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.

[wizzo]

Mine failed last week on the M4 at Newbury at 5000 miles-a C220CDi Sport. M-B Bath very good tho-arranged tow within half hour and loan car via Enterpise-a M-B c220 (petrol!) delivered to the dealership by the time I arrived available as long as required. 3-4 week wait apparentely and the dealer has 10 others waiting to be sorted!.
Anyone any ideas as to suitable compensation for inconvenience- say free 1st service? Mine has failed before ,2 months ago when it ran out of fuel even tho dial said half full-sorted in 2 days and loan car provided etc- I was told it was a recall problem but it broke down the day before I had booked it in for the recall work to be done! doh!.

[PSJ]

Thankfully I had seen this thread when I bought my C250CDI over Christmas, so checked with MB that the injectors had been replaced before I bought it. Guess what, this morning the engine warning came on and I was limping to the garage. MB can't remember the conversation which I guess is convenient. Been offered a Chevvy Aveo for the month that mine is due to be off the road. Turned it down (NCAP 1 1/2 stars and have kids). No response, no car, no happy! MB bath told me that they had heard of 3 failures, so interested to see the post saying they have 10... Next time Japanese.

[Simplygrey]

According to the CarsUK website (http://www.carsuk.net), which has had some 240 posts on this topic since 26th January 2010, there is a major issue with the Mercedes BlueEfficiency engine (OM651) and has been since last summer. Apart from a statement issued in January 2010 (see below), Mercedes appears to be is keeping mum. The implication (same source) is that it is not a matter of if these engines will fail, only a matter of when. Was about to order an E-Class E250 CDI Automatic Saloon but the deafening silence from Mercedes has changed my mind.

Not a conspiracy theorist but why is the media not all over Mercedes on this?


Statement:
“A problem has been identified which is due the manufacture of a small number of faulty diesel fuel injectors by our supplier, which can affect 220 CDI and 250 CDI models of the C-Class and E-Class ranges fitted with the new OM651 engine.
The problem can manifest itself in a number of ways from illumination of the engine warning light; uneven engine running characteristics; or in the worst case, the car entering its “limp home” mode. In “limp home” mode the car remains driveable albeit at a lower speed than in normal use.
As an interim solution, Mercedes-Benz has provided a loan car to the small number of customers affected by more than one failure, and will return the customer’s vehicle once repaired and fully tested by its technical team. This is in addition to the offer of a £250 Mercedes-Benz voucher, or a complimentary first service to each of these customers.
We are working hard with our supplier to ensure provision of sufficient parts so we can replace all the injectors in affected cars, at once. Mercedes-Benz is committed to excellent levels of customer service and takes its responsibilities very seriously.”

[Guvnor]

I also got a C220 CDI Sport in Blue effeciency in November 2009. I had completed 11,000 miles when it went and called a very effecient service which collected my car in 30 mins and delivered me a S320 CDI. Very nice but thirsty! (this was after enterprise had initially said they were sending me a Corsa stick to your guns and ask for another Merc!). I also have numerous other problems ie the car was delivered with a dent in how can you not pick that up on PDI merc come on!!!! paint flaking from the badge the petrol gauge saying I had a 100 miles left and stranding me on the M6. scratches on the das and a juddery powersteering rack. Before this I had a C220 SE, in 2 years it covered 100,000 this had no problems and only went to the garage for a service brilliant car although a little plain.

My car was one of 6 C220 CDI Sport blue effeciency's bought all at the same time and as of 30th March 5 have all broke down the 6 is just waiting for the inevitable. Come on Mercedes thought you were getting back to the good old days. Even our 2nd car Mondeo is more reliable!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say the Merc is a great drive and look fantastic with the AMG wheels but I cant imaging how they can get 54mpg out of theirs as most I can manage on a good run is 50mpg. Its such a shame because all the other cars in this price range are just not the same.

[British Car Driver]

Oh look, moaning Mercedes drivers, never mind, you'll get over it! It's been many years since Mercedes could even pretend to offer high quality. Enjoy the Delphi experience ...

[garry1449]

I must be the lucky one. I bought my C220CDI Sport Estate from Mercedes Benz Shrewsbury 14Th October and it was a pleasure to deal with them. I had recently bought and quickly got rid of a Honda Accord Tourer (about 3 months 2,000 miles) because I hated it except the ADAS whic was wonderful.I had problems with the radio/CD from day 1 but this was changed with very little inconvenience to me. Last Thursday I was at Shrewsbury MB and was talking with the salesman about what I had read about the Injector problem, when I said I had done about 3700 mile Richard said that was about the time the problems started. I went to Wrexham on the Friday and low and behold engine management light less power than my wifes Aygo. I called MB Help and was told it would be OK to drive to my son’s house and they would arrange to uplift the car and get me a rental. All went perfectly well until it came to the rental company (Enterprise) who said they had only got an Astra if I could collect it,I was not impressed, I called MB again and they weren’t impressed either. MB called Enterprise I got a phone call back surprisingly they were now offering to deliver the Astra and to be honest I was pleasantly surprised with the Astra. MB wanted to send my car to North Wales MB I said I would prefer it to go to Shrewsbury and this was what happened I was told it would be about 3 weeks. In the post on Saturday I got a recall letter from MB. I called and told MB Shrewsbury on Monday and I was asked if I could Fax this to them as it could be that injectors were pre allocated to my car so I did this. Monday much telephoning to Enterprise re an MB hire car a petrol C class saloon was delivered on Wednesday and the Astra taken back. Thursday a call from MB Shrewsbury saying the car was ready. When I arrived to collect it it was beautifull clean and ready to go and the dealer said they would organise the return of the hire car.

To be honest I think the dealer has been superb and always courtesy itself. The car is a delight to drive if, electronically, a little basic compared to Honda but when I compare the way I have been treated this time, compared to the 17 warranty faults I had with my VW Passat was exemplary.

Well done and thanks to all at Mercedes Benz Shrewsbury who made this unfortunate experience as stress free as possible



Read more: http://www.carsuk.net/mercedes-blueeffi ... mment-5522#ixzz0lGdlemBE

[wizzo]

Further to my last post on Mar 13, car now returned after 5 wks with new injectors and is running fine with same mpg as before. Dealer ,via MB, would not offer more than 1 free service. However, the problem now seems to have transferred to the central locking system- the front passenger door is locked shut with no way of getting it open- I assume the motor has failed and so will expect this to be a (another) warranty claim.... any one else had similar- hopefully the doors will not fail one by one! This C220CDi sport has been more unreliable in 6 months than all my previous Alfa Romeos were in 6 years!

[Ivor Bigtruck]

Further to my last post on Mar 13, car now returned after 5 wks with new injectors and is running fine with same mpg as before. Dealer ,via MB, would not offer more than 1 free service. However, the problem now seems to have transferred to the central locking system- the front passenger door is locked shut with no way of getting it open- I assume the motor has failed and so will expect this to be a (another) warranty claim.... any one else had similar- hopefully the doors will not fail one by one! This C220CDi sport has been more unreliable in 6 months than all my previous Alfa Romeos were in 6 years!

Aye, and the Alfa 159 looks a hell of a lot better than the chav-mobile styled C Class as well.

You expect things not to work properly on an Alfa. It's part of their character - their heart and soul. Nothing serious, just silly little things like, for example, the way the dashboard top centre storage locker doesn't open properly on the 166. But the engines - just turn that key and you can forgive them anything!

I'll bet you go back to an Alfa next time, Wizzo. Once bitten, always smitten!

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[Ivor Bigtruck]

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