Drove the new E350 CDI Coupe

[steve_acp]

I'm due to pick up my new E350cdi coupe next week. This thread is quite worrying. Do you think the problems have been ironed out now, or will new vehicles from the factory still suffer????

It seems to be a software issue in the ECU, so if it was ironed out, I think they would have rolled out the fix by now.

Why not arm yourself with some selective quotes off this forum and ask your service manager. Trust me, this will frustrate the hell out of you once it starts.

I think we would all be interested in what they say. The salesman who sold me my car (who's ears I have bent out of shape) will not offer the coupe to merc customers who have previously owned a CLS, as this really highlights the refinement issue. People on their first diesel tend to accept the noise as normal.

Its a great car, if only they will hurry up with the fix!

 

[steve_acp]

mine has come back from the dealers today and after injector recalibration it is definitely quieter and seems to have slightly more power. All in all I am pleased I had it done, not a massive difference but enough for me to notice. It is no longer embarrassing when driving around with a passenger in it !!

Dealer also said that (as I posted earlier on) a software update will be available from end of july. He doubted whether we would automatically be notified, therefore I guess we need to post on here when someone gets wind of one

It would be nice for your dealer to automatically notify you!

 

[JohnDeere8530]

dont worry, it will be sorted by early autumn at the latest according to several sources. Its not that the car is 'bad' with its problem, just not quite as good as it should be. Anyway, this problem starts after several thousand miles, so you should be alright for a good while yet, and when it does happen it creeps up on you, ie you are not instantly aware

Use quality fuel and watch this thread for the update and you'll be ok

 

[alexR1]

It seems to be a software issue in the ECU, so if it was ironed out, I think they would have rolled out the fix by now.

Why not arm yourself with some selective quotes off this forum and ask your service manager. Trust me, this will frustrate the hell out of you once it starts.

I think we would all be interested in what they say. The salesman who sold me my car (who's ears I have bent out of shape) will not offer the coupe to merc customers who have previously owned a CLS, as this really highlights the refinement issue. People on their first diesel tend to accept the noise as normal.

Its a great car, if only they will hurry up with the fix!

I'm on my first diesel and I don't accept it! Something's changed with mine though since hte idle speed has changed by itself! It sounds more refined when idling at 750rpm (albeit pulling slightly too much against transmission). It seems to rev more smoothly once it's idling at 750rpm. However, as soon as to stop the engine and then restart, it idles at 600rpm again sounding just as clattery. Then, once you've driven for a few hundred yards, the high idle speed returns. God knows what's going on!

 

[alexR1]

dont worry, it will be sorted by early autumn at the latest according to several sources. Its not that the car is 'bad' with its problem, just not quite as good as it should be. Anyway, this problem starts after several thousand miles, so you should be alright for a good while yet, and when it does happen it creeps up on you, ie you are not instantly aware

Use quality fuel and watch this thread for the update and you'll be ok

Mine sounded clattery from new and was even worse on supermarket fuel. Slightly better on BP Ultimate. I'm now more worried about the fluctuating idle speed.

 

[steve_acp]

I'm on my first diesel and I don't accept it! Something's changed with mine though since hte idle speed has changed by itself! It sounds more refined when idling at 750rpm (albeit pulling slightly too much against transmission). It seems to rev more smoothly once it's idling at 750rpm. However, as soon as to stop the engine and then restart, it idles at 600rpm again sounding just as clattery. Then, once you've driven for a few hundred yards, the high idle speed returns. God knows what's going on!

I think this is a different issue. I havnt seen this at all in 23k miles now.

 

[alexR1]

I think this is a different issue. I havnt seen this at all in 23k miles now.

Does your's idle at 600rpm like mine did all the time until a couple of weeks ago?

 

[steve_acp]

Always 600 rpm, hot or cold

 

[JohnDeere8530]

further to my post last night, I can now confirm the car is definitely far quieter after its re calibration yesterday. I have been driving it today with window open and the noise is no longer intrusive . Long may this continue

 

[thebook]

Guys, does the reset affect the lag in pulling away?

I was nearly broadsided this morning at a roundabout, put my foot flat to the floor in sports mode to make it across a busy roundabout and as usual there was a delay before the car decided to move, this resulted in me nearly merging my coupe with a toyota...

I took the car to Brooklands but they told me the lag is typical of auto's - strange I said, my wifes Honda is an auto but pulls immediately.

 

[johny5_uk]

No, it hasnt cured the lag when pulling away. When I got mine back after the injector reset I thought it had made the lag slightly better due to the return back to a sensitive throttle, but no the lag is still there and very bad.

Although, are you saying you had the lag in sport mode? because I only get that after the first 5/10 mins of starting the car. After this then the lag is only apparent in AUTO/COMFORT mode (or at least it was after MB messed with updates to my car BEFORE finally resetting the injectors). I hope that the injector reset hasnt copied the lag onto sport auto mode or in fact sport manual and comfort manual!?

My car is back in tomorrow and wednesday for the MB UK Technicians to look at, so I am hoping to go over in the loan car on wednesday to talk to them about everything.

Also this is NOT normal in auto's at all. On my previous CLK 270 CDI when in (W) winter mode, it used to set off in second gear but you could still feel that when you pressed the accelerator pedal, it increased the engine RPM. When setting off in normal auto mode the same, touch pedal, engine rpm increases making you pull away instantly.
This lag is not normal at all, its like the accelerator pedal detaches itself from your engine for up to 2 seconds (at least it feels that long when you have a car coming towards your door after pulling from a junction!).

 

[blu_s2]

Newbie

Hi all, have been reading this thread with real interest. Some great info, and thanks to everyone who has posted on this.

My coupe (just clocked 7k miles) is heading in to my local dealer shortly to try and sort out the tractor noise, which is getting worse and following a 500mile trip this week is now noisy even when hot and my mpg is going down not up as the car runs in. My local service manager has listened to the car and is seeking info from MBUK as to what is/is not known about these issues.

For those interested in the slow pull away, and I know there are other threads on this issue elsewhere, one of my colleagues has an E350CDI Saloon - he's older and more sensible than me so its allowed had his saloon returned from his local dealer last week following an ECU upgrade. He now reports no lag on pulling away and 5-10mpg better economy in all types of driving. The two items were unrelated but were both fixed during the same upgrade. I'm sure its known and on other posts but the root cause of the lag, according to MB, is that the BlueEfficiency package includes putting the car in Neutral when the car is stationary with the footbrake applied. So when you pull away it has to select 1st gear before it can get moving, hence the lag. The ECU upgrade now holds it in 1st gear when at a standstill as MB have had a large number of complaints from saloon owners following near misses.

I do not have word yet as to whether the 'same' fixes can be applied to the coupe ECU. I suspect not as the coupe and saloon have different mappings.

 

[johny5_uk]

Blu_s2, thank you for your update and I cant believe what you have just said.....
I have just come off the phone to the service manager who has been in meetings with the top brass technicians from Milton Keynes today regarding other issues.
My car was one of them with the delay in setting off, tractor noise and poor mpg. To cut a long story I was told there is no instant fix but something is coming in July for the noise AND he explained to me in detail what you have just put regarding the lag.
That indeed due to "Blue Efficiency" when you pull up to a standstill the car disengages the gears and only engages them when you apply the accelerator to set off.

Obviously I was amazed after speaking to him to come to this thread and see your friend had the same issue and has had this resolved along with an explanation.
I have just called the SM back, and if you could, could you possibly pm me the dealer that your friend had the fix done at so I can pass this info on.
My SM said that he doesnt know of any new ECU update and also that the top chaps from MB MK never mentioned any of this to him!? he was gobsmacked....

 

[pamrit]

Hi all, have been reading this thread with real interest. Some great info, and thanks to everyone who has posted on this.

Hi blu_s2 and welcome to the forum. Many thanks for the information and like johny5_uk can not believe that we are getting conflicting answers from MB on this. I have been lucky so far with the noise, but can definitely hear it more now when it is cold. Would be grateful if you can keep us posted with any news to help us with this.

 

[blu_s2]

I don't see any need to send this in a pm as opposed to a thread as I think its fair for us all as buyers of not cheap cars what we understand to be going on.

I have no axe to grind, I've always found my local MB dealer (Brooklands) and their service department first class. 'm perhaps more forgiving than most as I work in high end tech and often have to explain to my customers the cost of being at the cutting edge.

IMO there is probably only one or two really knowledgeable individuals in MB on this at the moment due to how new this breed of engine is. As others have posted there will always be niggles with first generation of engines and to a degree that's the price of technology.

Anyway back to the point. It was MB Hertford who managed to find out about the ECU upgrade and that upgrade has only been available for about 3 weeks - Hertford supplied my car and my colleagues saloon. However, it was MB Warrington that carried out the upgrade last week as that was his local MB Dealer. He had to get Hertford to inform Warrington about the upgrade though as Warrington denied there was an upgrade at first - again I'm not sure MBUK are really getting the message through to dealers clearly.

Just to reiterate though, this upgrade was on the saloon. My guess is, and I'm hoping my friendly SM will confirm soon, that whilst they have rectified the lag on the saloon firmware version, as the coupe was released a few months later they probably haven't got round to having an upgrade ready for the coupe firmware yet.

 

[alexR1]

Just got my C350CDI back today after Mercedes Canterbury working on it since Monday. They have been very willing and helpful and asked if they could keep it a couple of days so they could check the injectors and try a couple of (truly) cold starts.

It transpires that Mercedes had built the car with the injectors not coded correctly(!). Mercedes Canterbury felt that my intermittent problems with the idle speed being erratic could have been the car's "black box" trying to adapt to the uncoded injectors.

On starting the car this afternoon it was definitely much quieter. On driving it, it is less rattly and the pinking noise has gone. Engine seems more refined generally and much nearer to a petrol sound (still slight diesel knock when idling at 600rpm which is to be expected - you can't totally reverse the laws of physics!).

Mercedes Canterbury acknowledge this seems to be a problem that customers are increasingly aware of and are expecting to have to "re-code" more cars in the future. The service manager said that Mercedes Technical Dept. are saying the there is no reason the "fix" should not be permanent once the correct codes have finally been programmed in (should have been done by Mercedes at the factory of course!). They also apparently said that Mercedes in Germany are still blaming some of the problems on the UK's relatively poor quality fuel and that the recommendation is to use the best fuel possible (certainly not supermarket diesel). Personally, I can't see how whatever fuel you use could correct the lack of proper coding in the injectors!

Overall though - car sounds much more like I think it should. Long may it last!

 

[alexR1]

I've had the previous issue of increased idle speed + strange "burning rubber" smell again. The engine was wanting to stay at high revs (above 2000rpm) whenever possible (e.g. delaying upchanges / even forcing engine to run at 2000rpm+ at 80mph when it would normally run at slightly less than 2000rpm).

I previously mentioned this to Mercedes Canterbury and they said they "thought" it was the car "purging" itself *they didn't say purging of what...). No more explanation was given and I can find nothing mentioned in the owners manual to warn drivers about the temporary different running characteristics.

After much research on the internet, it turns out that all the characteristics are due to the diesel particulate filter (dpf) regenerating itself (i.e. purging all the soot particles that are stored in it). The different tone to the engine (which I actually prefer) then returns to the more clattery normal tone when the engine is no longer running rich so as to force the dpf to run at very high temperature in order to achieve the regeneration.

I am pleased I have finally worked out what the issue is. I am surprised it couldn't have been explained to me more fully so thought I would let everyone know.

Diesel ownership seems so full of hassle to me - definitely back to petrol for me when car is replaced...

TechConnect Online News Blog: March 2009 Archives - "Controlling Diesel Emissions"

 

[steve_acp]

I got my injectors re-calibrated, and am in love with the car once more. What a difference. What a pisser that we have to go through this every few thousand miles.

 

[alexR1]

Steve,

Mercedes in Canterbury said the recalibration should be an indefinite fix - mine still sounds a bit clattery when cold but the pinking noise is much diminished to virtual inaudibility so I'm generally happier with mine. Are you saying that you dealer acknowledges that the "fix" doesn't last and is prepared to keep recalibrating every few thousand miles?

 

[steve_acp]

My dealer is very careful not to incriminate themselves, or mercedes.

The first time they re calibrated, they asked me to monitor it, and bring it back should the noise return.

This time, they said mercedes are aware of the problem, and they had sent them "some more information" about a cure and would get back to me (which they never do, I have to chase them).

Do you really think that a mercedes would leave the factory without calibrating the injectors? I dont think so, it looks like the ECU is gradually forgetting the cal, or continually calibrates itself, but gets it wrong.