Fuel leak or fuel odor on the 2008 Mercedes Benz E350
When fuel leak or fuel odor gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Mercedes Benz E350 report fuel leak or fuel odor at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 17 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 65,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 60,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65,600 miles | 76,015 miles | 90,000 miles | 106,500 miles | 125,600 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$2,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 60,000 miles, and latest on the 2012 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2007 carries the most reports, with 72; the 2008 has 20. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
There is a very strong smell of gasoline after refueling. The problem has gotten progressively worse over the last few months. It is now impossible to stay in the garage when the car is parked there - unable to breathe due to the gas fumes. It only happens right after refueling, or when the tank is nearly full. *tr
Reference NHTSA action number: pe12001 2008 e350 rwd, after filling up full tank of gas today 07/17/2013 and park in the home's garage, strong gasoline odor smell coming from rear left (behind driver side) wheel. *tr ...updated 10-24-13 *bf updated 11/1/2013 *js
My wife and I noticed the strong smell of gasoline each time we bought gas and filled up the tank. Have mentioned this numerous times to personnel at the dealership and every person just expressed puzzlement over the problem and offered to take a look at the car and see what the cause might be. I finally scheduled an appointment about a year later to correct this issue or at least fine the cause because the odor was getting stronger....especially because the car is parked in the garage. The dealership called me and said it would cost about $2000 to repair the seals but they would split the cost with me. They said if I did not repair the seals the car was still safe to drive...we just could not fill up the tank. I went ahead with the repairs but searched the internet and found numerous other complaints on the problem and the ongoing class action lawsuit in the northern district of georgia and the june 16, 2013 request by NHTSA for information due to 528 similar complaints....please add this complaint to the previous 528. I think someone at mercedes should have been aware of the ongoing question of tank leakage....the car is not…
Also reported on the 2008 Mercedes Benz E350
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other fuel system problem
Fuel pump failure
Other body or interior problem
Other wheel or tire problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 20 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does fuel leak or fuel odor happen on the 2008 Mercedes Benz E350?
Across 17 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel leak or fuel odor on the 2008 Mercedes Benz E350?
20 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 4.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed