I suspect my intercooler pump is going bad. The car has never totally fallen on it's face, but sometimes it just feels really bogged down, similar to just a decent V8, but not a beast.

Most passengers don't notice, but my *** dyno certainly does. So, I call the dealer to bring it in for power loss. I drop it off this morning & my regular SA isn't in & I get some other guy, who just blows me off & says "those intercooler pumps rarely, if ever, go out"... "must be too much carbon in the engine, sticking a valve open" & trys to sell me on some engine cleaning service. I know the intercooler pump is normally "the issue", especially around my mileage of 44,000. Carbon buildup in the engine? Like I drive like my grandmother used to? WTF?

I'm just ranting for now, we'll see what he says when he calls with an update.

 

I had mine in several times and got a similar runaround. Take the SA, or better yet the tech for a drive. Let them see that it goes ***** out for 1-2 runs, then turns into a 320 or less when the SC shuts down.

Some dealerships just aren't that familiar with the problem and cover their ignorance with schemes to take more of your money.

 

That's endemic to Mercedes' service network.

Basically, the dealers don't pay people enough money to stick around for as long as they would if they were well compensated, so I find that most of the time I know more about my car than the service writers do, and there have been a couple situations where I knew more than the techs.

As soon as a tech gets 5 or 8 years' experience and goes to enough ASE certification courses to make them valuable, they split and go out on their own making 10x as much as the dealer was paying. Then the dealer hires a new replacement who's fresh off the boat, and the cycle repeats.

On top of it, most dealers have the SA's on some kind of split salary/commission arrangement, so when they run up against something they don't know enough about, they have zero incentive to figure it out and every incentive to just start replacing stuff whether it needs it or not.

A good indy is a whole new world, vs. the service you get at most dealers.

 

If they keep bucking, last resort is you could buy it and have them put it in. Few hundred bucks for lot better performance. I agree though, it's a no brainer and shame on Benz for not doing a recall or at least service warning on this issue.

 

If they don't want to change your pump, you can easily prove to them that the pump is failing if you data log your IATs and show it to them.

 

have you check if your pump is working?

very easy!

I'm not sure about stock.. but since I have a bigger HE installed, I can check the pressur on the rubber hoses to see if there is fluid passing through.

I can feel the small vibration of the pump. The Johnson Pump.

I do the same test on my C32 with the stock pump, I even unplug and plug it back in to ensure I can feel the change in pressure. On my C32 its a little harder than my E55.

You probably will need to remove your underbody plastic cover and drive around and bring it back to your garage and check your pump.

If you don't have pressure and you don't feel the pump working than you can run the same drill at the dealer.

I'm not sure about cold start ups.. but after a few mins of driving.. the pump needs to be on.