E-Class (W212) 2010 - 2016: E 350, E 550
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 10:44 AM
  #1  
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rain sensor

Hi
So after it rained a few times here in CA (yes yes we get to enjoythe rain here sometimes lol) , im not really satisfied with the rain sensor on my 550 , it works really weird , sometimes when there is barelly any rain it works faster and when there is a lot of rain it feels like its not doing its job...
I guess what im trying to say is that its been programmed very poorly/maybe bad sensor or position , i remember the AUTO option in my bmw e60 was awesome, just press it and it would do the job perfectly.

anybody else noticed that? or am i whining too much over here
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 12:34 PM
  #2  
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I hate it. It's always either too fast or too slow... I like having a steady wipe every 5 seconds or so, usually the slowest setting in a "normal" car, but the slowest non-auto setting is too frequent for my taste. I use Rain-X wiper fluid so I don't need them to wipe as often... I usually end up turning the wipers off completely and just tapping the stalk once whenever things start to get too blurry.

So I'm a whiner as well lol
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 01:07 PM
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Originally Posted by blegthbloo
I hate it. It's always either too fast or too slow... I like having a steady wipe every 5 seconds or so, usually the slowest setting in a "normal" car, but the slowest non-auto setting is too frequent for my taste. I use Rain-X wiper fluid so I don't need them to wipe as often... I usually end up turning the wipers off completely and just tapping the stalk once whenever things start to get too blurry.

So I'm a whiner as well lol

AYEEE!!
atleast im not the only one , makes me feel better.
and exactly like u said , always too fast or too slow.
is there even an AUTO option? believe it or not can not remember , need to check on my lunch.
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 01:23 PM
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Yeah the first click should be Auto (second might be faster/more sensitive Auto?), then the ones after that are the fast steady wipes. So annoying. I use my wipers more in the dry to get crud off the windshield than I do in the rain lol
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 01:25 PM
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Oh you poor souls :-) over here we know what rain is (Scotland) smirry, wet, torrential, horizontal... we get most these most days (slight exaggeration) today we only had straight vertical wet rain.. but that change to hail stones for a while.

I find the auto function set on first setting perfect... you must have the wrong type of rain :-)
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 01:37 PM
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Originally Posted by blegthbloo
Yeah the first click should be Auto (second might be faster/more sensitive Auto?), then the ones after that are the fast steady wipes. So annoying. I use my wipers more in the dry to get crud off the windshield than I do in the rain lol
yes thats what i thought as well . first one is Auto , and then next ones are more sensitive auto.. LOL where you from>

Originally Posted by GavJ
Oh you poor souls :-) over here we know what rain is (Scotland) smirry, wet, torrential, horizontal... we get most these most days (slight exaggeration) today we only had straight vertical wet rain.. but that change to hail stones for a while.

I find the auto function set on first setting perfect... you must have the wrong type of rain :-)
i thought it might depend on year made , but mine is 10 , and bleghtbloo's is 13 , but i guess its the same thing atleast on 10-13 models.

aha yea , im happy that we get rain in California at all after all that drought situation where we couldnt even use sprinklers or wash our cars on driveways cuz if some as$hole would snitch you out we could get a fine. LOL
but yea definately different rain types
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 01:57 PM
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Yeah I'm in Maryland, so it rains (spits, more like) every 3 days or so... not enough to be any more than an annoyance. Every once in awhile we'll get torrential downpours/horizontal, and for those the auto setting IS great... my thought is, if it's gonna rain at all, at least make it worthwhile and REALLY come down. Traffic around here slows to a crawl when a single drop hits the pavement, because people don't know how to drive... so if I have to deal with those morons, then at least let me get a car wash out of it lol

And my '11 E350 was the same as the '13 E550 wrt the wipers, so I think they're the same across all models/years of W212 (at least pre-FL)
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 02:48 PM
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Originally Posted by blegthbloo
Yeah I'm in Maryland, so it rains (spits, more like) every 3 days or so... not enough to be any more than an annoyance. Every once in awhile we'll get torrential downpours/horizontal, and for those the auto setting IS great... my thought is, if it's gonna rain at all, at least make it worthwhile and REALLY come down. Traffic around here slows to a crawl when a single drop hits the pavement, because people don't know how to drive... so if I have to deal with those morons, then at least let me get a car wash out of it lol

And my '11 E350 was the same as the '13 E550 wrt the wipers, so I think they're the same across all models/years of W212 (at least pre-FL)
Totally agree with you , either let it really come down or dont even start at all. (exactly what happened yesterday , actually hand washed my car on saturday (which is a rare occasion during fall) and all it was just a few drops , but enough to mess up my clean car lol
and indeed on people cant drive in rain , just slow down and create traffic.


i just thought it could be a software related issue where there could of fixed it in later models 11-12-13 year , which they prolly didnt until they came out with Facelift models. would be interesting to know though
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 03:55 PM
  #9  
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My '04 E550 was exactly the same as my 2010 E550 was when in rain sensor mode. Sometimes I would turn it off and back on to reset it's feeble brain. MB has never fixed this as far as I am concerned. The damn thing has a mind of its own.
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 03:57 PM
  #10  
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ive read somewhere a while back that, like the windows, you can reset the wicndscreen wipers. how? im not sure, try to search but im pretty sure you can that before anything else.

like GavJ, i feel sorry for yous. mine works perfectly on all my cars.
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 04:10 PM
  #11  
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Originally Posted by KEY08
My '04 E550 was exactly the same as my 2010 E550 was when in rain sensor mode. Sometimes I would turn it off and back on to reset it's feeble brain. MB has never fixed this as far as I am concerned. The damn thing has a mind of its own.
Now i feel better , more people have noticed that too.



and BeeJ , i will do a search , but ive never seen/heard anything about re setting those...but definately will do a search.
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 04:15 PM
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this might help..

http://www.jamesandtracy.co.uk/howto...to_wipers_sync
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 05:30 PM
  #13  
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Originally Posted by beejAMG
Ayee thanks man , will try it , even tho its for wipers only , but it might have some side effect on sensor , and the whole system all together.
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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 06:55 PM
  #14  
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To the best of my knowledge, the first 2 settings that are dotted lines are auto, and the next two with solid lines just turns them on. I just leave it on the first setting, works perfect for me.

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Old Nov 16, 2016 | 07:03 PM
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Diesel #2
my guess is that it was fixed in '16 models
not everyone is so lucky
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