after 4 weeks, I now have 950 miles on my E500 (silver/ash) - it is clearly making that "diesely whining sound" on acceleration , most prominent above 2Krpm and on Deceleration - I am aware of some of the fixes on this board (i have brake noise too) and technical bulletins with engine mounts, etc. but.........

Prior to this car i owned a 2000 CLK 430 and this noise was also present, (mr. vanos advised me way back when..) the noise was also much louder and had more of a "Whooshing" sound. I eventually beat down MB and got them to replace the camshafts as well as the upper components- rocker arms, valves etc.. this was done after 3K miles and the noise was first heard after 300 Miles...Getting them to do the job took quite a bit of persistence. However once fixed it was gone. Furthermore, I believe that since those repairs, my car was constantly in service, check engine light, new cpu, constant gremlins...because IMO once you open the engine, its a virtual pandoras box of potential problems

I thought that i could have caused that noise since my moron sales guy told me that the engine didnt need to be broken in so i drove it hard from day one, i mean really hard....Once repaired i drove the car very mellow until 1K miles...out of paranoia...
(I AM GOING SOMEWHERE WITH THIS STORY..I promise.)


MY QUESTION IS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE HAD THIS -
Is it just possible that all MB V-8s make noise in the valve train..( i have babied this car since mile one) perhaps after a length of time or several thousand miles they just dissapate?? Please share with me your thoughts relative to your own experiences...PS.. i test drove another E500 at the dealer and it made the noise too...I would hate to relive that post repair experience again..and i dont feel like doing battle with MB....

THANKS ( Happy Thanksgiving to all)

Michael

 

Michael

It is hard to describe a noise to others. If I get on my E500 very hard...it is not quiet.

But at a constant throttle increase...I don't think I have any loud noise. You mention deceleration....what kind of noise do you hear with no throttle??

 

I dont hear a noise at no throttle however its a whining...down on deceleration...lets say a give it some juice up to 2800 rpm and let off,,,you hear it...but not at idle..

I am just finding it hard to accept that i have had two cars both costing more than 55K each with this noise...

Its a whiney -lifter tapping sound but higher pitched

 

The newer MB sohc 3 valve engines are noisy especially compared to the DOHC 4 valve engines of the previous generation, the newer engines save MB almost 50% over the former ones. The whoosing sound you also mention, does it sound like a weed wacker whoosing sound? As if this is the sound you had on your 208 and now 211 this is present in all the modular 4.3 and 5.0 modular engines and it is in fact caused by the cams and MB can fix it by installing a more precisely ground set of cam shafts (beleive it or not they can get these by special order and they are not used during regular production...more cost cutting) this info comes from an MB shop foreman at one of its most prestigious dealerships and verified by my local Mb regional rep some time ago as I went through the same excerise as you. The noisy ticking/tapping is from the valve train and is normal. The motor mount problem still occurs on 04's as with mine, I have decided to leave mine alone as the less the dealer touches my car the better. I hope this helps

 

I have no lifter noise in my replacement E500. I did have the motor mount problem in my pre-nav and had them replaced. No noise after that in the pre-nav.

I checked the replacement to see if any of Michael's description would fit. No ticking or whining on acceleration nor any noise at all (except for noisy Conti's ) on deceleration from 2k to 3K.

I could not duplicate any of the described noises.


_________
Ed

 

Thanks - RJC - I agree with you...im gonna leave it alone, not worth the post repair glitches and gremlins...

I do have a hunch, which has no technical merrit, but...
perhaps over time the cam wears down and noise dissapates????
is it entirely possible??
My brother's SL 500 has the noise too..so did his ML 55
It just sounds soooo crappy....in any case i am eagerly awaiting the 1000 mile mark so i can do a full kickdown and see what she can do. All in all i do find the 211 superior in build quality and believe it or not handling compared to my 208 CLK...

Thanks again for your thoughts, happy holidays..

Michael

 

I only have about 2000 miles on this car so not a lot of miles.
I had 18K on the pre-nav.

 

You're welcome and happy TG to you and yours.

 

RJC,

The faulty hydraulic motor mount issue is STILL going on? I thought all of that was rectified back in February 2003!

michael10128,

I have a little whirring on initial start up, but once the motor's running it sounds really smooth both on accel and decel. Good luck with your ride.