I used to work for JCI and I thought Optima's were the best thing since sliced bread so I put them in everything I owned because I could get them for $75 each.

Long story short, the red tops don't have enough "balls" for diesel applications. They have no reserve power. The yellow tops are a little better and work great on vehicles that aren't driven frequently.

Compare the specs of a standard group 49 battery to the red top and I think you'll choose a standard battery.

Just trying to save you money on a premium battery that you'll be disappointed with.

Just completed front suspension rebuild on 03 E320
 

Personally, I think they are pretty easy cars to work on. I just finished a suspension rebuild on an 03 and ended up just buying the tool to pop the ball joints apart.

Did you take a pic of the oil level sensor? Does it have moving parts (like a float)? Does it have more than 2 terminals? Does it sit below or above oil level? I am interested in learning more about oil level sensors.

Agree that Optima does not have a battery that meet group 49 specs. I do have a blue top Optima that must be at least 15 years old that is still working great in my Jetta.

Do you know who makes a good AGM battery for Mercedes diesels?

Please enlighten me on the ball joint press. I have the MB press for w123/w124. Will that work? Can you do it with the knuckle on the car?

I totally agree these being easy to wrench on. The best engine ever. Fuel filter, oil filter, glow plugs, injectors are all accessible with not a single thing in the way. The front suspension is nice and roomy too. The rear axles look a little scary. I can't wait to get wrenching on it :)

I just picked up ball joints and glow plugs and a battery from the dealer today. They said they are the updated improved ball joints. $80.00 a pop though even with my shop discount. When i complained they said they had 60.00 in them themselves. So I figure they are probably worth the money. Ball joints are not something I want to do again. I've had lemforders wear out in a couple years on a w124. My left lower one in the steering knuckle is out. I squirted grease in it to see if it would stop squeaking and it did for about 30 minutes. I also got the beru glow plugs for 26.00 a piece and a battery for 200.00. I don't live real close to the dealer so I stocked up. I like the benz batteries or an optima and pretty much any battery is close to 200.00 now.

Thanks

Not real great ones. I just took to top plastic tab thing off and nothing was apparently easy to dissassemble and clean and i didn't have much time or want to break it. It has 4 terminals i think. Maybe three. The plug terminals are too small to fit my meter in so i couldn't probe them. But you can probe the sender unit. I should unplug it and see if i get an error message.

It bolts right up into the bottom of the pan. Much like a fuel sender but more sophisticated. Its heavy. It is a pretty remarkable instrument if it can tell you when it's time to change your oil. My wire dipstick works good enough for testing the level. When i checked this morning it was a little lower than my original mark. I marked that as the 7 liter mark and added a half a liter and it brought it up to where it was before i drained it. But i do need an oil pressure gauge or least a low oil warning light.

You all say that but I've had the same optima redtop 34-R for about 6 years or more. Ever since i got my W124 wagon . It has worked great in all my benz's and every time i sell a car i keep it and move it to my next one. It's been in 3 w124's , a 190D, 2 W210s . When my new 1999 w210 mercedes battery was weak -- it wouldn't hold a charge and drained quick, I used the red top to jump it and would carry it in trunk while i got every last bit of use out of my old battery . Finally i put it in under the seat and it's got a new home .

The red top was the only battery i had that could prime a new fuel filter on a 603 that doesn't have a primer pump. So i'm not sure what you guys mean that its not strong enough to start these diesels. All my friends that come and need a battery i tell them to get that battery and I just saw a couple of them recently still going in a 606 and 602 engine.

But i ended up getting a mercedes battery from the dealer . A little cheaper and I don't want to confuse my sensitive new car or the dealer when they are troubleshooting it if i can't get it.

If you can get the old one out yes you can.

I had a video around somewhere that shows a hydraulic tool built for this application that allows you to remove/install ball joints in the 211 car in about 20 minutes. Tool was ~$1500:eek:.

The red top is kind of like a sprinter. It delivers a lot of power for a short time. As long as the car starts quickly, there's never a problem. If you ever crank for any extra length of time, it gives up very quickly. I have the 34-R red top in my '98 and any time I do any work on the engine that requires extra cranking, I just plan on having the booster connected because I know it's going to die.

sweet. that't be worth it if you had about 10 people with a ball joints out and can bill 4 hrs each. :)

I just got a maxidas today . It was on ebay from a local wholesaler here that buys returned misc stuff from amazon and such. It was in original amazon box . Looks cool. I didn't update the software to the latest but i scanned the car. Quick question -- do i just use the odb2 connection now or does mb still have special place to scan other modules ? It has the benz software and the benz adapter. I couldn't find a place where the benz adapter hooks up. I remember they used to be under hood on passenger side firewall.

Any tips for me? I scanned with odb2 connect and i could read tranny and some modules but couldn't read instrument cluster and parktronic and various others it couldn't connect to. I read my gps antenna has a fault. Seems a common problem. Amazing how many little problems a car can have like this :) . Its got it where it counts though. Thanks.

Scan OBD2 port. Does car have Parktronic? If it does not then it will show up as not being able to read it.

Here is a link to support:

Autel

Thanks. I didn't see any vehicle specific stuff in the manual so wasn't sure if there was some specific trick. Happy they went with an obd2 interface. This scanner is a bit slow browsing the web but seems cool. Yeah it has parktronic. Never seen it work though. I don't know what it is supposed to do.

I'l give it a go again with updates. I put in the new battery. I'm not getting the "Low battery convenience disabled" anymore. So maybe something was screwy with my old battery even though it held 12.56 volts over night.

Problem solved. My appointment with the dealer came up yesterday. A one hour scan is 145.00. The called and said central gateway unit it's bad. A 220.00 part. 600.00 total. I'm thinking I'll buy part, put in myself and I call the parts counter and they say it needs to be flashed. So my Autel can't do that maybe and I'm 30 miles from dealer and they will recheck and tell me my next problem after at no extra charge. So they do it.

And there wasn't a next problem. Everything works-- oil level, display, cruise, fan , these only have one electric fan.btw, the GPS , srs light is gone. Heater may be a little iffy on mono valve still. But most times it blows right temp.

So I am pretty happy. When I dropped car off for the ,8:30 appointment they said our may be a while and gave me a free ride home 30 miles in a 2014 ez350. Plus they Washed my car. so not a bad deal.

Btw, the w212 aren't great.L improvements at all. Many sharp edges inside and out. I like 11 my w211 interior better. And ride was not great either.

These two MB forums will provide more information about your E320 CDI.

W211 E-Class - Mercedes-Benz Forum

E-Class (W211) - MBWorld.org Forums.

John ;)