Jeremy Clarkson Forum

[KWilliamson]

Jeremy,

It appears that Mercedes have a bit of a problem with their brand new range of Diesel engines. Their Injectors are somewhat fragile. My brand new C220 Blue Efficiency, at least made 3000 miles before conking out at the road side but some people are not even getting 50 miles before collapsing in a heap. If you look over here at a forum for MB owners http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/engine/77050-blue-efficiency-injector-recall.html you will see that there are many disgruntled owners with exactly the same problem. The dealers are being extremely vague about when the vehicles will get fixed, with some people having estimates of March 2010. My own dealer has told me that mine 'may' be ready by the middle of January 2010.

Here is a link to a German site reporting the problem http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/news/mercedes-dieselmotoren-qualitaetsprobleme-mit-delphi-einspritzduesen-1420277.html

And a translated version http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/news/mercedes-dieselmotoren-qualitaetsprobleme-mit-delphi-einspritzduesen-1420277.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/news/mercedes-dieselmotoren-qualitaetsprobleme-mit-delphi-einspritzduesen-1420277.html%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhidoudN5dlV1pLQeMog3WLF1VSHRg

Please would you lend your extraordinaryly good investigative powers to unearthing some facts as to what the hell is going on, and when can we expect a reliable fix for cars that start around £26K

It seems that this is costing MB a great deal of money in car hire, servicing vouchers etc.

Many Thanks in hopeful anticipation.

[mab]

My 59 E220 BE (8k miles) is broken too with suspected injector problem. Terrible support from customer services and no update from dealer. Not happy.

[schampion]

I had my C220 cdi blue efficiency sport estate for less than 10 weeks and had done less than 2000 miles. It conked out and I have had only one call from Merc about the issue and am still driving the courtesy car - they initially offered me a Ford Mondeo.......I though they were have a laugh! Not funny any more. Apparently all of the blue efficiency cars have the same inherent issue. I have been totally appalled by the lack of customer care, by the lack of regret - even shame at the situation. This is Mercedes Benz for goodness sake. I reckon they have done a serious job of controling negative comments through their Damage Limitation strategy as it's really hard to find any info on this on the web. What I want to know is ......can I get my £32000 back?

[JButterworth]

I have had my 59 reg CDI Sport for 3 months it has died twice so far. The 1st time I had done 1300m and last night it happened again 5700m. I have told them 3 strikes and thats it, I want my 27K back please and I will go back to BMW . Needless to say that got there backs up a tad. They have tried to fob me off today with an Astra ( well thanks MB) . Stick to your guns MB owners tell them that you'll have the showroom mangers Merc let him/her have the Astra . I am still waiting for the response .

MB UK Cutomer complaint Tel Number is 01908 245000.

Well I am off to BMW in Manchester now, I am sure they will do a fine job of spreading the News . TTFN

[jimbob]

Dear all,

I had a brand new E250CDI Sport in September and 1st injector went when it hit 3000 miles. I rang up Mercedes assist and had a Mercedes to drive round in within 2 hours. My local dealer in Stafford explained the problem to me the next day and were very helpful. They fixed it in a few days but it went again within a week, same again got a car straight away and mercedes even sent me a free first service. The car was then held as they were going to replace all 4 injectors as not to have the problem again. That was 2 weeks ago and got the car back on friday and is running fantastic. Took for a run to Manchester to drop off step daughter back to university and already seems to be getting better MPG. I have nothing but praise how mercedes handled the problem and faced up to it and also my local dealer in Stafford who were also fantastic.

My last car was a BMW 320D with 18" M Sport wheels which cracked!!! BMW replaced NO!! they blamed on my driving. Never cracked or even curbed wheels before. There Bill £1600 and they then had the cheek to ask if i wanted to replace all the tyres at a cost of £800 as they were down to 3mm.

All i can say is i was never left without transport, and now i have my E250CDI back, it is truly fantastic. Worth waiting for, but i do hope it doesnt happen again which i am assured will not.

[nigel17248]

I bought a 220CDi Blue Effiency Estate in September, and on the 27th December, whilst joining the M40 from a slip road, I lost almost all power. After limping home, and realising that everywhere was shut, eventually called Mercedes who arranged collection of the car, and arranged for loan of CLS350 - absolutely useless in the snow. I now have a ML-320 on loan with no indication of when my car will be fixed...should have stuck with my Jag S-Type R...no good in the snow, but damn good fun and never went wrong in 3 years..!

[ncp]

brand new C250CDI bluefficiency october.
injectors fail january after 3000 miles.
took MB Mobile recovery TWO HOURS to bother coming out and a day and a half for a MB replacement car (the useless C180)

MB Cardiff totally disinterested - took SEVEN phonecalls before someone returned and response was 'be a few weeks waiting for parts, nothing we can do'

MB headoffice response was 'we promise to keep you mobile and you are nothing more we can do'. That was after I made a formal complaint.

No apology or any compensation for brand new 30k car failing totally after 3 months.

NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER buying a MB again and will be telling EVERYONE I know not to either.

[NicholasJ]

Here in Australia I have also just had a run of trouble with my C220 CDI BlueEfficiency which just decided not to work while I was in the country side. The engine was running very poorly and it had to be towed away. I was stranded out there for a night.

The ridiculous thing is that, apart from the fact that the issue is still at large, the C-Class is quite an expensive car here in Australia. I find it ridiculous that a car worth $80K AUD (approx £38K!!) is giving this sort of trouble. If the injector are so rubbish, why aren't they fitting better ones to the cars that have had trouble?

[Ivor Bigtruck]

If the injectors don't kill it, the rust will.

Bought a second hand E class 240 petrol which suffered an engine fouled up by sludge caused by the EGR system which essentially put all the shit from the exhaust back into the engine. Cost almost £3k to put right, but the engine never seemed right after that.

It also had to go into the bodyshop every twelve months to have the rust sorted out, mainly around the wheel arches. I heaved a sigh of relief when I sold it last month and bought my 'new' second hand Alfa 166 3.2 litre. Bloody hell - what a car! Yes, okay - it has its little faults and its quirky ways, but when you start that engine you can forgive it anything!

Everything Jezza has ever said about this car is spot on.