MBWorld.org Forums - GLE Class (V167)

2021 GLE350

daczone — Mon, 25 May 2026 14:01:13 GMT

Wife bought a 2021 GLE350 with great maintenance history and just 29k miles. After driving it smells like hot coolant, don't see any leaks, doesn't appear to be overheating and not losing any fluids.

The passenger fender is HOT to the touch, I see there is a coolant line running through it.

I paid Mercedes for a presale inspection and it checked out, but this smell and hot fender wasn't addresses.

Is the hot fender normal?

GLE V167 engine sound

TMK-MB — Sun, 24 May 2026 15:33:33 GMT

Hello Everyone! Does this engine sounds normal ?
Cylinder head already replaced

Took this car to multiple Dealerships states "Normal"

GLE 350 RWD 2021 gasoline.
Phase #1 Cold start
Phase #2 engine RPM regulate after the initial warmup
Phase #3 driving low rpm "ticking noise". what I am concerned about. Sounds like a diesel truck.
Attached a media.
Please notice the engine noise “Valve train” when low acceleration. This noise lasts about 10-15 mins.
Need your help to determine, Thank you all!

Attached Files

IMG_9312_20mb.mov (19.10 MB)

2020 GLE Instantly Died on Interstate

Cva15 — Sun, 24 May 2026 03:35:30 GMT

I have a 2020 GLE 350 with ~55,000 miles. We have been meticulous with maintenance�always done on time by our Mercedes-certified mechanic. We were recently on a road trip from Virginia to Indiana for our son�s college graduation, and on an interstate in rural West Virginia the car�s dash lit up with every warning light and the engine immediately died. Luckily we were in the slow lane by the shoulder and coasted to the side of the (very busy 70mph) interstate. We were stranded � had to wait about 2 hours before a tow could come and get us. We went to the closest garage, around 45 minutes away. They were a general repair shop and had no idea what happened. We had to have someone come and pick us up and take us back home (many hours away). (Yep, we missed our son�s college graduation. There was no nearby city, and any rental car place within 100 miles had an available car to rent. It was incredibly dangerous and caused us to miss this once-in-a-lifetime event.) A few days later, we found a tow who would make the long trip to bring the car back to our hometown.

Our mechanic says the engine has just seized�for no discernible reason. There had never been a check engine light, no other kind of warning light, no odd sounds, no issues�nothing�just bam, dead. We�re looking at at *least* $15k (prob more) for a new engine (and I don�t want an identical engine put in). (Not to mention the over $1,000 we�re already out for towing and transport to get all back home.) We don�t know if it�s worth doing, given the value of the car. Will either do engine and sell/trade-in, or just sell dead for whatever we can get. Either way, I�ll never trust that car again.

We�ve driven Mercedes for over 21 years now and have *never* had an issue�just routine maintenance. Now I need to car shop (which I hate), and typically I�d go get a GLS, but I�ve now completely lost faith in MB. This failure put us in an incredibly dangerous situation�we were lucky we weren�t hurt�and being truly stranded on the edge of a busy interstate was pretty anxiety provoking for me and my wife�not to mention the sadness from our family about the graduation.

So two questions � 1�Has anybody heard of this kind of thing happening in the 2020 models, and if so, what�s the cause? 2�Anyone have any recommendations for a replacement vehicle � largish SUV (hybrid would be great).

Any input would be much appreciated.

2027 Order Guide is Here

bkushner — Sat, 23 May 2026 19:03:34 GMT

Here ya go....

Attached Files

MY27_GLE_SUV_DOG.pdf (3.17 MB)

GLE 350 2022 Extended warranty

deys — Sat, 16 May 2026 18:39:48 GMT

My factory warranty is about to expire. Car ran only 22000 miles and the car is usually handheld carefully. I wonder whether extended warranty 7 yr 75k miles will make sense. In last 4 years I have seen few issues, although lately I didn�t see any issue. This is the first Benz I am using. Earlier I used mostly other cars with very low/negligible maintenance needs.
Extended warranty will cost 3.5-4.4k. So in average maintenance cost more than 1.5k per year will make extended warranty financially worthwhile. Moreover it will give peace of mind, especially since I didn�t use Benz before and I am not sure the chances of something big to become wrong requiring significant repair bill.
Any thoughts or past experience from anyone buying ext warranty for GLE350 or not buying any ex warranty and then ended up with huge repair bill, will be very helpful.

License plate holder

yellepk — Sat, 16 May 2026 18:11:28 GMT

I�m aware I should be specific about where to post, but I�m not schooled in this.
I just want to give someone who can use it a totally unused front license plate holder for a 2021 GLE450. It may fit other GLEs or years as well. I believe dealerships charge $120 or more for these. If you�re not in the Williamsburg, VA area, all I would want is for you to pay whatever it would cost to ship it to you.
Please respond to yellepdj@gmail.com.
If moderators or others find this to be inappropriate, I�ll just trash it.
Thanks!

2026 online map update available

mikapen — Sat, 16 May 2026 17:57:10 GMT

I received an email last week advising me that the new 2026 (V25.0) would start downloading to cars soon. As usual, it's staggered over a month or so, so your chosen region will update automatically, eventually.

To do this manually, you can go to https://www.me.mercedes-benz.com/passengercars/my-area/map-update.html/manualupdate?mapupdatevin=XXXXXXXXXXXXX, substituting your VIN for XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, to download to a USB drive. Or go to https://www.me.mercedes-benz.com/ and sign in.

I tried Firefox but received a "Not available try again" dead end, so I switched to Google Chrome and proceeded easily.

Select the entire map of North America.

You need 35GB, formatted (empty) to NTFS. The Download Manager is unchanged so if you have it from a previous download it'll work - just skip it's download and proceed - the Manager will finish the job.

Insert the completed USB stick in a USB port in the car. I always use the one under the center armrest but others have reported that the one ahead of the cupholders works as well.
Turn the ignition to Position 1 (first push, no foot on brake) and the installation menu pops up - scroll a bit to choose USB.

I sat in the car and it took one bowl of cereal to complete 30%, so it takes 3 - 4 bowls of cereal to complete.

The update will proceed until finished, including pausing and resuming until complete, if you shut off the car. Then it'll ask for a restart.

I thought I'd post the procedure, especially the NO FIREFOX part, since there are usually several posts complaining about the "Not Available" dead end.

high mileage GLE580's

ML400 — Sat, 16 May 2026 12:38:48 GMT

What kind of miles are people running up to in their GLE580's? I just traded up from a 2015 ML400 that I ran up to 150k miles, before selling it and my new to me 2020 GLE 580 only has 42k miles on it and came with CPO for a year. I'm planning on going to a fidelity platinum service contract to mitigate repair costs. The one owner GLE 580 that I purchased came with a 110k mile pre paid service so I should save some money there.

disabling auto stop/start and other features

ML400 — Sat, 16 May 2026 12:35:57 GMT

I followed this video and was able to disable the autostart/stop feature in my 2020 gle 580.

I also was able to plink around and open the exhaust flaps all the time. it's not super sporty but it does have a nice rumble to it at idle.

If you dig around you can also find the top speed limites and change those as well, although I don't advocate doing that as it may be illegal.

New 350 vs 450

bancroftdg — Wed, 13 May 2026 15:47:35 GMT

I know there are million threads on this but looking for some recent model (2026) advice. My wife recently had a minor fender bender with her 2013 GL450 which when the repair shop started looking around it became a total loss. Too bad because she loved that car.

Fast forward to today we went looking at a new GLE. Found what she wants - Selenite grey with black mbtex and the grey wood trim. And has to be AMG trim package. She drove a GLE350 and liked it, even though it doesnt pull like her old v8. MSRP was $76,810 so not heavily optioned. She doesnt care about the Driver Assistance Pkg (I like that but I have a similar package on my 25 Toyota Forerunner). Dealer is offering $3500 off and additional $2000 off if we use MB financing. It has the Night package and 5 spoke wheels but we both prefer the multispoke wheels with the selenite but not a deal breaker. But dealer also found a GLE450 for $79,550 - same colors and multispoke wheels and 450 comes with the AMG appearance. Am I crazy not to get the 450 for $2700 more? Again she thought the 350 power was adequate.

gas smell in cabin

EL-34 — Tue, 12 May 2026 22:43:41 GMT

There's a smell of gas in the cabin. It never happened before until recently. It happens without a vehicle in front of me. What's the deal? Searching this forum it could be a loose hose clamp on the fuel pump. When I open the hood I don't smell gas.

Need help at MBFS

RACE_MX — Sat, 09 May 2026 02:59:08 GMT

Shot in the dark but anyone have a personal contact at MBFS? My ex wife has surrendered a car and I am trying to undo it. Thanks.

Left rear turn signal malfunction warning

Kukumav — Fri, 08 May 2026 18:18:28 GMT

Hi everyone, I have a Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 de, 2023 model, V167/W167, and I am having an issue with the left rear turn signal. The car shows a left rear turn signal malfunction warning, and the turn signal symbol on the instrument cluster flashes rapidly, as if one of the bulbs/LEDs is faulty. However, when I check from outside, the left rear indicator appears to work normally. The LEDs light up and blink just like the right side. At first, the warning appeared occasionally, often in the morning, and then disappeared after a while. Now it seems to appear almost every time I drive the car. I have already taken the car to an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer twice. Both times they only cleared the fault codes, but they did not find or fix the actual cause. The warning came back again after a short time. Has anyone experienced the same issue on a GLE V167/W167? Could this be caused by: - a faulty rear lamp unit even though the LEDs appear to work,- a bad contact or wiring issue,- moisture in the rear light connector,- a trailer/towbar module or trailer socket issue,- incorrect resistance detected by the control unit,- or a software/coding problem? I would appreciate any advice or experience from anyone who has had this problem before. What was the actual solution in your case? Thanks in advance.

How do I access the workshop display menu in a 2026 GLE?

benzbell — Thu, 07 May 2026 20:48:22 GMT

Been out in the garage a half dozen times trying all the combos I read about and saw online. Problem was those were the pre facelift steering wheel. Can't find anything on the newer haptic wheel. Frustrating. Someone please tell me how to do this. Thank you.

mercedes CPO question

ML400 — Thu, 07 May 2026 20:34:28 GMT

I'm in th eprocess of buying a 2020 GLE that is low miles and excellent condition from a MB dealer. It is listed as a CPO car and has all of the CPO paperwork. There is only one problem 3 of the 4 wheels have curb rash at least 4 inches long into the aluminum. From what I understand this is not up to CPO standards. From what I've found is that wheel damage can only be cosmetic, and not into the metal. These are clearly gashed into the metal. The dealer is pushing back that they are not going to fix the wheels. I'm 500 miles from home, and need to leave tomorrow but I haven't signed the paperwork. I'm tempted to document the damage on the CPO checklist and try and take it up with MBUSA after I get home.

Anyone ever ran into this?