Hi guys,

Just purchased a new 320CDI and I'm courious if any of the CDI owners have had any kind of chip upgrade and with what results? I appreciate your input.

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First question why? Secondly, you are taking a big chance with warranty issues from MB unless financially this does not concern you. Give yourself a few weeks to "discover " the car. The CDI is an outstanding motor. You will love the torque and its power bandwidth. The mileage economy is an added bonus. Chip upgrades may produce significant power gains but at what cost?
Best Regards,
Jay

 

See Viesel's posts below: CDI Problems, enough was enough!

He had problems for months and had to remove his chip, and the dealer still hasn't found out what was wrong.

Wait and see if there is enough torque already. Then decide.
I think that you'll be more than satisfied with the 369 ft/lb.
Remember, yours should have more power (torque!) with additional mileage. This may take several thousand miles.

My older model only has only 244 ft/lb of torque, and once I learned how to drive it, I decided to not get it chipped. You don't wind them up, but allow the transmission to upshift early, and rely on all that low speed torque. To my way of thinking, you should be using the "C" position.

Wait and see before you "change the tune."

 

Thank you for your response guys. The more I think about it, the more I understand your wisdom. I just had to ask.... if you can understand that. After all, I am a rookie to diesels and this is my first merc which I intend to keep forever.

 

I have recently gotten outside of break-in mileage and become quite comfortable with power delivery of the motor. I keep the tranny in Sport mode all the time. I race cars as a hobby. I have no desire whatsoever to chip this thing for all the reasons above and I see no need at all. This thing has some serious legs and is now delivering 26.7mpg city type economy with a hefty dose of torque when needed. I actually find the surge of torque off idle sometimes a little too unexpected.

 

That's why I always leave my '99 in "W" which is the same as the "C" position in the CDIs.

To my way of thinking, these cars, and especially the CDIs, have too much torque at what, only 1600 rpm?
(Mine starts at 1800 rpm.) You reach those figures almost before the car starts moving from rest.
There is no need to use that first gear unless you are racing someone, or starting off going up a steep incline.

MBZ finally got smart and used 2.65s out back instead of the 3.07s that mine has.

Good luck, and enjoy that 369 ft/lb of torque (30 more than the E-500 BTW!)