What to look out for on a E320cdi???

[Dieselman]

The issue was brought to my attention by my local dealership in house bodyshop, way before it was mentioned on here.

 

[glojo]

The issue was brought to my attention by my local dealership in house bodyshop, way before it was mentioned on here.

yeh, yeh... we believe you

The only example you could find just happened to be ........

Regards
John

 

[Paddcomp]

Although I don't have the expertease of some of the W211 owners on here, my inlaws have one and the problem they found hasn't been mentioned yet so here goes;

The batteries have a habit of draining over just a few days on inactivity, inlaws had several visits (and call outs) to the dealers before it was fixed. Every excuse from the ambient lighting to the alarm, before they fitted a heavy duty battery. Don't recall them having problems since.

 

[Paddcomp]

No connection but this might be of help:-

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=51332

 

[Diesel Benz]

Although I don't have the expertease of some of the W211 owners on here, my inlaws have one and the problem they found hasn't been mentioned yet so here goes;

The batteries have a habit of draining over just a few days on inactivity, inlaws had several visits (and call outs) to the dealers before it was fixed. Every excuse from the ambient lighting to the alarm, before they fitted a heavy duty battery. Don't recall them having problems since.

Sounds like some issue with quiescent current where the heavy duty battery really wasn't a fix to the real issue. Different things can cause this, I don't want to refer to an earlier post where one particular car got fixed and it isn't always the same electronic unit causing it. Anyway I would not consider this an E320CDI specific or even E-class specific issue.

 

[glojo]

Sounds like some issue with quiescent current where the heavy duty battery really wasn't a fix to the real issue. Different things can cause this, I don't want to refer to an earlier post where one particular car got fixed and it isn't always the same electronic unit causing it. Anyway I would not consider this an E320CDI specific or even E-class specific issue.

Hi Diesel,
In fairness to the poster there was a service bulletin released about this issue and a fix was introduced.

Another cause though which is possibly the main culprit is the lack of use, or short commute distances. We are talking about a big, heavy diesel engine, shed loads of electrical gizzmos. SBC etc, all activating before the engine fires up and then the car only travels a short distance of maybe less than 10 miles which is not enough to replace the drainage.

regards
John

 

[Diesel Benz]

We are talking about a big, heavy diesel engine, shed loads of electrical gizzmos. SBC etc, all activating before the engine fires up and then the car only travels a short distance of maybe less than 10 miles which is not enough to replace the drainage.

True, but if I remember right, someone was talking about a dead battery after a couple of days. I do not consider that acceptable even with the standard battery. Both of my cars often sleep for a week and I don't even remember a "convenience functions switched off" message. Driving short distances would be an issue but a bigger battery would neither help there, unless there are longer trips every now and then.

 

[glojo]

True, but if I remember right, someone was talking about a dead battery after a couple of days. I do not consider that acceptable even with the standard battery. Both of my cars often sleep for a week and I don't even remember a "convenience functions switched off" message. Driving short distances would be an issue but a bigger battery would neither help there, unless there are longer trips every now and then.

Definitely agree
Many months ago I posted the relevant Technical Service Bulletin regarding this issue.

The thing that impressed me was the free quality control inspections our cars all went through when they went in for a service. YES it is crazy that customers like me were doing the research and development on this car, but at least the manufacturer acknowledged there was a problem and now these cars have an excellent reliability reputation and that includes the older, well maintained vehicles.

I do however find it frustrating that a buyer goes out of their way to buy a cheap so called bargain and then when they find this bargain is not what they thought it was, they go to a main dealer and cry foul.

The 211 is an excellent vehicle, but it must be spoilt, it must be regularly serviced and maintained by a garage that knows what they are doing and has all the equipment and ALL the upgrades that are regularly issued by Mercedes-Benz. If folks want a cheap bargain they must must go into this with their eyes wide open and accept the consequences of their decisions.

John

 

[Donza]

I remember getting the flat battery problem a lot in my first W211.

It was a pain in the proverbial. No such issues yet on the current W211.

 

[hawk20]

hi there all.

im going to see a E320 CDI on Sunday.

its the 3200cc engine with the 5 speed box.

Car is a 2005 model with 120,000 on it. Full MB Service history.

What should i be looking out for? any particular area's?

Many thanks.

What sort of budget have you? A high proportion of E class owners buy another E or another Mercedes and part ex the old one. So the best ones tend to end up with MB dealers. Contrary to what you might expect, dealer prices are currently highly competitive with private sales (the market is very sluggish) and you get the approved used 12 month warranty. Worth a look on the MB website which has a good search engine for approved used.
http://www.mercedes-benz.motortrak.com/matrix.php?csref=embuk
Swindon and Wakefield both have E320cdi’s with only around 40k miles on them for under £15k, both from 2005. Amazing value. Recession is being very kind to second-hand buyers. I bought my E estate from Wakefield and can thoroughly recommend them. Ask for Steve Clark in sales and haggle!

 

[scumbag]

It would be Donza's car though...

that reminds me. we have run out of PAPER

I must order a box. Now what size shall I get?