Mercedes E320 CDI S211, Shite or Shiteable?

[Cookiesouwest]

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

Last weekend I checked a few more ground connections and had the radio alternator noise at an acceptable level, not quite silent but ok at speed. The ignition noise was still there although improved and removing the aerial connection st⁰opped it completely, something that has not worked before when tried. 

A historic fault code that comes up occasionally is the glass breakage loop which is tied in with the aerial so that's next to be explored for a ground fault.

Driving the car on Monday produced intermittent faults on the dash for the rear lights and a buzzing noise when the SBC pump cuts in. Seems l had left a ground connection loose in one of my tests! Once tightened, normal rear light function and no relay buzzing but alternator noise back.

Brakes need looking at, warning has come up on the dash. Tempted to take the discs and pads out of the old car to get my money's worth out of them!

Spent some time today stripping the rear bumper and detatchable towbar off the old car I fitted in preparation to replace the fixed one when the bumper has been painted. I can then replace the awful wiring that was done previously. The ring terminal in the above photo clipped down to save removing one nut shows the professional level and other joints are poorly taped up for insulation. 

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

[Snake Charmer]

4 hours ago, 83C said:

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

What model do you have?

3 hours ago, 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 puml ran as l had left a ground terminal loose.

[83C]

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

What model do you have?

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

[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? 

[83C]

26 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

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

I was wondering about that myself. Is there an easy way to tell? I have to admit not being a 211 expert, I initially thought it was an early facelift because it has the OM642, which I thought only came in with the facelift cars. A lesson there in not trusting Wikipedia. I’ll grab some photos later today and update my own thread, there’s definitely some changes/improvements I want to do.

[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...... 🤞

[83C]

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?

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

[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.