FranglaisEClass

Hi Everyone,

I have had a 2010 E350 BlueEfficiency estate for almost 2yrs now. I love that car - we are renovating a house in France so I periodically do a 500 mile journey down, and back again, with no problems (until now....).

I bought the car with about 84k showing - it was low mileage and good condition - and I have put about 20k on since. I have kept up servicing with a non-MB but reputable independent. The only issue I ever really had was that it could be lumpy to start from cold, but once running was fine. I assumed I should replace the glow-plugs at some stage but didn't....

Anyway, if I include all recent info about the car - because I don't know what might possibly be relevant and what isn't...

In November 2023 it had a service as per the schedule, just before reaching 100,000 miles. A few weeks later the battery was completely discharged (I think my wife left the lights on overnight) and, not knowing how old it was already, I put a new one in in December (Varta Silver Dynamic A6 AGM 12v 80Ah type 115). So I thought I was reasonably prepared for winter.

A few times in the last couple of months, I did notice a burning smell from the front right quarter. I assumed (I realise I do a lot of assuming) that some oil might have been spilt during the servicing and was burning off in the engine bay as I have done that on other cars in the past. The dashboard showed no problem and the car drove as normal. Looking back it might have been significant .

A couple of weeks ago I began getting a warning flash up, with a red backdrop and showing the battery icon. Nothing else and nothing to suggest low volts or an alternator problem. I was imminently due to go down to France. In the last 50 miles or so of the journey it did behave strangely - I got warning signs saying ABS and ESP were disabled, the radio stopped working. I parked up, had a break, and it re-started OK and did the last leg of the journey normally.

Things finally came to a head on Saturday. It was a very wet day. All the electrical problems repeated (ABS, ESP, seatbelt activators etc.) - then the wipers stopped working and all the lights failed. We were on the road in the dark and the rain but navigated half a mile or so off a dangerous stretch of road with my wife shining her iphone out of the passenger window (seriously). When I could pull in off the road, and removed the key, the engine would not stop and the car ticked over for 5 to 10 minutes before becoming increasingly lumpy and eventually cutting out. By that stage the central locking did not work. As it was Easter Weekend I could not arrange recovery and had to lock it manually with the key insert from the remote.

The car is still stranded down towards Brive, in Correze. Initial research tells me this is likely to be a SAM problem, and expensive. I do not have European breakdown cover so any recovery will be at my expense.

My plan is to try and find a specialist who can recover, diagnose, and replace the SAM(s) if needed but I am struggling to find any garages here who seem knowledgeable and interested in taking it on. I am aware any repair is likely to be expensive but I am loathe to write the car off without having a more definite idea of what is wrong and the likely repair cost. If the car is now worth, say, £4000-5000 and the repair is around half of that I'd still be tempted to do it, it has been such a good car otherwise.

I don't know what I am asking really, any advice is welcome. Is there an independent in South West France that anyone can recommend? If I borrow a trailer and recover to the UK might it be easier and cheaper to get the work done? Does this sound like a SAM issue and am I in the right ballpark for costs etc.?

Any advice welcome, thank you! Feel free to say I have been a tw*t for ignoring potential early warning signs and driving down to France anyway...