Mercedes E320 CDI S211, Shite or Shiteable?

[Snake Charmer]

Stripped out the SBC pump on V2.0 over the weekend and had a look at the brushes, down to around 6.5mm so ordered some new ones and 5ltrs of Dot4+ fluid. Someone has replaced a brake line with copper so will probably replace that with Kunifer. Dreading looking at the rear lines that rot, aiming for Mot 1st July.

[Snake Charmer]

SBC motor brushes fitted, bedded in and unit refitted to the car. Bleeding to be done tomorrow with Xentry and @bobdisk fingers crossed. Left the copper brake line just in case the unit needs changing or if successful an easy fix if the rears are rotten and need doing.

[Snake Charmer]

Bit busy with the garden today so brakes not bled. I did have a fiddle with Xentry and managed to delete all codes except the missing drivers door memory mirror. As the pressure washer was out i blasted all the moss that has grown due to where its been parked, makes my current S211 look really shabby!

[Snake Charmer]

Missed it! 🤣

[Popsicle]

2 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

Missed it! 🤣

Drive it in reverse for a mile.

[Snake Charmer]

8 hours ago, Popsicle said:

Drive it in reverse for a mile.

Bueller! Nice MGB though.

[Snake Charmer]

The weather was good enough last night to work outside so I had a go at V2.0 again. Fitted a spare AGM battery and bled the SBC on S211 V2.0 with my MacGuyver pressure bleeder and my glamorous assistant @bobdisk to watch the laptop and hit F3 multiple times, Bob is the king of the F3 key. Good grief does the SBC munch its way through Dot4+. Currently have no fault codes for the SBC, once the wheels go back on and I do a lap of the drive I expect C235C to return and S211 V1.0 will be donating an SBC unit with new motor brushes. Just as I expected, at least one side is showing a  crusty rear brake line to compliment the copper front line.

[bobdisk]

..........and pump the pedal  💪

[SiC]

When Panhard65 did my brake pipes + caliper, both my Foxwell and his Autel wouldn't run the SBC bleed program. Both said the voltage was too low, even with the engine started. 

Anyway he gravity bled it and was absolutely fine. Only got through half a litre of fluid too. 

[Snake Charmer]

2 hours ago, bobdisk said:

..........and pump the pedal  💪

I didn't see your feet move! 😄

[Snake Charmer]

49 minutes ago, SiC said:

When Panhard65 did my brake pipes + caliper, both my Foxwell and his Autel wouldn't run the SBC bleed program. Both said the voltage was too low, even with the engine started. 

Anyway he gravity bled it and was absolutely fine. Only got through half a litre of fluid too. 

I bled the rear lines on my other car by opening the door and letting the pump run. Supposedly bleeding the accumulator of fluid can only be done with the bleed programme.  The first part on the rear right seemed to purge the system of old fluid, I started to wonder if 5ltrs would be enough. 

[yes oui si]

On 10/06/2024 at 21:10, Snake Charmer said:

Bueller! Nice MGB though.

I don't think there was any mgb in the replicas they used? There's a great article out there about how they built them (and what cars they used for the shot of 'it' going through the window, including an E type and a fiat iirc) but I can't find it for the life of me 😕

[Snake Charmer]

 I remembered that from the 80's when the film was out.

Wheels back on S211 V2.0, driven up and down the garden a lot, SBC seems to be working correctly. Still not expecting it to last!

[Ben_O]

This thread has been most insightful having recently purchased a W211 myself

Now however, I'm terrified that I've got all these problems to come. 

The potential SBC failures scares me the most 

 

Luckily so far, mine is fault free except for an occasional message about the 3rd brake light and the glow lamp comes back on after a few seconds of starting and then goes out after a minute

Hopefully it stays OK !

 

[Jazoli]

21 minutes ago, Ben_O said:

This thread has been most insightful having recently purchased a W211 myself

Now however, I'm terrified that I've got all these problems to come. 

The potential SBC failures scares me the most 

 

Luckily so far, mine is fault free except for an occasional message about the 3rd brake light and the glow lamp comes back on after a few seconds of starting and then goes out after a minute

Hopefully it stays OK !

 

Glow plug lamp means you have a faulty one somewhere, you need to fix it or it’ll blow the relay too, quite an easy job to test them and replace (usually)

I scrapped my W211 as all the expensive faults happened at once and I damaged suspension and wheels on a crater (pothole), was a great car though.

[Snake Charmer]

@Ben_O How long have you had the car?

[SiC]

19 hours ago, Ben_O said:

The potential SBC failures scares me the most 

Biggest issue is the motor brushes wear out. However they are DIY replaceable as @Snake Charmerhas done and good to go again. You are also supposed to change the accumulator too. Not a hard job but it must be depressurised with a diagnostic tool as it's under incredibly high pressure.

[Snake Charmer]

I was going to replace the accumulator but decided against doing so in case the unit failed again after bleeding. The replacement accumulators l am finding are not filling me with confidence as being genuine Bosch items looking at some of the sellers.  As I'm swapping cars I can fit the working SBC unit over from S211 V1.0, changing the unit is a doddle and bleeding not difficult now I have the kitand done tge job with my glamorous assistant @bobdisk.  I would fit new brushes to the unit from V1.0, testing both accumulators shows no problems holding correct pressures.

Brush quality I took a gamble on an bought them from a UK supplier of DC power tools

[Ben_O]

21 hours ago, Jazoli said:

Glow plug lamp means you have a faulty one somewhere, you need to fix it or it’ll blow the relay too, quite an easy job to test them and replace (usually)

Thanks for the advice, I shall definately be getting this sorted out

[Ben_O]

20 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

@Ben_O How long have you had the car?

A couple of months 

[Snake Charmer]

Sat down at the bench tonight and sealed up the infrared door lock with Araldite @bobdisk and I repaired a while back. l have a spare lock so decided to rip that one apart and repair the infrared unit as a spare.  The door lock is back on the car now and all four windows open and close as they should from the key remote. 

Psyching myself up to get soldering on the memory door mirror next. SBC  still seems ok too.

[Snake Charmer]

On 16/06/2024 at 18:53, Ben_O said:

A couple of months 

Is that the car on your profile photo, if so, what wheels are on there?

[Ben_O]

6 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

Is that the car on your profile photo, if so, what wheels are on there?

Same as your wheels by the looks of it

I got a spare set of 19"AMG wheels too that I'm not sure whether to use or selling think the wheels that are on it suit it better

Cheers

Ben

[Snake Charmer]

225 or 245 tyres on the existing wheels or a mix of both? 

I'm trying to find a name of the wheels, l have a photo of an SL or CL with them on, they were also used on C class.

[Ben_O]

20 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

225 or 245 tyres on the existing wheels or a mix of both? 

I'm trying to find a name of the wheels, l have a photo of an SL or CL with them on, they were also used on C class.

I'm not actually sure on the sizes, I'll check when I'm next with the car

Someone on the w211 Facebook group told me what the wheels are called, I'll see if I can find it and let you know

 

Cheers

Ben

[Ben_O]

My mistake, someone told me the name of those amg wheels 

Cheers

Ben 

[Snake Charmer]

On 19/06/2024 at 19:32, Ben_O said:

My mistake, someone told me the name of those amg wheels 

Cheers

Ben 

I did bit of Googlefoo and came up with this on a site, there's an SL version listed in 19". Mine are 8.5 x 18 all round with 245 tyres.

[Snake Charmer]

As of this evening S211 V1.0 has 7 days left on the road as the insurance swaps over to S211 V2.0 for the 1st July. I will book it in for an Mot on the 1st then I have a few days to do any faults or swap parts over between cars. The tracking needs looking at as I remember the steering wheel not being straight on the trip home.

I'm still not confident the SBC is fully repaired simply by brushes and a reset, l will feel better once a few miles have been covered and it's had lot of brake applications.

Definitely needs a good valet inside as it has a hint of dog smell and the carpets look untidy as they are beige and show the dirt. Considering it has 70k less miles on it the steering wheel has not done very well, really needs repairing and refinishing.

This week the suspension has decided to remain in the upmost position!