Mercedes E320 CDI S211, Shite or Shiteable?

[Snake Charmer]

On 04/05/2025 at 19:22, 83C said:

I think I need a good read through this thread as I’m new to S211 ownership. 

What model do you have?

On 04/05/2025 at 20:42, Cookiesouwest said:

My SBC pump always buzzes on start up. I thought it was normal !

I currently have the seats down and this was buzzing from the load area when the pump ran as l had left a ground terminal loose.

[Snake Charmer]

8 hours ago, 83C said:

Just picked up a late ‘05 E320 CDI, with the OM642 V6 and 7G gearbox.

Just seen the collection post, nice. Last of the pre-facelift, does it have SBC? 

[Snake Charmer]

There's a motorcycle sized battery under the pollen filter passenger side rear of the engine bay for starters and the SBC looks like this:

Two features you can activate from the driving seat and see on the dash if you have SBC are SBC H and SBC S (Hold and Stop), are you aware of those?

[Snake Charmer]

I removed the Vibe amplifier yesterday wiring the speakers directly to the Android unit, no ignition or alternator noise. Such a shame as the extra power bought sound quality up to an acceptable level. Carplay being intermittent was a USB cable fault and the only other bugbear was the microphone being next to useless. Soldered a flying lead in and external microphone, just the other side of useless!

Currently considering a 6Gb Extrons Android head unit with better audio or biting the bullet and going all in on a Mekede DuDu7 360° camera equiped turbo nutter bastard with all the toys costing near what l paid for the car just because toys.

[Snake Charmer]

The Ebay "Make offer" tab became too tempting yesterday, offer accepted and Xtrons on the way from within the UK  so it seems.

[Snake Charmer]

On 14/05/2025 at 21:35, Snake Charmer said:

The Ebay "Make offer" tab became too tempting yesterday, offer accepted and Xtrons on the way from within the UK  so it seems.

Wow, Android head unit delivered yesterday afternoon by DPD so definitely "UK stock." 🫢

A quick check of the wiring pinouts to use my existing bastardised loom, swap the Canbus box over and it started up without fuss or setup.

Sound quality is far better than the old Android head unit with more power.and my missus can hear me on a call asking if tea is ready without an external microphone.  Android Auto works over Bluetooth for Waze etc., something the old unit would not do so daily driving should be get in and go...... 🤞

[Cookiesouwest]

52 minutes ago, 83C said:

I’ve heard of them but no idea what they are or how they work.

SBC H - When you stop, press the brake pedal extra firmly. It will hold the car on the brakes, without you keeping your foot on the brake. When you press the gas pedal, the brakes automatically release.

SBC S - Activated from the cruise control stalk. Once on, the car will automatically brake to a stop, whenever you take your foot off the gas. So you can one pedal drive.

Personally I don't like or use SBC S.

[Snake Charmer]

1 hour ago, Cookiesouwest said:

Personally I don't like or use SBC S

It adds a sense of excitement to driving in traffic with the addition bonus of meeting new friends and exchanging details. 

[horriblemercedes]

On 05/05/2025 at 12:32, Snake Charmer said:

There's a motorcycle sized battery under the pollen filter passenger side rear of the engine bay for starters and the SBC looks like this:

Two features you can activate from the driving seat and see on the dash if you have SBC are SBC H and SBC S (Hold and Stop), are you aware of those?

Is the Hold function exclusive to ones with SBC?

[Snake Charmer]

21 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

Is the Hold function exclusive to ones with SBC?

I'm not sure, these two S211's are the only Mercedes cars l have owned and both have SBC. I have seen references to brake hold on Mercedes forums and wondered myself but never pursued the subject, might have to fix that and find out. 👍

[Snake Charmer]

Refitted the rear seat squabs and load cover etc then went for fuel. The Torque App is preloaded on the new head unit so on the drive back l decided to see what turbo boost is showing, 19psi so will have to do some comparisons to Xentry.

Played with the Torque App on the drive back, oh dear there goes this months fuel economy......😇

[Snake Charmer]

On 16/05/2025 at 11:46, horriblemercedes said:

Is the Hold function exclusive to ones with SBC?

I have asked the Mercedes botherers site I frequent, apparently lots of other non SBC equipped cars have brake hold. Our apprentice has a later facelift non SBC E200 W211 and that has it. Once he has it back on the road I will investigate how it works. 👍

[Volksy]

All the A classes that I've had (A180d, A180 and A200) all had the press to hold brake function. 

 

[Snake Charmer]

On 20/05/2025 at 15:16, Snake Charmer said:

I have asked the Mercedes botherers site I frequent, apparently lots of other non SBC equipped cars have brake hold. Our apprentice has a later facelift non SBC E200 W211 and that has it. Once he has it back on the road I will investigate how it works. 👍

Might be a while before I can investigate the apprentices car as the boss terminated his employment on Wednesday. 🤨

The Xtrons Android head unit is growing on me, still expect it to fail dramatically at some stage though.

Had a couple of glitches on Waze, l like having it on for the instant updates and twice it has loaded up a trip and not followed the map. Could be a Bluetooth glitch as l have a Vgate OBDII diagnostic scanner plugged in for the Torque app and keep forgetting to take it out.

I will try and fit the reversing camera this weekend and see if l can get a front camera to work as this car has no parking sensors unlike the old car. As the tailgate is damaged and due to be replaced l can find an optimal position and not worry about drilling holes.

I keep looking at the dashcams Xtrons do and the tyre pressure monitors, a dashcam would have helped in the old car when the Audi tried running me off the road.

Need to look at the brakes too as the 'Service Brake' warning has popped up on the dash. That didn't happen on the old car as the previous owner had gone through bothpad thickness warning sensors and l ended up metal to metal, my fault for not checking.

I had a look at the replacement tailgate last weekend, it's off a later car and has a longer LED brake light fitted in the spoiler so thought I should check it works before getting it painted. The hilarious bastards at Mercedes have obviously made life difficult by fitting a slightly different plug on the wiring loom. Luckily,the scrap yard hacked the loom off at the car and l have the plug but what's the betting the Canbus doesn't like the extra current draw?

[Snake Charmer]

Experimenting with cameras as the Xtrons Android head unit will accept a front and rear camera. Tried a couple of different positions on the rear but the tailgate release being central means a slight offset.

Discovered in the settings this head unit will accept AHD cameras so l have ordered a dapm expensive 1080P with Infrared LEDs. 

Investigation of our old apprentice's W211 brake hold function is a non starter as the car is being scrapped due to the cam chain needing replacement at a ridiculous cost of £2500.

[Snake Charmer]

Did a temporary fit of the new reversing camera just above the rear number plate, this will have to be experimented with a little further as access to the tailgate handle is restricted.  May just be a case of shortening the release lever a litte to give a bit more finger room. The view may be better if the camera was out a little further like the other one I tried, l'm liking the infrared night view.

Day/night shots in the same spot.

 

[Snake Charmer]

Mot passed today with no advisories, doesn’t seem nearly a year has passed since putting this car back on the road. 

[Snake Charmer]

The S211 Meyle gearbox service kit has been sat on my bench long enough to grow moss and an opportunity came up to use the ramp undisturbed today. The oil vacuum pump l bought recently was handy, made dropping the pan less messy and no fighting the drain plug. I dropped the valve block, gave it a good clean inside and made sure the speed sensors were clean. Despite flushing the converter and oil cooler on startup, the oil is not as clean as l would hope. Thankfully, the wee filters inside the valve block had no debris.


Oil colour can be seen dripping.


All the balls came out easily with a little vacuum from my brake bleeder, filters and non return valves with tweezers.

Oil on the plug was a bit concerning as it can wick up to the controller, seemed to clean up ok and no oil dripped out whilst hanging free.

Sump pan cleaned up ok, added the additional magnet.

Gear changes are much smoother, yet to try from a cold start. I will give it another oil change and flush in a couple of thousand miles as I'm not happy with the oil colour.

[Snake Charmer]

 Had a reminder from Black Circles about my tyres being a year old and would l give another review after 9000 miles. Checked them all whilst off the ground at the weekend and they are wearing evenly despite a bit of negative camber at the rear but even worse for aquaplaning than when new now half worn. The Assymetric 5's were much better with more tread available from new. Cool to hot weather grip is very good and dependable only let down by the vehicle itself being an estate with air springs on the rear and not a sports car.

Pissed off to find a pot hole dent on the inside of a front rim after the second Lepsons refurb last year, l really should run winter tyres and rims and save the others when the roads are marginally worse.

The Xtrons Android head unit had a hissy fit a couple of weeks back and would not connect despite much fiddling. I ended up switching all the connectvity off and sticking it on the naughty step just listening to FM radio mostly and for no reason it seems to have corrected itself after l tried connecting Bluetooth to make a call. When it connects seamlessly the thing is a joy to use but needs to be aware l am still flexible enough aged 60 to stick the heel of my boot through the screen from the driving seat and casually call it all the seanuts under the sun.

Gearbox is definitely better hot, cold has a hesitation then drops down almost unnecessarily under very light acceleration. Maybe l should try Comfort or Standard mode first thing instead of the current default Agility. Not tried full Manual mode since the oil change other than selecting a lower gear on overrun to keep the rpm up for complete fuel cutoff.  FFS, am l hypermiling? No aircon most mornings and switching off at temporary traffic lights I'm 5-7mpg or more better off daily on the commute. Can't resist a clear run Egham Hill to enjoy the torque though.  😁

[Snake Charmer]

Had a lazy drive to work and back today in Comfort mode, switching off at two sets of temporary traffic lights yielded 40.1mpg best at one point. Comfort pulls away in second gear and has a very lethargic throttle map, l usually select Comfort when my missus is driving then flip it to Agilty when she isn't looking. 😇

Chatting to one of the painters today, must extract a digit and get the spare tailgate,  bumper and trims to him soon as payday is close. Sat looking at the giffer beige interior this morning and felt l should really be wearing slacks and shoes with elastic or velcro straps. 

[Snake Charmer]

Stripped the S211 tailgate l bought a while back in preparation for painting. A close inspection of the glass l managed to scratch on a poxy stone embedded in the load space carpet highlighted other previous damage. The heating element and glass has been rubbing on something loaded in the car it came off so now l'm looking at swapping the screens over. The joys.

[Snake Charmer]

 Removed the tailgate glass without breaking it or damaging the paint. Heck of a job that would have been easier had it been on the car and not sliding around on a table.  

[Snake Charmer]

I decided enough was enough looking at some the beige interior in my S211 as it reminded me too much of tired old medical equipment l used to work on. Swapped all my Designo door cards over from the old S211, eventually the rest of the interior will follow. Bit of a mismatch inside but makes me feel better.

Before.

After.

Designo had extra felt on the front door cards.

Drivers door was a little more involved as the wood trim had to be swapped over. Had to run an M5 die down 3 of the mounts as they had speed clips and not nuts.

Rear door.

The old  rear door cards had the extra felt.

This looked odd.......

Hand finished as opposed to the old plastic cap. My passengers will know it's a posh car when they see it.

 

[Popsicle]

I think that darker trim with the Caramac insert looks a lot better than the beige. But I've never been a fan of light interiors, I know people moan about boring black trim, but as a father of 4 kids, darker trim is easier to keep clean from grubby hands/feet and snotty noses.

[Snake Charmer]

Seats are the same colour as the door inserts trimmed in Nappa leather with air adjustability. I'm hoping to make a hybrid drivers seat using the memory function from the beige on the tan Designo seat. Need to pinch all the bladders out of the passenger side too or repair them. I quite enjoyed being a passenger in the old car as the bladders stayed pumped up!

[Snake Charmer]

I forgot about the electrohydraulic hatch release switch in the drivers door, this car does not have it fitted but l may swap the parts over if l can get the key release sorted.

The switch does work, it winds the drivers window down. 🤣

 

[Snake Charmer]

Just occasionally I look at Faecesbook and one of the Mercedes groups I look at had a pair of rear door cards for a saloon in the same colour as the ones I removed with sun blinds in for £400.  There's another pair on Ebay for £312.68.  I would have happily parted them for with £20-£30 each!! I was tempted to disassemble the old ones and see if I could retrofit the upper section then vinyl paint the beige/mushroom colour to grey as they would make a nice addition to the child booster seats in the Designo rear seats I will be fitting.

I was chatting to someone about the faults this car had when bought, one of which was the black dash @bobdisk and I rectified and how it had been fautless since November 2023. Shortly after that a fault came up on the dash........

Seems to have cleared as a Canbus fault, could be as I have the head unit connected to the Canbus via a length of speaker cable and not a twisted pair of OE cables.

Talking of faults, the brake light switch has been throwing the occasional code and despite reading back through this thread I cannot remember if I swapped the brake light switch over from the old car permanently but I'm sure I tried it whilst diagnosing the SBC faults. A buzzing relay in the rear when the SBC pump runs seems to coincide with the fault appearing so I will try swapping the switches before rushing out to buy a new one.

Bluetooth connectivity seems to have settled to consistent with the Xtrons Android head unit. Waze starts automatically every time but not always with the same options on screen, sometimes I get the work/Hhome option depending which location I am at, other times I get the list of recent trips. BBC iPlayer does not always come up and I have to go searching, other times a split screen with Waze comes up with the station and I have to just press play. On a couple of occasion I have had this split screen, iPlayer has started on it's own and Waze gives me my choice of work/home home destination to select just hit yes so not sure why the connectivity is slightly different every time.

BBC radio 2 has a much better depth of sound through iPlayer than the FM radio, the amplifier is far better on this unit than the old one and probably up with the OE head unit so I'm pleased with that side of things. The expensive reversing camera has been faultless since fitting and should help me save damaging the rear bumper and tailgate that will be going in for paint next week hopefully. I squeezed the car into an unfeasibly small space last week on a bend as I was able to get close at the rear. I will eventually be investing in a front camera from the same company at some stage as the night vision is excellent as I have to paint the front bumper too. 

[Snake Charmer]

Brake pad warning light intermittently showing up. Mirror and torch show plenty of pad left, one front pad a little lower than the rest. I remember on the last car having to replace the discs and pads as the sensors had been overriden and I was trusting them.

Closer inspection shows some muppet has fitted one of the front sensors on the rear, forced it in and the lip of the disc has worn it away. Ffs, the plugs are slightly different too but a rear one will fit in one of the front sockets! Now chopped off and crimped, dash light out.

Loaded up this morning with the tailgate,  bumper and side mouldings ready for paint. I'm prepared for a big bill, possibly twice what the car cost. 💲

[Snake Charmer]

Spent some time after work Friday clearing the car out, resetting the rear seats and giving the interior a vacuum as l was lending the car to a work colleague on Sunday.

On the way home l realised how dirty some of the interior has become and decided to give it a clean on Saturday. I even bought an air freshener! I have been ignoring the beige interior as l'm part way through swapping it over to the dark grey and tan Designo from the old car.

The rear seat belts being beige had a few mouldy spots that stood out like a bulldogs chuds so l decided to give them a clean. A rummage under the sink produced a nearly full spray bottle of Dettol Mould Remover.

I broke blokes rules and read the instructions. Spray on and leave to soak at least 5 minutes, what could go wrong? The skin on my hands apparently, l missed the bit "contains bleach ".

They came up really well, all the spots were gone along with a layer of skin. Full of enthusiasm l decided to do the fronts and the minging drivers side would be great for a before and after photo. 

Stupid move, l ran out of Dettol and the fronts are now streaky. Fight the child proof top off the sprayer and mix up a mild bleach solution, what could go wrong, l'm replacing the belts anyway?

Whatever Dettol has added to their mould remover my mild bleach isn't a patch on it and the front belts are still streaky. As an added bonus, they now smell like a public swimming pool in the 70s.

Much time and effort was spent wet vacuuming all the belts to get rid of the smell. Luckily, with the aircon and heater on flat out they dried quickly and don't look quite so bad and the bleach smell has practically disappeared. Just the smell of "Little Joe Black Velvet" whatever that is supposed to be stinging your eyes now.

[Snake Charmer]

Colleague managed 40mpg on his day out to Goodwood 3 up in my car yesterday, l did 45+mpg today Staines to Brands Hatch. Definitely not grumbling at that mpg. 😊

The Xtrons Android head unit has been behaving itself and providing my phone has a 4G signal Spotify and BBC Sounds works well sounding betterer much morer, particularly compared to the same FM signal. Certainly made my trip today more enjoyable sound wise, Waze works well unless l use my expensive prescription sunglasses, what l can see is in focus as they are varifocal but the Polarising makes the screen really dark. My cheap single vision glasses allow me to see the screen but not in focus!

The really reliable part of the Xtrons has been the expensive reversing camara, nigh on an OE setup the way it works and last night the IR vision reversing in the dark was superb. Just a shame the whole Xtrons experience has not been the same.

Back to Brands Hatch tomorrow as I'm on a 4 day course.