E300 Hybrid System not engaging

PhantomHelm

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I wonder if I can ask other E300 owners if they have experienced a similar issue to me with the Hybrid system of their cars. I have a 2014MY E300 with around 40K miles. I'm used to the Hybrid engaging right from the off, with sometimes a small lag which I assume - in cold weather - allows the battery to warm up. However, recently the lag between starting the car, and the hybrid system starting to engage, is becoming longer and longer. Today, for instance, I drove for approximate 10 minutes before the "Ready" indicator changed from yellow to Green. A further journey after a 30 minute pause resulted in a 8 mile journey with no engagement of the hybrid system at all. During this time the battery indicator registers between 80% & 90% charged. If I drive the car hard or go into sport mode, the hybrid system engages to provide momentary boost - so the motor is clearly working in this mode.

I guess this could be typical winter behaviour - I seem to remember that the hybrid system doesn't engage at all in particularly cold weather, although I am damned if I can find a list of criteria which causes the system to disengage. However, it's not that cold today - 8 deg.C. I am aware that the hybrid system will shut down while the car purges the EGR system, but I went on a reasonably long (40 minute) drive a couple of days ago at motorway speeds so I'd be surprised if that was the problem.

Ideas or comments would be most welcome!

Regards, Iain
 
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ernieh

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There will be others more qualified than I to comment, but as the car is still under warranty, my first thought would be to get your MB Dealership to check it out. Having said that, not all dealerships have the expertise to sort these cars as several threads in here will testify!

However, looking on the bright side, it is at least going, so have a Happy New Year!

Ernie
 
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PhantomHelm

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Ernie, thanks for the comments. I just wondered really whether this was expected, and was perhaps related to ambient conditions or other functionality of the car, or whether it was a fault in the hybrid system. I'll book it into the MB dealership, but, as you say, I don't have a huge level of confidence they will be able to troubleshoot it effectively.
 

John Laidlaw

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I think fairly normal Iain- my E300 would not initially run in hybrid mode belowc10oC it needed Diesel combustion to boost all the other hard working components like HRW and mirrors, seats etc. As you say you are reassured the motor is working when you need the power boost. I wouldn't be too worried.
If however it drops into limp mode and not engaging hybrid I'd get it seen pronto as it may be developing a gearbox ECU issue (as mine did then died!)
 
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yauhui

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Got a slightly different question on my E300: How exactly does one start it in a silent EV mode? Everytime I start the car up the diesel engine is engaged right away, and it only falls into EV mode when I eventually stop at a set of lights.
 

Steve@Avantgarde

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Logic would say the more electrical consumers you use, the greater the current draw on the cars hybrid system the longer it will take for it to be ready for engine use.

Its winter, headlights, fans, heated rear windows and seats will all have massive current draw.
 
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yauhui

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Logic would say the more electrical consumers you use, the greater the current draw on the cars hybrid system the longer it will take for it to be ready for engine use.

Its winter, headlights, fans, heated rear windows and seats will all have massive current draw.

Where I'm from we don't have a winter. I park my car in an underground garage so there's no heating or cooling going on. Am I supposed to just sit in the car and wait a bit before starting it?
 

Headhurts

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I have only ever seen my ready light in green?
Starting in cold mornings does run the Diesel engine first thing but by the time I get to the top of the road the car will run on battery with a light foot.
 

John Laidlaw

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Where I'm from we don't have a winter. I park my car in an underground garage so there's no heating or cooling going on. Am I supposed to just sit in the car and wait a bit before starting it?

What Steve says is correct.in the summer my E300 would always start on EV mode provided there was enough charge from the previous evening.
I don't know where you are but if you are suggesting for example that the temperature never dips below say 12oC then your car should start on EV
IIRC there is a temperature related element below which the car will start in diesel. I seem to remember it was stated in the handbook or the operators manual loaded on comand
So assuming what I'm saying above us right you may have a problem with your hybrid system
 

John Laidlaw

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I have only ever seen my ready light in green?
Starting in cold mornings does run the Diesel engine first thing but by the time I get to the top of the road the car will run on battery with a light foot.

There is also an amber/yellow light when it's available in a limited way
And yes, mine behaved in exactly the same way as yours....
 
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PhantomHelm

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I thought that I would update the forum on the original issue in case any one has a similar experience.

The hybrid system continued to work sporadically for the best part of a week, frequently not engaging at all, with the amber "Ready" light displayed rather than the backlit green "Ready" sign. The time when the system was engaged gradually reduced until last Monday, when during a 60 mile drive from home to work at motorway speed the system did not engage at all. The car was already booked into the MB dealership so I wasn't excessively worried.

I then used the car later during the day, and the system started to behave exactly as it should... and since then the system has behaved faultlessly. It's getting colder here, so I am used to the car starting in "Amber" mode and having to drive a mile whilst (I assume) the battery warms up. Since the longer run, it's been doing just that.

I don't have an explanation for this behaviour other than some kind of EGR cleaning cycle which required the engine to run at high RPM for a longer period. I don't know why the MB engineers could not organise some kind of display or information on the "Energy Flow" data screen on the COMAND system so the driver knows why the system is not behaving as it should, ho hum.....

So, hope this helps someone.

BR, Iain
 
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Steve@Avantgarde

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I have seen a few hybrids with this issue, one required a software update and another the hybrid motor had failed and it was £4800 for a exchange unit (which was backorder in Germany, ahem..) and a new one was £6600.

So much for green technology.
 

Sultan alam

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I think fairly normal Iain- my E300 would not initially run in hybrid mode belowc10oC it needed Diesel combustion to boost all the other hard working components like HRW and mirrors, seats etc. As you say you are reassured the motor is working when you need the power boost. I wouldn't be too worried.
If however it drops into limp mode and not engaging hybrid I'd get it seen pronto as it may be developing a gearbox ECU issue (as mine did then died!)
Hi john.

What did you do to fix yours as I’m having exactly the same issue with mine? First it started off not swapping over to electric and now it won’t start at all. I had it only 3 months and Mercedes want £7000 for a new gearbox so it’s sat at a mates garage. Any help or info would be greatly appreciated
 

John Laidlaw

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Sorry to say mine was still in warranty as it was only 20 months old. When it finally died- exactly as yours has - it went to MB to sort out which took months - so long in fact that it sat out the rest of its 2 year lease with the dealership as they struggled to fix it
I’ve said before they are lovely when they work but so many people have had serious issues with those E300 hybrids now.
Sorry not the comfort you maybe wanted
 

Sultan alam

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I have seen a few hybrids with this issue, one required a software update and another the hybrid motor had failed and it was £4800 for a exchange unit (which was backorder in Germany, ahem..) and a new one was £6600.

So much for green technology.

Hi STEVE

I have one that’s been sat in my mates garage for 8 months as the hybrid ecu in the gearbox has failed. Do you know anyone who can repair these or what the cheapest option would be to get it repaired?

Regards
 

Andre Gotlieb

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Just had absolute identical same problem 1½ year ago - not linked to temperature as I am living in the middle east and the temperatures never fall below 12°C during winter. The car was 2¼ years old and Mercedes dealer replaced the 95A AGM battery for the bargain price of 610 €.
Having Alarm+GPS imposed by the insurance company and the fact that I am driving a lot in town (short distances with a lot of ECO stops + switch to electric and startups) I thought that due to it maybe the internal electrical system and ECO was draining too much of the 12V battery so I started systematically putting the auxiliary battery on trickle charge when not in use for more then one day (via the available battery starter connection under the hood - the one with the red + glider).
That did not help as now 19 months later the problem reappeared progressively with the same symptoms.
This morning after a full night on charger ECO was disabled when starting the car, after around 20km highway ECO re-enabled, parked the car 30 minutes, restarting no ECO after 15 km highway ECO re-enabled, Outside temperature 21°C minimum at night was 16°C.
As the car's info system does not give any information about the reason of that behavior I am not sure it's the same cause as before and it's bingo again for MB.
 

Serega

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Hi everybody.

Winter came and negative temperatures too and my car decides that the hybrid drive will not work...
Yesterday, after conversation with acquaintance which had the same problem and it was solved after he changed the AGM battery I decided to do it too.
I went to official dealer and they changed the battery, which was original and a bit more than 5 years old.
The new one is Varta Silver Dynamic AGM 595 901 085.

Now the Hybrid drive works! :)
 
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John Laidlaw

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Hi everybody.

Winter came and negative temperatures too and my car decides that the hybrid drive will not work...
Yesterday, after conversation with acquaintance which had the same problem and it was solved after he changed the AGM battery I decided to do it too.
I went to official dealer and they changed the battery, which was original and a bit more than 5 years old.
The new one is Varta Silver Dynamic AGM 595 901 085.

Now the Hybrid drive works! :)
Nice simple fix in your case, thanks for sharing
 

Fedaykyn

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Hi everybody.

Winter came and negative temperatures too and my car decides that the hybrid drive will not work...
Yesterday, after conversation with acquaintance which had the same problem and it was solved after he changed the AGM battery I decided to do it too.
I went to official dealer and they changed the battery, which was original and a bit more than 5 years old.
The new one is Varta Silver Dynamic AGM 595 901 085.

Now the Hybrid drive works! :)
Even
Hi everybody.

Winter came and negative temperatures too and my car decides that the hybrid drive will not work...
Yesterday, after conversation with acquaintance which had the same problem and it was solved after he changed the AGM battery I decided to do it too.
I went to official dealer and they changed the battery, which was original and a bit more than 5 years old.
The new one is Varta Silver Dynamic AGM 595 901 085.

Now the Hybrid drive works! :)
Now in the winter time? When outside temp is below 0 ^ Celsius? Your hybrid system still works?
 
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