Posting on behalf of a friend who has a 2000 Merc E320CDi Auto.
He reckons that if the service indicator shows that you have passed the service point by ten days the car goes into limp home mode. I have told him this is rubbish, but he insists this is true.
Any comments?
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That's a good'un.
Did the dealer also tell him only they could service it as no-one else has the kit to reset the service indicator. ;>)
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>> Any comments?
Absolute tosh.
What if you'd parked it in the long-stay at Gatwick the day before its service was due, and returned to it 2 weeks later to drive home to (say) Manchester in it? I can't see many Merc buyers putting up with a jiggly, half-power engine for long if they really did do that.
The only realistic effect of neglecting the service interval by more than 10 days would be the voiding of any warranty.
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And as the car is now almost 10 years old the warrant issue is irrelevant - thanks.
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>> almost 10 years old
Virtually scrap then ;-)
Only half joking - last time I was at a scrapyard the car on top of the Escort I was cannibalising was a T-reg E-class, not a crashed one either.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Mon 1 Mar 10 at 11:22
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Rubbish! It's probably gone into limp home mode because he passed the service interval by six years and it eventually broke down! ;)
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His rust warranty will be void of course.. He'll need that.:-)
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>> His rust warranty will be void of course.. He'll need that.:-)
He he! I was SO tempted to bring my 2001 W203 to Spain in 2007 - It had been a relatively trouble free car and only had 80,000 miles on the clock, all by me.
Until the wife spotted all the water in the boot!
Amongst other cars I now drive a 1988 W124. It drives quieter and smoother than my C class ever did - when exactly DID Mercedes forget how to build good cars??
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test
Last edited by: Pugugly on Wed 3 Mar 10 at 10:09
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>> when exactly DID Mercedes forget how to build good cars??
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When they listened to the accountants - about 1995 at a guess. They then threw the accountants out around 2005.
People used to be prepared to pay over the odds for a Mercedes, because they were considered to be over engineered.
That reputation is slowly coming back, some may argue.
Last edited by: Duncan on Wed 3 Mar 10 at 17:33
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My 2000 reg. W203 C220CDI used to regularly miss the service intervals as it was a company hack. Never went into limp home mode, in fact had no problems with it at all during the 3 years ownership. Interior felt cheaper and less thought out than my previous W202 C250TD though, and the steering and sometimes rather choppy ride led me to think they'd not just cheapened it but basically tried to copy the 3 Series which to me made it less appealing than its predecessor.
The things I liked about Mercedes of old were the hewn from solid feeling, the ride quality and the relaxing driving experience at the expense of ultimate cornering ability. You get that in my old W124, but not in the post 2000 C- and E-Classes I'd tried. Last week, however, the rental car company gave me the keys to a brand new C-Class. It was a C200CDI Automatic in Elegance trim. I really liked it. Very compliant, relaxing ride, attractive and well made interior and very quiet despite the 4 cylinder diesel/ automatic combination. Didn't handle as well as a BMW 3 Series and all the better for that.
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Never had a car that tells me when it needs a service though the pick up counts down the miles on the speedo and puts a warning light on for oil change, very simple just a counter and nothing like the clever systems being discussed here.
I must take issue with the rusting of post 96 MB's though.
Basically not all cars are affected, my BiL and sister have a veritable fleet of cars and the one she is presently using is an R regd W210 E class of well over 100K (130Kish?) it gets minimal care never hosed off underneath or the like and there's not a spot of rust on it anywhere.
It's green, whether the colour has anything to do with rust resistance i don't know but i've seen the same model of the same year and newer and they've been riddled with the tin worm.
I've often wondered whether it might be worth getting one of the last of this model 02/03 pref a 320 Diesel and getting it fully professionally rustproofed as i did with the pick up...should be able to find one quite cheaply as it's common knowledge just how bad they are for rust, but they are roomier and comfier than subsequent models by a long way...what does the panel think?
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sun 7 Mar 10 at 15:20
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If you want to know about Mercedes build quality, read what the Owners say....
forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=63515
The words "highly priced junk" spring to mind...
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I find it odd how I can do 150,000 miles in C & E Class Mercedes over the last few years and have just a couple of failures (neither of which stranded me) whilst other people have a whole litany.
Similarly we have had various French cars over the years that have been fine, and yet other people swear at them rather than by them.
Is it how people drive or treat their cars, or some other factor, or have I just been lucky?
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May be you have been lucky, I have a E250 CGI now 9 weeks old & just covered 15k!
Auto box goes into "N" of its own accord normally on a motorway & have to drift to the hard shoulder & shut down & restart. Wipers keep going off in the sunny weather but usually fail when it rains! adaptive headlights automatically dip at the slightest hint of light in the other direction so going down a country lane in the dark , if the car detects a house with an outside light they just dip out! leaving you unable to see where the road goes! The dipstick keep blowing out & oil goes everywhere! there are horrendous rattles in the drivers door & dash & wind noise. the seats are like sitting on cardboard! 250 miles is the max I can travel before I have to stretch & regain some feeling in my cheeks! Never attempt a quick 3 point turn bacuse when you select drive the throttle doesn't allow you to accelerate for about 3-4 seconds! & the fuel tank is so small if you doing 8-900 miles in a day it usually needs 3 fuel stops! a real pain & when its hot & done 3-400 miles in the morning it then gets almost impossible to drive in traffic as it gets very very jerky! possibly to do with the blue efficency injector issue.
The wierdest thing of all is when you pick up a client they say WOW its a Merc but after 200 miles they are normally wiggling in the seat with a numb behind! soon change their tune.
Fortunatley the Merc goes now as its done its miles so heres for another passat hopefully for a few weeks.
The Passat 2.0TDi DSG High line was a far superior car & I could drive 400+ miles before a break & 900 miles between fuel stops! come back Passat.
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One of the common reasons for going into limp home mode is the EGR which is situated on the left of the engine mounted on top of a pipe a sod to get to I modded a socket ,cost around I think £40.
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Mercedes Benz E-Class W210 - 00 3.2 E320CDi Auto - bathtub tom
