I have a 2016 e350 with 25k on it. I pulled over to get gas put 20 dollars in it and when I started driving i noticed my fuel gauge was reading empty and service engine light was on. Any ideas on what this could be?

 

Was it reading empty when you pulled over for gas? Reserve light on? Have access to scanner to pull codes? Did the CEL only come on that time or is it still on (if you've driven it since)? Otherwise its a guessing game and $20 of gas is irrelevant as prices are all over the map depending on location.

 

I just hit low fuel when I pulled in to get gas. When I left it showed almost a half then about 3 mins later I looked and it was showing on empty but no low fuel light and the check engine light on. The check engine light is still on and fuel gauge on empty but car running fine.

 

Can you pull codes? If not, consider investing in a MB-specific reader <$200 (like iCarsoft) for future issues/maintenance.

 

I am going to get one of those and get the codes. Thanks.

 

I got the code it is p2066 fuel level sensor 2.

 

P206600 - The right fuel level sensor has a malfunction. Need to remove module and replace sensor shown part # should be 2045400717 need VIN to confirm.

 

before you go buy a bunch of parts, turn car off at home , put foot on tire and rock car back and forth on the park pin until you hear the fuel in the tank sloshing, do this for 3-4 minutes, then put key in and see if gauge goes up, Just guage, light might go out after driving awhile, or you can clear it with your new code reader. this worked on my "07 S Class, just sayin'

 

Alright I am going to try rocking it back and forth maybe that will work. My vin is WDDHF5KB7GB271008.

 

2045400717 is correct part #.

 

It may not work but it's cheaper than the part, I have found if you just erase codes from these little anomaly's they go away most of the time, this is a different car from others, some don't seem to understand that, give it some time, don't be in a rush to change out parts, clear the code and see, I never replace parts until I clear the code and see if it comes back, now, maybe your fuel sensor is bad, but you can always change it out later, and its under the rear seat. some codes will only go away after time, others you can clear immediately. maybe go put another 20 dollars in it, see if that makes a difference.rock it again after that. NO, I'm not kidding.

 

That’s what I am going to do. I appreciate all the help!

 

If that doesn't work, you can try pulling the negative battery cable for ten minutes.

 

Some scanners (Xentry for sure) will show frequency of code setting... you can determine if it's a one off situation or a persistent issue. However I agree with @pierrejoliat , scan for codes (write them down), clear codes, see if they return, rock vehicle (incase float is stuck), scan/clear again, add more fuel, rock again, scan/clear again, possibly try battery reset. If that fails, then further action is needed (either parts cannon, or some basic checking of wiring and powers/grounds).

 

Yes, I use these "LIDAR" sensors in alcohol tanks all the time, usually we just turn on the agitators to blend the alcohol and they start working again. {lack of turbulence in tank?}

Sometimes we end up changing them out, but a good cleaning seems to bring them back {at least the Allen-Bradley ones} The Siemens ones only work it seems on the darker alcohols. {Rum, Bourbon, Rye}

 

Driving home from St.Louis to Dallas yesterday, Comand said I was on reserve fuel, and the range counted down from 60 to 30, where the range indicator stopped counting down (I hate that). I drove another 10-miles to Eufaula, OK, to the only station in sight, a Phillips 66.

Oddly, I found all the pumps offering only three grades of fuel: Diesel, Regular with ethanol and Regular without ethanol. To be clear, the station was not out of Mid-Grade or Premium… The (modern) pumps offered only Diesel, Regular with ethanol and Regular without ethanol. In 50+ years of driving, I had never seen this before. Ever.

Not wanting to fill the tank with Regular, I bought 2-gallons of Regular without ethanol, enough to get me down the road to a larger city. In McAlester, I bought 8 gallons of 91 octane Premium. When I left the station, the fuel gauge read ½ tank (355 miles remaining), more than enough to finish the 150-mile drive to home.

About 10 minutes later, at 70mph on the highway, the Comand screen notified, “Reserve fuel, do you want to search for fuel” or whatever. I look at the fuel gauge and it reads ¼ tank, and the Check Engine Light is on. I watch as the gauge goes to zero in about 30-seconds, no miles remaining.



I pulled over to shut off the engine and count to 30 before restarting. No joy. I popped the gas cap, thinking there might be some pressure in the tank. No joy. I checked for error messages in the display to find none. Just the CEL. So, I drove 150 miles home with no gas, according to the gauge.

Following are the code pages in Icarsoft…







And now, the (semi) good news…

This morning I refilled the tank to the brim with 93 octane premium from my regular station. 30-seconds after leaving the station, the needle jumped to “Full” on the gauge. The not-so good news is that the Check Engine Light remained on... Still no error messages in the dash display, and the scanner shows no codes for anything else.

While I was able to clear the codes in pic #2 &3, I could not clear the code in pic #1 (“Motor Electronics”) leaving the CEL on. I left the car locked in the garage for several hours, letting the car sleep. After that, I could finally erase the code. Back to normal, I think.

 

Frustrating these little gremlins, hope the trip to St. Louis was awesome.

 

Seems to me the No3 DTC caused No1 to pop... the left fuel sender crashed the R-SAM sender tracking that in turn stopped handing data to iCluster for display.
-Or
R-SAM just got mad and your fuel sender is A-1 perfect.

Is this a direct injection with 3-phase fuel pump or a classic 12v pump??

What caused left tank issue...: bad sender, bad GND reference, noisy 3-phase pump wiring, low float voltage from R-SAM??

This issue ended up snowballing into a CEL. Check if there are any related TSB to directly fix this.

 

Yes, I believe this a 2016 E350 (end of W212 model run) with direct injection.

 

Can it be that fuel level was so low, as such the float reached a potentionmeter level/region it never "rubbed" before and signal is then lost.
If it is a potentiometer based signal, areas we do not use/"rubbed" sometimes tends to have more oxidation and hence bad contact.
I see such thing happening on rotary/dial volumes control or un-used DC MCB on yachts. Simply never being used/"rubbed", they oxidize.
NOTE : Many yachts uses MCB as switch. Being 12V based, slight extra resistance drive component/s banana.

 

The Reserve Fuel message appeared in the Comand screen when there was more than 1/8 tank left, and the range was 60 miles. On long trips like this, I tend to buy gas only when needed, so I drove another 30 miles, believing I had plenty left to find a station in the next 10 miles. Instead, the low fuel red light came on and the range instantly read zero. I dislike this behavior... with my cheap W203, the range indicator accurately counts down to zero, mile by mile (and there is another 5-7 miles in the tank after).

That said, I did run the tank low (as I had just one time before), so I suppose the system was not accustomed to that. My experience with electronics is that a failure displays instantly, while in this case, I was able to find gas, add 8 gallons (back to 1/2 tank, warnings gone) and resume my drive for several minutes before the gauge (slowly, not instantly) plummeted to zero.

I can't decide what to think about this, other than add some detailed input to this thread for reading by others who experience the same situation. Other than this, my car has been gremlin free for three years so far.

 

Hey Everyone,

need some help with my issue. I recently purchased a Mercedes e350 2020 model. I filled the fuel to full tank. The reading on my console showed little less than 3/4. After driving around for couple of hours and shutting down the car then starting back up the fuel tank read 0. After a day the check engine light pops up.

i took it to a service agent and he said its a cluster problem and reset the cluster and now again I have the same issue. I have not invested in a obd2 reader.

little bit history on the car, this car is an import in my country. This was imported from the states to UAE. This car had a passenger side damage. The cluster was converted from a semi digital to a full digital when I got the car. Can anyone guide me as to where the problem is before I start wasting my money with the service agent? At this time any suggestions would be great.

thank you

Chirag

 

Can you take it to whoever converted it to be sure it's programmed into the car correctly?

 

Hi Pierrejoliat,

thank you for your response. Unfortunately I do not know who did the conversion since this car is from USA and it was I believe converted there and resold here in the UAE I might be the 2nd or 3rd owner of this.

 

Oh boy, you'll have to find someone really good with Mercedes and xentry to check for faults and reprogram the digital cluster, some 2020's came with them some did not, so I would think it's possible. But I'm guessing. might want to have the local dealer in Dubai check where it came from and past service history.