[redfox302]

Redfox do you still hear noise after the fix?

The noise is gone, but if you want to hear it you will.

I notice that Both exhaust pipes are Not connect to the silver/Chrome pipe on the rear bumper. They are bend downward. I not Sure if original tail pipes were even connected to in the beginning :/

Can someone please snap and post the picture of your tail pipe IF you have NoT get your tail pipe fixed?

I'll try to post mine tomorrow.

Thank you

 

[hd1]

Exhaust fix for GLE

http://www.arrowheadmbservice.com/blog/2016-mercedes-benz-gle350-suv-exhaust-whine-explanation/

 

[hd1]

I'm glad that I'm not the only one hearing the whine at low rpms! I should have gotten a BMW but now stuck with this car so I hope Mercedes will acknowledge the defect and offer a fix for all the GLE buyers!

 

[Bob Ashlock]

I too experienced this problem with my new GLE350 SUV and got it RESOLVED! But first the background: Went to dealer last summer and test drove a new 2015 ML350. Since the new 2016 GLE350 was soon to be available, I opted to custom order it exactly like I wanted and wait for delivery. When my new GLE arrived a few months later it sounded much more raucous and louder than the ML I had previously test driven. My new GLE had annoying exhaust resonances at low rpms, 1500-1800 and then around 2500 which unfortunately is right where the rpm sits at 70 mph, so it just droned away as I feathered the gas pedal to maintain constant freeway speeds. Passengers often remarked about the sound... "is your car OK .. sounds funny" ...

I took it back to the dealer for its first checkup and complained. Initially got the 'it's normal ... that's the way it is' response. One story was that it was intentional to be more 'sporty' sounding. But after putting several thousand more miles on the car I had enough and wrote a letter to MBZ North America. Dealer called me shortly after to bring the vehicle back in for them to take another look at it. This time they drove the car longer and consulted with their PTSS (product technical support system). They concluded this was an exhaust resonance that could be heard and felt as a vibration in the vehicle. They kept the car for a few days and repaced the rear muffler. According to the service record "per PTSS installed an earlier production rear exhaust with turned-down exhaust tips..."

I crawled under and confirmed the entire rear muffler assembly was shaped different and brand new. The exhaust tips no longer enter the decorative chrome 'faux' exhaust ports at the rear bumper. Now they are turned-downwards just in front of those parts. This definitely did the trick. Car now drives much quieter and as rpms pass through those previously noisy ranges, the exhaust stays quieter without the loud resonance.

 

[daileyb]

i took delivery of our new 2016 GLE 350 and instantly noticed a high pitched whine which i was told was normal exhaust noise and i would not even notice it. Well 650 miles later i am ready to dump the car. does anyone have the same issue? know of a fix? My wife loves the car otherwise. I have been back to the dealer and emailed Mercedes

I have the same problem ... it's a resonance sound at low speeds. My understanding is the new 2016 model's exhaust now goes through the bumper instead of below it as in earlier models. I have had mine in the shop on two different occasions and the tech clearly heard the problem but can't fix it!! Mercedes says it's a design issue and is normal ... BS. I told the dealership that if Mercedes isn't willing to address the issue I will be driving a BMW X5 before the end of this year. I drove another 2016 and it exhibited the same noise condition ... Mercedes needs to address this issue! The more people complain the better.

 

[LC1]

Mercedes Benz doesn't care. This new GLE is a piece of garbage and I will definitely be trading it in for a nice X5 with superior customer service

 

[Boatjockey]

I purchased a 2016 GLE 400 in February and the exhaust whine is very annoying. Apparently the twin turbos make it significantly worse. The dealer confirmed the problem and passed the information to MB USA. They said they did not have a solution and don't seem too willing to help. I am glad I found this forum and see that I am not the only one with the noise issue. I showed the dealer the solutions presented here so we will see how they respond.


I am also having transmission problems. Once in a while the car will not shift higher than 5th gear even on the highway at 65MPH (I have taken pictures as evidence to present to the dealer). When slowing down the automatic downshifts between 4th and 3rd and especially 3rd and 2nd can sometimes sound like two metal objects slamming together and the car jerks noticeably. The dealer downloaded some missing software but the problem still continues.


My 2013 S550 kept pulling to the right (apparently a common problem) even with a MB shim kit installed. MB Sugarland tried to tell me it was a safety feature in case the driver fell asleep the car would drift off to the right instead of into oncoming traffic. When I mentioned that in some countries they drive on the other side of the road, the dealer had no answer.


MB quality is apparently not what it used to be. For the amount of money that we spend on these vehicles we should be getting better quality. BMW had let me down in the past with an X5 so maybe it's time to give Audi a try.

 

[Benzinator]

Sorry to hear that you're having so many problems with your GLE. The only thing I can think of is to keep asking your dealership to fix the problems and if they can't you may be able to enact the Lemon law. Sounds a bit dangers to have your car keep pulling you to the right.

 

[Boatjockey]

Here is an update on the issues I have been having with my GLE 400.
Exhaust noise has been repaired by replacing almost the entire exhaust including the turned down tips and placing some nice inserts deep into the chrome exhaust holes in the bumper. Even close up you cannot tell any mods have been done unless you look for them. The dealership is Clear Lake MB in League City, Texas, if anyone needs to get their dealership to get the info on the parts required.
Transmission shifting issues appear to have been resolved by replacing some hydraulic pump or actuator in the transmission. We'll see if this holds up as today there were some harsh downshifts but the computer has been reprogrammed so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
The high idle speed (when stopped with the car in D1) is still there and is annoying but I can live with it as long as the shifting works correctly.

 

[ssingh718]

Issues with GLE

I just dropped off my car to the dealer. Lets see what they come back with.


Here is a video showing the issue.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/osbhg76wsd8tae4/Video Aug 09, 8 02 33 AM.mov?dl=0

 

[manno00]

can you repost the video? link seems broken

 

[babymog]

Every manufacturer has hiccups, I agree that Mercedes should rise above and have less quality problems as well as being the best at solving any problems and satisfying their customers.

However, I think that this quality problem is also a dealer problem. I swore off new Mercedes cars several years ago when I became extremely frustrated with my local dealer. I have since moved, and decided to buy a new Mercedes again.

My experience so far is that I have a slight 1-2 and 2-3 shift flare, which needs attention. One dealer has told me that it is normal, and that any changes will make the car drive worse, a different dealer has told me that it needs to be fixed and that they will reset the transmission adapts and see if that fixes it. Same problem. The car has been otherwise flawless for its first 10,000miles.

If your dealer does not fix the problem, move to a different dealer AND LET MBUSA KNOW ABOUT THE SERVICE AT EACH DEALER!!! Mercedes and the Dealer Manager can not fix the dealer problem unless they know it exists.

 

[myCLE2017]

I just heard the noise in a GLE 350 2017....after looking at it, I believe, it is that the tips of the mufflers don't flow into the exhaust pretty tail pipe...in other words, there is a break or uneven flow from the "real exhaust" to the part which is attached to the body....this is can cause an "extra" sound break at the lower RPM's everyone is talking about....If any sound or mechanical engineers on this forum, it would be great you can give us some input or possible aftermarket solutions.....

 

[Boatjockey]

MB GLE 400, 8200 miles, bought Feb 2016


In the shop multiple times (Trans hanging up in 5th gear at highway speeds, exhaust noise which was solved by a complete exhaust system replacement, high speed vibration, and several transmission reprograms.)


Well, the car is in the shop again for the last 6 days. The transmission was taken out and completely disassembled. There was a lot of slack between 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears when the car was slowing down. It was almost impossible to come to a smooth stop when in these lower gears. Today I was informed that there are 3 sizes of shim kits that can be installed and that the one installed in my car was the largest available. I should get the car back tomorrow (not that I want that lemon anymore) so we'll see.
Mercedes has not been very willing to help so I have taken it to their higher level. I want them to buy the car back because it has been a problem since day one. The lady at corporate seems nice but the field rep is apparently not very helpful.

 

[smy0621]

I have bought GLE 350 last week. I didn't notify until I took it out to home that there is strange sound coming out from back. I suddenly checked the internet and found this forum and notify that it is from exhaust. I took it to dealership and checked it with the people and they were kept saying normal but when I showed this forum, one of mechanic said they changed muffler and some parts with other customer one week ago. And he said he will order the part and they will fix it. However, 3 days later, dealership called me and said my car has no issue and they want me to pick up my car without touching anything. I am so disappointed with service and quality of GLE 350. Please, don't buy this car whoever read it until Mercedes fix this issue.

 

[cel]

Same thing here. I just bought a GLE 350 an noticed the unbearable exhaust noise on my first ride home. Took it back to the dealer, went through two days of service with the final answer from the dealer being "This is how the new GLE sounds, there is nothing we can do". I called Mercedes Benz customer service and they also told me that there is nothing they can do about it and that the warranty would be void if I modified any part of the car to try to fix the noise.

I am very disappointed at Mercedes Benz. I'm stuck with a $60k car that sounds like an cheap motorcycle. DO NOT BUY A MERCEDES BENZ GLE !!!

 

[etnowak]

I purchased the GLE 350 in April and immediately noticed the problem. At first Mercedes denied the existence but after pressing the issue the service manager at the dealership ( who was very pro customer) discovered it was Harmonic Resonance in the exhaust system created by the through the body exhaust ports. His research also showed that at that time there were other identical complaints. The noise is now gone due to their "solution!! The solution was to eliminate the through the body exhaust pipes and install the system from the 2014 model that does not go through the ports but rather exhaust gases are point towards the ground and the ports are not functional--just two empty holes in the rear bumper--NICE!.
Upon realizing this I contacted Mercedes Client Service Center and was advised that they were not willing to re-engineer the vehicle problem and per their research of the problem "was within specs" to which I say "bullshit"!
For Mercedes to turn their back on a nationally know defect is unconscionable!
SOOO--I wanted to get rid of this monster and was going to turn it in for a LEXUS 350 only to find that the manager looked at the vehicle and said "this is a Mercedes with the noise problem that has been retro fitted"--We rather not take this vehicle in on trade"!
SOOO- next stop is the Mercedes dealership upon arrival of the 2017 models which I figured would have the problem corrected. WRONG--took it for a ride--exact same problem. SO Mercedes is aware of the problem now for two model years and refuses to do anything about it.
SOOOO- tell your friends and colleagues the story and advise them to not buy Mercedes. They provide lip service vs real service and hide behind the term "within specs" to avoid addressing this issue. In my book they are a not the fine company that the purport to be. Never again will I drive a Mercedes and BTW--I own three right now!!

!

 

[Boatjockey]

Do not give up hope!!! If you read my posts about my GLE 400 you will see it was a very troublesome vehicle. I am not one to take "It's normal" or "there is nothing we can do" for an answer if I know I am right. I took my complaints all the way to MB corporate (regional person was of no help). I told the dealer I was ready to put a vinyl wrap on the car with big lemons on it and listing the issues with the car for everyone to see. After a month of back and forth, the dealer bought my car back at market value and corporate paid the difference (with the condition I would get another vehicle of equal or higher price) to get me a FULL REFUND of the original purchase price of $73K. I wanted a new GLS 550 anyway so it worked out. So once again, DO NOT GIVE UP, and good luck to all of you.

 

[2016MBGLE]

Mercedes GLE 350 popping noise

Hello, I have a 2016 GLE 350 with approx. 12,500 miles on it and I'm not sure if it is the same noise others have noted but, when the car is stopped but not in park, I hear a popping noise which sounds like it is coming from the center front. It's just a quick pop and it's gone but, it usually happens several times while the car is stopped. I have taken the car to one of the local Mercedes dealer and they could not find anything however, I am going to take it to the other dealer in my city and see if they can find anything.

 

[Ken]

Thank you very much for your post. I bought a 2017 GLE earlier this month, and it has the same irritating exhaust noise related to the engine RPMs. I plan to talk to my dealer in Houston but anticipate they will say the noise is normal. (The salesman has already told me he is not aware of any complaints about the exhaust system.) I would like to be armed with irrefutable proof that Mercedes Benz's is rectifying the problem at no expense to the car owner when I take the car back to the dealer. Could you possibly post a picture of your invoice showing the work done on your car? Do you have any more information regarding this problem since your earlier post? Thank again.