Hello MBWorld! I've been lurking around here off and on for a while as a longtime MB fan (Still DD my W123 300D). Recently got this E350 4MATIC Sport and wanted to share as well as ask a few questions to get to know it better. This is kind of a dream full size sedan for me since we've had MB sedans in our family since the W123 as well as a W210 E320 4MATIC in a similar color that someone else crashed. To me, the W210 and W211 are the best of the modern MB sedans.

The car has about 120K miles and seems to be on its 4th or 5th owner now but overall is in pretty good condition. It was parked outdoors by the PO and probably never washed properly so one of the first things I just completed was a wash, clay bar, 2 stage polish and seal. It took me 4 days since I had to do most of it after work and had limited daylight.


Just detailed for the first time!

Some other small fixes I have done are trim replacement around the shifter and some door sills, cup holder, headlight restoration (Cerakote - didn't work as well as I hoped but still much better and their CS was excellent). Passenger seat does not move forward or back and I noticed the switch for that control is loose so I have a replacement on the way that will hopefully fix that.

The next major area I want to address is the roof rails that contain the rack mounts. The clear coat is flaking off, which is not a big deal to me but one of the mount covers is damaged and I couldn't find any details on what parts to look into and how to service that section. Can anyone point me in the right direction if there is a guide already posted here? I'd like to know how to remove those rails and maybe fix the cover that is broken or replace it.


Roof rail restoration

Another question I have is regarding the entertainment/audio/phone features. My car has the (factory?) iPod connector in the glove box and I connected an old iPod touch (gen3) to it and it works! However, I can only see track name in the center cluster display with no other details and no information at all shows up on the "Head Unit". I can change tracks with the steering wheel buttons or the HU buttons but would love to know if more can be done as is. Just having any info display on the HU would be good enough to me. Another thing about it is the connector doesn't seem to have charging ability...that is kind of a fail but please let me know if it should have that function.

The other main feature I'd like to figure out is the Bluetooth. The previous owner showed me that his iPhone was connected to bluetooth and he was able to make calls through the car integration but I cannot get my iPhone to connect at all. I tried pressing the buttons by the Bluetooth device in the center console and resetting my phone but I can't find any specific info about how to use this car's Bluetooth. What do the "I" and wrench buttons by the device do and is there something simple I am missing? If I do get it to work, will I be able to play music from the connection as well?


How does this Bluetooth work?

Last thing for now is I read that Sport Package cars like mine came with a factory blueish tint. Is what I have here the factory tint? I've never seen such sloppily applied tint (the cuts are not flush to the edges and there are some obvious imperfections) and would be surprised if it was factory. If this is factory tint, does anyone know what kind of tint they use or has there been any tests on the effectiveness of it (UV and Heat Reduction). I normally get a light ceramic Llumar film on all my cars but would be fine if what I already have is something decent. I would still add windshield film at some point anyways to get maximum protection/heat rejection.


Is this Factory Tint?


Is this Factory Tint?

Really enjoying the car and look forward to pushing it harder after I change the oil and air filters but a great addition to my stable! Thanks for this community and to anyone who can help answer some of my questions. Take care!

 

1. for the roof rail, just ply it up. Starting at the front or rear.... there are no screws or bolts. Held in place by clips...
2. watch youtube for procedure to link the bluetooth phone. quite complicated... unlike the newer head unit. Also require pin number... check online.
3. The bluetooth only work for phone, no music streaming.
4. check out ebay for a device call "Mr12volt", it will allow you to answer phone through bluetooth, streaming music, playing usb music.
5. the "blue tinted window", if I remember correctly, refered to the front windshield. Other versions have "green tinted".... this info is only relevant when you are replace the front wind shield. I might be wrong about this...

 

here is the procedure to sync bluetooth
1. press Star (on bluetooth device) for 3 seconds
2. Search for bluetooth (on your phone)
3. Pin code 62872 (MBUSA)

 

Thanks for this! I’ll check the roof rail sometime and report back. It’s not a priority so I’m going to enjoy the car and deal with that when I feel up to it. Should be easy to see how it works and get PNs once I get it off.

The Bluetooth…yeah, I searched and watched a few videos and read a few threads but it seemed confusing with different types of setups and conflicting info that didn’t get me the simple answer you just provided. Too bad it doesn’t work for other audio and I checked that Mr12volt device out, cool stuff!

So, as for the tint, it means whatever I have on the sides is aftermarket and you say the windshield is tinted but I assume that means factory glass “shading” and not a separate film that provides additional protection. Any other details on this would be appreciated.

This is fantastic! Not complicated at all and I got setup in seconds! Didn’t realize the star was a button too! That and the access code were the crucial keys I didn’t find before. This will do just fine as I would only use it to accept calls I need to and I rarely ever make calls while I’m driving anyways.

Would be nice if it had other audio functionality but nbd. I don’t think I’ll try to add the Mr12v and just stick to the radio, CDs and iPod connection.

If anyone has any other details on the iPod functions or any other tips, thanks for any other info that could help me out! I found the answer about those other buttons for teleaid… I thought it was just the SOS button by the mirror.

 

A couple more questions I forgot to ask about:

1. I found some info about side mirror folding and tilt on reverse but I wasn’t able to get either to work. Seems like folding is activated through the settings in the steering wheel and cluster display but I don’t see the option so I’m not sure if it’s something that can be unlocked or just not available on this car. Mirror tilt on reverse seems to involve programming it by putting the car in reverse and adjusting the mirrors along with some sequence of shifting and turning on/off the car but again, I was unsuccessful. Is there a definitive answer as to which cars have these abilities or not? Seems like an odd feature to not have in this car as even my 2002 allroad has them.
   
2. This is another topic I need help clarifying. One of my keys only locks and unlocks the car but will not turn at all in the ignition. The PO showed me that it was touchy and you have to use the same key you used to unlock the car to start it and I think he was able to get both to work after going back and forth a few times but I can only get one to work. Is there really a logic or sequence to which key you can use? Some people mentioned the EIS could be faulty but why would one key still work? If it’s the key, what should I do to troubleshoot and possibly fix the key that doesn’t work? Try new batteries, take it apart and clean/inspect it. What to look for?

Thanks again for any answers!

 

1. The mirror titling setting is on steering wheel and cluster display. In order to work, the mirror adjustment button has to be in the position for passenger side setting. The folding option has to be activate using DAS. I think most W211 dont have this feature, except the top of the line version.
2. I dont have answer to your 2nd question. Best to replace the key battery 1st. clean the key, and maybe the EIS (with electronic cleaner spray). Maybe the key is faulty.....

 

if i'm not mistaken, the factory window tint is not a film but the glass itself is tinted in blue/green.
what i see there looks to be aftermarket tint film, which has faded judging from the outward looking view. the dark area is protected by the top of the window track keeping it's original color longer.

i've never seen a 4matic sport before. do you have staggered wheels/tires? your car should be lowered a touch.

 

Thanks! I found another thread regarding the mirror tilt and the instruction manual section about it but still haven't confirmed it working for me yet. Will look into it some more. I'll take the key apart and see how that goes...Don't want to mess with the good key or the EIS in case I mess something up that is already working fine.

That makes sense to me as I never seen factory tint using film before. They did something similar with the S4 I have with tinted glass I think. As for the tint on my car, yeah it's pretty bad but I thought if it was factory, the dark parts at the top could be part of the design like they have the fading strip across the top of some windshields. If that is aftermarket, I've never seen any tint fade like that before so it must be pretty horrible and useless stuff, lol!

So, I don't know if my car is lower or not (are there suspension changes in sport packages?) but it does not have staggered wheels. I was looking into brake upgrades and because of the different spindle setup for the 4MATIC, I cannot bolt on AMG brakes but I was looking at possibly getting AMG wheels if I ever need to replace my wheels and then I would either get two sets of fronts or two sets of rears.

 

For the mirrors on reverse, although that's in the manual, it was disabled as they thought that the mirror motor would break if it was enabled. Works fine on my 2011.

A couple other notes, the headlamp washers work when you have the headlights on and you hit the windshield washer fluid 5 times. So give it a good long press when you're up to 5 times. They changed it to 10 on the W212.

The 4matic is the same set of wheels all around, only the RWD is staggered. Pretty standard to have sport 4matic in the northeast here. I wouldn't bother with AMG brakes, cost a lot more and not really worth it. I just go with Akebono brake pads so you don't get any brake dust.

The key is RFID so there's probably something wrong with it, probably not the battery as it doesn't need it. Try cleaning the front of the key off. Or maybe it was a replacement key from a locksmith that couldn't fully program it.

As for the ipod cable, you can just get a bluetooth adapter for the ipod. I used to use spotify on my ipod but then spotify got rid of older OS support so I just did bluetooth on my phone. There's also a charging adapter out there too if you want to keep the ipod.


As for your suspension, I can't really tell in your pictures. But with over 140k on mine, I've done the front springs/struts and rear shocks/springs.

 

I just came back from the mobile locksmith in the los angeles area. Some one from the forum post his service some days ago. I drove my car over, he provided and programmed, included cutting the new metal key for $80. The whole process took 10 minutes!. The new key fob is chinese made. It looks and feels about 90-95% of the OEM key!!. I was impressed... much better than expected. So far everything working perfect, dont know how long this knocked off key will last.....but for the price, Im not complaint!!.

 

Like Cetialpha5 said, my reverse title mirror worked, but I turned off this option... the more moving parts, the more chances to break. Im not sure you aware, our car has "convenience entry option": when you ready to exit or enter the car, the seat move back, steering wheel raise...etc.. I also turned of this feature. The moving up down steering wheel notorious for breaking down (simple to fix, but still a hassle).
You mentioned most likely will not invest in the Mr12volt. You should reconsider, with this device, your stereo will function like the most up to date cars! bluetooth, usb, sd car, streaming...and most important: all the songs, music info will show up on instrument cluster!!.

 

What year is your car? I asked Konigstiger and he said that on the 2008 the reverse mirrors was specifically disabled. I think it worked on earlier years. The work around for that is to use the memory settings for seat position 1 and program that into seat position 2 or 3 and then adjust the mirrors all the way down on the passenger side and save the new setting to 2 or 3. So all you do is just hold down 2 or 3 to get the mirrors to go down and then go back 1 to switch back to normal.

And yes, the convenience entry was notorious for breaking, I think they said that if you put your weight on the steering wheel while it was moving when getting out, the extra weight would break the dogbone gear. That's why eBay sells that replacement part. Better to just shut it off so there's one less thing to fix. My rear window shade has been broken for about 10 years too, worked initially then it gets stuck and needs help going up/down. Better to just leave it down than risk it breaking when it's up and then you can't the rear when it's dark out.

 

my car is 07... thats may explained why it still work

 

I read about the headlight washers, nice tip! I rarely ever use them on any of my cars but good to know how when I need to.

Yeah, I knew about the wheels and it’s not something I’m going to do unless my wheels get damaged and I need to replace them for some reason. Agree about the brakes too and again, it was just something I was looking into in case I needed to replace my brake system for any reason. It’s always nice to know if there is an OEM bolt on upgrade available. I haven’t had good experience with Akebono pads and I see there aren’t many options for this car. I’ll probably end up getting Goodridge SS lines, flush with some DOT4 and go with Brembo pads and Zimmerman or Brembo rotors when needed. FWIW, I found that E63 AMG wheels are 24.1 lbs and my stock wheels are 25 lbs so the slight decrease in unsparing weight won’t hurt if I ever go that route.

Thanks for the key tips! I’ll fiddle with it some more but just glad I have one consistently working.

That Bluetooth device you shared… will it display more than just track info on the cluster and the head unit? How does it compare to the mr12volt mentioned?

Im not too worried about the suspension and so far, it feels good to me as is with no changes needed. I don’t think this car has any air or other special suspension (can someone lmk if so?) so I’ll just replace with something similar to OEM if I ever need to. I didn’t see Koni SpecialActive shocks available for this car but if so, I’d go with those.

I think I read about this in another thread so it’s good to know there is a cheaper option if it comes down to it!

I knew about the convenience entry and left it off for the reasons you mentioned and I don’t have problems getting out anyways. I would like the mirror tilt to work since that is also a safety feature imo that’s worth having. Maybe I’ll reconsider on the mr12volt if I find the setup now too annoying, haha. Does it also have a CarPlay feature where you phone nav is displayed on the hu? If so, that might sell me.

Ah, that’s a nice hack for the mirror tilt if I don’t get mine working! I read in some other thread that they had to press the memory button to make it go back to normal and I was thinking that defeats the purpose but maybe that’s what they were talking about and it’s better than nothing. For the rear shade, mine works but other than testing it, I’ve left it up the entire time and it doesn’t bother me in the dark. It’s a nice compromise without decent tint.


So, on another note, I changed the engine and pollen filters on my car today and noticed the rubber seal for the air box to the MAF was ripped and needs to be replaced immediately. Already have that part ordered and hopefully gets here soon! Then I should also have the seat switch and installed early next week and I should be about done with my little fixes and tweaks for a while.

 

Over the year I've gotten several bent/cracked wheels. Local guy will fix a bent wheel and remount the wheel for $115 a rim, either look through Yelp or ask a local tire shop who would be good to get a rim fixed. Last time I cracked a rim, it was about $185 for a new rim from Wheelership. I had gotten reman OEM rims before but they cracked just like the OEM rims on the car, I got replica rims and so far they haven't cracked yet. I get tires at Costco, they usually have the best deal on Michelin and it comes with a free 5 year road hazard with free balancing/rotation/flat repair. They were serious about the free flat repair now, last time they didn't charge me to swap rims when the rim was cracked and leaking air. In the past they'd charge $20 to swap the TPMS sensor.

I've been using the Akebono pads for several years now, on my 2nd set. FCPEuro has a lifetime warranty on them. No issues with them. The bluetooth device is just as bad/same as the ipod, just displays track info but it's better than nothing. That mr12volt sounds like a whole rip out the dash type of job and throw in a new android type unit. You could do that too but just the bluetooth device is good enough for me and I'm not going crazy ripping it out and redoing it on a 17 year old car.

The suspension options are pretty limited. There's like 3 sets of springs that fit this car so you just have OEM springs for the front, the springs have a color code on them or you can get a knock off copy of EPC/WIS on eBay in the $10-$20 range and look up the exact part number of the springs you need and the WIS is the full dealer repair manual, discontinued after 2018/2020 but still fine for our cars. The struts I used were Bilstein B4, Sachs was OEM but the price of Sachs struts were about double the price of Bilstein. Cheaper on Rockauto and they have a lifetime warranty anyway so no point getting them from FCPEuro. Need to look up the part number in EPC and then cross reference to the Bilstein part number and look up the Bilstein part number. It wasn't listed when I bought mine under 2008 E350. Also there's a height adjustment ring on the strut, about 10 rings settings, should be set to the 2nd or 3rd ring, by default it's on the highest 10th ring and then the car sits too high because they didn't know to set the setting lower. Rear springs I got from FCPEuro, there's some aftermarket company that makes them. Rear shocks were also Bilstein. Only the E550 or E63 had the airmatic, the wagons also had airmatic in the rear. The regular E350 is just steel springs. If the car is a little low, it's not unusual for the top of the coil to rust out and snap off and then the car looks too low.

 

To answer some of the questions above: The Mr12volt do not work for Android Auto or Apple Carplay. In order for these AA or AP to work, you need a touch screen unit. NTG1 is not a touch screen; old tech. Mr12volt is not a Android type unit, it is a ripped off copied cat of the multi media interface device of the face lifted w211 (NTG 2.5). No dash open up, no head unit replacement. However you will need to remove the 6 CD changer unit, and plug the device into CD plug. It takes over the CD, and acts as a CD changer, but with much more functions. There is a big name unit selling for 4-500$ which highly praised on this forum. Mr12volt (La Power) is a exact copied selling for less than $100 (that how much I paid years ago). One note (stated in spec): the unit only decode MP3, WMA music format (USB, SD card). Back then all my usb music files were lower quality 128kb mp3, which worked fine. Lately, I had upgraded my music to high quality FLAC, WAVE, DSD, DTS...ect ... and the unit could not read these. Now aday I use bluetooth streaming from my phone, which decode whatever files out there. Sound is extremely good, way better than CD!!.

 

This info is for SLAVE IV, as other members mostly already know: the 09 and up cars have a totally different head unit compare to the early models (NTG1 vs NTG2.5). The new unit supported (or already come installed) the Multi Media Interface. In that case, there is a plug inside the glove box. You only need to buy the cable (posted above) that allow to plug in the usb and play mp3 files

 

Thanks for the additional details! I have a local guy who is well known in the car community for fixing/touching up wheels. I haven't had any issues with cracked wheels but sometimes they get bent beyond the point where I want to see if I can fix them over just getting new wheels. Plus, I like the idea of having lighter AMG wheels if I ever need to. I love Michelin tires too but don't have Costco and they are too expensive elsewhere for what I need on this car so I plan to stick with my tried and true Continental DWS or ExtremeContactSport that I get from a local specialty shop. For the suspension, I'm glad I just have the simple springs and struts and I will definitely refer back to this if I need to replace mine.

Again, thanks for these additional details! I went back and watched the videos again and just don't like the idea of replacing the CD changer and having that hole with wires and that box hanging there and I wouldn't want to deal with coming up with a cleaner solution considering the end results. If anything, I think the Bluetooth adapter that was mentioned by @cetialpha5 would be a cleaner and simpler solution that covers most of what I would want. But, after some more digging, I found that the issue with the iPod charging is that the OEM plug is using a 12v charge and my iPod needs a 5v source to charge and MB actually made an adapter to address this issue (PN B67824582). There are 3rd party versions and I am about to order one and I think I'll be good with that and just live with only having track info on the cluster, it's not that big a deal. This way, I retain the OEM functions for everything, including bluetooth phone, which works perfectly already. Only thing left is a modern Nav and I am settling on just getting a phone mount for the vent. I looked at a bunch of options and don't like the ProClip solutions for this car or the CD slot holders so hopefully the vent mount I ordered will do the trick. I actually like CDs still and plan to use the CD changer on the car so that was another reason.

 

If it work for you, then it work for you.... In my case, I deleted the CD changer, and replaced the area with a storage box, no wire, no mess. I left the Mr12volt device in the glove box, easier to plug in sd card, usb...etc.... I like to keep everything original, but the convenience of storing thousand of songs on the sd/usb, bluetooth streaming pushed me to upgrade. In case you not notice.. beside the CD changer, the head unit also has the Cd slot that play CD. As of right now, I use the phone GPS, then streaming voice direction and music over bluetooth. That way I have voice over car speaker, and music automatically mute, pause when voice direction announce...
Also be careful with the vent mouth phone. The w211 air vents are the weak point. Notorious for being disintegrated, falling apart overtime. I already had to replace couple of my vents....

 

I have plenty of music in my iPod already and if I need bluetooth for music or other things, I think that adapter for less than half the price of mr12volt (it's now $200) is the better option for me. I haven't tested it yet but assuming that using the OEM iPod adapter will also automatically mute when I'm using the OEM phone bluetooth. Using a storage box (I think I saw some OEM like options) and putting whatever device in the glove does sound like a better way to go than the way the guy did it in the video I saw though.
I also agree on the vent mount but I just couldn't find any other option I liked so will see how it goes with that and figure something else out if I hate it.

 

Can you please post the link for the steering dog bone on eBay? Since this part will break sooner or later, I would like to have a back up part ready. Thanks

 

Can't find it right now. I guess most people probably disabled it at this point. There's a few threads out there that talk about it.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...2004-e500.html

 

Couple updates:

I got this 12v to 5v adapter for the iPod connection and it works! Retains previous functions and now the iPod also charges so I don't have to take it out or worry about it dying in the middle of a drive. Don't think I'll need any other audio gadgets for now because everything is working fine as is, especially since...

The vent phone holder I got is pretty sturdy and might actually help preserve the vents because it has decent support on it to keep things from moving. Also able to position the phone perfectly, unlike the other options I looked at.

Bad news, AC stopped blowing cold air and after inspection, there was some oil around the condenser so there may be a leak. Pressure test was ok and refilled for now but hopefully when I go back to check for leaks it comes away clean.

Otherwise, I replaced the air filter seal that was torn and also got a new seat switch so I confirmed my passenger seat motors all work fine and it was just the switch that broke and we're all good there.

The car is a joy to drive and really happy to have it all cleaned up and mostly sorted out now.

 

Another Update:

Changed the oil at close to 125k using Liquid-Moly 5w-40 Molygen. I have service records from the po but couldn’t determine when the last change was other than I know it was done regularly but I plan to change every 5k. This first time, I noticed the oil filter was a cheap looking and loose fitting blue filter so I’m glad to have a proper MANN filter in there with new o-rings. I used my extractor and got a little over 7l out, which seems about right considering the level was slightly below the middle when I checked. Put in about 7.5l and will add the other .5 and check again later but I think that will put me right at the max level. Car already runs noticeable stronger and smoother and the slight lag I noticed before from a stop is gone. Needless to say, I will either be doing the oil changes myself or taking to a quality shop from now on.

Everything else seems pretty proper and the car is still a joy to drive. There are some misc. trim parts that I still need to replace but none of them are critical or affecting my enjoyment of the car so whenever I get around to it. Most importantly is making sure it’s in top mechanical shape.

AC still working so I haven’t bothered taking it in to check again. If it goes out, most likely, it’s just time to replace the condenser.

Edit: Just checked the oil level and I originally added slightly under 7.5l but after adding a bit more to make it 7.5l, the dipstick is showing max level so that lines up with other posts I've read that the 4MATIC takes 7.5l for oil changes. For the record, the manual states 8l for E350 4MATICs so I chalk the .5l up to remaining oil somewhere I can't extract. Maybe I'll try from the drain plug next time to see if there is a difference.

 

Edit to the edit on above post, I didn't wait about 10 mins after warmup and filling last time so now I am back to the original amount I expected and thought I would need, which is exactly 8l. Need to check again next time I drive the car but hopefully that does it. Sorry if no one else cares but just want to document how this goes exactly for anyone to reference.