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2011 E350 Estate Wagon - Salutations and Questions
Hello all:
This is my first post on this forum. I hope this message finds you well.
I am the proud owner of a 2011 Mercedes-Benz E350 4MATIC Estate Wagon which I purchased in August of 2023 from the first owner with just north of 90k miles.
Today, my baby sits at 166k miles, and awaits for more! I do a lot of cross country driving in my estate, and have a lot of work done to it.
I am just a college student who likes working on my car a little too much.
Since ownership the major repairs completed are-
1. Transmission replaced at 145k miles. TCU tune completed to shorten low end gear ratio, and relieve diff of high stress. Insurance covered this repair. Thanks State Farm.
2. Rear subframe completely replaced by EuroMotorcars Benz in Bethesda, MD. Dealer extended warranty. Thank god I looked into this.
3. Drive shaft replaced 2x. U joints, same problem from heat… more on this later.
4. and why I am on this forum tonight!
Now before I begin, here’s the part you don’t want to hear. The car is tuned, has mid muffler and resonators chopped- in favor of a magnaflow setup with the tips I like. Rear O2 sensors turned off. Pops like a MF on downshifts, and puts down a reasonable amount of power at 283whp/297tq (instead of the 278whp for this M272 iteration). The tune mainly capitalizes basic timing principles, and I admit is not the best thing for the long term health of this engine. But, that being said, I love it. It is mine. I drive it. I work for it.
NGK spark plugs, throttle body off an SLK, bigger injectors, welded sway, custom control arms, AIRMATIC tune, TMG Alpha 17, Uniden R8, tints. Muah.
anyways.
Engine mounts!! I chew through them like candies. My best guess is that increased load causes increased heat transfer from the headers to the engine mounts. This in turn melts them. I have seen some videos of custom billet setups that pro series racers use, and have found articles suggesting that this sort of setup would remove the need to replace the 6 I have already gone through in my ownership period. Does anyone know of an aftermarket shop/store that provides support for this niche market?
attached, find some pics of the billet version (I know this is exaggerated and not possible on a road car and I will need to find one with rubber but it’s the only pic I have). My shining beauty 🤣 The custom motor mount I’m trying to emulate for my wagon going on a LSX build.
Kind regards, from a humble college student who had the opportunity to purchase a car at half price from my friends grandfather whose sole use for the car was to drive between the airport and his vacation home.
-A
tldr: anyone know a custom engine mount solution for w212 e class
I read about ppl trying polyurethane aftermarket with extra short life and a lot more vibrations transmitted to chassis side...
Another option is to use free replacement policy available at some vendors.
Have you thought about adding external ATF filtration + cooler to keep your 2nd tranny alive longer?
90K miles is your own use out of the total 166K miles ?
6 engine mounts , meaning 3 pairs or 6 pairs you have consumed ?
If only 3 pairs for 90K miles, you are so within the limits of this comfy engine mounts for those who drive them hard.
I replace mine every 20,000KM to 25,000KM or max 15,500 miles. Counting from new car as 1st set, I am now on my 3rd pair and I am at 42,500KM only today.
I do not wait for it to become bad, when the creme da le creme life of it its reduced, I replaced it with new ones. Tranny mounts also included, and tranny mount is indeed very weak.
My engine torque for a 3 liter due to the turbo, is very high. At low RPM of 1,400 it can do 480NM flat all the way to 4,000 ish RPM. Hence engine mounts suffer a lot, for the way I drive.
Your engine I think even with some tune, wont exceed peak 400Nm torque at 3,000 to 5,500 RPM. Standard M272 is a bit under 375Nm. ADD : 297 Ft-lbs u have is 402NM.
There is one company who made "metal" engine mounts for W212 AMG and E550 W212. Here : https://creative-steel.com/product-c...ducts/e-class/
As for how good ? I do not know, I will never buy such mounts anyway, even if I am given a set FOC, I will not use it.
I do only 5,000 KM a year max. So engine mounts per 4 years is cheap comfort device.
The hardest life of my engine mount is the unit I replaced in Feb 2021. So its served between 10,773 KM to 28,800 KM.
It does approx 20 laps on track for fun, but driven hard as such my brand new front tires totally gone by 80KM total distance used on the track.
Also I went long distance to Bali on that mount with decent passenger load, 4 people and luggage.
My country highway joints many are bad, so when you do 100MPH and jump those bridge joints....engine mounts also suffer.
The current mount I am using has done 13,700 KM as per today at 42,500 KM approx and is still within its creme de la creme period.
I also monitor my mounts sinking depth. This is by far the most accurate way to see where at is your engine mounts in terms of its service life.
1: I purchased the vehicle with 90k miles. I have since driven it to 166k miles. 76k miles total on engine since ownership.
2: 3 pairs, 6 total. Thanks for this info, seems like I am just driving hard.
3: yes, sinking and shaking. What a simple and eloquent way to describe the phenomenon.
4: running over a rock cut a transmission line which provided ATF, and there was a total loss of system compression. 1st and 2nd sounded horrible upon repairing the line, and I realized that the damage had probably smoked the clutch and associated components. Called State Farm, covered under collision coverage. The new transmission was plug and play, as we were able to use the same clutch plate and didn’t require a system recode or ECM swap.
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
Damn lucky your insurance covered the tranny. I would stick with factory mounts, either Genuine or OE from FCP Euro so you don't have to buy more than once. Metal or polymer mounts not only make the car uncomfortable to ride in and drive, but they also transmit more energy to other parts of the frame, which isn't good.
By the way, I didn't know you could kick-start your car.
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