Hello dear w211 owners.

I've had a few problems with my car and I'm at the point of giving up on my car.. I'm seriously thinking of selling it..
I got my E500 w211 6 months ago at a very reasonable price when I was looking for a reliable daily ride. it's not my first experience with mb, ive had an old e320 and it was so reliable had no problems with it for like 2 years.

my problems started with the battery being drained overnight. sometimes it holds for a little over 24 hours..
went to the dealer ship, they said you have no issues what so ever.. i don't know what they did beside charging me 120 for inspection... but it remained for a week without any battery daring issue..
the problem came back but this time the radio didn't work.. cd changer doesn't open.. went back to the dealership paid for inspection again.. they said you need new front and back batteries. I paid around 400 for both.. I had my friend picking up my car because i was out of town.. when i got back the car was looking fine battery isn't drained! but ... radio isn't working, cd changer doesn't open too :@ ..
went back to the dealership they were kind enought :@ to charge me no inspection fees.. but this time they said you need a new audio gate way .. all with labor 550.. i agreed.. they changed it.. then they called back asking if i want to change the MAF sensor because it's faulty for additional 200.. i said go for it..
the radio worked! cd changer worked!.. the ride became much better.

few days later.. i woke up early ready to go to work "LUCKILY".. my car doesn't work.. battery is drained again :@.. i jump started it.. and now it went back to its original state..
no power if i leave it overnight without disconnecting the back battery.. the cd changer is being moody too.. sometimes it opens and sometimes it doesn't.. the heated seats lights on the cd changer console flicker for no reason and hazard light flicker for no reason too and I get battery malfunction message sometimes..
the flickering goes away after 5 mins of driving..

I get no malfunction messages when I start my car but after driving for 15~20 mins the battery malfunction message pops up suddenly "malfunction electrical consumers switched off" and the heated seats go back at their flickering state and the 12v lighter port stops working not to mention the interior lights.. not only this but the a/c fan stop pushing enough air..

what got me into giving up is that few days ago the weather was good and I opened my panoramic roof and now it doesn't close. it makes some weird sounds I managed to rotate the sunroof motor manually and close it and now I'm afraid of opening it again..

so many threads talk about issues that are similar to mine. it they make easy so im not sure if i should DIY everything myself or go back to the stealership..
I like the car, I can't express how happy I sometimes feel about it.. I got stuck in snow storms twice this year and had to sleep inside the car and it doesn't act weird when i need it. it does between 24-26 highway and 17-18 city.. the ride is close to perfect and comfortable.. haven't had any problems with the airmatic suspensions yet.. these are some positive things to leave you with..

please let me know if you have an idea about what I can do to fix electrical problems I have..
sorry for making it long.. I swear i'm not high ..
Thanks.

 

A couple of things to check. Are both batteries relatively new? Also check to see if the voltage regulator in your alternator is worn out. That can cause issues with the batteries not charging fast enough and the car just not getting enough electrical power. Swapping out the voltage regulator is fairly easy and the part is cheap. If your car is more than 10 years old, I would suggest just doing it. Only thing is that it does not explain the fast battery drain. For that, I would check the relays. Check this page for more information.

 

There's also a battery control module. Did you go to an MB dealer? They should have been able to figure it out. If it's just an indy garage, I'm not surprised they couldn't figure it out. You can also switch the display to show you the voltage while driving. That will tell you if the alternator/voltage regulator/battery control module is flaky. You may also have some other item causing a drain.

 

UPDATE:
So I gave up on the dealership ( Stealership )..
I googled a mercedes benz repair shop and I found the best one around the salt lake city area..
they inspected the car and told me its the battery control module.. around 800$ fix.. I replaced it.. but this didn't solve the problem..
they inspected it one more time and they told me it's the overhead panel and control module that control the roof and all of the other buttons in the car.. they replaced it for another 750$..
the draw went away! no draw anymore!!! but all of the lights and functionalities in the car don't work now!
they said it's the sam module and it's gonna cost around 250$ used..
I already paid around 3500$ to fix everything that's the price of a used w211 or a good used camery..
it's been 4 weeks since I drove my car and if it's not fixed I'm going to get another car.. WTH, a battery draw issue shouldn't cost this much!
It's a common problem but why it is so expensive!

did any of you pay this much to fix a simple issue in their car!??? is this a normal thing for a mb owner!?

 

The 2003 wasn't a good year, it also had issues with the radiator leaking into the transmission fluid ruining it. For that year, it's true, never buy a first year model. Was the alternator ok? At that age I'd suspect it also. I haven't spent anywhere near what you've spent in over 3 years. You really need someone who can diagnose it properly. I'd suggest getting a MB specific code scanner like the Autel Diaglink which is about $110 on Amazon. It may or may not help as you may have some device that's not shutting down properly and causing a drain and I'm not sure if a scanner will pick that up.

 

I know everyone is throwing suggestions to you, but I would also check the front seat modules. I thought the 2003 models were more prone to overnight battery drainage caused by a bad seat module. Read this post:

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ery-drain.html

This is from the main search I did:

https://mbworld.org/forums/search.php?searchid=21414813

Good luck!
Mike T.

 

2002 w211 (2003 us model) was equiped with this inferior valeo radiator. From the next year it changed to behr.