Mercedes E320 CDI S211, Shite or Shiteable?

[Snake Charmer]

On 04/11/2024 at 19:08, mercedade said:

Will have to carve out some time to read this thread - my sister's S211 has carked it bigly, and she's spending out to get the autobox sorted.

Other than servicing the gearbox on my original S211 there's not much to read gearbox wise. That car had a fluctuation in rpm when cold on cruise control which could be overcome by dropping manually into 4th gear. It has been suggested that could be a build up of magnetic debris on the speed sensor.

The current S211 is due a service and l will be doing the same gearbox gearbox service too but also plan on taking the Conductor plate out to clean and buy extra oil to flush the torque convertor that I did not do on the last car.

[Snake Charmer]

My previous plan of swapping the memory passenger door mirror for a spare broken folding mechanism non memory mirror as I suspected the indicator wiring to be broken seems to have backfired. Pulling into work one morning l had the left mirror indicator dash warning coupled with the fast false indicator bulb gone ticking. Naturally, no fault or fast ticking on leaving work but one odd thing was the drivers door mirror had folded back despite being set not to and has done so a couple of times since. 🙈 The indicator has not shown a fault since though.

Of course, Mercedes has made the mirror LED units left and right-handed and my spare left one works but has a broken lens. l tried taking it apart to see if I could make one out of the two,  not an easy job as the lens is well glued or ultrasonic welded in place and part of the backing casing came away, quite likely broken where previously damaged. I might have a go at cutting the suspected faulty lamp open to swap the PCB but of course, being Mercedes there are two types, with and without puddle lamps and I have one of each!

In other news, the dash is telling me I'm 28 days past the C service, I have oil and filters just no time or inclination at the moment but as I'm off this week it may get done. 

 

[Snake Charmer]

After 2000 miles since fitting the new tyres l finally extracted the digit to get the alignment checked.

[Snake Charmer]

It appears l did a reasonable job with the Dunlop tracking gauges back in July realigning the steering wheel and setting the tracking, slightly out on the left. Drives better now with reduced camber front and rear.

[Snake Charmer]

Finally checked the gearbox oil colour and level tonight for the first time in my ownership, added a little oil as it was bang on the lower mark. Definitely needs an oil change and while I had Xentry running checking the oil temperature, l gave the gearbox an adaption reset.

The gearbox felt better on a road test much like my old S211 did after a reset. The kickdown doesn't feel as sluggish or so indecisive and the acceleration has improved. 😊  l fully expect the gearbox will revert back to some form of slug mode once it "adapts" to the 127k of wear and my right hoof.

What I was impressed by is how slowly an '04 Fiesta ST overtook me and how obscenely fast I passed him on the bend of my privately owned Duel Cabbageway. 🫢  (Must not look at Black Smoke videos on tuning OM648 engines!)

[Snake Charmer]

As the Xentry laptop was in the car tonight I decided to have a look at a few of the fault codes l saw yesterday. 

9450  B31 (C-AAC mullifunction-sensor) 25 current and stored 

25 stored and kept racking up as l watched! A check on Starfinder showed B31 on the wiper scuttle and Tinternet calls it "Mercedes HVAC Gaseous Pollutant Sensor - 2118300472". Off to the the stores for a new one, or should l say the old S211. 😊 Not there. 😳 Not on the old scuttle l swapped over either. ☹️ Found it lurking in the engine bay. 🤠 Swapped out, codes cleared. 😎

New code on the air conditioning, flap stuck and motor fault. 🙈 

These flaps have been floating about in both central vents since l bought the car but l left them thinking they were broken. Closer inspection reveals apparently not just displaced probably by either a phone holder or air freshener. 5 minutes with some wee pliers and they're back in place. The code cleared too.

Full flaps and all working smoothly. Only two fault codes showing for both memory mirrors that are not fitted, I bet it won't last until Friday!

[Snake Charmer]

Finally ordered the service parts and kit to do the gearbox. After shopping around l managed to get a 12ltr Meyle gearbox service kit for £40 cheaper than listed anywhere else so I splashed out on Mercedes fuel an air filters. Just need the enthusiasm to do the work now!

Also thought I would buy a pair of H7 fitment LED bulbs to try in the main beam units hoping they will be ridiculously dazzling to this years exceedingly large bunch of fog light and main beam wankers l see each day. I still have not swapped all the Osram Night Breakers over from the old car nor the LED sidelights.

The car has been running well other than last Monday l had the "Convenience Functions Disabled" after being sat over the weekend despite the battery relatively new.  I attribute that to the weather and two 9 mile trips each day with a lot of load not charging the battery properly. (I hope!) 

[Snake Charmer]

Targets for tonight were air, pollen and fuel filters on S211.

Raid on air filter completed despite heavy resistance from filter casing.

Pollen filter completed regardless of incorrect intelligence on filter purchase as LHD supplied.

Fuel filter complete success.

Resistance on Steibel low tone horn earth dealt with accordingly as opportunity arose.

Tyre pressures selected as additional target of opportunity, pressure applied with smooth return to base.

[Snake Charmer]

The previously mentioned H7 LED Turbo Nutter Bastard bulbs turned up today, my inner child/chimp itching to fit them. 😜 Turfed a just finished million pound Shelby Cobra out of the workshop and set to. They're still in the box as they need an adaptor to fit and from a preliminary search there isn't one that fits and seals. Harrumph! 🫤

Onwards and upwards, l finally raped the old S211 for all the expensive headlight bulbs plus the LED sidelights and I will fit those this week.

I'm not sure there is a solution to fit the other LED H7's correctly, with a headlight on the bench it may be possible. 

[Cookiesouwest]

43 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

The previously mentioned H7 LED Turbo Nutter Bastard bulbs turned up today, my inner child/chimp itching to fit them. 😜 Turfed a just finished million pound Shelby Cobra out of the workshop and set to. They're still in the box as they need an adaptor to fit and from a preliminary search there isn't one that fits and seals. Harrumph! 🫤

Onwards and upwards, l finally raped the old S211 for all the expensive headlight bulbs plus the LED sidelights and I will fit those this week.

I'm not sure there is a solution to fit the other LED H7's correctly, with a headlight on the bench it may be possible. 

Do the LED sidelights give bulb warnings on dash ? or flash when car is off?

[Snake Charmer]

2 hours ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Do the LED sidelights give bulb warnings on dash ? or flash when car is off?

They did all that initially, l wired another bulb holder in parallel cable tied to the loom in the engine bay using the original bulb as a load resistor.

(If the LED fails you can swap the bulbs back until replacements arrive.)

[Snake Charmer]

I did a fair bit of searching for a suitable adaptor to fit these H7 LED bulbs and if anyone had managed to fit them, most seem to be a hack job just to fit them with seemingl not much attention to the focal length being correct.

Annoyingly, the alloy parts are really well made and finished. I need to sit down and measure the OE parts to see if these LED units can be fitted correctly. I have a feeling from the more l read that disappointment is heading my way!

[Snake Charmer]

Swapped out some of the bulbs from the old car raided earlier in the week l fitted around 2 years ago. Did the Xenon Night Breakers and main beam H7, took a while as the spring clip on the r/h Xenon popped off and took me 45 minutes to workout how to refit it. Had to be the r/h side which is more difficult to access. 
The old Xenon bulbs looked a bit tired and the Night Breakers were a marked improvement. The main beam "Twenty 20" H7 not so much if any improvement but at least they are a matching pair.
Fog and LED side lights still to do as I  ran out of time last night.

[Snake Charmer]

Fitted the last of the bulbs I had in the old S211, 20 Twenty fog lamp H11's and wired in the LED sidelights using the old incandescent bulbs as ballasts. Not sure why I bought the 20 Twenty H7 and H11 other than they were matching pairs as they are no better than the ones I removed, not that I use the fog lights much unlike the 72 fog light wankers l saw this morning.

Adaptors for the H7 T.N.B. LED main beams arrived and as I thought, they will fit the headlamp but not accept the LED bulb so will require some engineering. Plugged one in and gods teeth are they bright, I'm interested to see the light pattern as the focal length is correct.

Another W211 owner in our little bunch of units at work noticed the difference in my sidelights last night and asked about them this morning. Said l would meet him tonight in Tesco car park to discuss it. 😊

[yes oui si]

Just had a catch up on the thread. Love that you're still tinkering away

[Snake Charmer]

Did an oil and filter change on my S211 last night with a cheap vacuum unit from Ebay. First time for me using vacuum for a full oil change and this unit will be useful at work on occasions.

I wanted an idea of the electronic dipstick measurement accuracy, the dash showed 7.4ltr on a warm engine stood a while and l managed to drain 7lts. Changed the filter and seals then replaced the 7ltrs, after a short run then left to stand a while the dash shows 6.9ltr.

Unless the vacuum unit is hiding 500ml, the electronic dipstick is not very accurate

[Snake Charmer]

Gave the car a pressure wash last week and again last night followed by a hand wash. I  planned on taking a couple of decent photos today but of course it rained on thexwsy to work this morning and coupled with building and roadworks on the way the car is filthy again. 

Photo from last week.......

I added an extra 300ml of oil las week as 7.3ltrs is the recommended quantity for an oil and filter change. Amazingly l now see 7.6ltrs on the display befor leaving work, it has found some more oil on top of the 300ml l put in!

[Popsicle]

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

I added an extra 300ml of oil las week as 7.3ltrs is the recommended quantity for an oil and filter change. Amazingly l now see 7.6ltrs on the display befor leaving work, it has found some more oil on top of the 300ml l put in!

I've found Sprinters to be similarly inconsistent with oil levels, must be a Merc thing. I'd do an oil change, get it bang on the full level, two days later the dash would bong up 'High Oil', I thought it was trying to start up a conversation, as when checking the oil level it was fine.

[Snake Charmer]

48 minutes ago, Popsicle said:

I've found Sprinters to be similarly inconsistent with oil levels, must be a Merc thing. I'd do an oil change, get it bang on the full level, two days later the dash would bong up 'High Oil', I thought it was trying to start up a conversation, as when checking the oil level it was fine.

I had the high oil level warning, not fun on the M3 at speed as I did not see the 'high' part!

After looking at an OM648 sump I am now happy to use the vacuum unit in future and refill. With the filter easily accessible on top of the engine it majes the job a doddle. 

I  would use it more at work but most of the 5ltr Mustang sumps have a double sump so cannot be drained fully.

[Snake Charmer]

Off work today and restarted my quest to fit the Chinese Android head unit from my previous S211. The latest S211 has Comand 50 with Satnav, the old S211 had Audio 20 with a phone kit and the Android head unit was a relatively easy swap into that car as @Jazoli had it fitted in his S211.

My Comand 50 differs as it has an Infrared amp in the back of the car and after much research l found a fibre optic decoder unit that uses one pre-out  channel to run the amplifier so l would lose the front to rear balance ability. For not much more cash I bought a Vibe amp to replace it.

Next problem to solve was the Canbus connection, turns out there is a connector above the glovebox to tap into so l will snip a connector out of the old S211. 

Today I sat and worked out how to change the clock time & date adjustment from being controlled by the Comand unit to manual adjustment on the dashboard by coding with Xentry.

Looks like I'm set to go with fitting  and currently searching for the round tuits and a box of enthusiasm l have stashed in a safe place. 😊

I cannot see the unit staying in there long as I like the look of the Mekede DuDu 7 head unit. 🤩

 

[Snake Charmer]

When did amplifiers get so complicated? 🫣

[Snake Charmer]

I had Benzninja add additional modes to my gearbox controller today.......

Original Comfort and Standard 

Now have Agility and Manual.

Need to get some more miles in to see the difference, Agilty feels a bit more responsive to throttle and Manual stays in gear until you hit close to the red line. Tempted towards a steering wheel with paddles now but suspect the want may pass!

[Snake Charmer]

Eventful week with this .....

Looks all sweetness and light but behind the scenes it's like a film set......

All sticks and wires holding up a fascade.

Patched into the Canbus easily enough using a connector from the old car, permanent live and earth from the old Comand head unit and ignition live wakeup from the cigarette lighter. All working fine, just need to connect the speakers.

Standard stuff, add a Vibe amplifier in place of the factory Mercedes Becker amp (sorry Audio Gateway) via preout in the rear ot the car. Cut and connect the speaker wires, add an ignition live to wake the amp up and away we go.

Head scratching time, just a buzz out of the rear left speaker. Bit of testing, 3.5 jack to phono into the amp off my phone and all 4 channels tickety boo through the factory speakers so not the new amp. Reconnect and check all the head unit setting,  turn the amp gain up and just the faintest sound of music and a lot of background noise. There goes my hopes of improving the sound quality.

Luckily, the Vibe amplifier has two high level inputs so I have wired those up and bingo, we have sound, passable quality sound as before just amplified. I will tidy the installation a little to use it for a while then buy a better Android unit. 

[Snake Charmer]

Mr Android nearly went under my hydraulic press today. It was picking up alternator and ignition noise, impressive on a diesel! Traced mainly to the cigarette lighter ignition live l used to wake the set up. Now the power connector is moving slightly over bumps causing a crackle and I cannot tighten the crimps. Also found one of the PCB  screws rolling about inside, now wish I had cut the plug up and hard wired the positive and negative cables. They would probably be followed by all the other cables, then l might as well hack the unused Mercedes connectors off. 🫣

At least I can use Waze or Googlefoo maps now and listen to the radio or music off my phone. Phone calls are still not good from the inbuilt microphone, thankfully l am not that important to need make calls in the car. "Is tea ready?"

The icing on the cake was my new Ray-Ban prescription sunglasses bought as a selfish birthday present to myself are Polarised and l cannot see anything on the screen unless I lean over and look directly at it. 🤣

[Snake Charmer]

I went searching for a new power cable to fit the offending Android wireless as l really do not fancy hardwiring the cables to the PCB. Not that it matters in the scheme of things but a cable l can unplug and just fit a replacement radio to appeals to my sensible(!) side.

Whilst attempting to find the correct Googlefoo search phrase a Kenwood ISO cable came up and looked a similar plug. Checked against the late 90's Kenwood l have and it is the same. Way back then I thought the Kenwood plug was proprietry as different manfactures radios had their own plugs and did not give it much thought. £6 delivered for a plug and cables to make a loom to suit my car. Bargain.