Mercedes E250 Bluetec

Civil Lawsuit Against MB Dismissed

"The suit was filed by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, a law firm that specializes in class actions and that previously filed a diesel-emissions suit against G.M. related to the Chevrolet Cruze compact and another against Fiat Chrysler; those suits are pending. A similar suit filed by the firm against Mercedes-Benz was dismissed." -- NYT

Mercedes is not now under any civil or criminal charges or being sued for dieselgate. Apparently, they continue to be investigated:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40010111

They oddly seem to make no denials in the above BBC report. As if they are saying: sure anything is possible, cows might fly too, and charges might happen, and bears might also go in portopotties.

Motorcycle oil for their diesel

Has anyone heard of using motorcycle oil in their diesel ?
or read this ?
http://www.stephensservice.com/bluetec-diesel-issuesproblems

You’ll also notice motorcycle oil is a lot more expensive than diesel oil. (Some people say it’s more expensive because motorcycle riders are stupid & will pay more.)

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Because they're buying a quart or two at a time. Not 8-10 quarts like a BMW or Merc diesel. So yes, he's right that they're willing to pay for it, but not because they're stupid. Just because nobody bats an eye at having to pay $20 for oil for an oil change.

Mercedes says the belly panels are for “noise encapsulation” & to protect the fan belt from road dirt. The belly panels are really there to trap the heat during warm-up.

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That's just blatantly not right, belly panels existed looong before all these new diesel regulations and aren't even unique to diesels themselves.

To comply with the regulations, engineers had to increase the diesel combustion temperature…. a lot!

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I'd like to know if this is actually correct. To my knowledge the actual combustion temps haven't gone up that much. However, they have certainly required higher temps in the exhaust post headers. The DPF and cats definitely require high temps, but I wasn't under the impression that combustion temps went up? Even so, combustion temps are waaaaay below anything that a turbo gas engine is putting out.
Otherwise he seems to know what he's talking about. However, remember that this is really meant for the Sprinter vans. Which will be under a much greater load than the engine in an E-class. Guaranteed the E-class engines aren't doing this:

Only the BlueTec diesel engine has Motor Mount support arms that are filled with a special grey “heat sink” material. They are designed to withstand extremely high heat. Engineers are trying to prevent the extreme engine heat from boiling the oil out of the motor mounts. The motor mounts are hydraulic / fluid filled. The BlueTec engine runs so hot, it melts the grey “heat sink” material that was designed to withstand extreme heat. Grey sludge leaks out under the engine & causes a mess you won’t believe. If the engine runs so hot it can melt this stuff, guess what it’s doing to the oil?

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Filled the tank in York SC, 800 miles to Des Plaines IL @ 70-MPH average, still have more than 1/4 tank left. Display indicated 48.0-MPG.
Dealer replaced the main battery.

2004PassatTDI said:

Filled the tank in York SC, 800 miles to Des Plaines IL @ 70-MPH average, still have more than 1/4 tank left. Display indicated 48.0-MPG.

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Hope your brought your trucker's pal!

No, nothing that glamorous. My one and only stop was at a rest stop in Indiana.

sandmansans said:

Okay, here you guys go.
Lol you're welcome
http://www.pfjones.co.uk/mercedes-e-class-saloon-05-2009-2016-bosal-detachable-towbar.html
I and others have purchased from pfjones and have the bosal or westfalia.
Here are the factory electrics that communicate with the car:
http://www.pfjones.co.uk/mercedes-2008-2016-13-pin-westfalia-wiring-kit-313361300113.html
These are both for 2009-2016 e class mercs 4 door. For the wiring kit, I will put this in all caps MAKE SURE YOU GO WITH THE WESTFALIA KIT ONLY AND MAKE SURE IT'S THE 13 PIN. Okay no more shouting. Lol. The westfalia wiring kit is the factory kit and the 13 pin system is more robust. It allows for other fun stuff. Like running a dedicated 12v tap etc. Some of thr features I read were fog disable , auto trailer recognition so lamp monitoring, led light compatible. And trailer stability control. Both my self and another member installed in our mk6. Him in a golf I in a Jetta. It is truly awesome. Well worth the price. The conversion from UK 13 pin to us 4 or 7 is very easy and I can guide any one on here. You essentially buy a male 13 pin adapter off of eBay or amazon for like 10 bucks and you connect a 4 flat or 7 loom to it. It works perfect.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

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I ordered the trailer 13pin male to (?) 4? 7? from ebay I think

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=142327282076&view=all&tid=1419895112004

I'm still planning on taking the Bosal harness to a shop that has Autologic for MB, Superformance Auto in West LA, when I get the adapter. If they can install the harness I'll try the hitch, maybe at another shop. Hopefully, IndigoBlueWagon still has it.

Two Years with a Great Car

I may not be happy about where I'm going, but I go there in a great car. Two years and 25k miles in, except for that loan payment, I bought a beautiful, fabulous car. I move confidently about in this miserable city congestion or weaving down it's freeways. A+ in every department but cheap to buy. I would not drive any other car. They are there on Autotrader at high thirties with 30k on them. Highly recommended by this owner, and by the other 5 or so owners that have spoken here. I dumped the run flats, but I don't think the other 5 has done that and they don't seem to have an issue about them. If I had to have trunk space I'd have to go back to them, but there's enough room left after my full size spare to put the grocery bags in so I'm good.

I've been following this thread and am encouraged.

I picked up a 2005 E320 CDI after selling my A3 TDI back to Audi because I honestly had no idea what to get... I just feel silly getting rid of a perfect E320 after only 6 months of ownership so I'll wait another year before picking up a off lease E250.

You should drive an E350 before getting rid of your E320. They're very different cars. You may like the 320 better. Also, the 320 responds very well to tuning. Consider that.

PeteZ06 said:

I've been following this thread and am encouraged.

I picked up a 2005 E320 CDI after selling my A3 TDI back to Audi because I honestly had no idea what to get... I just feel silly getting rid of a perfect E320 after only 6 months of ownership so I'll wait another year before picking up a off lease E250.

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I had a great 2006 Jetta that I never thought I would ever get rid of. I realized it had obsolete small offset crash tests and suddenly did. I traded it in for a better car and am glad for it.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

You should drive an E350 before getting rid of your E320. They're very different cars. You may like the 320 better. Also, the 320 responds very well to tuning. Consider that.

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I'm sure you meant I should drive a E250...

So I did that today... had some free time to kill and test drove a '14 RWD with about 30K miles on it, silver with black interior.

Pros..
Love the styling, especially the LED headlights
Comfy seats, I'm particular about that since I have a bad back.
Center armrest positioned well.
LOVE the steering wheel.. small diameter and fat.. felt great.
Center dial hand controller for all function so you never have to reach toward the dashboard, great!

Cons..
Really only one... its slow!!! My E320 with almost 200K miles feels like a torque monster compared to this... definitely did not expect that.


2005 E320 CDI
3835 lbs
201hp
369tq
1/4 mile 15.3 at 91mph


2014 E250 Bluetec
4200 lbs
195hp
369tq
1/4 mile 16.1 at 86mph

So basically identical power numbers but the E250 comes in at 400 lbs heavier.. I don't think that is the only thing keeping this car back because the times I've had my car filled with people it still felt pretty torquey.. I have a feeling the weight along with different gearing is making it feel so much slower.


So overall I love the car but definitely disappointed with acceleration. Good thing I'm not buying one tomorrow so I have time to think things thru and test drive other cars.

I want to test drive a 535D next.

Plenty of go for me in heavy city traffic and freeways here. I occasionally use sport mode or downshift with the paddles. But I'm not feeling sluggish, I go fast when I have to, including pulling out into heavy oncoming fast traffic. So I'm not sure what you experienced. Also haven't heard doubts about power from the six or so other owners here. It's also possible your test drive car was in disrepair. On the other hand, I'm not into more power than I need to safely get around town, so maybe you just expect more.

I did mean E350, the same W212 platform but with the 3.0L six. My impressions is that the W212 feels like a significantly larger car than the W211, and the inline six in the E320 is very smooth and does make a lot of torque. I also think the interior finishes on the E320 may be better.

I've driven low power cars most of my life but the torque in my 335d is very nice. There's nothing like an inline six.

I'm pretty sure I want to stick with a diesel.


I did test drive a E350 Bluetec this past spring.

Power felt exactly like my E320... based on car and drivers 1/4 mile results, the E320 CDI and E350 Bluetec run neck and neck.

The E250 is not out of the picture... I was just a tad disappointed with power... usually cars get faster with time.. not this one unfortunately.

Did you use paddle shifting and sport mode? Paddles can be used to manually max out each gears rpms while accelerating or downshift to a lower starting gear to start accelerating, and sport mode tells the auto to shift each gear at a higher rpm. I usually don't use these unless I'm in a hurry. These are clean diesels, that is important to me and I wouldn't chip mine even if I could. They are four cylinder, heavy, safe cars with excellent handling and power. But they are clean, four cylinder cars so physics may be the speed limit.

Paddle shifting and sport mode doesn't make it faster.

When you smash the accelerator 100% in either mode the car performs to its best ability. Its only when in part throttle and sport mode that the car doesn't short shift.

If you have some time, go locate either a E320 CDI or a E350 Bluetec and test drive one... you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Again, its not that I hated the car. I was just disappointed with one thing. But you don't get better mpg's with being faster usually.

So then the question becomes do you need to go faster?

Even if BMW had brought the 335d over in the current generation 3-series I wouldn't have bought one. I had very little interest in that car even though its very fast. I was happy when they decided to bring the 320d (it's badged as a 328d in the US, but we all know what it really is) over to the states. Great fuel mileage in a nice car.

Now sure, the E class is a bigger car, but I'd still want the 4-cylinder over the 6-cylinder. 95% of the time it's going to have all the power you want. It's the other 5% of the time when you're feeling spunky that it's going to let you down.

Have you driven a 335d? If not, you might change your thinking if you do. I have mostly driven low power cars all my life, and I think I've owned 3 six cylinder cars before this one, out of perhaps 30 cars I've purchased in my lifetime. Even driven gently the immediate power delivery of the six in the 335d makes it a very pleasant drive. And I'm seeing 33-36 MPG in mixed driving, not too shabby. Now if I could get a 4 cylinder diesel with a manual...

My co-worker has a 320 CDI and I know what PeteZ06 is talking about. The smooth and immediate power delivery in that car is impressive. No turbo lag, lots of torque even before the turbo spools up. Tune your 320 Pete, and you'll like it even more.

jnecr said:

So then the question becomes do you need to go faster?

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Answer is always yes, especially with diesels.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Have you driven a 335d? If not, you might change your thinking if you do.

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I haven't driven one, but if I wanted to go fast I'd get a different car. Frankly, I wouldn't get a diesel. The low end torque is intoxicating, for sure, but there are better ways to go fast.

I don't really think of it as a performance car. I honestly think it's too heavy and soft. If I decide to keep mine it's getting Koni Yellows in the Spring to see if I can get some of the float out. The steering is really nice however.

The power isn't so much about going fast (although rolling into it at 80 and running up to 100 is pretty easy), it's more about the effortless way it performs. It's never working hard. Makes it relaxing to drive.

PeteZ06 said:

Paddle shifting and sport mode doesn't make it faster.

When you smash the accelerator 100% in either mode the car performs to its best ability. Its only when in part throttle and sport mode that the car doesn't short shift.

If you have some time, go locate either a E320 CDI or a E350 Bluetec and test drive one... you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Again, its not that I hated the car. I was just disappointed with one thing. But you don't get better mpg's with being faster usually.

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I'm happy with the speed and power of the 4cyl biturbo, and that is quite important to me since I have to merge and move about with much faster. more powerful cars and what seems like meth heads behind the wheels in this city of mine. If I didn't have confidence my car would strongly and quickly carry out my wishes that would spoil it. I already struggle to avoid tickets. To me bi turbo solves the feeling of laborious auto shifting when I stop and go. It is what makes the car fly for me, not lugging around two more cylinders which also makes engine upkeep less reliable and expensive, especially with emissions systems kept on board. I also think that six cylinders rob some of the handling by introducing understeer. I of course understand that if you're used to six and more power you would feel dissatisfied. My last car was a stock 2006 Jetta manual. I didn't even think I could be happy with an automatic after it, which as you've read here was a journey for me. There is another factor in CA since we have to pass smog tests to register. The smog is back in So Cal, probably due to GDI cars as has been talked about here.

I don't know where you are in SoCal, but for a couple years my daughter drove a 2.slow Jetta automatic. The car with all of its 115 HP and 125 lb-ft was OK for her because she rarely got above 45 MPH in daily driving around LA and the San Gabriel valley. I haven't been to LA a lot in the last couple years but my recollection is that I was constantly sitting in traffic, regardless of time of day.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

I don't know where you are in SoCal, but for a couple years my daughter drove a 2.slow Jetta automatic. The car with all of its 115 HP and 125 lb-ft was OK for her because she rarely got above 45 MPH in daily driving around LA and the San Gabriel valley. I haven't been to LA a lot in the last couple years but my recollection is that I was constantly sitting in traffic, regardless of time of day.

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More like merging into Le Mans from behind a truck and that's my driveway, then there are the freeways.

Not sure what that means. Don't know if you've driven on the east coast, but I always find driving in LA pretty relaxing. Just an exercise in patience.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Not sure what that means. Don't know if you've driven on the east coast, but I always find driving in LA pretty relaxing. Just an exercise in patience.

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Ex NYC cab driver myself. I reverse commute, I live downtown, so I have to weave out through the freeway moderate congestion, not the slow stop and go. Cruising speed is 80. Thing is the road is full of really powerful SUVs and gassers, and I'd hate to have to be cowering in the slow lane.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Have you driven a 335d? If not, you might change your thinking if you do. I have mostly driven low power cars all my life, and I think I've owned 3 six cylinder cars before this one, out of perhaps 30 cars I've purchased in my lifetime. Even driven gently the immediate power delivery of the six in the 335d makes it a very pleasant drive. And I'm seeing 33-36 MPG in mixed driving, not too shabby. Now if I could get a 4 cylinder diesel with a manual...

My co-worker has a 320 CDI and I know what PeteZ06 is talking about. The smooth and immediate power delivery in that car is impressive. No turbo lag, lots of torque even before the turbo spools up. Tune your 320 Pete, and you'll like it even more.

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I haven't... but I did catch myself checking them out last night online.. Theres a local 2011 335D, one owner and no reported accidents with 50K miles. I might go test drive it and see how my body feels in it. I body build and I'm 5'10 and 225 lbs... my shoulders and arms sometimes get in the way of things.

I was also checking out the tunes for it... could be a blast to drive!

just completed a roundtrip of SF to LA in my e250 this past weekend, made it in about 5 1/2 hours on the way up and 5:15 on the way down.

Few things to note:

road noise - hardly any... a whistle from the front grill, not too bad and it's been documented on the MB forums.

cruising at 90-100 the whole way, with plenty of passing power if need be.
even with my heavy foot managed 40mpg

Steering is fantastic and responsive.