is now operating as if it is roughly 5kWh and he only gets about 3.5kWh of it.

It seems that '100%' is very much a movable feast. A more honest appraisal of battery condition would be good. I believe the Nissan Leaf has a battery condition indicator on the dash at all times. More important on a pure EV though!

BTW, I fired that hybrid warranty question back to MB after that brochure came to light and they are 'looking into it'. More when I get it.


Re the potential for @TheCorm's issue to be related to the temperature management, that certainly sounds plausible. I have a Tesla Powerwall2 at home and the pump that circulates the coolant has failed. This was diagnosed after I caught it refusing to take charge from solarPV when ambient temperatures had been low and I also noticed that it was very power-limited as well, only taking or giving limited power. I didn't notice that it limited capacity as such, but due to the way things turned out, never really had the right combination of sun and temperature to see if it would. If the cooling system for the battery in the car was broken, then it would indeed limit charge, as well as discharge rates and regen rates too I'd expect.

Keep pushing until you find someone who knows what they are doing. I had to persist with my Powerwall issue to get someone to think that maybe it wasn't a software fix and that there actually was a hardware issue. Sadly, we've had two generations of 'engineers' who are trained to think that there is a software 'Wizard' to fix everything. They seem almost blind to hardware failures.

 

[Skye64]

Hi, just checked the NHS lease scheme. I pay around £350 for a C350e sport estate. Now £636! Any one know why the price increase? BMW 5 hybrid Msport £417 on the same scheme.
Just a month or so ago a E se hybrid £400 now £650+.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

I’d guess residuals? Folk seem scared of anything with more than a 12v battery

 

[TheCorm]

Hi, just checked the NHS lease scheme. I pay around £350 for a C350e sport estate. Now £636! Any one know why the price increase? BMW 5 hybrid Msport £417 on the same scheme.
Just a month or so ago a E se hybrid £400 now £650+.

Yeah others that followed me and my colleague wanted the c350e but the rental had gone up too much. Around £580 for the Sport with Arval inc. maintenance plan now.

 

[TheCorm]

My car is booked in for a week Tuesday to pickup my new home charge pack (at last!) and for further investigations.

My contact there seemed even more keen this time as he knows I am hassling MB direct who seem to have my hassle down as an official complaint against the retailer....they've even booked me a C class loan car instead of the usual A class.

Will see if we get somewhere this time.

 

[greekCL]

My car is booked in for a week Tuesday to pickup my new home charge pack (at last!) and for further investigations.

My contact there seemed even more keen this time as he knows I am hassling MB direct who seem to have my hassle down as an official complaint against the retailer....they've even booked me a C class loan car instead of the usual A class.

Will see if we get somewhere this time.

I hope you get it all sorted.
I have not asked what courtesy car I am getting lol mmm

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[TheCorm]

I hope you get it all sorted.
I have not asked what courtesy car I am getting lol mmm

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Usually it's an A Class, I had a a180d Sport, that wasn't great but since then I've been given the same a200d which was much more enjoyable and was in AMG line so looked boy racery and had some bits mine doesn't.

 

[mknight1701]

There have been a couple of folk on here saying just that - new bumper. Presumably the break happens on the bracket attached to the bumper that can't be repaired (read - MB won't repair). Does seem very poor bit of design. If the flap was sacrificial to protect the bumper, you could kind of understand that as a repair could be relatively cheap and easy to effect. As it is, it seems to save the flap and trash the bumper.

That said, all the charge port covers seem to be a bit fragile and vulnerable for some reason. I'd think a top hinged one would be safer personally - shorter lever if you do catch it, somewhat protected by the charge plug when on charge, less likely to be at knee-height. And it might help keep out the rain.

So I broke my glued flap again. Its because of where I park and the exit to the drive.
Anyway, insurance, non Mercedes repair is £274 and Mercedes quote was £287 (£42 for the hinge and 1.5hrs to remove the bumper to replace the part)

 

[Brollyman]

Speaking of broken charging flaps, I was rear ended by a van yesterday at a roundabout. The van's bumper caught my bumper square on the flap area so it looks like i'll need a new bumper and exhaust trim and I suspect there's damage to the brackets that hold the charging socket in place as it's now loose.

The car (Sport estate) is still charging so I assume that the cabling is ok, but I'm not leaving it charging unattended just in case.

My insurance company have already been in touch with the van driver's insurers and it seems that the repairs have been authorised already. It will be interesting to see how much the costs are.

 

[greekCL]

Well I went to the workshop booking today with my little list.
- creak/slight rattle noise from the dashboard binnacles when cold --- There was something unclipped, they clipped it back and they said to monitor and report back
- petrol smell happened once --- No evidence of petrol smell when they checked the car, but according to other users I know it is difficult to pin point or make it happen.
- wheel woble or break warped or shock issue?... something is happening when getting up to 70mph from the front right of the car ... esp when braking --- They did not have time to take the car on a run ... so it has to be rebooked
- driver seat has a very strange part of artico leather worn... like it has been licked to death... --- They taken pictures and awaiting to hear back regarding this.
- gearbox changes from electric/petrol and low gears on electric can jolt sometimes.. --- There was an update for the ECU controller they applied it, they told me to monitor it and report back.
- ext. temperature update to show on trip computer --- they said the latest update is applied they still cannot understand why this does not show.

Incidentally at 9:01 this morning as soon as I walked in the dealership to drop of my car, MB Customer Services replied to me via email regarding the Ext. Temp display so I sent this to the dealership.
So this email made the workshop to have the head scratching... they have now escalated it and waiting to hear if there is anything else they are meant to be doing.

The car is rebooked for the 9th and 10th of April, for a more in depth investigation esp. on the suspension wobble on motorway cruising.
The car feels like the front shock has lost it's gas ... or it is seized... makes my speech sound like a darlik on occasions lol

See the email below:

27th March 2018
Ref: GB-1
Dear Mr

Mercedes-Benz Model: C-Class C 350 e
Chassis No:

Thank you for contacting Mercedes-Benz Customer Service.

I can confirm that after a software update is performed on this car then you will have the outside temperature display. So in order for this update to be performed I would advise you to book this in with you nearest Mercedes-Benz Retailer which can be found here; Dealer Locator

Should you have any further requirements please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely
Customer Service UK

Usually it's an A Class, I had a a180d Sport, that wasn't great but since then I've been given the same a200d which was much more enjoyable and was in AMG line so looked boy racery and had some bits mine doesn't.

I had a B200d ... '67 plate I hated every moment with it to be honest. Yes it had an airy interior but the seats were not as comfortable.
The stop start function was getting on my t!ts.!! lol
And the engine was underpowered!
Yet it would return 48MPG ...??? What?!?! Who complains for the C350e??

 

[Jackcramerr]

Guys need some help.

1. How many charge cable did your c350e came with?
2. Have you noticed that if you drive the car. Then turn off ignition and lock the car. The engine fan starts to spin?
3. I am facing issue with charging. Is this car AC or DC? In my case it is not charging and flashes red battery sign.

Thanks

 

[grober]

Guys need some help.

1. How many charge cable did your c350e came with?
2. Have you noticed that if you drive the car. Then turn off ignition and lock the car. The engine fan starts to spin?
3. I am facing issue with charging. Is this car AC or DC? In my case it is not charging and flashes red battery sign.

Thanks

see this other thread c350e 13AMP Charger Box Grommet Broken Full of Water but this is the main hybrid thread