hrothgar02

11/10 Saturday 10AM. I am cruising down Memorial (nicer part of Houston) and I see a blue F360 pull out of a neighborhood. He is behind me. We turn right onto the 610 feeder and we both pass lumbering SUV's to be the first at the traffic light. I am in the left lane and he is in the far right with a white full sized SUV in the middle lane. We can't see each other but as soon as the light turns green, all I hear is the roar of an Italian V8. We are pretty close until 60MPH; he starts pulling away but just barely. At around 100MPH he has enough room to get in front of me and pull onto the freeway entrance ramp. Unfortunately, I was not prepared to drag race so I had the traction control on. I believe the 360 was a 2003: 3.6 liter V8 396hp 4.6 seconds 0-60MPH and 11.7 seconds 0-100MPH. Any ways, it was fun to go against an exotic and almost keep up toe to toe. Now I want the CLK63!!

PS My CLK55 makes a horrible whining noise upon start up. I took it to 2 dealerships and they stated that nothing was wrong with it. It sounds like the starter but I am not sure. The noise subsides once the car is warmed up. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

DBLNICKL

yeah, that whinding noise happens all the time...my car did it when i first picked it up 2 yrs ago, and still does to this day...if u ever notice, 87 - 91 Ford Mustang 5.0's do that **** too...(mom used to have a couple back in the day) why it makes the noise idk, but u have nothing to worry about...

Silverbillet

Does the whining noise sound like a vacuum cleaner? If so, I think that is a component on the car that helps it warm-up faster.

Act of God

Oh man I HATE that whining noise...it sounds expen$ive! Scares the hell out of me every time...good to see I'm not the only one with it.

OPALW208

have you heard of any W208's that make the whining noise as well?

Improviz

I've noticed it in every Mercedes V8 car I've been in, at least since I got my car, noticed it had it, and started paying attention!

SoCalCLK

I have the same whining noise. Sounds ridiculous! I think it's due to the high compression ratio of our cars....

The dealership says it's normal and fine.

Great racing story. Motor Trend got a 0-60 of 4.9 for our cars so it makes sense you were close.

DBLNICKL

aye, great! display pic man ^^^5 haha

hrothgar02

OK I feel a little bit better about the whining noise. My factory warranty is about to expire and I wanted to make sure that the noise is "normal."

I've had Mercedes in the past but none of them sounded that loud upon startup. Even my wife's horrible and wretched SLK230 (no longer with us thank God) didn't sound that bad upon startup (under acceleration, the SLK sounded like a tractor running on one good spark plug).

Any ways, I can sleep more soundly now.

brabusw209amg

i always dont understand why mercedes can't make a 5.5 liter engine with a tad more power. ferrari has a 3.6 with almost 400 hp.... well, that's ferrari. I love their new f430's

hrothgar02

Per #10's comments, Ferrari might have the upper RPM HP but the 3.6L engine has only 275 lb/ft of torque. This was evident as I had the initial advantage up till 30 mph or so.

I totally agree about the lack of upper end HP on our 5.4L V8 topping out at 362HP (w209) or 67HP per liter; the new 6.3 makes 507 HP naturally aspirated or 80HP per liter. (even the new CLK550 V8 engine is making 382HP due to better breathing). I guess I have to save up for the CLK63!

TornadoTJ

I hear that whining noise on ours too. It sounds like an electric fan IMO.

Stiggs

Lets mot mention what Car and Driver got for the 2004 CLK55 0-60 times....it was 4.5sec.


My car also has the high pitch whine upon start up. As long as the car runs...it doesn't bother me one bit.

AMGOODNESS

it is nice to hear that everyone has the whining noise. at first i thought it was a loose powersteering belt or something. i had some guy in an infiniti G35 take a run at me on the highway the other day. the aftermath was ugly. our cars have some serious ***** at highway speeds. i went from about 70 to 120 in a blink. scary how quick these cars are sometimes.

DBLNICKL

very scary bro...i immediately place both hands on the wheel when accelerating during those "situations"...lol safe drivin

SoCalCLK

4.5 sec!! Whoa! I'd place our cars right around 5.0-5.1 depending on road conditions, tires, etc.

Stiggs

I called BS too when I read that. They got 3.9sec for the new C63. Maybe they know how to launch these cars?

SoCalCLK

You're right. The factory places our W209 CLK55's at 5.0, and it's right on the money. 4.9 would be totally optimal, like several back to back runs with an experienced driver.

Riot Nrrrd

I can't say I've ever noticed a 'whiney noise' in my W208 ... just a beautiful throaty roar

Stiggs

I have it upon initial startup cold. Not noticable when driving.

Stiggs

So wait a sec....if 5.0-4.9sec is spot on for our cars (W209) then how on earth does Car and Driver get these numbers? If they can do it can't we as well?

Riot Nrrrd

I knew you meant that (I assume you mean "cold" as in first start, not "cold"-cold as in "in cold weather" - though maybe you mean both ), just saying I don't think (as a warm-weather owner) I've ever heard anything like that personally. I'm specifically thinking of the startup and post-startup until the RPMs drop ...

hammertime21

The whining noise is the AIR injection pump coming on when car is cold at startup. Its just a electric motor pumping air into cylinder head to exhaust to heat up oxygen sensors and catalyst, for emmissions, so fuel injection goes to closed loop running. Once oxygen sensors are up to temperature, AIR pump is shut off.

hrothgar02

Hammertime,

Are you sure you're not a MB engineer? What an explaination! That was awesome.

DBLNICKL

if he's not, he needs to be,lol...cause thats a way better explanation than ANY MB "tech" ever gave me @ the dealership...