glojo

In the UK we have a TV series called One Foot in The Grave with Victor Meldrew, his favourite saying is, "I do not believe it" He always says this when things go wrong that should have been going right.

I do not believe it...... Your problem is on the outside a clear example of a known problem with early 211's that was fixed by one of the many upgrades.

Your dealership is not inspiring confidence, but here in the UK, if the dealer cannot resolve the problem they then contact the Technical Department of Mercedes-Benz UK. They then advice the dealership on a course of action, if this fails to remedy the fault then they send a highly qualified engineer down who WILL repair it.

I note the mileage of the car and assume this fault has only recently started? I have asked a number of questions in my previous message that now appear more relevant, namely:

As a follow-up if the car was purchased second-hand do you know its full service history and has it been involved in any type of incident?

I am trying to get an idea of the history of your car because you are not being treated as I would expect\demand from a main dealer. Have you got any non standard accessories fitted? Tow-bar?

Are you parking near anything that might cause the discharge, or are you leaving something switched on?

I feel for you as this must be soul destroying.

By the way your English is perfect, more English in fact than mine, and I am English

Regards,
John
An overcast afternoon in Torquay

CE750

Do you think there is a small short in your system that is drawing power from the battery? or maybe a certain appliance is remaining on while the car is not??

I would make them run a lot of tests before they actually replace anything this time.

AR.Shah

Hi John
Thanks I try my best The problem started over 8 months ago and the millage then was about 140.000KM. I drive about 60-70.000KM a year due to my work, which covers most of the Scandinavian region. I bought the car from new and all services have been held at the same two MB workshops here in Copenhagen. The car has had no accidents except from a minor back bumper accident, which also was repaired by MB.
Everything on the car is orginal, I had the small navi APS50 which later was replaced with the bigger command. A lot of things have been replaced under warranty including the SBC, turbocharger, entire gearbox, the first navi, steering system and all sorts of other mechanical and electrical components.

I must admit the Mercedes people have been helpful on serveral occasions and like jimbo1mcm stated, I too think that they are more keen to replace parts than to find out whats causing the problem. This is perhaps because its less time consuming. The MB workshop that I use, is not just a small certified MB partner but actually the biggest Mercedes-Benz (owned by DaimlerChrysler) workshop in Denmark. They assure me that they have the best skilled staff..

The car is usually parked outside on a quiet road, nothing is left on. I even switch off the climate panel and command before leaving the car. The battery problem happens occasionally, which also makes it difficult for the MB people to locate the problem and take new action everytime.

CE750

HE's got 202,000KM on his CDI... and I'll bet it's still running like the day it was new!

There was a Brit that posted on the Diesel forum that he had 260,000 miles on his 320CDI in 3 years I recall, and his only problem was his transmission went out at 120K... which is probably due to the stupid "no fluid" change idea.. I for one will change mine every 26000 miles or 2 years..

Tell us how your 220CDI is running otherwise AR.Shah?

AR.Shah

Apart from the battery problem the car runs like a brand new car. MB diesel engines are known to run more than 1.000.000 KM without any major problems. I have been a little misfortunate with my car where a lot of engine components have been replaced (turbocharger, CDI injectors etc.) but I think this was because it was a totally new design and these early problems have been solved in the recent production line.

CE750

What is the build date of the car?

and thanks for the reliability report.

AR.Shah

Hehe this is fun.. I have been told the build date of the car is November 2002 and the first date of registration is July 2003, when I bought the car.

CE750

that definitely makes it one of the first W211 to be made... amazing that it's been so reliable!

glojo

Is the car fitted with the DVD COMAND? It seems to be an early 211, and the first European saloons never actually came with this option?

John

AR.Shah

Yes it is, but it was retrofitted later on also with a tv-tuner and cd-box (originally I had a APS50).

HELL ONA HARLEY

Good memory Sam.... Just to set the record straight my SA said recall preformed on the car while in for service about 10 days prior to the malfuntion was the culprit. He stated my car is the third one he has seen this happen to after the recall was performed. No answers to how or why, but the car has been back in service for over 6 months with no problems. The paperwork states the official cause was an electrical fault with the BCM ??? and the recall performed was the battery control unit reprogram recall #2005060008... SA states this "reprogram" caused my malfuntion. I feel I have to believe him as we have never had a problem with the car untill the reprogram (recall) and have not since....

AR.Shah, Sorry to hear of your problem. Perhaps a recent recall is causing your problems simular to mine??? Perhaps the installation of the Comand system in your car is the reason for the battery drain??? Good luck.

glojo

I am sure the person that installed the COMAND and the other options has done a first rate job, but you are looking for something out of the ordinary, and these items deserve a third inspection. (I bet your going to say they have )

I hope I am not seen as criticising one of the sponsors of this excellent forum because that is not what I intend. I am merely clutching at straws over what is causing your frustrating problem.

John

Richard

As I mentioned before, when the engine is off, the BCM is meant to disconnect the 2 batteries from each other, so consumers in the car (i.e COMAND etc) can only drain the big battery (in the boot/trunk), leaving the small battery under the bonnet to keep its charge to start the car.

I do think it needs some charge in the consumer battery to start , but, given that when you leave the car off, it sounds like both batteries are draining - it could be a BCM problem - either with the BCM, or with the big relay on the BCM that disconnects/connects the 2 batteries together keeping them connected together and draining the battery.
My brain is a bit rusty when it comes to batteries, but I have a feeling that if you leave a big battery and a small battery connected together that are in different stages of life they dont discharge in the way you expect - which is why you're always meant to put a whole set of new batteries in a radio/toy etc

From what was mentioned above, the BCM software can be reprogrammed - I'd get the dealer to (a) with Star diagnosis check ensure that the BCM has the latest software in it (this is called 'flashing') and (b) check that the BCM relay is functioning (no idea how he'd do that)

The early W211 and R230's all got new bigger consumer batteries under a recall that wasnt publicised in Europe, just got done when you had the car serviced once. (friendly MB tech told me they were doing about 10 hours of work on early 211's)

Also, W211s with chassis number up to A530021 and X148458 have a problem with the LCP that drains battery (lower control panel).

Cheers
Richard

AR.Shah

Hi Richard,
Thanks for your input I will be taking the car to the workshop tomorrow and lets see then what they find out. The have tested the BCM and it shows that it has the most recent software, they have also changed this module previously. Its been 3 weeks since they put in a new "big battery" and almost a week since they put in the smaller battery. I will tell them about this relay on the BCM and the lower controle panel. Btw sorry for my ignorence but where exactly is this lower control panel placed?

Best regards
Shah

Richard

LCP is the panel with all the switches on it around the gearstick (i.e lower part of the dashboard) and sometimes with some of the lower down controls on the centre console as-well.

AR.Shah

Hi everyone,
I finally took the car to the workshop where the workshop staffmanager was a bit dissapointed to see me again, hoping that all problems were solved last time. I told him about the problem and again he seemed clueless about what was going on. After a while I told him about the relay which controls the battery controle module and he gladly nodded yes, that could be it!
He said lets have a go at this and if this doesnt solve the problem, then he would for some reason, once again like to send the car to the Bosch Autoelectrical workshop. We agreed and the relay was changed. I am crossing my fingers now and hoping this was the final visit to the workshop. I would once again like to thank everyone in this forum for their effort and time with ideas of what could be wrong.

Best regards
Shah

P.s I have enclosed pictures of this relay.

AR.Shah

Hi everyone.. its been a while. A few days later the car started having starting problems again and again I had to take it to the workshop. After several attemps and several parts changed the problem was finally located! I seems the head-gasket was leaking and overnight it would leave damps in the engine, causing it not to start.
Tried with taking the radiator-cap off at night and the car started fine every morning! This has been a big leasson, a mechanical problem causing so much electronical fuss. Hope this information is useful to others in this forum

glojo

Top marks for solving the problem. The 220CDI is a tried and trusted engine which has been powering Mercedes for a good few years. Our Sprinter has the 220 130hp CDI engine.

You have been terribly unlucky and hopefully things will settle down and you will have many, many kilometres of happy motoring.

Regards,
John

AR.Shah

Thanks Overall I have been very satified with the car. Superb quality, design and perfomance

jimbo1mcm

Could you be a little more specific about the leak in the headgasket? Where was the coolant going in the engine compartment that caused the car not to start?

AR.Shah

Hi Jimbo1mcm,
Yes the coolant was leaking trough the head-gasket into the enginehead, it was a very small leak. The car used to use about 0.2 to 0.3liters of coolant a month. Also a slight grey smoke at startup in the morning. I thought this was normal but in fact it caused all this electronic fuss.

Gasket was removed and enginehead was grinded. No more malfunctions now This was a very rare incident and MB techs have also learnt a lot from this.

Regards
Shah

alexcobb

Mine is a 2004 E500, on my garage the battery get drained. BCU, front and rear batteries are new. Did you finally resolve your problem with the head gasket?

amgking22

im having a kinda the same issue on my w211 e55 while im driving ever 20 mins i get a code saying stop car, battery and alnater then it would say battery protection on some funtions are unavabile then like 2mins later it would go back to normal can some please help me out

samho2009

Just wanted to thank you guys for some direction in narrowing down some potential issues that would cause my battery drain. Even though it took almost a year to figure this out (I wasn't overly stressed over this car), I finally think I solved it with a bad LCP. Everything you guys described I experienced, from coming out in the morning to a dead battery, to tracking a fully charged battery until it died. Sometimes it would work for a few days without drain, then one day it just drained. Today it would drain within like 15mins like a complete short. As I'm getting fed up with this problem, I already replaced the aux battery in the front (it needed it), the air pump relay (as some say this could be bad to drain the battery), the trunk battery is pretty new too. I went ahead and ordered the aux battery relay (which is on it's way not yet received) and today I received the LCP from a junk yard. The part# is 2118217158. I have a '03 E55AMG. My old one for a year now has been blinking and not holding a steady red indicator light 'on' for either Sport I and/or II. So yes, you guys mentioned it, it was suspect. The part came in, I replaced it, and the voltage of the battery is holding for hours now. Before on average the battery would be drained in 4-6hrs. Today was the worse...15mins! Anyways, my old LCP part# is 211-820-54-10 which looking it up doesn't even exist! Thanks guys! Hope this helps others out there because it's not so apparent this could do so much mischief!

vettdvr

OK what's LCP?