Strange set of problems: related?

[Excognito]

It's my own fault - I tempted Murphy.

I have a Mercedes W210 E320 CDi estate on an 02 plate. After addressing a number of fuel leak issues when I first got it, the car had been running smoothly, albeit with a rather low looking engine coolant temperature gauge. Average mpg around 35-36 mpg on my daily commute; I recently tried to drive it like the archetypal little old lady and managed an average of 40 mpg over several days and several hundred miles. So ... I made the mistake of feeling that the car was running rather well. Which is where Murphy stepped in.

Travelling down the motorway at 80 mph ... did I say 80? I meant 70, course ..., I thought a bump in the road felt strange, then the little triangular light flashed, followed a few seconds later by a bang and slight disturbance in the force through my steering wheel. Yep, front right-hand tyre shredded. Tyre duly changed and journey continued.

However, when I stopped and turned the engine off, I noticed that the cabin fan was still blowing. Prodding various buttons and restarting / restopping the engine made no difference. First things first, I checked the fuses and none of the likely culprits stopped the fan, so I took every one out in turn. This didn't work either and the number of potential combinations discouraged me from doing further experiments. A bit of smartphone research later, revealed this to be a reasonably common problem and the only first-aid cure seemed to be to disconnect the battery - no fuse! (? What ever happened to Failure Mode Analysis and single-point failure evaluation? duh!)

Reconnecting the battery resulted in a plethora (*) of pretty lights, including two malfunctions to do with the braking system (ABS). Didn't seem to affect braking, so I carried on.

The next time, I left the car for about an hour and didn't disconnect the battery as I expected it to last for a couple of hours. Wrong. Flat as a battery that's Professor of Euclidean planar geometry at the University of Flatland. Ah well. After jump-restarting, the gearbox went into limp mode but restored normal operation after I turned the car off then back again a few miles later.

And then finally, I wound the window down to talk to a friend and it wouldn't go up when I tried to close it. I eventually managed to get it back in place by pulling it up whilst my wife pressed the switch. One of my boys then pressed the switch on the passenger side and the same thing happened ... (anybody know how to get blood stains out of leather seats? ) ...

Now, I happen to belong to the Biggles School of Correlation (once is happenstance, twice is coincidence and three times is enemy action), so I'm wondering if there is possibly an underlying cause for these problems (outside of simple old age). I can see that the battery disconnect/reconnect might have caused the later problems, but the constant fan issue was the cause of the battery removal and would seem to be a separate issue - it's just the coincidence of it occurring post tyre-change that makes me wonder if there is more than just coincidence at work.

Thank you.

_______________________________________________

(*) I've had a penchant for "plethora" even since watching The Three Amigos Three Amigos-What Is A Plethora? - YouTube

 

[Dieselman]

The windows and steering need to be reset to get rid of the window and ABS problems.

Press the window switch lightly to send the glass down. When it reaches the bottom, hold the switch for 3-4 seconds, then reverse the procedure in the up direction. This will normalise the windows.

For the ABS/ESP issue turn the steering lock to lock a couple of times.

The fan will be controlled by a fuse, check the ones int eh engine bay fusebox and those in the rear fusebox.

The gearbox issue was due to low battery voltage.

You might just have a dodgy battery or alarm module causing the battery to go flat and the subsequent issues.

 

[Stratman]

Change the thermostat, they're a common failure. The running temperature and MPG will both improve.

 

[Excognito]

The windows and steering need to be reset to get rid of the window and ABS problems.

Press the window switch lightly to send the glass down. When it reaches the bottom, hold the switch for 3-4 seconds, then reverse the procedure in the up direction. This will normalise the windows.

For the ABS/ESP issue turn the steering lock to lock a couple of times.

The fan will be controlled by a fuse, check the ones int eh engine bay fusebox and those in the rear fusebox.

The gearbox issue was due to low battery voltage.

You might just have a dodgy battery or alarm module causing the battery to go flat and the subsequent issues.

Thanks. I'll try the resets you gave.

However, as for the fan, I've already taken all of the fuses out (at least, all of the ones I could find, both in the engine bay and under the rear seat) and it didn't make any difference.

 

[Excognito]

Change the thermostat, they're a common failure. The running temperature and MPG will both improve.

Thanks. I've got the mechanic coming round this week to have a look at the fan issue, so I'll get him to look at the thermostat as well - I hope it will improve the cabin temperature as well, as it's been pretty lukewarm on a few mornings even after 20 minutes driving.

 

[Stratman]

^^^^ The cabin will be nice and toasty, and quickly too.

 

[Excognito]

Ah well, the problem has gone away. I was rear-ended whilst stationary in traffic and the fire brigade had to cut the doors and central pillar away to get me out. I guess I'm looking for a new E320.

 

[richard]

Ouch, that was an extreme way to fix it.

I hope you are OK !!!

Richard

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

OMG. I was so enjoying your style of writing and could see that a new thermostat, and possibly battery, could end your tales of woe.

Hope you are OK

 

[Dieselman]

Ah well, the problem has gone away. I was rear-ended whilst stationary in traffic and the fire brigade had to cut the doors and central pillar away to get me out.

They always do that. I reckon if when they attended you were out of the car, they would ask you to get back in so they could get the cutting gear out.

I'm sure it's just so they can justify the ridiculous charges they make to the insurance companies...and their existence.

 

[markjay]

....I'm sure it's just so they can justify... ...and their existence.

What, the Fire Brigade?

 

[Dieselman]

What, the Fire Brigade?

Yes.

Pontoneer gave us the figures the Scottish Fire Service charge for an RTA...£20k per appliance, iirc.

A quick bit of maths showed that the complete costs of the service were being clawed back from attending RTA.

Someone else put up a picture of someone they knows car after it had been side-swiped at a junction, knackering both n/s doors.

Guess what happened....Yep...Convertible time...

 

[Excognito]

Thanks for the thoughts, apart from a slightly worse neck and back than usual, I'm a little surprised by the fact that it's not *much* worse.

To be fair to the fire brigade, they did take medical advice that they didn't have to cut the roof away and that, with a suitable neck-brace, I could step out once there was room for me to turn. I'm sorry for the poor old Mercedes (yes, I know - it's just a bit of metal and plastic ...) but on the bright side, it saves me having to fix the faults, replace the tyre and get a few other jobs done.

My problem now is finding a suitable replacement that I won't have to spend the next 6 months worrying about what faults are going to suddenly appear!