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  #1  
Old 08-29-2007, 10:19 PM
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Location: Queens, NYC
Posts: 158
ODOMETER JUMPS FORWARD 2003 S500-4m

It's been a while since I've posted, but hopefully someone can help me.

I bought at 2003 S500 in March-07 with 27k miles. Car had 29k in June and the odometer jumped forward by approxiamtely 3k miles to 32k inside a 25 mile trip. I brought it to the dealer who checked and basically said that everything was fine, and the problem I described was impossible and I must have been mistaken. After a week and half of fighting about it, I gave up and took the car back.

30 days and 1000k miles of usage elapses with no problem, until Friday 8/17 when odometer jumps from reading 33k to 36k.

Then, Saturday 8/18 2PM odometer jumps from 36k to 40k. I break out the digitcal camera and determine the artificial increase is 4056 miles. This is based on the cluster screen entitled "AFTER START" and bymultiplying average speed by avg miles per hour, arriving at an actual distance traveled, and subtracting such from the number of miles traveled as per the cluster. (See photos)

Saturday 8/18 10 PM odometer jumps from 40k to 44k. 4056 increment again.
Saturday 8/18 11 PM odometer jupms from 44k to 48k. 4056 increment again.

Note the mileage "AFTER START" v. the time elapsed which evidences some sort of problem.

The car is back at the dealer with 48k and I'm being told they have never heard of this before, and they the car reads no error codes. Thhe service manager has been driving it to and from his home and the problem has not resurfaced. They don't dispute that something's wrong, but at the same time, won't fix it until they can witness a jump in mileage themselves. I spoke with the regional engineer from the manufacturer who covers the dealerships in the area, and he states that he has never heard of this before.

Hopefully someone can offer some advice.

Attached Thumbnails
ODOMETER JUMPS FORWARD 2003 S500-4m-img_0280.jpg  
__________________
2003 S500 Black/Charcoal
1990 560SEL 61k Arctic White/Grey

SOLD:
1988 420SEL Black/Palomino Sold @ 85k
1987 420SEL Midnight Blue/Grey
1986 420SEL Diamond Blue/Grey
1983 380SEL Champagne/Palomino
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  #2  
Old 08-29-2007, 10:23 PM
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Pictures
Attached Thumbnails
ODOMETER JUMPS FORWARD 2003 S500-4m-img_0278.jpg   ODOMETER JUMPS FORWARD 2003 S500-4m-img_0287.jpg   ODOMETER JUMPS FORWARD 2003 S500-4m-img_0302.jpg   ODOMETER JUMPS FORWARD 2003 S500-4m-img_0292.jpg   ODOMETER JUMPS FORWARD 2003 S500-4m-img_0301.jpg  

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2003 S500 Black/Charcoal
1990 560SEL 61k Arctic White/Grey

SOLD:
1988 420SEL Black/Palomino Sold @ 85k
1987 420SEL Midnight Blue/Grey
1986 420SEL Diamond Blue/Grey
1983 380SEL Champagne/Palomino
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  #3  
Old 08-29-2007, 10:26 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Queens, NYC
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"AFTER RESET"

26 MPH x 36:27 Hrs = 947 Miles Traveled

19707 as indicated less 947 actual miles = 18760 Additional

Car shows 48k should show 30k
Attached Thumbnails
ODOMETER JUMPS FORWARD 2003 S500-4m-img_0300.jpg  
__________________
2003 S500 Black/Charcoal
1990 560SEL 61k Arctic White/Grey

SOLD:
1988 420SEL Black/Palomino Sold @ 85k
1987 420SEL Midnight Blue/Grey
1986 420SEL Diamond Blue/Grey
1983 380SEL Champagne/Palomino
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  #4  
Old 09-02-2007, 12:11 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Queens, NYC
Posts: 158
No one can help? Has anyone ever heard of this or am I the only one?
__________________
2003 S500 Black/Charcoal
1990 560SEL 61k Arctic White/Grey

SOLD:
1988 420SEL Black/Palomino Sold @ 85k
1987 420SEL Midnight Blue/Grey
1986 420SEL Diamond Blue/Grey
1983 380SEL Champagne/Palomino
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  #5  
Old 09-02-2007, 12:18 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 4,263
If this was a common problem at all, there would certainly be a recall for it. Extra miles on your car is clearly unacceptable (as if you didn't think so).

There must be an uncommon fault in your cluster causing this. For your sake, I hope it gets resolved and you get a (new?) cluster that shows the approximate true miles. Please keep us informed. I'm sure that I'm not the only person to have read this thread but had no usable information to add.
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  #6  
Old 09-02-2007, 10:32 AM
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The first thing I would do is make sure that it has the correct ignition switch installed. Starting in model year 2002, the S-Class used the EIS, as well as the instrument cluster to store the vehicle mileage. It's what's known as "Redundant Distance Storage". It's possible that the EIS was replaced prior to you buying the car. If the wrong one was installed there will be a conflict between the ICM and EIS. I've seen this happen on a couple of occasions. It's also possible that the EIS or ICM has simply failed, although I've never seen a faulty EIS or ICM cause the problem you're having.
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  #7  
Old 09-02-2007, 12:23 PM
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Location: Queens, NYC
Posts: 158
ILUVMILS: How do I determine if the EIS was replaced and, if so, with the correct model? Is there a part number somewhere? Same thing as to the ICM, although it doesn't sound like you suspect that the ICM is at fault.

The dealer pulled service history and, to my knowledge, the EIS was not replaced (at least that's what they told me).

You are the first person to say that you've actually seen a similar problem before. According to the dealer and the regional rep, this situation is unique to my vehicle.

Matt, I will keep you informed as this unfolds.
__________________
2003 S500 Black/Charcoal
1990 560SEL 61k Arctic White/Grey

SOLD:
1988 420SEL Black/Palomino Sold @ 85k
1987 420SEL Midnight Blue/Grey
1986 420SEL Diamond Blue/Grey
1983 380SEL Champagne/Palomino
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  #8  
Old 09-02-2007, 02:19 PM
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Your dealer can determine which EIS is installed by using SDS. The Parts Dept. can then check to see if it's the correct one. The whole thing shouldn't take them more than a half hour.

In the meantime, let the Svc. Mgr. drive the car until he verifies the problem. If they actually see it happen they have no choice but to follow through until the problem is resolved. I'm curious how this will end up. Let us know what happens next.
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  #9  
Old 09-02-2007, 04:42 PM
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Location: Nashua, NH
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You're lucky the display will show both miles and time since last reset. That way you can prove there is an issue...you divide the miles by the time and you get an average speed of 541 MPH, unless you were drafting behind a 747 that seems to prove something is seriously wrong
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  #10  
Old 09-08-2007, 12:09 AM
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Location: Queens, NYC
Posts: 158
Update: Problem resolved (for now). Dealer called with news that they were changing the EIS and ICM. The odometer was reset to the correct mileage. This was after the dealer unsuccessfully tried to duplicate the issue while the car was in possession .

The receipt states that the computer was read and mileage since last service was used to validate the error (which I can't believe they only figured out now for the first time). Verbally, the service advisor stated that MBUSA reviewed my photos and sent an authorization to swap the parts and reset mileage based on the erroneous "AFTER START" photos. My original parts were sent back to the manufacturer's engineering departement for inspection. At this point, I'm not questioning the process since the problem has been fixed (I hope) -- but it was a battle to get there - total of almost 4 weeks in the shop. THanks for all of your advice.
__________________
2003 S500 Black/Charcoal
1990 560SEL 61k Arctic White/Grey

SOLD:
1988 420SEL Black/Palomino Sold @ 85k
1987 420SEL Midnight Blue/Grey
1986 420SEL Diamond Blue/Grey
1983 380SEL Champagne/Palomino
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  #11  
Old 09-08-2007, 03:30 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,066
I'm glad you finally got the problem straightened out. It sounds like your dealer did what they had to.

This thread reminded me of an amusing story from several years back. I had just replaced an EIS on an early W220 to resolve an intermittent central locking issue. Since the EIS is responsible for a lot of things, I took the car for a test drive to make sure everything was working normally. I hadn't driven more than two miles from the dealership when I looked down and noticed that the odometer read about 330,000 miles!!! By the time I got back it was reading more than 880,000 miles!!!

I think I'll just add Rich126's story to the very long list of wierd things I've seen faulty EIS's do.

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