Hi guys,
I have recently went to a dealer and have a look and feel of the W223.
I noticed a rather noticeable coil whine in the car. It sounds like a cheap laptop where the screen capacitor with poor power regulation.
Anyone noticed the same issue during test drive, or in delivered car? Notice the cabin is quiet, and these things are very annoying.

Cheers
Nelson

 

That is an interesting observation. I've not yet had the opportunity to sit in one, however I am all too familiar with coil whine, especially in laptops and that would not be something I would accept in a car.

 

Didnt notice this in my car, its so quite without any noise from the screen.

 

Hi I have a new EQS. this definitely exists. Be in total silence in the car it powered on. Put your ear close to steering wheel/screen, you can hear it.
You need good hearing with high level frequency. it is like a coil whine.

Not loud but present. Under ANYYY volume music or driving it is inaudible. It comes from font screen and wheel. I assume it is from the motor or something.

 

It might be coming from the overhead control panel , the one that you open your sunroof and extra.

it has a fan inside , when it malfunctions it makes a weird sound.

 

Hi,

I have the same issue in my 2022 W223. The way I can tell that it's coming from the instrument panel display is by changing the display brightness in settings - it changes the whine.
Took it to the dealer and they replaced the display, but the new one was faulty as well. So they replaced it and then again, in total 3 times. Every time it got even worse and I'm quite frustrated by it.
After the 3rd replacement and my immediate complaint that it's not resolved they said they need to contact MB directly for help.
Got a call today that they can no longer help me as MB "HQ" claims all of these displays are fine and they never should've performed any replacement.
So the conclusion is that MB QC is crap. They probably source the cheapest components not caring about these annoying sounds.

It's amazing how clearly you can hear that annoying sound in the quiet of the interior!

My next plan is to take it to a specialist to actually have the panel disassembled and the ****ty components replaced with quality ones.
Does anybody have the manual for removing/reinstalling the instrument cluster display please?

Thanks,
Klement

 

Damn, this is one thing I thought of with all of these screens. It’s an issue in many cars when they’re not integrated and cheap parts are used. My Ford Lightning had coil whine from 6 different places.

If you don’t hear coil whine from various consumer products (desktop computers, power supplies, etc.) then it’s a non-issue. But if you have really good high frequency hearing it’s a real pain. This is one of those situations where decibel readings are useless; it’s annoying simply when loud enough to be detectable.

You can measure this with the iOS app SpectrumView. Sample rate 48khz, gain half-way. Any static horizontal lines are coil whine.

 

Any update on this? I think you're on the right track with having an electronics expert work on the board.

 

Nelson,

I am noticing the same in my new S Class. Very high pitched and very annoying. The dealerships says it’s normal. Did you ever manage to figure it out?

 

Where do you find an electronics expert?

 

I can’t speak from experience, but someone like Louis Rossmann who deals with circuit board repairs on a daily basis would likely understand the problem and possible solutions.

There is the matter of ensuring that new components are automotive-grade. These screens and computers have to withstand extreme temperature variance.

 

I'm in Slovakia, Europe and went to two shops as the dealer is not willing to do anything about it obviously.
One of the shops I have previous experience with - they fixed a coil whine coming from radio display on my SAAB car >10 years ago. They were willing to work on the MB's display, but once they learned that the car is in (extended) warranty, they backed out and said they don't want to claim any liability for voiding it. Maybe I pushed them a bit with my words when I said that I'd like them to do the repair in such a way that there are "no signs of them being there".
The other guy I got a reference for as being the guy who works on 'the really expensive cars'. I called him and while he sounded forthcoming and willing to look at it, requesting VIN and some time to consider options, he never called me back and never replied to my messages again. Feels like he doesn't want to do it.

Anyhow, I do have some real(?) progress, just in a different way than I imagined. So I realised there is another thing annoying me in the car regarding interior sounds and thats the climate control fan. It's not bothering me when it's blasting at medium-high speed, but it has a tendency to settle into this annoying "somebody is using an old squealing vacuum cleaner in an adjacent room" type of sound. By playing with the controls, I was able to pinpoint it to the fan which is under the centre arm rest - it's the fan for the 2nd seat row. If I turn it manually completely off, then the whole vacuum-like sound is completely gone. So I've done that and also turned off the music and am driving the car that way for the last week or so and I realised I can't really hear the buzzing/whining from the display 99% of the time. I notice it maybe when I stop at a read light and the start/stop kicks in and the engine shuts off. So my theory so far is that fan sound was driving me crazy, making me more susceptible to other annoying factors. I will check with the dealer about getting that fan replaced under my warranty.

Off-topic - I already noticed something similar with rattles. In my car, the centre display has a tendency to creak and rattle a bit all the time, not only when driving over holes or bumps and it was really annoying me to the point where I was getting aggravated by other rattles coming say from the back when running over holes or bumps. I pointed those out and the dealer fixed them, but it didn't make me happier. It was only after I took a piece of black foam and wedged it between the centre display and dashboard to stop the random creaks and rattles that my comfort and feeling of being able to relax and enjoy the drive came back. It improved my experience so much that I decided not to pursue more rattle-in-the-back fixing at the dealer, even though I know about a couple of places where that still happens. But somehow I can accept that when it happens when driving over a hole. I just can't accept when it happens all the time.

 

No issue in my W223 or any of the ones I have driven.

I wonder if its variable or if there is just a sound there that only some people can detect. My wife is irritated by certain electronic frequencies that I can never hear. She doesn't complain of anything like that in our car though.

The rattle in the screen, that should be easy to figure out. The screen is in several layers that are acctually easy to remove, I would try adding some felt in between where those areas interface and see if that solves it. I have a very slight similar noise that happens in some regular driving. Its so slight that the dealer won't be able to replicate it I'm sure.

This is how you remove the screen:


What they don't show you is that the screen nestles into that trim, it just pops in and out. Felt between the two and where the trim nestles into the console I bet will solve it.

 

It is rather normal that we all have different types of hearing and some can hear certain frequencies while others can't and some can hear it better than others. So your suggestion is a good one.

 

Hearing and state of mind is surely a factor - I myself know that some days I hear (or am aware of) these sounds more than other days. My gf has a very good hearing and if it's a high-pitched "eeeeeee" sound coming from electronics, she really dislikes it. But she is not bothered by the buzzy-like whine from the screen in the car even though she can hear it.

It's also entirely possible that some of the displays don't whine or buzz while others do. Given that the screens are produced in batches over years, the parts used to assemble the screen are surely not from one batch and maybe not even from one manufacturer.

For the curious, here is a link to an article mentioning some of the possible sources of and reasons for coil whine:

https://forum.corsair.com/blog/how-t...iy/coil-whine/

 

not ideal but perhaps turn up the volume... for now.. of your favourite album or radio station.