Tell me about Mercedes W211 E class diesels

[bigstraight6]

Well learned colleagues, I'm looking to replace my trusty Volvo S60 D5 with a Mercedes W211 E class of either 280/320 CDI flavour and would be grateful for your thoughts, good bad or ugly......

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I am currently sitting in my 2008 280 CDi at Heathrow between jobs. I've only had this one since September after a cam chain disaster with my BMW. I don't know why I didn't get one before really, I bought it with 138k of the second owner , it's just clocked up 150,000, so 12k in just under 2 months, no probs so far. It's not fast but apparently it's cheap to remap up to 320/350 power ( all the same 3.0 V6 ) but it'll sit at 90 all day and night whilst doing 40/44mpg. The engines are unburstable, I've had a 350 CLS and a Chrysler 300 with this lump and covered 1/2 a million miles without any engine issues . The 7spd gearbox doesn't have a great reputation for longevity and I'm getting the fluid and filters done on mine next month to try and extend its life a bit.

 

The general consensus is to get a post 2007 facelift as they're supposed to be completely different although I bought a53 plate ex-taxi 220cdi with 350k on it a couple of years ago and it was a brilliant thing, sold it to a Romanian lad at the car wash and apparently his uncle's still driving it around Bucharest!

Price is very spec dependent, mines an Avantgarde, which only come as standard with half leather but luckily the original owner paid out for full cream nappa ( smooth) . Everyone wants the Sports, which look great with nice 18"s and get standard Command ,but they have nasty plastic ( LeatherTwin in Merc speak) seats. You can even get 3.0 Classics which make W124 200's look luxurious.

There's loads of choice, most will have seen duty as a Private Hire car by now, so take mileage with a pinch of salt- a lot get a haircut every year between MOTs- allegedly.

[Paul Dupart]

I'm on my third E Class estate (S211), I've bought them all at about 3 and a bit years old with full history, 40-50k miles, cost Focus LX money by then.  Started with a 53 plate E270CDi 5 cylinder with 5 speed auto. Brilliant car, engine unburstable but sounded like a tractor, would do early 40's on a run.  No problems in 3 years..

 

Next was an 07 plate E280CDi 3 litre Sport ( 190bhp, E320s same engine but were about 225bhp).  Looked great but couldn't get on with the sport suspension and 18" wheels, our roads are just to crap.  Didn't do so well on fuel, 37-38 mpg  on a run at best but very smooth for a diesel (V6).  Found 7 speed auto jumpy when cold.  Always had starting problems, all glowplugs and the control unit eventually replaced, never really sorted it, Mrs got fed up of me grumbling about it and told me to shut up or change it!  So eventually px'd it...

 

..for a 58 plate E220CDi.  Had it 3 and a half years now and love it. Sensible 16" alloys/suspension, back to the old 5 speed auto (probably the best merc box ever) and 40ish around town, 48-50 on a motorway at 70-80 mph.  And nav/leather/ memory heated seats.  Only problem was a front coil spring snapping recently while parked on the drive one night, not an uncommon problem, but managed to drive it to my mates garage for repair after RAC man fitted some spacers on the strut.  Not as smooth as the V6 but has balancer shafts to help. Has 170bhp, almost as powerful.  

 

Look out for:  Some early 2003/4 cars had a radiator problem, auto box fluid cooler was built in to the water coolant rad,  water leakage to the box fluid could occur knackering up the at least the torque converter and possibly the auto box in some cases.  These have probably all been either sorted or scrapped by now!  

Prior to 2006 cosmetic facelift, cars had SBC (sensonic brake control) fly by wire, or rather stop by wire braking systems.  The SBC units have limited life and could again render an early car scrap with a £2k fix.

Best go for a 2006 facelift on with normal brakes.  211's don't rust unless a bad previous repair, they learnt their lesson with crap steel on the 210's. Electrics are very reliable, interiors wear well. Oil, filters, pads, discs etc. are all easy DIY Sunday morning 'on the drive' jobs or your local garage can do it. Cams are chain driven.  Genuine parts are mostly a reasonable cost.  You'll find 211's registered up to 09 plate before the new shape 212's took over.  

 

There's a couple of good UK Merc forums:  http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/  http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/

 

Keep us posted....

[gordonbennet]

Yes, you want 07 on preferably, mucho good changes at facelift, not least the dropping of the PITA SBC brakes.

 

Understand the V6 Diesels can have piss flap and EGR problems, but daresay a proper indy will know the signs and take appropriate action.

Auto box oil change apparently needs STAR to make it happen as someone once said, oil has to be pressure pumped in or summat, not as i have any personal experience.

 

Chap i used to drive private hire for part time in a previous life runs E220's now, has them serviced by my MB indy from new, he usually sells them on @ 400+k miles and in that time its normally only regular servicing and consumables that is needed, though one did need a couple of injectors sorting @ around 300k,  when you see them they stand out a mile on the road due to be driven as professionally as you'll find anywhere, that must contribute in no small part to a long life.

[Paul Dupart]

 

Understand the V6 Diesels can have piss flap and EGR problems, but daresay a proper indy will know the signs and take appropriate action.

 

In hindsight, that's probably what was wrong with my V6..... 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I fixed the piss flap motor on my Chrysler with the 10pence resistor mod.

When the swirl flap motor fails it stays open which causes the engine to go limp, you disconnect the plug above the turbo ,put a resistor ( can't remember what size, but it'll be on Merc and Chrysler forums) across the plug and tape it in. The flaps close,engine runs fine and eml even goes off without having to plug in to Star.

Someone imports a fancy plug with a resistor in it that looks original, I bought one for £30 and when the 300 got written off I pulled it out- so I'm ready for my Merc one going, although there seem to be lots of repair* kits on eBay for swirl motors, so perhaps there's a new bodge.

[gordonbennet]

No danger of the bloody piss flaps coming off and being injested by the engine then like Beemers?

 

We've had two 320 Beemer Diesels in the family and both went in to PMG (think its those letters) at Chelmsford for flap removal and blanking plates, engines ran just as well after..so WTF fit some dodgy piece of shit like that in the first place, grr.

 

Is it the same on Merc's, take 'em off an bin the buggers?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

No, Mercs don't have this BMW feature. But then BM weren't consistent either, I had an 03 525d that according to popular knowledge had them and would end in certain disaster. I stripped the inlet manifold off after buying blanking plates off eBay, only to find it hadn't got em and never had, WTF?

[Bear]

Some of the engines seem to have been hit by manifold material disintegrating and being ingested with predictable results.

 

Last W211 I looked at was in dreadful condition and allegedly only 33,000 miles. It was a 2003 E500 though.

[RoadworkUK]

Top tip with the OM642 V6. The red rubber seal into the inlet manifold should be changed every time you renew the air filters.

 

I've seen a lot of Inlet Port Shut-Off motor faults due to oil passing through them. Symptom is a lot like turbo failure and can be avoided for five quid.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[bigstraight6]

Many thanks for the useful replies here chaps, I'm a bit concerned about the exhaust manifolds made of cardboard and the brake system on the post 06 cars that can lead to eye watering repair bills when it goes tits up, so I might well hold out for an 06 onward car....

[Lacquer Peel]

Keep the Volvo.

[bigstraight6]

Keep the Volvo.

I have thought about that! I must confess the Volvo is a great car and very well screwed together, the underside still looks like a brand new car! Two things I don't like, hardly any legroom in the back and a truly awful turning circle....

[andrew e]

Go for a W212?

[Uncle Jimmy]

Olde Volvos always had very small turning circles. Suppose that's harder with fwd.

[gordonbennet]

Olde Volvos always had very small turning circles. Suppose that's harder with fwd.

 

It is on most cars, but it doesn't need to be, try a Peugeot Boxer van, really good tight turning circle, even our bloody 4WD Landcruiser and Subaru Outback have decent turning circles so why most FWD only cars need the same space as supertanker to turn round i can't fathom.

[bigstraight6]

It is on most cars, but it doesn't need to be, try a Peugeot Boxer van, really good tight turning circle, even our bloody 4WD Landcruiser and Subaru Outback have decent turning circles so why most FWD only cars need the same space as supertanker to turn round i can't fathom.

You are damn right Mr GB, the Volvo is hard work to place in a car park and makes me look a right spanner behind the wheel, a bit embarrassing when you drive lorries for a living!.....

[gordonbennet]

Ha, the lad also drives lorries, he bought a little Panda 100hp boneshaker ostensibly for his Mrs, but actually another toy for him to thrash about in, well i reckon it had about a 2/3rd worse turning circle than your bloody Volvo if that's possible, boy did he feel a right tit taking about 4 shunts for the simplest parks in that little thing.